Keep Him Occupied

Winter time is my least favorite.  Sure it's pretty when the snow falls, but not when it stays on the ground for the next 4 months.  The only other problem with winter I hate is the inversion up here.  Although one nice thing about living further away from town is it doesn't seem as smoggy out here.

 

  Well we had a few days of clear air, and slightly above freezing weather.  I strapped Dexter into the stroller as best we could.  Ellie chilled in my Ergo carrier, and away we took our walks.  Besides getting soaking wet feet from flooded ice water sidewalks, it was nice to get out.

It was hard to keep his legs under the blanket to keep his feet warm

 Dexter loved the walks, and I think he liked the change of scenery.  To help him not get bored with not being able to do much, we had saved his biggest Christmas present for last. It was from Nub Nub and Pop Pop Hansen...and it's a Cars table! 

Putting it together

Could hardly look up for a smile

Playing with all the Radiator Springs friends

It has train track type tracks, and all the Radiator Spring buildings to go through.  He sat at the table for 3 hours the first day.  It'll be more fun when the cast comes off.  It got a little frustrating for him when the cars would roll slightly out of his reach, and most the track he couldn't play with.

Don't know how he played, but he managed it somehow

He's also loved playing with all the new imaginext stuff.
Hopefully the cast will come off at our next appointment!

To help me brighten up the house during winter, and clean my house air, I got a lemon tree.  At Thanksgiving I picked it up in Vegas (because those aren't sold in the cold lands of the north).  It has survived for 2 months now, and is actually thriving!  The flowers on it currently smell amazing, and I'm hand pollinating it in hopes for some lemons to grow on it.

Beautiful fragrant blossoms

Sit in this chair and it smells great

Kyle liked the chair to read, he actually had some congestion and couldn't smell the flowers.

Ellie is a crazy little roller.  She's the opposite of what Dexter was.  I'll do a later post of her because her 6 month birthday is coming up.  CRAZY!

She likes to make Dexter mad by going into his cars

Loves playing with his Lego cars, but screams a ton when rolling over them

Needs a pacifier and monkey blanket when napping

Again with the lego cars, this time the pink one

The time with the cast is almost over, and I am ready.  I can't imagine how long its felt like to Dexter, probably forever.  But he's been a trooper through it all.

How he "stands", also note the new green tape decorations

Zonked out all cute

We've all have had colds of one kind or another circulating (I think we picked it up while at the hospital in SLC).  Which is never fun with babies, toddlers, or their parents. However, one of the night Dex threw up a couple times.  Poor guy just wanted to snuggle (which is very hard to do with his bulky, awkward shaped cast), and it was a long night for him and me.

Snuggles with sickie boy