Outdoorsy

As a teenager, when I would babysit, I never really enjoyed when the kids would want to play outside. I preferred sitting inside playing a game or watching a movie with them. I've never really enjoyed being outside that much - unless it's raining. The sun is bright and hot. It gives me headaches and burns my extremely white skin. Ick. So wouldn't you know it, I have a kid who loves to go outside. Several times a day he'll take my hand in his and lead me to the front door. He'll look up at me and sign please while trying to open the door. He always wants to follow Kasey out the door to work and runs for the open door any chance he has. It wouldn't really be such a big deal if we had a real yard to play in - but we don't. We have a bunch of weeds on a steep hill. And I have to carry him and walk down 30-something steps to even get to level ground. It always sounds like so much work. Thankfully, since being a stay-at-home mom, my desire to get out of the house has increased and my physical activity has increased giving me more energy for the things my toddler wants to do.

Now that Bethany University has let out for the summer we have a nice, big, empty parking lot downstairs. It has become Kalin's playground. We wander all over the place, chasing birds and the UPS man. He tries to pick up all the trash and always ends up walking straight to the building that Kasey's office is in. He knows where his daddy works and he wants to go visit him!! Even if we've just left daddy at home and the building doors are locked (like on a Saturday). We'll wander around campus a bit until he gets too tired or too hot then we head back home. They're usually brief outings (20 minutes max.) but long enough to wear Kalin (and me!) out.

He loves picking up rocks and pulling up some of the weeds that are outside our house. He loves the birds chirping and always points at them when they fly by us on our walks. I love that he's so active and wants to be outside doing and learning and I hope he continues this lifestyle into adulthood.

I've heard about 2 year olds sitting and watching full movies. Really?!?! I know Kalin is still months away from being 2 but I don't see him sitting to watch anything anytime soon. By no means do I want him to become addicted to TV but it would be nice if he could sit and watch a 20 minute Curious George episode with me. I guess that's just asking too much of his attention span at this age.

In other news, we're having another heat wave up here. Thankfully it's supposed to be a short one but we bought Kalin a little kiddie pool to help cool all of us off during these summer heat waves. I don't think he ever intentionally sat down in it today but he'll get there. The water may not have warmed up enough for it to be comfortable sitting in.