Playing at the park

Lia is becoming more and more sure of herself on the stairs and on the playground. (Although I should qualify that by disclosing that yesterday she fell down the last 3 or 4 steps of our staircase. She was trying to get something and not going down the steps properly and I was at the top of the staircase. Before I knew it, she had tumbled down and lay on the floor, her face slowly morphing into an expression meant to gain sympathy. After giving her a hug and the appropriate attention, she pushed me away and jumped off to do something more important.) I took some videos last weekend of her going up and down the steps and across the wobbly bridge.


She was doing great yesterday, even when other kids were jumping on the bridge as she was standing there. It was a good lesson for her because she has gotten so daring that she doesn't even hold onto the railing. Plus, she MUST clutch plastic cups in one of her hands, which doesn't help. As you can see in this video, she just refuses to put them down:

Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn.

You will also note that she is actually wearing a hat. Her teacher at school, Ms. Karen, insists that the kids put on hats when they go out, so Lia has gotten used to it. She doesn't always cooperate with me at home, but this time I got her to wear it for most of the morning.

This video is kind of long, so unless you are really into seeing Lia go back and forth, don't feel obligated. She does "talk" a lot in the beginning and you can get a sample of how she's really trying to verbalize. I also thought she was pretty smart when she tried to give me one of her cups and couldn't fit it through the bars. I think Ian at that age would have tried to push harder to get it through. She figures it out right away and reaches over the railing to give it to me. I know, I'm her mom so I think she's brilliant.


Lia doesn't always want to go down the slide, but she decided to that day. This slide is particularly high off the ground compared to the others, but I knew she could do it because she has launched herself off of Ian's bed, which is higher.


If you want to see her do it again, here you go:

She's counting to herself as she goes toward the slide: "Ee ah ee!" And even though she just got down from the slide by herself a minute ago, she tries again to get me to help her with her pathetic cry of "bao4 bao4!"