Search Results for: blog hiking with your toddler

Toddlers And Television

As with any topic related to parenting toddlers, the topic of television is one where families vary greatly in their approaches. Some families avoid any and all television. Some have multiple televisions which are on much of the time. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle of the television spectrum. Personally, we only have one television in our home. It is in our bedroom. It is not hooked up to cable, satellite, or any other television service. We have a DVD player, and that is what we use the television for. As far as what kind of programming and … Continue reading →

Toddler Fun In The Fall

There is a certain crispness in the air at night these days. In fact, it has been for a few weeks now but not many people have been talking about it. It is understandable that not many people want to admit that summer is coming to a close. There are probably a lot of things that you and your toddler have enjoyed this summer that you will miss doing once summer is over. The good news is that fall brings with it a whole new array of fun things that you can enjoy with your toddler. If you live somewhere … Continue reading →

Hiking With Your Toddler

Most toddlers do not need much encouragement when it comes to getting them to do outdoor activities. Children are naturally curious and the great outdoors offers up seemingly endless opportunities for exploration. Toddlers are often quite energetic too, and outdoor activities enable them to use their energy in ways that strengthen their minds and bodies. It can be difficult to know which outdoor activities your toddler is ready for at each stage of his development. For example, you may think that it will be a few years before you take to the trails with your one year old. Fortunately, many … Continue reading →

More Places To Take Your Little Ghosts And Goblins For Some Safe Halloween Fun

Now I’ve done it. Yesterday I posted a blog with a picture of my daughter wearing her very first Halloween costume. She happened to catch sight of the photo featuring her in the spotted Dalmatian creation and insisted I get it out of the closet for her. She then spent the better part of the day trying to squeeze her 3-year-old body into the costume she wore when she was a year old. Never mind that we have her new costume for this year, which fits just fine. No, she wanted to be a pooch–the power of suggestion! If you … Continue reading →

Where To Take Your Little Ghosts And Goblins For Some Safe Halloween Fun

My 3-year-old daughter has only gone trick-or-treating twice in her entire life. The first time she went dressed as a Dalmatian and last year she was a giraffe. If you are anything like me disappoint sets in quickly about an hour after your child returns from gathering his/her goodies. What a shame that the costume you dropped $50 on (or spent 30 hours sewing) only gets to be used for a few hours on Halloween night. (Sure, there’s always the chance to show them off at various Halloween parties and you could leave them out for your child to play … Continue reading →

Hiking with the Family

The weather is finally warming up here in Colorado. This year we’ve had the snowiest, iciest winter in the fifteen years we’ve lived here. As the days are finally getting warmer, we are all anxious to be outside. I love to hike. I’m a slow hiker and I like to take my time and notice the changes the seasons bring. I look for wildflowers, or the way the ice has formed at the creek edges, the autumn leaves laying on the ground damp from a recent rain, or the way the wild roses form rose hips in the fall. So … Continue reading →

Kid Fitness: Take Your Toddler Outside

In our urgency to protect our children from the world, we may go too far and protect them from the environment and keeping them cooped up in the house. We may overdo it and then television becomes a substitute for real experience and it’s important to remember that going outside for your toddler is going to be as hard as getting a bird to fly – they only need one thing: you. Toddlers love the outdoors, they love to go out and play and walk and run and dance. They love the grass and how it feels against their feet. … Continue reading →

My New Mom Obsession – Old Children’s Books

I’ve got a confession to make – I am thoroughly obsessed with old children’s books. When I read to my boys at bedtime, we choose from a varied selection of books that we borrow from the library and books that we own. Some of the books I like, others not so much. Then there are a few that are just amazing, and those tend to be the ones that were written and published years before I was even born. I am unsure why those older books are so captivating, but they are. Dylan seems to enjoy them too, and for … Continue reading →

He Never Ceases To Amaze Me

As toddlers grow, they often surprise their parents with the depth and range of emotions that they experience. The other day, Dylan treated me to a glimpse of an emotion that is not often associated with toddlers – generosity. Not just the sharing kind of generosity, but the kind of generosity that involves giving and expecting nothing in return. We were out hiking, and suddenly Dylan stopped in the middle of the trail to pick something up. I was halfway through asking him not to pick any more leaves off of the trees when I realized that he was not … Continue reading →

Building Healthy Habits To Set A Good Example

Earlier this week I had a couple of days where I did not quite feel like myself. My patience was wearing thin, I was grouchy and irritable, and I was generally not all that fun to be around. I believe that the underlying cause of my acute case of the crankies is that for the past eleven days, I have been following a rather strict nutritional program called the Whole30. The Whole30 is a nutritional program designed by the folks at Whole9 that lasts for 30 days, as the name would imply. It is designed to help people reset their … Continue reading →