Is Anyone Getting Married?

We haven't been to a wedding in years. COVID plays a huge role in that, given that we've hunkered down through the pandemic, but we're also at that season in life where we're not invited to many weddings. The cousins are all married, and we're (thankfully) too young to be invited to the weddings of kids of people we know. 

The downfall in this is that weddings are a great excuse to hit the dance floor. I'm down for dancing some, but children love to dance. AJ had so much fun dancing at weddings when he was younger, particularly when he was obsessed with the Cuban Shuffle. Teddy enjoyed hopping around the dance floor because at the last wedding, he was at the bunny hop phase of movement. 

Now, this child walks, runs and hops (on his feet now) everywhere. He spontaneously starts dancing when he hears upbeat music. While AJ struggled to figure out how to dance to the SuperBowl raptime (Haha, get it? Halftime. Raptime. Hahaha.) show, Teddy was down with it. 

I wish we had a wedding where this child could showcase his skills. Now, don't get me wrong, I'd be a sweaty mess from chasing him everywhere and he'd be into everything, but he'd have a blast doing it. I suppose the good news is I don't think his love of dancing will disappear anytime soon.

Loving Life

This child loves time outdoors in just about every form or fashion, particularly when he's directing his own destiny. The stubbornness is strong with this one, as is evidenced by every attempt to get him into a vehicle and out of the vehicle once we get home. But while he's outdoors, he's a happy camper, even though we've had cold, windy weather lately. (Wisconsin in February is not the most ideal. Seriously, I never heard of a snow squall before last week, but I discovered what that was when I was driving in it.)

We spent some time outdoors this weekend. Dave, Teddy and I visited a nature preserve without a specific plan in mind. We wandered mostly where Teddy's legs carried him, tried sledding in a few spots and perhaps fell off the bank several feet down. Good thing Teddy is durable and remarkably unfazed by something like that ... unlike Dave. As long as we don't have plans to do a specific hike or walk, it's quite enjoyable to follow Teddy's lead. It eliminates a lot of the power struggles we sometimes encounter. I've also learned from our childcare providers that making things fun like playing Red Light, Green Light or fun, stomping walking or giving him a stick can make walks more enjoyable. Sometimes he needs a distraction to keep him focused, if that makes sense.

You can feel the joy, can't you?

We also spent some time at a park on Sunday when it was unseasonably warm (and therefore a soggy mess) and windy. Even though the temperature didn't require snow pants, we wore them anyways in an attempt to stay drier. *Shakes head at silliness* Teddy was quite pleased to discover the puddles to stomp in, slip around in (because there was ice under the water) and generally play. He also found a ball to carry around and send down slides. It was great to spend time outdoors and simply playing at Teddy's level.

He's Got a Knife!

Teddy has a high interest in helping in the kitchen, coupled with limited safety skills. It's not the best combination, so we work with very close supervision and sometimes hand-over-hand assistance. He's gets so excited when we let him help stir dishes on the stove. Although it makes me nervous, he does very well holding the pan handle with one hand and the spoon with the other. 

There's no way, though, that we trust him with an actual sharp knife. He's been working with a butter knife. The challenges with that are that it's not as sharp as needed to cut some things, and the bigger challenge is his inability to know which way to hold it. He often tries cutting with the knife upside down.

So we discussed this with his OT, and she recommended several different options. We purchased a set of serrated plastic knives intended for young children, along with a wooden cutter. He is doing great with holding the knife properly and is chopping so well. And he's so proud of himself. And so are we.

This Child Loves Cheese

I'm not quite sure what Teddy's favorite food is, but I can guarantee that carbs and cheese are both high on his list. He will snag either off the counter and run off like a bandit to enjoy his stolen goods (including entire loaves of sourdough or pounds of cheese). He was quite excited when we stopped to get fresh, deep-fried cheese curds at the cheese factory along the way to the farm last weekend.

Gosh, he looks grown up here.

And these pictures just demonstrate the weirdness that is Teddy.

He's sporting his baby Yoda sweatshirt. 

And this, well, he's just weird.