Busy girl

Well, we made it through our first christmas together in spite of the blizzard-like conditions for a couple of weeks. Net had a cold just before christmas, then her daycare closed due to the record amounts of snow (about 8-14" on the ground for a couple of weeks) and then the usual holiday closure. By the time she got back to daycare, she hadn't seen her buddies for almost a month. She was seriously bored at home and became a pretty severe television addict while we were snowed in. After a few days of being unable to leave the house (couldn't walk because of snow and ice, and it was too cold to play outside for long and unsafe to drive anywhere), we gave up and let the Noggin channel rock during all waking hours. She now bangs on the tv and cries when it's off. (bring on the guilt trip!)

We did get out into the snow a little with her. We were sadly unprepared for the weather and didn't have any boots or even decent winter shoes for her, since it only ever rains and we generally don't go out and play in the rain. I bundled her up in a full body fleece thing, folded the hand and foot parts over her shoes and mittened hands, and put a puffy jacket over that. She couldn't walk due to all the puffiness and covered feet, but I pulled a snow disk sled out of the garage and tied a rope handle to it. We dragged her up and down our street in it, and even went to the park and tried sledding a couple of times. She was ok with it and had fun for about 1/2 hour, saying "weee!" but she'd quickly get cold and sad. 1/2 hour of the day is not a very long stretch to be out of the house. The other 23 1/2 hours were kind of hard. That's where the tv came in. And of course there were no snow clothes or boots to be found in the greater Seattle area. We ordered some online but by the time they came, the snow was gone.

There were a few play dates to break up the weeks, and Ken and I took Net to some nearby coffee shops/restaurants that have play areas. I tell you, those places are great! Before Net, I would have steered clear (the piercing shrieks are a little hard on digestion, especially for non-parents) but now I'm SO glad they are there. It makes us feel like we can actually go out to eat and not worry about trying to keep her in a high chair or quiet the whole time (both are virtually impossible for a very active 17-month old). We still have to watch her, of course, but it's so much easier than fighting her to stay still and quiet for 2 hours. You might as well tell a hurricane to hush up and be still.

Anyway, January 5th was the grand re-entry to normalcy, with Net going back to daycare and Ken and I going back to work. She's obviously very happy with her friends there! We were so worried when it came time for her to start daycare but it has worked out so well.

Net had her first toddler birthday party she attended for our friend's 2-year old daughter over the weekend. It was at the Little Gym, and the activities were a little too organized for Net's age (or maybe just her personality!). She wasn't interested in the group activities and freaked out a little at some of the things (inflatable bouncy thing, for example) but she was very interested in trying to climb on all the gym equipment. I think we will need to get her into some active classes pretty soon...

We also went to our first Martin Luther King Jr. day rally near our house. The march started at Net's nap time so we decided to take her to the earlier rally and then go home. It was an especially big day, since it was also the day before Obama's inauguration! Apparently a lot of other people also wanted celebrate, and the place was packed and hot and noisy. Net made it through about 5 minutes and then started to scream, so Ken took her home. I stayed, and then went back home at the end. I think next year we will skip the rally and try to take her on the march - less sitting still and more moving around is probably more up her alley ;-)

Other than that, life is busy with every day stuff and trying to get clothes and shoes on a frequent enough basis to fit her. She's now wearing 18 month clothing and size 6 shoes. She seems to go through another clothing and shoe size about every 6-8 weeks. This exponential growth has been going on for about 10 months... will it ever level out? Or will we end up with a 6-foot daughter??? (how cool would that be!)