This is what Elias usually does when we take him to a playground:
He just stands there. Neal took this picture and I'm willing to bet Elias had to be placed on the play structure and coaxed into some actual interaction for this little piece of evidence.
To be fair, he will play in the sand/dirt a bit if we bring along his gardening toys.
Today he even ate some dirt. I don't know why I was surprised and therefore slow to react; he puts everything in his mouth these days. It was just a matter of time before he experimented with the outside world. I got most of it out but I'm guessing there will be some evidence of this little adventure tomorrow. If you know what I mean.
After he finished his snack of dirt, I tried to get him to walk with me to the bucket swings. After a few steps he stopped again and I ended up schlepping him to the swings and from there to the toddler play structure and from there to the one portion of the big kids' structure I thought he'd be mildly interested. He's clearly more interested in watching the other kids and pointing out the random airplane that flies overhead. Which is fine, but frankly, kinda boring. And when it's time to leave, despite seeming completely uninterested up to that point, he protests vigorously. Fortunately, his protests are easily quelled with a teething biscuit.
What's strange is that Elias has moved from toddling to walking to outright running at home, in our carpeted apartment, but outside he seems, not exactly cautious, but maybe a little confused. I say not cautious because he has endured several post-sprint face plants at nearby Children's Fairyland (what is it about that place?). Sometimes I worry that he'll grow up thinking the entire world is carpeted.
Otherwise, Elias has been going easy on me the past couple of weeks. After the craziness of the move, the teething, the cold - I feel like I'm missing a couple of things - Elias seemed to turn a hopefully not temporary corner and start napping again. I feel like most days he would probably fall asleep if I put him down for a morning nap but I usually try to push him until between noon and 1 pm, occasionally sneaking in a brief catnap in the car or stroller on the way back from our morning outing. And I have to say, feeling like maybe, just maybe, we've settled into a new routine is awfully nice. He has been waking up a bit on the early side, usually between 6 and 6:30 and some nights it's a challenge to get him to bed by 7:30, usually closer to 8, so I'm sure the slightly shorter nights have something to do with the occasional 3-hour afternoon siestas. I wouldn't mind sleeping in just a tiny bit some mornings but I have to say, I love the afternoon nap. It's all about the naps. When he naps I feel like I could do this indefinitely. When he doesn't nap?...well...let's just not go there.
I'm also worried that the return to some sort of order around here is at least in part due to putting him back on 100% formula for the 16-24 ounces of "milk" he gets each day. After a bout of digestive woes and some really bad diaper rash (oh yeah, that's what I left out) we decided to halt our efforts to wean him to cow's milk, but then he developed a cold a couple of days later so maybe the digestive issues were all part of whatever little bug he had. Our GI doc back in Boston suggested waiting until 15 months to try again and I plan to get in touch with our new pedi here this week. So I'm hoping it was coincidence because - and I think I speak for both parental units on this one - I'm tired of formula. He continues to do just fine with yogurt and cheese so I'm cautiously optimistic.
Otherwise, we had our first visitor last weekend. Grandma Joanne came for the weekend and we snuck in a visit to the Oakland Museum, right before they were scheduled to close for renovations that will continue into next spring.
Like the playground, the Museum's terrace proved to be a little difficult to navigate with a 14 month old and a stroller but it provided for some good photo ops.
After the Museum, Grandma Joanne and I enjoyed a couple of hours of child-free shopping while Elias napped and Neal got a bit of a break from us all, then we met back up for dinner and a boardwalk stroll.
Priceless pic, don't you think?
2 comments:
I hate the playground too! I never have understood the attraction, and thankfully, the girls always managed to do something else, and have now seemed to have grown out of it. Yippeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
I agree. Playgrounds are overrated. My kids actually adore them, but since they're so prone to wandering off, it's all I can do to keep the three of them un-kidnapped and not run over. My favorite is a completely fenced in flat grass backyard...sounds dreamy.
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