Missing our Wooden Playground (Think Back Thursday)

It's cold. And wet.  It's been raining every day for I'm not sure how long.  (I think close to a week, but I've lost track.  The sun peeked out this morning, but we're supposed to get rain and/or snow tonight.)  We all have cabin fever.

What do I miss most? The playground.  We found a really nice one last spring -- Damien's therapist tipped us off.  It's become one of our favorites for when we have a long break between appointments.  We can run up to a close-by grocery store, pick up a few things for the house plus some snackies, and duck over to the park.  We have a picnic in the gazebo, and then play on the wooden castle playground.

I'm looking forward to spring.  I'm anxious to see how Jude does with the beams.

 He's a couple inches taller now.  So I'm betting this one is a little easier.

Last summer, he couldn't walk across a balance beam easily.  He couldn't balance and bring his feet one in front of the other.  Every time we walk into the hospital, he walks along the planter beds, and by now he has managed to sort of master the heel-to-toe stepping, as well as being able to step up without help.  The cement that edges the beds is graded for the tops to be level, while the grade of the pathway drops down.   This means the beds closest to the door are only about 4" high while the furthest ones are almost 12" off the ground. The high ones are hard and take a lot of effort, but he can now climb up onto them independently.

There have been a few trips to duPont where Damien has been on two feet instead of in the stroller. Of course, he has wanted to try walking along the planters. He needs help climbing up, but he is getting good at heel-toe stepping.   Last summer, he wouldn't even climb up on the beams, so I wonder if they will have found something new to fight over.





The best challenge at this park is all the steps.  There are very few slides, so once you are up, from most of the playset, the only way down is back down the steps.  It's a great core workout, so it's great physical therapy for him -- something we have struggled with over winter.  We have steps in our house, but it's not exactly the same.  Or as fun.

Hurry up, spring!!!

We miss you!

This week's theme is "Wood." Take a walk down memory lane at...