A Walk to the Park

Julian still hasn't shown too much interest in walking.  He will occasionally stand on his own for a few seconds when you put him down and he is cruising up a storm in the living room, but he still seems pretty wary of only being on two feet.  This week he started to figure out how to turn his walker around in the apartment so that he could do more than go in a straight line.  I figured this was the perfect time to take things outdoors.  

We practiced first with a walk around the block while Papa was at work.  4 blocks took us about 45 minutes because we had to stop and look at every bush, tree, leaf, and speck of dirt within grabbing distance!  It was a ton of fun for both of us and I think he really got a kick out of being able to reach out and explore more close up than the stroller allows him.  It was a beautiful fall day with lots of leaves to throw around.  By the end he was exhausted and a nap was in order, and now I have another trick up my sleeve to wear him out!

This weekend we decided to walk down to the park that is just around the corner before dinner.   Jules walked all the way there and back using his walker.  He seemed a little freaked by the swings so we'll have to go more often so he can get used to them.  The slides took a minute to warm up to but once Papa went down with him it was much more exciting.  In the last video you can seem him shake his head nononono as Pete is about to let him go, but by the end of our excursion he was going down the tube slide all by himself kicking up a storm with his feet.  We're going to try to make a nightly trip to the park before dinner part of our routine when the weather is nice.  An added bonus are all the other babies, big kids, and dogs from the neighborhood that we get to see and talk about with him.