One In the Oven: The Great Outdoors (and Some Indoor Fun Too!)

We've been keeping busy with lots of activities, both inside and out. Because Kate's been walking for a while, just about everything within her reach is fair game to her. She still has the jerky Franken-baby walk, but she's getting much better. She can run and she likes to climb on things. She's mastered going up the stairs and we've been working on going down them safely. She's allowed to practice only when one of us is behind her to keep her from falling. The rest of the time, she's blocked from accessing the steps by the baby gates Brandon put up everywhere. She loves looking out the window, and can see out the front screen door with no problem. She has to stand on her tippy, tippy toes to see out of the back door, but that doesn't seem to deter her from peeking out every chance she gets.

Kate loves to read and will look at books whenever she gets the chance. In fact, if you happen to sit down on the floor near her, chances are that she'll hand a book to you, then turn around and back her little bottom up into your lap so you can read to her. She's very content to look through her books herself, but will almost never pass up an opportunity for someone to read to her.

We've been taking lots of photos to keep everyone up to date on what Kate's been doing.

-- I know I have toys, but Gladware is so much fun to play with --

-- I like to pull it all out, and then put it back. Oh wait! I just like to pull it all out. --

-- Sometimes I make silly faces. --

-- I like to look at the lights on my Pillow Pet. Sometimes we got into the bathroom where it's dark and turn them on so I can see them on the ceiling. --

-- Would you like a spot of tea? --

-- I'm coming to get ya! --

-- Giving Brucie a ride in my buggy. --

-- Setting up my chair. --

-- What do you get when you add two bags of ball pit balls.... --

-- To one empty kiddie pool and add a baby? --

-- A BALL PIT! --

Ok, so, it was a great idea, but we quickly realized...we need more balls! Two hundred wasn't enough. In fact, it looked pretty bare. So we added another 100. And another. And another...800 balls later we have this...

-- One ball pit ball. Two ball pit balls. Thee ball pit balls... --

And the only way to make a basement ball pit better is to add a slide! Grandpa Bob sent one to Kate for her birthday, and it's been a big hit with the kiddos!

-- Getting ready to take a dip in the pool. --

-- We always tell Kate the rules before she plays in the balls.

#1. No peeing in the ball pit.

#2. NO DIVING! You can break your neck and be paralyzed. --

-- Daddy distracts Kate with his juggling skills so she doesn't notice the lack of balls in her ball pit. --

I really wanted to make our basement into a sort of indoor playground for Kate. She enjoys being outside, and with the winter looming, I wanted to build her a little space where she could burn off some energy when it was too cold to go outside. That's where the ball pit idea started. I also wanted to give her something that she was allowed to climb on, in hopes of keeping her from climbing things we don't want her playing on, like the stairs. So for her birthday, she received a Little Tikes climber from Brandon and I (a great find on Craigslist!) that we also put in the basement for her to play on.