Sledding Fun

Since the forecast for tonight is -2, I thought I'd share how much fun we had this past weekend when it was so nice and warm (like 20 degrees). We spent the weekend up north celebrating Christmas and New Year's with Dave's family, as has become our tradition. One of our favorite things to do is take all the cousins sledding. The 5 oldest cousins were there, which made for plenty of fun on the sledding hill.

Think this kid loves sledding?

I love sledding with Teddy for several reasons:

1. He loves being outside.
2. He loves playing with snow ... and eating it.
3. Sledding is great for his core.
4. Sledding also gives him opportunities to work on his fine motor and speech.

But perhaps most significantly:

The sledding hill was the great equalizer for Teddy this past weekend. His challenges and delays weren't as obvious because he was one of the kids, laughing and playing in the snow. So what if he got pulled to the top of the hill every time? All the other kids tried to con us into pulling them up, too. And realistically, he would have hopped to the top if all the other children wouldn't have aimed their sleds right for him.

Teddy's cousin is intentionally blocking Teddy's path ... no mercy!

I even commented to Dave that things were easier for those moments because Teddy seemed more like the other children ... it was less work even though we were hauling 40 pounds up the hill at minimum, depending on how many other kiddos jumped in the sled.

What is it about kids eating snow?

Now, we need it to warm up about 20 degrees and dump several more inches of snow in our yard, so we can go sledding down our little hill. Wait, did I just ask for more snow?

Cousin Love

Although Teddy's been walking for months, he's really been gaining confidence and control in the last month or so. His cousins were amazed when they spent last weekend together up north.

His youngest three cousins enjoy playing with Teddy, and they all get along fairly well. They're fairly tolerant of Teddy being Teddy, stealing their food, inserting himself into others' personal space, etc. The cousin closest in age has taken to saying, "He's so cute," which is pretty funny coming from her.

Even the cousin who has the least interest in Teddy commented, "Teddy's walking!" That might be a bad thing for him because that means Teddy can invade his personal space much easier.

As his oldest cousin Dakota was falling asleep one night, she was talking with my mother-in-law. She said she was so proud of Teddy because he could walk. She said he's still a bit "wiggly," but he could really walk. It's so neat to see the support they have for Teddy ... when they're not complaining about him destroying things or hiding in a bedroom to play LEGOs without his interference.

Also, this weekend Teddy managed to climb the ladder to the slide, position himself correctly and go down the slide feet first all by himself (with an adult standing nearby as a spotter). That was pretty impressive to witness. It's amazing how far he's come!

Teddy was diving through the line ... true Teddy fashion.