Sledding

My parents came to visit this weekend. They brought one of the toboggans from when I was a kid. My dad had made a toddler seat for my sister when she was small, so that Peter and I could pull her around the yard without her falling out. He still had the seat and brought it down for Brennan. Using snow shoes and the toboggan, he packed down a few trails in our back yard so that Brennan could zoom down. I took a few rides with the little guy, as did Brian, Dad and Mom. We had a lot of fun playing. I also went down with the plastic sled a couple of times, which went pretty fast... I had to be careful not to crash into the trees!

Here is a little video of Brennan making his way down. (Joanie, I know you said you are anti-snow activities, but we can suit Evan up in Brennan's snow pants and boots, and give him a sled ride this weekend, if you are interested!)

My parents also surprised Brennan with a spring, bouncy horse. At daycare, Brennan always enjoyed playing on the little spring horse that Ana had. Brennan was so excited when we were putting it together. He kept sitting on the horse before it was attached to the stand, and before its head and feet were attached. When it was finally ready, we all realized how big this thing was. We put him on and he had fun riding that first day, but since then, he seems to be a little intimidated by the size of the horse. I think he has been hesitant to ride it because he can't get on and off by himself. I am sure this is one toy that he will grow into.

You might remember that while I was on maternity leave, I attended a weekly mom group at Loudoun Hospital. The group was for babies 0-4 months old, and there was a group for the next age up (4-8 months), but by that time, I had gone back to work. Until recently, I didn't know that a number of the women were still getting together once a week, after the formal group ended. One of the moms reached out to me to invite me back, when she heard I left my job. They have a room reserved at the library and the kids just play together in an informal setting. We went yesterday and it was was nice to reconnect. I think we'll try to make it there on most Wednesdays going forward. Thanks for the invite, Jennifer!