Man, oh man, do I love summer! And children make it so much better. Since becoming a mom, I’ve spent three wonderful summers (some more wonderful than others) with my kids outside, and I can already tell this one is going to be the greatest one yet! BUT, there is a super tricky aspect to this summer that I’m becoming more and more nervous about: my 16-month-old daughter.
She’s a fantastic baby and as smart as can be, but like most everybody else around that age, she is BUSY. She understands a lot of what I say but doesn’t always listen to me…wait a second, neither does my three-year-old; I’m still waiting for the listening part to kick in. Anyway, my babe, we’ll call her Z, is obsessed with being outside, but has a whole lot of exploring to do and "no" to be told before she’s in a place I can trust her to be unsupervised for longer than a few seconds at a time.
She’s obsessed with the road, she picks flowers faster than I knew was possible, she has to point to (as in touch) every bug she sees, and she recently learned how to climb to the top of our neighbor’s play set where all she does at the top is spin around because she’s so excited to be up so high! I completely understand that she is intricately exploring the world and learning at a ridiculously fast pace. And I absolutely LOVE seeing the environment around us through her eyes. But, holy moly, it is exhausting!
One great thing that I DO have going for me this summer are my little girl’s shoes! She keeps them on, they are comfortable, they wont get ruined if a little bit of water gets them, and they are super adorable! She absolutely loves having me put them on her, and every day, when she comes downstairs, she has to go check the shoe basket to make sure they’re in there.
Freshly Picked Newport Clog Sandal - Maritime
Freshly Picked Newport Clog Sandal - Maritime
My three-year-old son is definitely more in the little boy category than the toddler category, but he still needs reminders to look for cars, to go in and go potty every now and then, and it’s not often that he’s outside without me. He loves his little sister, and together they play and explore like they’re getting paid to do so. Though sometimes he may take away from my assistance of Z’s exploring, I’m so grateful to have him around this summer to help me teach her all the ropes.