Just a Swingin'

Today was a great day. B-Boy is starting to feel better, his cough is reduced in both frequency and length, and so we decided to take him to the park to get some fresh air. We had so much fun, we went twice!

The park was mostly empty when we got there the first time. B-Boy had a blast on all the slides, and flew down the swirly slide many times. He even made a friend who clapped for him when he got to the bottom of one of the smaller slides. It was contagious, and soon B-Boy clapped with him.

Later in the day, we scoped out a new location. The elementary school near our house has a playground for the Kindergarten, First and Second grade kids. We decided since the day had warmed up to such a beautiful one that we would see what it was like.

I left my camera at home, so I am not able to share a view of it with you. But I'll just say this, B-Boy loved it. There were several small slides for the younger kids, which B-Boy had fun with. There was also an area for the older children, and space for those in between. The large tube slide was a bit scary for him, so after we went down it together, he was done with it. He really like the intermediate area, the slides were bumpy, and one of them had rumble strips to slow him down. He really liked that one.

The playground even had a sort of see-saw area, with 4 poles spread out from the center circle. A metal saddle was attached to the end of each pole, and you could sit and bounce on it. I sat on one side, and Neb sat on the other until B-Boy let us know he wanted to get on too. Neb held him to get him used to it and then slid off so B-Boy could ride by himself. Neb put B-Boy's hands on the handle, and his feet on the bar beneath it. He smiled, so proud of himself!

He also did really well when Neb let go. He bounced up and down, holding on to the handle and holding himself upright. We bounced for a good while, and then moved on to a large porch swing (minus the porch!).

We sat on the swing as a family, with B-Boy in the middle. He looked around as we swung, and was very calm. The swing made a really loud SQUEAKING noise, which he found really interesting. When we stopped, he clapped as if to say "YAY! That was fun!".  It was a great moment, but that is not my favorite moment of the day.

I took him over to the big kid swing and sat down.

I put B-Boy on my lap facing me. He held on as I started to swing. At first, Neb said B-Boy looked a bit scared, but then the rhythm of the swinging calmed him down and he put his head down on my shoulder. He was so relaxed and "gooshie" (our family's word for what babies do when you hold them and they sink right into you). B-Boy is not often gooshie, so those moments are always quite treasured.

When we stopped swinging, B-Boy clapped. He really like it. So, I started swinging again. When I stopped and put him on the ground, he clapped again. When he realized that we were done, he got upset and tried to crawl back into my lap. So, I picked him up and let him swing facing out. I am not sure which one he like more! Neb got on the swing next to us, and B-Boy found it quite amusing every time we moved past him.

It was hard to stop swinging, both because we had fun and because B-Boy would get upset when I would put him down. We ended up distracting him by running over to the rumble strip slide, putting him at the top, and encouraging him to slide down.

All in all, it was a great day. We hope yours was a fun as ours was!