Magic Markers: Bring on Spring

We’ve been trying to enjoy the snippets of good weather we’ve been getting lately. Evie loves playing outside. Pat got her a box of sidewalk chalk and we’ve been having fun drawing on our front walk. She has so much fun with it that she never wants to go inside! We’ve been taking walks and looking at all of the flowers, trees and animals that we’ve missed this winter. Evie talks non-stop (I’m not exaggerating!) and she loves to point out everything that we are seeing. I’m still trying to teach her how to ‘drive’ her little car, but she can’t figure it out. She can move backwards a little bit, but mostly she just sits in it, gets in and out, and pushed it around from the outside. She LOVES playing outside with Pops when we got to Kentucky. My parent’s neighbors have a swing set with a slide that they don’t mind us using. Evie went down the slide at least a dozen times our last visit. Then she followed Crosby around the backyard and halfway down the street (Pops was right behind her). Evie and Crosby are two peas in a pod when it comes to exploring new places! We’ve gotten a lot of rain lately and last week, while it sprinkled, Evie and I went on a puddle walk down the street. I had the no-so-bright idea to bring Crosby. Evie wore her raincoat and I grabbed an umbrella and Crosby’s leash and off we went. We didn’t even get halfway down the drive before Evie insisted on holding the umbrella and Crosby started choking himself by pulling too hard on the leash. We made it about 7 houses down, to the curb, when I told Evie that we had to turn around and go home. But Evie didn’t want to go home. She turned away from me and started to run across the street before I stopped her. I told her that the street was dangerous and not to step one foot in the street. She proceeded to look at me and then intentionally put on foot in the street. OMG. The attitude. It said ‘That’s it. We’re going home” and took the umbrella from her, folded it up and tried to grab her hand. She threw herself on the ground and started screaming and crying. I’m sure the neighbors thought I was pulling her arms out of her sockets or something. I managed to pick her up, and take her and Crosby home (it felt like a 40 mile walk), with her screaming the whole time. We got home and I went to set her down when I noticed that she was only where one shoe. No way. I walked to edge of the drive and looked up the street… and there is the shoe lying on the sidewalk by the curb. Back up the street we went, Evie happily talking now because she got her way and we got to continue our walk. I seriously cannot win sometimes. Baring the meltdown and shoe fiasco, our time in the rain was fun. Evie enjoyed splashing in puddles and dancing in the rain. Hopefully we have more spring weather coming our way!