Winter Initiation

Given the family she was born into, Maya will surely spend a good portion of her childhood outdoors. No need to worry about this child being left inside. So, this being her first winter, we thought we might as well give her a full initiation into the season of snow, cold, and sparkle.

Here she is on our morning walk experiencing the first snowfall of the year, back in mid-November. A bit concerned about this new development, perhaps? Cautious, at least.

The snow piled up quickly. By the time we took her out for her first sled ride, she had come to terms with the new normal.

Speaking of normal, is it standard practice to plunk a baby seat into a regular old plastic sled to take your 8-month-old on a walk?

Maya seemed to be just fine with the makeshift accommodations. Mama might have taken a few extra photos just because the baby was wearing her pixie hat (a knitting project from long before she was born).

Cozy and content! However, bulky snow gear makes it tricky to investigate the strange new white stuff satisfactorily. Bringing a tub of snow into the living room fixed that problem!

Then Santa brought Maya a proper baby sled, although our green Christmas meant she didn't get to try it out until the next snowfall finally came along on January 1st. Here she is on our first family walk of 2015.

The next day, we decided to add in the element of gravity. A very small hill brought plenty of excitement for this little sledder.

Smiles at the bottom!

Next up on the winter initiation agenda was cross-country skiing. We picked a blizzardly day just before twilight (on Nick's and my double birthday, in fact) to take Maya on her first ski. While Maisie and I skijored and Bella trotted along with ears flapping, our little polar explorer swished behind Papa with no complaints.

We tried it again a few days later and sure enough, she's a natural at this winter thing!