Outside!

It's growing! My garden, the one that my little man and I planted, it's got green in it! It's hard to understand my excitement if you're a seasoned horticulturist, but for me, who has a good track record with indoor cactus (as long as I only have one at a time), a garden is a wildly adventurous thing. Our peas are up and looking hearty, our tomatoes have survived transplantation and now we're getting signs of life from our onions and squash! Yes, I know these are all beginner type plants, but still, they're alive (muahahahaha!). My watermelon are the only ones awaiting slightly warmer nights before they too join the group. They have a little while before they outgrow their little pots anyways, so they can enjoy the warm morning sun on the windowsill for a few more weeks. I've dreamt of a garden for many years, with various windowsill and counter top attempts (and subsequent failures) I am absolutely thrilled to finally be showing some green! It only makes it better that it's a garden built by my husband and that Bugaboo helped plant it; it's been a family project and we don't have many of those. Thoroughly pleased I am!

And with that, here's part two. I wish I had a better name than simply a 'list', but it's irrelevant.

A Dozen or So Things to Do With a Toddler Outside!

1. Nature Walk (grab a bucket and find all the exciting rocks and sticks along the way)


2. Garden; not a great one day activity, but a fun project from spring to summer.


3. City Walk (again, grab a bucket and maybe a piece of chalk, or just wander down a street stopping in the occasional toy store to play)


4. Go on a Picnic; fun with friends, or all by yourselves


5. Go to a Provincial Park / trail / beach / farm etc. There's only a little searching required to find awesome public gems in your community.


6. Take pictures. Especially fun if you have an older camera the little one can hold. Head out to the yard and have a photo shoot.


7. Blow Bubbles. Never not fun. The new coloured bubbles are a neat outdoor toy, and they're strong, so they don't pop when they land on the grass, but they're practically ink, so be ready.


8. Play in a sprinkler. Or better yet, if you live by a water park, they can be very exciting.


9. Play ball! Soccer, football, baseball, beach ball, toddlers love 'em and can surprise you with how well they can handle them at a very young age.


10. Enjoy a messy snack. Take advantage of not having to scrub the floors or wipe sticky off the walls and grab a Popsicle or dive into a watermelon. They're better when they're messy anyways.


11. Park play date. Or, if you're lucky like us and have a few parks in a small subdivision, go for a park-crawl. This one will wear them out for sure.


12. Bug Safari. Head off to the woods or a field and start searching. In fact, according to retired biologist Jennifer Owen, the best place to discover new species of bugs is right in your own back yard!


13. Watch clouds. Not for every busy little one, but for some, it's a new world of floating shapes!


14. Watch a construction site. Not too close mind you, but heavy machinery in real life is pretty impressive.


15. Go for a bus ride. You don't have to actually go anywhere, just a little adventure on a big bus.


16. Have a conversation. Have your little one tell you all about the things they can see, and you can tell them all about them too.


17. Watch planes take off/land. To some a trip to the airport is a lengthy drive, but we can see the airport from our yard (not always great) and Bugaboo loves watching the planes ("Airmapes" he calls them).


18. And last but not least, as I previously mentioned, Chalk! Makes a mess and washes off easy. Just keep them away from the cars.
    

Well what do you think of that, eh? As it's the cusp of June, yeah, these are all summer ideas. Maybe I'll do a part three in the fall/winter. Wait and see.

However, as my hubby is away this week, nap time is stretched a little thin by the things I want to get done around the house, so I'd best get to work.