Fun in our own backyard

Short sleeves! It was warm enough for short sleeves!! Megan didn't quite understand why her sleeves ended at her elbows. She tried to pull them down. It has been such a cold winter they've had to wear long sleeves all winter long, which is kind of unusual for us. It was beautiful outside yesterday and we took full advantage!

Once outside, Emily usually makes a beeline for her swing. Yesterday was no exception.

We played musical hats all afternoon. You'll notice Megan has the pink one on in the above pic but it quickly founds its way to Em's head.

BOO!

Megan is too cool with her shades and backwards cap!

M decided to slide like a big girl. Usually she's on her tummy going feet first.



A different hat for Emily!

Back to the pink one!

Kaitlin found a nice quiet cool place to hang out.

M couldn't run her down with the stroller under there.

She set up the tee and hit the ball all by herself!

Uh Oh! Real trouble.

Yes, she made it all the way up by herself.

Accompanied by a heart attack for me.

Once she made it up there I had to climb up because I wasn't too sure about her coming down. I didn't really want her hitting the slide by herself because she would have ended up landing on her head on the ground. The ramp would have been more of a nightmare. After she made it up the first time she kept trying to climb up. It is all she wanted to do so we had to pack up and head in. Every time I would try to redirect her she screamed and beelined back to the ramp. I'm guessing the next time we go out there she's going to go to the ramp instead of her swing. It's getting very interesting at the Starke house, that's for sure!

We worked on her walking a little yesterday too. I had her going holding on to me with only one hand. She has actually taken a few solo steps to get from point A to point B but nothing major yet. I think she's figuring it out and is thinking she would like to walk so I really don't think it will be much longer. If not by the time she's 15 months (2.5 weeks) then definitely before she hits 16 months. I'm ready. My back is killing me from carrying her everywhere and chasing her down and bending to pick her up!

Megan is having nightmares or something. She is absolutely refusing to sleep - or waking up hysterical after being asleep for a while. I don't know if she's stressed out because James is gone or if the change in our routine (we're staying exceptionally busy these days) has her all messed up but I'm ready for a solution. Bedtime routine was normal yesterday. We were putting her in bed and reading a Pooh story at 8:00. By 10:10 I was exhausted and in tears when she finally gave it up. I spent about an hour on her floor hoping she would all asleep and she never did. When I left, she went nuts. Light on, light off, clean diaper, socks, no socks, blinds open, blinds closed, drink of water, nothing made a difference. I fully expect this to continue until James returns but if it goes on much longer than that I'll call the doc. I know kids don't just go to bed and sleep when you want them to (even though mine have for as long as I can remember) but this is just silly. Speaking of, she's screaming at me now (again) because she doesn't want to nap. She slept from 10:15 last night to 6:30 this morning and doesn't want to nap. That's not enough sleep for ME, let alone a 2 year old. Any suggestions/recommendations?