Nursing Bras, Free S/H! Kimberly de Montbrun: Creative Springtime Fun for your Toddler
(and YOU!)

Cloth Diapers

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Spring has finally sprung! Although in Montreal, you would barely notice it for all the snow. Yet still the signs are there. Melted spots of muck and tulips my 3 year old daughter gleefully discovered poking up through the snow. Snow pants are slowly being banished and splash pants make their way to the front of the closet. It is the season of mud and sopping wet mittens, of soggy grass, and cleansing rains. We finally get to explore beyond the confining walls of our too small home and venture out into the world again. Here are some fun activities for you and your little ones to enjoy while you rediscover the world after a winter's confinement:

1) Go for a walk! Pretty simple, but oh so refreshing after a winter indoors. Take it slow and make sure that you stop for all of the small stuff. You may not find the wet rocks at the side of the road fascinating, but through your toddler's eyes they are treasure. Have your child bring along a small basket or bag to collect her treasures in. Get down low with her and help her search. Find pine cones, twigs, stones....all these things are wondrous to your toddler. Let your toddler dawdle and fill her basket to her heart's content. Keep her treasures in her room and have her show them to your spouse when they get home. Make sure to ooo and aaahh.

2) Get muddy! Go ahead and get as dirty as you can, your toddler will thank you for it. There is nothing quite like the sound of mud sucking at your boots or goopiness of it sliding through your fingers. Forgo any "No Touch. Dirty." instincts that you may have, and let your little one explore. Suit up in splash suits to protect clothing, and just relax and have fun. It will all wash up later. Make muddy hand prints on your sidewalk. Find a good mud poking stick and poke. Be prepared, toddlers can poke mud for what seems like hours.

3)Plant seedlings. Buy a packet of seeds, a small bag of soil and save an old egg carton. Lay out a bunch of newspaper over your table to ensure a quick clean up. Help your toddler to spoon dirt into the egg cartons. Show them how to poke a hole in the dirt with their fingers and drop a seed in and gently cover it up. Get a spritzer bottle to water the plants. Your toddler will be so proud to plant her seedlings in the garden with you when they are ready. Make sure that when you show guests your garden that you let them know that your toddler planted the seeds. Have your toddler show the garden herself.

4)Go outside in the rain. Gear up in rain slickers and boots and go puddle dancing. Nothing can bring you back to your childhood faster than splashing in puddles. Make sure that you join in the splashing. See who can splash the fastest, the biggest, the hardest. Hold hands and give rain droppy kisses. Sing "It's raining, it's pouring".

5)Help the birds. Take out a bunch of drier lint and string and strew it about your front path and place on your window sills for the birds to pad their nests. Give your child handfuls to spread about and make sure to explain that the birds will use it to make their beds. Watch from a window off and on during the day and make sure to call your little one when you see a bird making off with a bit of yarn or fluff.

6)Plan an outing to a nearby farm or petting zoo to see all of the baby animals. We have a dairy farm nearby and go to see the new calves in the springtime and if we are lucky, to see them being born. Birthing might be too much for your toddler, but preschoolers and school age children find it an incredible experience. Pet the new calves and show your toddler how they suck on your fingers. (Don't have them suck on your toddler's fingers though, those little guys have major sucking power and could suck down a whole toddler hand! You don't want to give your little one a lifelong fear of cows. Make sure that the adventure is highly supervised as spirited little calves are not the most predictable of little creatures and you wouldn't want your toddler to get bumped.) Breastfed toddlers always get a kick out of seeing the baby animals nurse, make sure that you point it out.

7)Go to the sugar shack. If there is still any snow on the ground, let your toddler help you make maple toffee. Take a cart ride through the maple bush. Buy a maple sugar candy and savour it together. Mmmmm. Have lots of maple sugar sticky kisses.

8)Go fly a Kite! Take your toddler with you to the dollar store and pick up a kite, then hit your nearest football field. Talk about the wind, run into it. Show your little one how to fly the kite. Let them hold the string with you so that they can feel the wind tugging at it. Spin circles, and if the ground isn't too soggy, fall down and watch the clouds blow by together. Show your toddler how to make blowing noises and pretend to be the wind.

Copyright 2001 Kimberly de Montbrun
If you wish to reprint this, or any other of my articles in your newsletter, magazine, or website, please feel free to contact me at Kimberly@GentleParents.com.