Habitot

I was so excited to head over to Habitot with Holly and Kat for a play date. Kat had not been before, so I was eager to show her around.They recently updated the exhibit and now the main room is a fire house. This used to be a farm house, which was fun, but change is nice.Here Holly is already soaked from all of the fun she has been having in the water room, her favorite place.This tube is new. Holly didn't want to crawl through it on her own, but her Tanta Kat found a way to coax her through.The climbing wall is still there and finally for the first time Holly crawled through the lower level, it was so cool to watch her inside.We met our friends Magnus and Tyler there, but we were a little late as we had therapy in the morning, so Magnus was ready to go just after we arrived.Here is the train table, she is starting to get the knack of it, and actually pushing the trains around the track.She worked up an appetite and it was time to stop for a snack, I had brought some yogurt with me which she quickly munched down.We had some left over scrambled eggs with Spinach and Pesto from breakfast too. She ate it all up.She had a lot of fun exploring and playing in the Fire Engine. It was a really neat exhibit. Lots of levers to turn.Buttons to press, sounds to make, platforms to climb around on. I love this little "Boo" shirt she has on.Here is Tyler pushing around a shopping cart, he is just walking now, but at the time wasn't quite balancing yet.I hadn't changed Holly yet as I knew she would be back to the water room again. its her favorite part. I really like watching how her play evolves, she is learning to pour water from one container to another.Here is Magnus, hanging out in the Fire Truck. He was having a blast, and even dressed up like a fire man.Eventually I had to change Holly. I actually had her outdoor swim suit with me, and thought it would be good to wear as it would keep the water off her skin.Here she is steering the truck, off to an emergency, playing with her Tanta Kat and having such a fun time.There was even a long fire hose that she was able to unwind and bring over to the "burning" building so she could put out the fire and rescue the people.She was too little to dress up in the jackets and boots, but not to wear the hat. She actually really wanted to dress up, seeing the other kids do it, but the sizes were way too big.I bought her a fireman outfit from diapers.com in a post Halloween sale, it had hat and jacket and boots all for only $12.99, its a 3T though, but she will grow into it.She really likes hats, and is putting everything on her head these days to see if they stay on and if she can balance them there, and she even said hat.Here she is going through the climbing wall. She didn't want to give up her fireman's hat so she slowly dragged it behind her as she went.I love this picture, evidence that she is actually inside the "Wiggle" wall as it is called. Before I know it, she will climb up to the higher levels.Here she is safely at the other end coming out of the wall, just like a real fireman crawling through dangerous and small spaces to rescue those in need.And off again she went to the water. She is starting to actually notice the river and see that you need to pour water in at the top.And that it will flow down the river when you do. She waits for it to reach her and plays with the little water fall it makes.Here is Tanta Kat helping her take water from the big bin and put it down to flow through the river. Of course she finds that it gets to the end and fills up this other bucket, Tanta Kat can't dump it back in if she is wading in the pool.She will find any way she can to be sure she gets completely soaked from head to toe regardless of any precautions I take.And now, Tanta Kat is pretty wet too, carrying around a wet baby and all. But in this Swimming Suit outfit, she dries up pretty quickly.This is another new thing we discovered on this visit, which I think they just built. It is a giant wind blowing fan at the end of a long Hallway.There are buckets and rakes and tones and tones of silk leaves that you can toss up in the air and play with.The first step is collecting them all in the buckets, raking them all up. Holly had a lot of fun putting them in, as it is something she is good at. Of course she then wanted to carry them around the entire play area, so Tanta Kat had to take them, as she had a plan of her own.Here is a video, of the leaves floating and flying around in the wind: VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y02sKMopVvQ Once she was down playing in the great out doors she was ready to shop. She is starting to understand the concept quite a bit.She looked through the bins to find fruits and veggies and foods that looked interesting and filled up her cart.She doesn't quite get the paying for your purchases part yet, but it was fun playing with all of the foods and naming them for her, she wants to know what everything is called these days.Here she is at the check out stand, we decided to oblige one of the other kids who was running the cash register at the counter, who didn't want to let Holly go without paying first.And before she got away with her groceries, she was already ready to dig into a nice big Orange. She has a bunch of playfood at home now.Lately she has been bringing it to us for requests, she has brought me a container of "Yogurt" and she brought Daddy a slice of "Cheese" and she even brought me Strawberries.Brining me the item is her way of saying "I Want This" which is great communication, and she has even said something that sounds like "Staaa Berrr" before, which we were so excited about.Well the shopping is done for the day, and she is starting to wind down a little bit, it takes a while for the little energizer to slow to a "walk"She sits and contemplates her next move. She has been back and forth into all of the play areas now, and it is getting late into the afternoon and close to nap time.She takes one more look around the little store to see if there is anything else she wants to play with here.She decides that really its her Tanta kat that she wants. Tanta Kat is happy to give her a big hug and kiss.Then they decide to make the rounds one last time. A final fun visit to the Fire Truck where tanta kat sits and drives with her to the next event.A visit to the Face painting station so she can get a set of her very own wiskers, she sees the other kids with fun face paintings.A final crwal under the house to rescue someone from the buring building, Tanta kat is at the other side, so we must get over to her.A push in the car, over to the car wash, one last chance to play in the water before it is time to go.A Quick dash into the Baby garden, a few ledges to climb over. A tanta Kat to head Butt, her sign of affection of course.One last Puzzle and a few pillow fights later and we head home from our long afternoon of running, splashing and playing. In the car we sing and tickle her to keep her from falling asleep, and I get her tucked into bed just in time to pass out for a nice long nap.