Winter Hikes

The other weekend Teddy and I went for a hike together at a local nature preserve. Teddy was super excited to spend some time outdoors in the woods. He loves running through the woods, and it’s great for him to practice his stability.

Since this preserve was in the path of tornado-like winds the other year, there’s still tons of down trees, paths blocked and even more bramble that seems to be right at eye height. So Teddy got plenty of practice ducking and even had to crawl under some trees. He came away with no scratches and both eyeballs still intact, so that was a success.

We probably spent about an hour walking and covered about a mile, not bad for Teddy and the terrain and all the breaks he took to sit on the ground because he didn’t want to go any further (or he wanted to go the opposite direction). While I’d love to hike longer and further, this hike was so enjoyable because I went into it with no expectations and let Teddy lead our adventure for the most part.

He thought it was hilarious that he was running and sliding down a hill (with a steep cliff dropping to a river on one side), but thankfully he slid right into a tree that was downed across the trail. That stopped him and allowed me to catch up to him, giggling hysterically. (Him, not me, although I did chuckle after telling him he almost died.)

Although Teddy is persistent, he does fall pretty often. He doesn’t mind those falls and will often pick himself up and keep running without pausing. Yet he also took advantage of these breaks to munch on snow. I know many kids like to eat snow, but Teddy takes eating snow to a whole new level. He’ll eat it straight off the ground, scoop it up to eat it or lick it off tree branches. In fact, when he didn’t want to head back to the car, I kept scooping up the cleanest snow I could find to offer him “snow snacks” to keep going.

Teddy munching on his snow stick. Weirdo.

This was a great adventure with Teddy, and I’m grateful for afternoons like this.