Strength

I went running one day and when we got to the middle school/high school soccer fields he wanted to get out and run with me. So I let him out of the stroller and he ran with me across the fields to the skate park (not too far). He watched the skaters doing tricks and most of them had their shirts off so he took off his shirt. Before we left and ran back home he climbed this chain link fence. He is so strong! He made it to the top too!

A Hike

 We hiked up Kamiak Butte when the weather started to become lovely.

Lichen-stache

The Bear did fairly well. We took turns carrying him up part of the hill but he hiked all the way down himself.

Here is the view we saw from the top. I bet it is even more green now! And a little yellow too.

Chillin' on the Butte:

 Hiking down:

Standing on a log:

Taking a rest:

Recharging:

Mowing the Lawn Around the Block

The Bear can't seem to wait to mow the lawn. Here are videos of him mowing the lawn from a previous post.

This day he pushed the mower all the way around the block. Dickie the Cat joined us (we must have been a sight!):

Spring 3

Spring is officially my favorite season. The hills around here are just lovely. 

The lawn began to sprout again which meant that the Bear's favorite yard activity commenced: lawn mowing!

It's too loud for him but he can't take his eyes away!

TULIPS!

We took several strolls to the U of I Botanical Gardens:

The little neighbor faerie came out of hiding:

We were able to start our after dinner walks again because the sun began to stay up longer:

And of course the dandelions graced us with their presence:

We began to spend more time outside because the weather got warmer. Because of this, treasures (marbles) were found in the garden:

Things that you don't think would flower, flower marvelously:

Eating

When this kid can eat - he can eat SO MUCH...but then there are times where it seems like he fasts for days. I've learned not to fight it. My mom always said, "Eat when your hungry; don't eat when your not." So simple and true.

In the above pic he is eating salad, which he does sometimes. More often than not he won't touch a salad. He prefers salads in finger food form like, carrot sticks, cucumbers, sugar snap peas - things that you can dip or eat with your hands. Also in his bowl above is rice, lentils, sweet potatoes, broccoli and pumpkin seeds. He loves rice and sweet potatoes and will almost always eat anything with those ingredients. This particular meal is called the Winter Abundance Bowl. It was one of our favorite during Winter and Spring.

Here he is eating a whole wheat english muffin with butter and jam along with a scrambled egg with hot sauce on it. He ate the entire thing. I was amazed. He did drink a lot of juice and water afterwards.

I have no idea what he just ate in the pics below...but he literally licked the plate clean:

 TA-DA!

This day he chose to eat frozen pineapple over a cookie for dessert. I was amazed. He has such a sweet tooth and pineapple is quite sweet!

Pipe Cleaner Play

I found this activity on Pinterest. I pulled out the pipe cleaners that we had and our collander and let him try it. It was more challenging for him than I thought it would be. I think I'll try it again in several months. He did have fun for a brief time but mostly loved wearing it on his head:

Planting Seeds

We bought packets of seeds and planted them in egg cartons. We sowed peppers, watermelon, and tomatoes.

The Bear enjoyed putting the seeds in the dirt - it was hard for him to get the tiny seeds in the holes but some made it in! I had him water them with a push syringe.

We eventually transferred them into the garden. Just 6 tomatoes and one watermelon survived. We ended up buying 3 more tomato plants, a cuke plant, a pumpkin and potatoes and onions! I will post updates soon!

Bath Crayons

Bath crayons are kind of annoying. They occupied the Bear plenty but they aren't very bright (I'm sure if they were that it would be harder to clean up) and they leave a layer of film. I've tried two different types.

I am a bigger fan of shaving cream play in the tub.

Spring 2

The brown hills began to turn green in spring. So pretty.

We bought this kite at Goodwill for 3 bucks or something and then a week later we had some spring breezes perfect for a kite!

We also so this in the park:

If I remember correctly it was the high school wrestling team playing a game of...whatever you would call this.

Our first spring was fun because it was a waiting game to see what type of flowers popped up. We had dandelions (ha!) and tulips, daffodils, lilies and more that I couldn't identify.

One day we cut some daffodils and when I asked Stanley where he wanted to put his he pointed at the floor and said, "Here!" So we put it on the ground:

We even got spring snow!