Winters are long here - it stays cold well into April. And the bite of the wind keeps it hard to go outside for very long periods. So once Madeline started walking in January, and then climbing and scaling furniture, and getting into EVERYTHING we had to find some creative ways to pass the indoor hours this winter. So spoiler alert, this post is largely cute pics of Madeline from this past winter. I think the grandparents won't mind. :0)
I started dreaming out picnics in the park with green leaves on the trees and flowers to color the landscape, so we tried to recreate the mood with lots of indoor picnics. Madeline got a really fun picnic set from her Ama for Christmas, so we played with that alot.
We also had some real cheese and crackers and fruit picnics.
We discovered that Madeline loves oranges - she sucks up every bit of juice that she can.
We played in baskets. :0)
Madeline became obsessed with opening the vent covers and climbing in, or stashing toys or food or keys in the vents. We couldn't figure out how to keep her from opening the vents, but I'm happy to report that after four months she has largely lost interest in the vents.
This girl LOVES shoes. She is always trying on our shoes, and when we are at other people's houses she goes straight to the shoe closet. Just the other day at the park she was trying to put on the shoes of all the kids who were barefoot in the sandbox. We've got a real shoe-snatcher on our hands.
I found a local mall that has a really good play area for kids her age, and we hit that up several times on really cold days. She loves crawling and climbing and sliding on everything.
Madeline also received some really fun packages this winter, full of clothes and books and crayons and fun things. Thanks Aunt Marilyn for all the goodies!
We read lots and lots of books! We've been going to the library alot as well, so Mom and Dad don't go crazy with the same books over and over.
Madeline still likes playing with her baby dolls, and her Auntie Krista sent her this sweet baby doll quilt she made. Madeline always gets so frustrated when she can't wrap her baby doll in the quilt "just so," it cracks me up. I usually end up helping her swaddle the baby. :0)
And we made our first trip to the local petting zoo one day when it wasn't too cold to walk around a bit. Madeline loves animals, and so far has no fear of waltzing up to them as close as she can. Note her trying to climb in with the cow in one of these pictures - she wasn't happy when I pried her away from the fence.
We had some good times this winter, but now that it's summer - I'm SO GLAD to be in this season. Keeping an active one year old entertained in the house is hard work.