Spring Came Early!

I was completely surprised by the arrival of spring this year. Most years I am expecting spring for a long time before it actually comes but this year I was mentally preparing myself for spring to be later than I always hope it will be. I decided to just count March and April as winter, try to enjoy whatever cold weather we had left and only expect spring in May. 

I figured that was a pretty safe way of looking at things but then something magical happened. Spring came early! I'm a bit superstitious so of course I have concluded that spring came early because I was expecting it to come later (you're welcome everybody). So my plan is to do the same thing for years to come and I think we can bank on getting the same result! Right?! 
Anyway, the end of winter brought with it two fun trips for our family. We had a weekend at Hecla with Matt's family that was a lot of fun. Claire loved swimming in the pool and even enjoyed going down the water slide (which I was actually too scared to go down at first because it's covered and pitch black and I'm a little claustrophobic but seeing the courage of my 3 year old inspired/embarrassed me enough to face my fear).

We also got to enjoy a weekend at Falcon Trails with some friends and my parents were nice enough to babysit Claire for us so we just took Ben along and had a very relaxing weekend! It was fun to watch Ben enjoy playing with Charlie, who is only a couple of days younger than him.

Our time at home has improved tremendously because the milder weather has made it possible to take the kids outside more often! It is amazing how much a walk can improve your mood when you have been trapped inside for the last 3 months. The only downside to walks is when your 3 year old doesn't want the walk to be over and screams for half an hour after it is done.

 A perk of our new house is its proximity to Harbourview Park! One warm Sunday afternoon we took the kids and went skating and sledding. It was so much fun to watch Claire become more and more comfortable on the ice and we even got to go for a family sled down the hill. The only downside to this event was Claire crying when it was time to go and throwing herself on the muddy pavement of the parking lot. 

As Ben is getting older it is more fun for the kids to play together. Mostly Claire plays and Ben just laughs. It's a beautiful thing!

It is also fun to watch as each kid enters new stages in their development. Claire is able to play and entertain herself for long periods of time these days. She loves playing with water in the sink and pretending she is doing the dishes. She also loves to ride her tricycle around downstairs and pretend to do all sorts of things. I love hearing her talk to herself about all of her imaginary activities! One of Claire's biggest struggles lately is accepting when an activity she really likes is over (you may have already noticed this) and takes a long time to recover from the disappointment. This makes for many difficult moments throughout the day and, at times, a very frustrated mom.  

Ben is finding some fun new toys (mostly door stoppers) because he is able to roll around whatever room he finds himself in. Lately he is becoming frustrated by his limited mobility. He loves it when we hold his hands and walk around with him (this is mine and my back's least favourite stage, I was really hoping for a crawler this time around). He used to be very happy to jump in his exersaucer but now just cries when you put him in there because he knows he'll be stuck in there for a while. One of Ben's favourite things is rice puffs. He eats them ferociously, by shovelling them into his mouth as quickly as humanly possible and howling away as soon as there are no more left on his tray. Not very many actually make it into his mouth, as is evident by the copious amounts of puffs covering the eating room floor but practice makes perfect... I hope. He is also very excited about his ability to hold and drink from his own sippy cup. This little freedom makes him (and me) very happy. 

All in all, life in the Enns household is going very well. We are excited for the weather to get even warmer and to enjoy more spring activities together!