January and Three Hikes!

One of Elizabeth’s Christmas presents was a picnic basket, which she absolutely loves.  She’ll not only set up a picnic for herself, but she’ll invite friends – putting out two plates, two cups, etc.  Very fun.  Here she is setting up her picnic while in her Bumbo seat…

In early January we had some stunning skies.  The colors and the vibrancy was unmatched in anything we had seen in awhile.  Here is a sunrise sky…

Elizabeth, like any toddler, is attracted to things that she reallly shouldn’t be playing with…such as our humidifier.  She loves turning the fan to different levels and blow drying her hair while it’s on high, she’ll turn it off and on, and change the humidity levels.  We’re just crossing our fingers that she doesn’t start putting things into the vent to watch it go round and round in the fan!

And, of course, she still loves boxes.  This box – for her new convertible car seat – is still getting used even today (March 1st!).  She’s in it, she puts things in it, she pushes it around the house, and she likes to crawl on top of it and sit there.  After a month and a half of use/abuse, it is starting to succumb to the pressures…so we may have to take it away from her soon, which I’m sure she will NOT be happy about.

I’m fortunate to have one day during the week to spend with Elizabeth.  This cold winter day I decided to let her have access to a “forbidden” kitchen cabinet (our heavy pots and glass lids).  I set up an assortment of sound makers and thought she was going to have a heyday pounding on everything listening to the different sounds everything made…

….but she surprised me by turning over a pot and started “stirring”.

She must’ve gotten that from her father!  She had a grand ole time, and now I’m looking forward to the day she and her Daddy cook for me every day!

The city recreation center opened up a new facility for dance and gymnastics.  For one hour every day they open up the facility for parents to bring their toddlers.  It has a trampoline, a foam block pit, climbing net, ropes, cushioned pads & ramps, balance beams and all of the usual gymnastic equipment.  Elizabeth loves our Wednesday tumbling sessions.

She is getting more and more brave with every visit, too.  I love seeing her come out of her shell.  She is “an observer”.  Many people have pointed this out to us.  She loves watching, especially when the environment is a little overwhelming.  Sometimes when we go somewhere new, she’ll just sit and watch for 15 minutes before taking off and joining in.  The first several visits she wanted nothing to do with the foam block pit…now she’ll let me sit her in there for a minute and she is on the verge of jumping in herself.  But she loves the trampoline and just laughs and laughs when she falls down and you ‘bounce’ her.  One day her poor little nose was all red from being bounced face down.  Ooops!

As a first-time parent I’m still unsure of how much to ‘help’, how close or far away I should stay to let her do things on her own, how much to encourage interacting with other kids, and so on.  My general attitude is to let her do things to learn her balance and skills, knowing that there might be a bump or bruise, but as long as she is in no real danger to let her learn on her own.  I’m not so sure if my heart can handle it though!  I catch my breath, my heart stops, and I struggle listening to the cries and seeing the tears…but I’m getting really good at curing things with hugs and kisses.

Andy and I got three hikes in this month!  Unheard of!  One with Elizabeth and two on our own.

The first hike was to Mt Falcon.  It was our first time here and was a great hike to take with Elizabeth…especially a snowy hike.  Great views, chirping birds, a pavilion with a view, a fire tower, and some ruins.  Very nice.

The only guarantee of a truly peaceful hike…

It’s nice when someone offers to take a family photo of the three of us…

The second hike was a solo trip.  Our friend and employee, Michelle, gave us one of the best Christmas presents ever – time to ourselves.  She babysat Eliz one Saturday morning and we chose a hike that we wouldn’t feel comfortable taking Elizabeth on.  The trail off of Windy Saddle on Lookout Mountain.  I was pregnant (and scared) the last time we took this hike that has boulders to scramble over and steep slopes to slide off of.  I was thrilled to tackle it again without worrying about a belly getting in the way or increasing my worries.  We had our Yak Trax and poles to help us along this ice covered trail. 

Great views along most of this trail that is also very close to home.  I still can’t believe it took us years to find this little gem.  Next time hopefully we’ll have more time to make it to Genesee Park from Windy Saddle.

We were anxious about how Michelle and Elizabeth were getting along, but I should stop worrying about things like that.  The two of them had fun together and Eliz learned to say “peek-a-boo” while playing with Michelle.  Elizabeth tends to take to anyone who is silly and Michelle is quick to smile and laugh so I should’ve known they would become buds quickly.

The last hike we did was another local trail.  North Table Mountain in Golden.  We dropped Elizabeth off at the YMCA’s Kids Day Out for some fun with other kids and for some time to ourselves.  It was a cold, and very windy day.  Probably not the best day to hike to the top of a mesa at the edge of the foothills…we almost got blown away.

Andy, my first child, still loves to test every frozen patch of water we find.  He might not have drowned if he broke through, but I’m sure he would’ve had frost bite by the time we got back to the car.  So, I just snap my pictures and mosey along my way leaving him to play.

We love watching Elizabeth sleep…she’s a little angel…our sleeping beauty.  Can you believe how big she’s gotten? 

I think we might’ve (MIGHT HAVE) finally gotten over the shock of having a baby.  About time, eh?

For more pictures and videos, visit January Webalbums.