Day at the Park

This summer Joseph and I have stayed quite busy. Between playgroups and play dates, trips to the zoo, Deanna Rose Children's farm, the library and several indoor playgrounds, we've spent a lot of time together being quite active. I realized this week that I haven't been good at documenting most of this summer, especially since Joseph isn't hitting milestones as frequently as he was this time last year.

Now that the weather is finally cooler (highs have been below 90 for the last few days, hooray!) we've spent more time playing outside again. Today we headed to a neighborhood park for some fun.

 Although we were at the park around lunchtime, it was completely empty, save for a few people walking the trail nearby. Joseph loves running around in the open space, and climbing all over the playground equipment. Of course, he's happiest when he thinks he's being chased, and that's when he'll take full advantage of going down the slides.

Here's a little clip of us playing. All of those background noises are him babbling to himself and giggling. Too cute!

 He still prefers to slide down on his tummy, feet first.

When he hits the end, it's time to try and climb/walk right back up to the top. Unless he's on the shortest of slides, he's never successful. It still doesn't stop him from trying it over and over though!

We took a few minutes to play on the swings too. Joseph is really hit or miss on whether he's interested in swinging, but today he didn't want to stop.

Before we headed out, he ran over to the picnic table where I had left my soda. He's a crazy climber these days, and had no trouble pulling himself up and sitting in the shade. A passing airplane made him stop and sign airplane over and over, so I took that opportunity to prompt him on some of his signs. Unfortunately, I didn't make a list beforehand, so this is less than half of all of the signs he knows and uses regularly. At least I got some recorded, though!