Big Boy Play! (17 months, 20 days old)

Every Sunday our good friends Mark and Alethea join us for a run.  We usually do a 4 mile run (with Graham in the stroller) that ends at the playground, so Graham can play before we walk the final mile home.  In the past, Graham has played for about 15 minutes before losing interest, but today I noticed a definite change.  Not only was Graham maintaining his interest, but he was also playing almost exclusively on the play structures instead of just running around the perimeter of the playground. 
We had to leave the park before Graham was ready to go, and Nick hadn’t been able to join us on the morning run, so I told Graham that maybe Daddy would take him back to the playground later in the day. 
Nick made good on the promise and they played together for almost 20 minutes before I joined them.  Again, I saw Graham playing with no signs of losing interest.  When I arrived he paused to chug his sippy cup for a while:

and then went right back to his favorite combination – climb the ladder then go down the slide.  Not only has Graham learned how to climb the ladder unassisted but now, he knows to sit at the top of the slide and say “wait, wait, wait” (while I am saying the same thing) and then hold the sides of the slide while I count to three and say “go,” at which point he pushes off and squeals with delight!  I got some pictures of the first part and a video of the second part (although the video leaves a bit to be desired because I was distracted making sure Graham stayed safe):

Daddy helped out taking another video of Graham going down the slide with just a little bit of help from Mommy (and after going back to the park the next day, he went down the 'little' slide all by himself and the 'BIG' slide with just one hand from Mommy for support!):

Here is to many more hours of big boy play!