Delilah’s Favorite Summer Activities

Now that Delilah’s a walking, talking, big ol’ toddler, we’ve been trying to pack this summer with all kinds of fun experiences and activities for her. Last year, with her still being little and all the doom and gloom of being shut down, I feel like we really didn’t enjoy the summer season much at all. I wanted to change that this year so that in December when I’m looking back at pictures from the summer and dreaming about being warm, (in the winter I’m perpetually cold), I’ll know that we truly enjoyed the summer season. Delilah’s been loving all the extra fun were packing into our days, so I thought it would be fun to share some of her favorite activities so far!

Picking Dandelions

I titled this “Picking Dandelions” because that’s what she does 90% of the time, but for the most part, one of her favorite activities is just going outside. Sometimes she even tells me when it’s time to go outside by bringing me her shoes and then saying shoes repeatedly until I put them on her and we go outside. Outside she loves to just walk through the yard (which is a little overgrown, hence the dandelions) and pick flowers. She surprised me the other day by saying flower clear as day when she went to hand me one that she had picked. I’m always telling her that they are flowers, but I didn’t know that she knew the word herself yet. She’s also discovered ladybugs from playing outside and she just thinks they are the cutest thing. Now she points them out whenever she has ones printed on her clothes.

Exploring Oregon

This one is kind of a broad category to include all the little day trips we’ve been taking because I couldn’t decide on just one to talk about. I used to be so nervous taking Delilah places because it felt like such a stressful ordeal with all the stuff we needed to bring and not knowing how she was going to react. On the other hand, I knew that the only way that was going to get better was by doing it more often.

Recently we’ve taken Delilah out to Lake Foster for a picnic, and she had a blast! I was so nervous about how she was going to do in deeper and also moving water and she just walked right in. She kept getting mad at her lifejacket whenever it made her start to float because she liked just walking through the water.

This weekend we also took a family trip to the county fair, none of us had ever gone before so it was a new experience for all of us. Delilah loved seeing the animals and the live music. She was all smiles until it was time to go home. Another thing we like to do is have mother-daughter shopping days. Spending the afternoon browsing shops has always been one of my favorite things to do when spending time with my mom and grandmother. Delilah seems to have the shopping bug as well because she loves it when we go out browsing. She likes to reach from clothes on the rack while saying “Oooo Pretty,”.

Making Messes

I’d say making messes is one of the best parts of summer. It’s warm outside so you can do a lot of things you would normally do inside, like eating watermelon and have the juice running down your hands, splashing in the water, and enjoying ice cream treats. We’ve been trying all kinds of new foods and drinks when we take Delilah outside. I think the Popsicles are her favorite so far but we also have been using this opportunity to let Delilah practice with open cups. She is really excited to use them but of course, it takes some practice to get it right and that process can be messy. It’s so easy to bring a little cup with us outside to pour water in a little bit at a time. It’s a win-win because if she spills it is just going into the grass and if not, it’s helping her stay hydrated. She’s not quite there yet but she’s gotten so much better with an open cup since we’ve started doing this.

Video Chatting with Grandma

Since early June, Delilah’s grandma/best friend has been down in California to visit with the family and this is the longest Delilah has been away from her. In the past, whenever anyone was traveling we’ve used video calls to keep in touch, so we decided to do that from time to time so Delilah could still see her Grandma.

Well from time to time, has become 2-3 times a day on most days. First thing in the morning while I’m drinking my coffee and Delilah’s having her milk she runs over to me and says “Ga-Ga,”. She’s usually pretty vocal about telling us what she wants. When she sees her Grandma on the phone she shouts “Hi,” and on most days will take my phone and run away to go talk to her grandma for a while. Now, whenever the sound of a video call coming in goes off she automatically assumes it’s Grandma and comes running from whatever she was doing to see.

Lazy Afternoons with Mom

Now as much as I make it seem like our summer has been packed with nonstop excitement and adventure, there has still been PLENTY of lazy afternoons. There is just something about summer afternoons that just make me want to take a nap. It’s like when 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. rolls in my eyes just want to close. On some days I feel like Delilah gets that too. When we’re not out and about we like to hang out in the living room and just relax together or Delilah will play on her own while I fold some laundry on the couch. With some of the adventures we’ve been having, I’ve also found it nice to schedule myself with time to do nothing. I know that sounds silly but I’m someone who’s constantly thinking about the next task that I need to accomplish each day. On days when I’m all caught up, I like to leave afternoons open so that I can tell myself “that I don’t have anything I need to do until it’s time to make dinner,” and it’s one of the best feelings in the world to hear that there’s nothing I need to do for a while. I guess in a way you could call it self-care but it’s also nice leaving that part of the day open to just spend time with Delilah.