This weekend we figured out how to survive daylight savings with a three-year old. Run the kid into the ground. We jam packed our weekend and had Lilly going non-stop. She crashed Saturday night and we woke her up at 8:20 on Sunday morning.
Friday night we went right home and had an early dinner so we could go sledding. Thursday her day care went on a field trip (I signed my first permission slip for her to go!) to Northland's soccer field to go sledding. It is the perfect sized hill for toddlers. Lilly (and all the kids it sounds like) had a great time and Lilly could not wait to go again. When I picked her up and reminded her what we were doing, she ran back to tell her teacher, "Sid, we're going sledding!".
Saturday we gave her the option of going to the Aquarium or checking out the Duluth Children's Museum. She picked the Children's Museum, which we were kind of excited about since we haven't been there yet and well, we've done the whole aquarium thing. Focus is not Lilly's strong suit these days, so it took us a little longer to get out the door than expected, but that is to be expected. Nick was not up for tempting the fates and we stuck a pull-up on her, for on Hwy 2 there are VERY few stops and we figured her newly trained bladder would be substantially put to the test on the drive. On our way, Nick reminded Lilly to tell us if she had to go potty and we'd try to find a place to have her go. Of course she lets us know when we pass the last business on Hwy 2 for a good twenty or thirty minutes. The girl was amazing though and actually held it the entire time. We dashed into the gas station in Iron River and then went down a few blocks and Nick ran in and got delicious doughnuts for us to snack on. Delicious and cheap.
Lilly did an awesome job in the car. We listened to the audio CD of Ol' Mama Squirrel (a great kid's book if you have not read it), she drew, I read her books, and eventually she just looked out her window. Only a few times did we hear, "Are we at the children's museum yet?"
We walked in and checked out the displays on the first floor. Honestly, we were less than impressed with the first floor. The digging for dinosaurs was cool, a bunch of "fossils" were stuck on the bottom and covered with plastic pellets. There were shovels and brushes so we could "dig" up dinosaur bones. There were also exhibits on nano-technology, but not that interesting to a toddler (but somewhat interesting to us). She did think the whisper discs were pretty cool, but didn't totally get the concept of whispering in them.
After hanging out downstairs for a bit, we headed upstairs, where the museum became much more interesting. Upstairs is basically set up for imaginary play: a bank, musical instruments, a castle, an airplane/boat thing, a little house and garden, art supplies, etc. What did Lilly want to do when we got upstairs? Play pretend nap in the bed and have us read her books. Glad we paid $22.50 to read her books . . .
After a bit Lilly got really interested in the castle and cooking food for us and dressing up like a knight. She made an art project (which we left on the table and it disappeared) and checked out the musical instruments. It was pretty busy upstairs, so the bank wasn't available (too many kids playing there) and Lilly wasn't all that interested in that area.
It took some convincing to get Lilly to leave - it was clearly nap time and lunch time based on the exodus of everyone else at the museum with kids under three. We went to lunch at a restaurant on the other side of the parking lot, which to Lilly's excitement had hockey playing on the TVs. All of us shared some pizza and Lilly ate a great lunch. The drive home we were worried about, napping in the car has never been Lilly's strong point and we were leaving later than her usual nap time. Our hope was that she would be so tired from the morning that she'd crash in the car. We held going sledding over her head, more doughnut holes, anything that seemed like it might entice her to sleep. She did her usual napping routine - fighting it, talking to herself until she just crashed asleep. It took her about 30 minutes to finally fall asleep (I fell asleep before she did) and she slept for about 45 minutes. The first thing she said when she woke up, "Can we go sledding now?"
When we got home we had a snack, played for a bit and then headed out sledding again. This time sledding turned into a walk on the ski trails by the soccer fields, where Lilly did a tremendous amount of walking.
The Baby Puppy (she's no longer Baby Lion but has become Baby Puppy) crashed hard when we got home. She was fairly easy to put to bed and pretty much slept through the night. We all struggled to get up Sunday morning, but Nick and Lilly got out of bed around 8:20 and I slept until 9:40. (This growing a baby is a nice excuse to sleep in more often).
The hike this time was considerably shorter, but we needed to get home for dinner. She earned two trips down the sledding hill but after one was ready to head home. The extra daylight was really throwing us, so we rushed home to get dinner and bedtime snack in before it got too late. She listened to my mom read her three books over FaceTime while Nick made dinner. Then dinner, bedtime snack, and bed. It was a busy but very fun weekend.
Friday night we went right home and had an early dinner so we could go sledding. Thursday her day care went on a field trip (I signed my first permission slip for her to go!) to Northland's soccer field to go sledding. It is the perfect sized hill for toddlers. Lilly (and all the kids it sounds like) had a great time and Lilly could not wait to go again. When I picked her up and reminded her what we were doing, she ran back to tell her teacher, "Sid, we're going sledding!".
Saturday we gave her the option of going to the Aquarium or checking out the Duluth Children's Museum. She picked the Children's Museum, which we were kind of excited about since we haven't been there yet and well, we've done the whole aquarium thing. Focus is not Lilly's strong suit these days, so it took us a little longer to get out the door than expected, but that is to be expected. Nick was not up for tempting the fates and we stuck a pull-up on her, for on Hwy 2 there are VERY few stops and we figured her newly trained bladder would be substantially put to the test on the drive. On our way, Nick reminded Lilly to tell us if she had to go potty and we'd try to find a place to have her go. Of course she lets us know when we pass the last business on Hwy 2 for a good twenty or thirty minutes. The girl was amazing though and actually held it the entire time. We dashed into the gas station in Iron River and then went down a few blocks and Nick ran in and got delicious doughnuts for us to snack on. Delicious and cheap.
Lilly did an awesome job in the car. We listened to the audio CD of Ol' Mama Squirrel (a great kid's book if you have not read it), she drew, I read her books, and eventually she just looked out her window. Only a few times did we hear, "Are we at the children's museum yet?"
We walked in and checked out the displays on the first floor. Honestly, we were less than impressed with the first floor. The digging for dinosaurs was cool, a bunch of "fossils" were stuck on the bottom and covered with plastic pellets. There were shovels and brushes so we could "dig" up dinosaur bones. There were also exhibits on nano-technology, but not that interesting to a toddler (but somewhat interesting to us). She did think the whisper discs were pretty cool, but didn't totally get the concept of whispering in them.
After hanging out downstairs for a bit, we headed upstairs, where the museum became much more interesting. Upstairs is basically set up for imaginary play: a bank, musical instruments, a castle, an airplane/boat thing, a little house and garden, art supplies, etc. What did Lilly want to do when we got upstairs? Play pretend nap in the bed and have us read her books. Glad we paid $22.50 to read her books . . .
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| Reading books and driving the "boat" |
After a bit Lilly got really interested in the castle and cooking food for us and dressing up like a knight. She made an art project (which we left on the table and it disappeared) and checked out the musical instruments. It was pretty busy upstairs, so the bank wasn't available (too many kids playing there) and Lilly wasn't all that interested in that area.
It took some convincing to get Lilly to leave - it was clearly nap time and lunch time based on the exodus of everyone else at the museum with kids under three. We went to lunch at a restaurant on the other side of the parking lot, which to Lilly's excitement had hockey playing on the TVs. All of us shared some pizza and Lilly ate a great lunch. The drive home we were worried about, napping in the car has never been Lilly's strong point and we were leaving later than her usual nap time. Our hope was that she would be so tired from the morning that she'd crash in the car. We held going sledding over her head, more doughnut holes, anything that seemed like it might entice her to sleep. She did her usual napping routine - fighting it, talking to herself until she just crashed asleep. It took her about 30 minutes to finally fall asleep (I fell asleep before she did) and she slept for about 45 minutes. The first thing she said when she woke up, "Can we go sledding now?"
When we got home we had a snack, played for a bit and then headed out sledding again. This time sledding turned into a walk on the ski trails by the soccer fields, where Lilly did a tremendous amount of walking.
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| Nick sledding - a good sign in terms of hip surgery recovery. |
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| We approached a steep hill. Lilly's solution - get out and scoot down on her bottom. |
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| Hiking with a stick. She also found sticks for us to use. |
The Baby Puppy (she's no longer Baby Lion but has become Baby Puppy) crashed hard when we got home. She was fairly easy to put to bed and pretty much slept through the night. We all struggled to get up Sunday morning, but Nick and Lilly got out of bed around 8:20 and I slept until 9:40. (This growing a baby is a nice excuse to sleep in more often).
Sunday was super sunny and warm. We spent the morning hanging out inside and then Nick and Lilly went outside and played for a good chunk of time before lunch. Very wet and packy snow but nothing was really constructed this time. Our snow cover was severely limited, so not much to build with it. Spring came up as a topic of conversation and Lilly wanted it to be spring when she woke up from her nap. No matter how many times we told her it wasn't going to be spring for awhile, that the snow was going to melt soon, but not before she woke up from her nap did nothing. She wants it to be spring.
Lilly woke up from her nap and her first words to me were, "Is it spring now?" When I informed her it was still indeed winter and there was still snow on the ground, the waterworks started. It took a bit but I managed to calm her down with the idea of getting to go skiing, sledding, and hiking again. Also we made plans to put a stick in the ground so she could see how much the snow melts every day.
After a bath and watching a bit of Curious George 2, we headed back to the Northland soccer field. This time we grabbed her skis and Nick's skis (she wanted dad to ski with her - I was able to play the pregnancy card) and the sled. Lilly skied about half or three-quarters the length of the soccer field. I then pulled her to the skiing trail, where we did some more walking. This time the game was follow the leader and any time Nick would get close to passing her she'd stop him, inform him that she was the leader, and make him get back in line.
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| Helping her get started |
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| Skiing and sledding |
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| Trekking up the steep hill - she made it the entire way |
The hike this time was considerably shorter, but we needed to get home for dinner. She earned two trips down the sledding hill but after one was ready to head home. The extra daylight was really throwing us, so we rushed home to get dinner and bedtime snack in before it got too late. She listened to my mom read her three books over FaceTime while Nick made dinner. Then dinner, bedtime snack, and bed. It was a busy but very fun weekend.
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