Hop Skip Splash

Claire does not like to have grass stuck to her feet. In 2010, when she was 1.5 and I tried to get her to experience the joy of playing in a sprinkler on a HOT day, she threw a hissy fit about the grass on her feet until I finally just turned the water off and gave up. Last year we tried again. She still hated the grass on her feet more than she enjoyed the sprinkler. But I kept at it, although we did get her a blow-up pool so there weren't quite as many attempts at sprinklers.

Early this year, I was at Target and I found this Dora the Explorer: Hop, Skip & Splash thing. She doesn't watch Dora, so that didn't really matter much, but she loves hopping. We draw hopscotches on the driveway and she jumps on them, plus, if she was on it then she wouldn't be getting grass on her feet. Well, she did get grass on her feet, but then she figured out that this was FUN and got over the grass on her feet. Plus I showed her that if she would splash through the hopscotch it would wash the grass off.



We had so much fun. Yes WE. Because she came up to me and said, "Mama turn". So I had to go run through it...then I did it again...and again...and again. My neighbors might think I'm crazy. But that's okay, because my toddler & I were having fun. Together.