The Great Outdoors

It's officially summer!  And although Alabama summers are notoriously hot and steamy, we're still trying to spend as much time outside as we can.  Ever since Evie discovered grass (and her repulsion thereto), I've had it in in the back of my head that I might have my work cut out for me in getting her to enjoy being outdoors.  And our Spring Break beach trip, where Evie refused to touch the sand or get in the water, didn't make me feel much better about it.

Slowly but surely, Evie is coming around.  She still won't put her bare feet in the grass, but she will walk on it with shoes on.  And I've gradually gotten her to love our rock bed in the back yard.  When I first introduced her to it months ago, she didn't want any part of it.  Then she wanted me to hold her in my lap while I picked up some rocks for her to inspect.  This quickly turned into a game of her pretending to eat each rock she inspected and me dramatically exclaiming, "no don't eat it!"  Soon after that, she was grabbing the rocks herself, and then one day she decided it would be fine for her bare feet to touch the rocks.  I would hold her hand while she bent down to pick up the rocks that she wanted to look at.  And now she will sit in the rock bed all by herself, and she loves it.   

 

And you already know she likes the pool, as long as you get all the way in with her.  She also likes her sand box/water table.  She really had to warm up to the sand!  Like the rocks, for a while she only wanted to watch me sift it and rake it.  But now she likes to do it herself.  And she loves to get rocks from the rock bed and bury them in the sand.  It is very exciting when we later dig one up!

And last but not least, she loves, loves , LOVES her swing.  This is one thing she did NOT need to warm up to, and she has loved it since the day we hung it up (her birthday).

pure joy!