Monday, February 2, 2009

Where's winter?

Last week we enjoyed a brief glimpse of the beautifully fluffy white stuff. And as is the custom now, our county's schools closed down so that we could enjoy nature's white blanket to the fullest. This week, though, the weather has been darting back and forth between the fifties and the teens. So Chi, Ya, and I have used the warmer times as opportunities to venture to the neighborhood playground.

[Did I mention that this equipment just appeared one day? No "hey there's a gated playground on the far side of the community," no nothing. I just happened to see it on my way to an appointment where it was for once convenient to venture out on the far side of the area. With three entry/exit points you'd think they'd share news like this]

Chi has perfected her efforts on the Monkey Bars. Little gymnast can swing all the way across them with no worry at all! Mommy can merely hang on the first two bars until her arms grow weary and she has to drop to the ground. That's a long drop for my less than 5 foot height. But my girl is super strong, confident, and determined, so she mastered the bars quickly.

She is also my social butterfly. Despite there being only little pre-school-age kids at the park for the entire time we were there, Chi befriended each of them. [No doubt giving their moms a much needed break from entertaining them by running around the equipment]. I'm always impressed with how she understands they are smaller and more fragile and so she adapts her activities to what they are able to handle.Ya is getting older and much more interactive. This is the baby age I enjoy the most because I can see him learning, observing, and experimenting.

He reaches and grabs at everything. He's also experimenting with sitting up on his own, though I think he enjoys the position most because he can lean over into the position he'd rather be in (nope, doesn't roll over on his own despite massive efforts on his part).And because he's used to spinning and bouncing in his activity chair, he can be proped up for a few seconds for pictures like this one:And Chi, who is ever the watchful, protective, inclusive big sister, insisted on being able to take her baby down the slide. She relished in the responsibility of holding him tight as they quickly decended toward the ground. And of course, she commissioned her own photo of the experience (and held them still mid-slide) .

1 comment:

Joy Howse said...

Looks like they both had a lot of fun. It is amazing to me how my oldest can be SO rough and then two seconds later he is the most gentle being with his little brother.