Doggie Park With Sarah

It seems like our play dates with Sarah at the "Doggie" Par (Willard Park) are becoming a regular weekly event. It is amazing that there are still knew things for Holly to discover there.On this particular visit it was a pretty warm day, and holly discovered a sand pit underneath the play structure. there were a few toys there and a mix and match spinning toy.She enjoyed being in the shade and playing with the rake and shovel. She is starting to get more proficient with them bit by bit.Though sometimes she still dumps the sand onto her face and flings it here and there.And she still chews on just about everything, some moms might cringe, but you know what, its dirt. Its not going to kill her, and I can;t be obsessed with getting her to not chew on things.I swear sometimes I feel like she is teething again, but with 16-20 teeth already its hard to tell if there are more coming in way in the back.She is still learning how to navigate these slopes. She is pretty good at remembering the "edge" and sliding down them, but its harder for her to get back up.Sometimes the Sand is piled high and she can crawl or climb up, but other times she is stuck and needs mommy's hand to help her step up.Here are Isabel and Sarah arriving at the park. I think on this day Holly woke up early from her nap and she was eager to get out of the house, so we arrived pretty early.Some days she is just a Monster trying to escape the house. She will grab my shoes and literally put them on my feet and pound the front door. Now she must have grown an inch or two as she can reach the handle of the front door and pull it down. She isn't coordinated enough to open it yet, but I have been bolting it to be on the safe side.Isn't Sarah such a sweetie! She is also growing up before my eyes. She is the fastest crawler in the west, and she is really starting to cruise and walk everywhere holding Mommies hands.It is so sweet watching the girls play together, as soon as Sarah sees Holly she starts to get excited and point and clap. holly will run up to the stroller and to Sarah and do her little happy dance and then run off.She wants Sarah to chase her, but Sarah just isn't that fast yet. She is more of a come to me girl. She knows what she wants and demands it. Its quite adorable.They have a lot of fun playing in the sand together, and Sarah is really tall, so it is pretty easy for her to climb up and down the slopes.She is also really talented at pulling herself up and climbing onto these riding toys. She will balance and sit on them. Holly is just getting enough coordination to get on and off herself.Although I think Sarah;s heft helps give her some balance. She is about 30 pounds. She is really tough too. She will fall off to the side and simply roll over and climb back on without a second thought.We also always have really good snacks when we play with Sarah. Her Mommy shares all of them with Holly, and amazingly because they are coming fro someone else, and she sees Sarah eating them, she does too.Here Holly has discovered a shoe. I try to get her to not chew on these, but if I take them away from her too fast it only makes her want it more.This is a little girl whom we have seen at the park a few times. Sadly her name Escapes me as it is very unique and different. She isn't much older then Sarah and Holly, and I am amazed with her curls.I thought this picture was so cute of the three babies all in a row. Holly is waiting patiently for her turn, but maybe not too patiently.And then she is a happy girl once she gets her turn on the car. But she decides to ride it backwards. I think because she gets to stand up if she does it this way.I think one of the things I love so much about our play dates with Sarah and Isabel is that we really get to talk. Sometimes we are off in two different directions, but often we get to have real adult conversations, as the girls are playing together and we are both chasing behind.Here Holly has wedged her way into a game the older kids are playing with the sand toys. As usual she wants to be in the center of the action, but the older babies did such a good job at sharing.She doesn't realize yet that it is someones turn with a toy, or it hasn't occurred to her that they too have a plan for the toy that might be different from hers.In the Distance there is Sarah. She crawled all the way other there through the sand and then pulled herself up on the bars. Isn't that pretty cool!When Holly is around older kids I have to watch her carefully as they get upset if she takes something they are playing with, but aren't really old enough to learn to be nice about it, so I have to prevent her from "messing up" the castle they built or the game they are playing.But often the kids are so friendly and adaptable and even understand that she is a baby that they let her play or give her a role in the game.Here holly is getting in and out of the car, she doesn't really want to go anywhere, she just likes climbing in and out.