New Playset

For some time now since the spring weather hit, Kathy has gone through a daily ritual of taking Kole outside - generally just to play with some of his inside toys and run around in the fresh air; taking him to a nearby park whenever possible so he can ramble around. He loves to climb, and his strength is becoming quickly obvious. Kathy went with another friend and her near-2-year-old to McDonalds, the kids played in the playground area, and where little Noah struggled to climb up certain obstacles, Kole scaled them with relative ease. He pulls himself up on the couch from the side - from the arm-rest side - all the time, working out like an Olympic gymnast. Especially when he throws his toys, a practice we're desperately trying to tame, it's obvious how strong he is at such a young age.

So, back to the backyard play equipment. We've been looking for several weeks - searching garage sales and CraigsList.com. A few days ago we looked at an outisde set that looked good enough - basic plastic crawling/climbing things with a slide, no big fancy wooden swing sets just yet. We finally saw a good set on CraigsList and the people selling it were nearby so we got it. We knew it was a good deal because the previous day a woman was selling about half as much stuff for $25 more. We jumped on the deal, brought it home, washed it down, and got it up as Kole was napping. He woke up and got in a little playtime just before it started sprinkling at dinner time. But, he took to it very well, so it looks like Kathy has some entertainment relief - especially as her pregnancy progresses and she easily gets winded after just a little activity, limited in her ability to bend over, etc. We could have put it on the 2nd birthday wish list, but we needed the relief immediately and it's already paying dividends.