Showing posts with label Fall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fall. Show all posts

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Cafe with the Girls

I love how grown up the girls are, patiently waiting in line to take another turn down the slide. They still slip past each other or climb back up the slide on occasion, but sometimes they just amaze me when they do everything "right" or is a "grown up" wayThey are really loving the new ball pit. At first it annoyed me, Holly would run to it, pull herself up and climb in, and then climb out to the ledge but sit there waiting for me, getting more and more agitated as she waited.She new how to get down, by turning and sliding down on her belly, but she wanted to jump forward and her feet were too far off the floor. Holding my hand she could hop down. I was very excited on our last visit, she started climbing out all on her own.I love this little dress on Chloe. I rarely put dresses on holly, the ones I do are really too short, and they are more like long tops with pants or leggings underneath. But this particular dress on Chloe has the puff skirt, and it is past her knees, it is so cute!Here are the three musketeers, big trouble. They aren't supposed to be playing on the ramp in the cafe section of Sadie Dey's, but they made up a game of running up and down it, sometimes with a shopping park, letting it roll down the incline after pushing it up.Holly found this little seat on the ledge, I didn't think anything of it, but on this day the cafe was really busy and all of the high chairs were in use, which I usually stacked up on the other side of the ledge. Later she sat down there, and fell backwards bumping her head on the floor about a foot below. She cried, but calmed with a bottle and was fine.Soon she was playing again. She really likes the Sensory balls, it is great that they have them at the cafe, she went around finding every kind of ball she could to throw into the ball pit, just like she does at home.She also really likes these baby dolls, which I don;t get. She never plays with them at home, she doesn't have these exact ones, but she has "dolls" and she has "babies" and she rarely uses them. Even when we have "tea Parties" she uses all of her Gabba Character's, they are her "Friends"So it was time to go, Holly was getting fussy, she needed an iPhone break. I don't know if it is good or a bad thing, but I use it as a tool to help her calm down, self regulate, stop or recover from melt downs, it always cheers her up and if it doesn't then I know something really bad is wrong. We have been going to Sadie Dey's every Thursday for the Mom's group at 4:30, and I tell everyone I know or meet to join us

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Sarah Went Boom

Holly and Sarah spend a lot of time at Willard park. They know the layout, and are very comfortable here. Sarah is starting to become more mobile, crawling fast and pulling to sand. Holly getting more confident with steps and slopes every day.On this particular day there were two older girls at the park playing with the babies. They would go down the slide with Sarah between them. The one girl was here with her parents on a work visa, they are doing research at the university and she spoke only French. Isabel and I both used our broken french to communicate and talk with her.The two girls were holding Sarah's hands and she was crawling over to the play structure platform to climb back up and go down the slide again. they were trying to help her up the step, and she was trying to climb up on her own. She slipped and her mouth clipped the edge of the step. She busted open her lip. She was so upset she didn't even want to eat. The next day it was cut and swollen and sensitive, but a week later its goes, without a trace. Kids heal fast.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Shannon Park - Dublin - 8/10

About a month ago we went to this awesome park in Dublin. It is a bit of a drive for us, but it had a water feature / fountain to play in, and one of my Meet-up groups was heading there.In addition to the water feature, Shannon Park has an amazing play structure. Slides, climbing, and tubes all Holly favorites.This is the toddler structure, a little more manageable for Holly to climb and play on without help. The thing is, it was a very hot day, so she wasn't too excited about doing much besides playing in the water.And of course swinging on the swings. This is a little bonnet that she got from her Oma to help keep the sun off her face and head.But the Main attraction was this water feature. Holly was roaring to go and wanted to try it out. There were three steps down into the deepest section and holding my hand she climbed down without a second thought and was walking and exploring and trying to check out the fountain. She was doing so well and the water was only up to her waist I decided to take a seat and let her play. You can see from this picture I was maybe 8 feet away from her.Well she was having a wonderful time, until she fell. In the next picture you can see how she is starting to loose her balance. I think it was a combination of the wind, and a strong water current from the waterfall. Also I think she was a bit over confident and didn't realize that it takes extra skill to walk in water. She fell to the side and went under, she would normally have caught herself on her hands and knees and stood up, but I think the shock of being under she sort of flipped around onto her back and was struggling to "float"She was kicking her legs and waving an arm but her Bonnet was heavy with water and was pulling her down backwards and making it hard to keep her head out, her face was out of the water, but her ears were under and she was on her back which she really dislikes. This all happened in a matter of a few seconds before I was at her side and scooped her up. She seemed to have swallowed a little water but was fine by the time I reached her and was really just scared.I don't have a lot of pictures from the rest of the day because my camera got submerged when I went to rescue her, as I was holding it taking pictures when it happened. Once she was relatively calm i made her a bottle and we sat and took a soothing break. I took out the battery and memory card from the camera and let them dry in the sun. After her bottle she was ready to play again. I was worried the camera was permanently damaged but it eventually dried completely out.
We went back to the tubes she was playing in earlier. In the tubes it was shaded and she was damp from playing in the water, so she did do some climbing. And had fun, but she was leery of going back to the water.It was very important to me that she not be traumatized by this event however so I made several attempts to re acclimate her. First I just walked by the water, and that was enough, but then i sat on the ledge near the waterfall. Then I let her splash in the waterfall.We would take a break. On the other side of the park was an amazing sand pit with a ton of sand toys. I didn't get any pictures because of the waterlogged Camera, but we filled some buckets with water that she splashed, in the sand, and we went to the waterfall to fill them.Over the next two hours we slowly got reacquainted. At first she would walk along the first step. Holding mommy's hand. The water there was about 4 inches deep. Next she would sit on that step with her feet on the lower one, maybe 9 inches or so and splash. Eventually she stood and walked along that step, holding Mommy's hand. Finally she went back into the deepest part. For a while holding my hand, and then eventually she was confident again and pushed me away. But I stayed close, right behind her in fact. She did have to self correct her balance a few times due to the water flow, and I would hold her hand to make sure she didn't fall again. Eventually she was splashing int he waterfall and running all around, and happy. It took a while, and several breaks on the swing and slide and sand pit and back to the blanket to chat with the to her moms and have a snack. But eventually we did it. Sadly I got to spend precious little time talking to the other mom's as there kids were older and could go off and play on there own, and they were able to talk. I had to follow Holly all around the park. But I didn;t mind, in fact that's the best part of it, getting to watch her play and see her discover and learn.Slides - 1 - There were several but it was too hot to go down many except the tube slides, and those she can;t do yet without help.

Swings - 1 - Yes - They were a life savor of comfort.

Surface - 1/2 - There is sand, grass, and sidewalk. Bu the structures are basically in a sandy tree bark mix.

Shade - 1/2` - The water area is actually very shaded but the play structures were not, and they were hot. The sand area was also not shaded but it wasn't too hot. We did find a place to sit under a tree with our quilt and our group.

Climbing - 1 - Lots of climbing in the older structure and even in the water area.

Parking - 1 - Very large lot near the various play structures easy to park.

Bathrooms - 1 - There were both bathrooms and a place to rinse off if you were covered in sand different from the water feature.

Distance - 0 - I think ti took me about 35 minutes. We had a great time, but it would't be a regular outing.

Friends - 1 - So many kids in addition to the moms and kids from out meet-up group.Amoung the moms we hung out with were Georgina and Janelle F.

Fun - 1- except for our scary fall it was a lot of fun.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Krushi Park Alameda - 7.5/10

This is a cool little park we recently discovered in Alameda called Krusi Park. It is a lot of fun, but sure was an adventure getting there. Now I know where it is, it will be easier next time.This park is huge and attached to a school, the GPS and official park Address bring you to a street on the far side of the football and baseball fields, far from the play ground.When we went to the park we were meeting my Alameda meet-Up group for a play date which I think began at like 10:30, we were already running late. Getting off the Highway the High Street Bridge was closed, and we had to take a major detour, once we arrived at the destination, we were utterly lost.I circled the park (several blocks) looking for a playground. I saw one group of Children but they were in a day camp. it is really hard to see this AWESOME playground form the road, and it is actually hidden behind a school on one side and a row of houses on the other.The entrance we finally found on the Opposite side of where we were was actually a maintenance driveway and when i pulled in I could see the playground. by this time, Holly had fallen asleep in the car and I didn't want to wake her, but I was meeting a group, and an hour late...So I parked in the maintenance driveway left the car door open, and walked over the the park entrance, I could see my car from there, and looked for people I could recognize. Many of the mom's I had not met before, but after I few minutes I found Melanie, and told her I'm here!I discovered that due to the unusually cold weather and windiness that most of the group were leaving and heading home out of the cold, so that I should not wake Holly, and we could all play another day.I ended up driving to a drive through and getting myself some lunch and then reading emails in the car for about another 90 minutes and then Holly woke up. We ran some errands, like returning the Child gates we bought to use in Mendocino, and get some supplies. By then it was much sunnier, though still a nice breeze, and I decided to head back to this park. it looked like a lot of fun.Holly made friends easily and played in the sand with her new bucket. This was only 3 dollars at Walmart, the nearest one to me is in San Leandro, but it was actually pretty close to this park, since the park is on the far side of Alameda.It was a bit of a challenge to share the bucket, as all the kids wanted to play with it, and Holly doesn't quite get the concept of sharing yet. One baby got so upset when it was time to leave and her mommy said she couldn't take the bucket with her that she had a full on tantrum. I almost wanted to just give it to her, but I didn't.The park also had baby swings near the big kid playground..The ground here was Tree bark, so I had to put Holly's shoes on her. Even though I had to keep a close eye on her, she actually enjoyed climbing on this structure too. She would hike up the bridge, then sit and side down the other side... Silly girl. I thought it was great practice for her, and I simply spotted her but mostly let her do it on her own. She is still learning about walking up and down "hills"This was another type of bridge that sloped down in the middle and moved when you walked over it, and Holly had a lot of fun on it too. Mommy stood on one side and it would make her go up or down depending on where I was standing which was a lot of fun. I also thought it was pretty impressive that she was walking and climbing and playing with her little snack trap, but she did not want to give it up. I should note though, that Holly did have one spill. She was in a little area with a diagonal platform that had one opening of a tube and another opening of a side and she had been climbing up and down the platform and in and out of the tube like 30 times. But then, for some reason, a bird chirping, the little boy sitting on the slide near her, she wasn't paying attention and walked right over the edge and fell down the step and bumped her head. I was right there, but couldn't get to her right away. I ended up climbing up the slide to get to her, but a mom on the side, through the rail helped sit her up while I climbed, and then I sat and hugged and rocked her until she was all better. She was fine, just scared, but it goes to show, she just doesn't pay attention all the time and I have to be vigilant with my calling out and reminding her of steps and edges. When we were ready to get down, a dad helped me out by catching her at the bottom of the slide, and then I climbed down.One of her favorite things, as you can tell by the pictures above is climbing through these tubes. I think they are a lot of fun, and we play peek-a-boo through the windows.Eventually she made her way back to the sand area and found other toys to play with when other kids were "sharing" her bucket. I think it is really cute how much she likes dump trucks, but she seems very drawn to them, whenever we see them on a playground in the sand she runs over dumps the sand out and takes fists of sand to fill it back up. Sometimes she even pushes them around like they are driving in the sand, but not often.Slides - 1 - There were many slides, on the tot structure they were small enough for her to do on her own, and on the big kid one, with a little help.

Swings - 1 - Yes, and she made good use of them!

Surface - 1 - I am giving this a 1 because the tot structure had bouncy turf and a fun sand pit. The big kid structure had the tree bark that I didn't like, but then again we don't have to play over there, and the tot area is fenced in, so I don't have to worry about her wondering to the other play area.

Shade - 1/2 - Most of the park is not shaded and the bouncy ground was hot on your feet. there was however picnic tables in a shaded area where you could go to get out of the sun and have lunch or a snack.

Climbing - 1 - there was a lot of stuff to climb on, and it was especially popular for the slightly older kids to climb on that beautiful dragon and jump into the sand, so there will be more for her to do as she gets older.

Parking - 1/2 - There is street parking, and it is pretty shady too, but it isn't super close to the playground, and it might be tougher to find at a high traffic time.

Bathrooms - 0 - Not anywhere near where we were playing, maybe in the school, but we wouldn't have access.

Distance - 1/2 - Although this trip took us like 40 minutes, with no traffic and an opened bridge, I could get there in 15 so I will give it a 1/2 point.

Friends - 1 - Lots of kids and moms to meet and chat with. Plus a popular place for my play group.

Fun - 1- lots of fun, Holly had an amazing time.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Goose Egg

It looks much much worse then it is. Holly fell yesterday playing in the living room. She climbed into a plastic tub and then tried to climb out. Since she had no problem climbing in (I watched her) I figured she could get out the same way and sat back down. But when she climbed out it tipped. She was about the height of a kneel and the thump wasn't even very loud but I guess she landed bad. I jumped up and lifted her and cradled her and she stopped crying in like 30 seconds. The I noticed this. A ballooned lump the size of a golf ball. I started to freak.I made Joel look it up and he discovered it was something called a Goose Egg. It is something very minor according to the web and they warn you not to be alarmed at how quickly it grows. It is simply broken blood vessels on the surface that puddle and with slight pressure and some ice they disperse and the swelling goes down. So after learning this, about 2 minutes had passed and I got some Ice but for about a minute or two she would cry and pull it off her head. I had several teethers at this point trying to get a circle shape that I could surround the lump with, so by now she would pull the teether and chew on it, her teeth were bothering her more then her head, so she let the ice stay.About 16 hours later this is her head. You can see the slight discoloration but there isn't a lump really anymore. Its there, when you look down from the top, you can see her forehead is a little misshapen, but from the side its not there, so it has shrunk about 80% It is amazing how fast kids heal, and I suspect that by tomorrow it will be completely gone. When it happened for her the ordeal took less then 5 minutes, it was much more traumatic for mommy. She bounced right back. I guess this is her first "real" fall of many she will do learning to walk, climb, jump, and run. Scrapes and bumps are in my future, and from her track record, I think there will be many.