The new fun games this week in the Empirical household have mostly to do with putting things in other things and taking them out again. In our toy area, little EC has some balls and a little bowl (a kitchen implement about whose use I’m ignorant, so it became a toy). She enjoys taking the balls (particularly, the tennis ball…forget about all those balls made specifically for babies) and putting them in the bowl, then taking them out again…and again…and again. We also made a fun game out of picking up all her wooden blocks and putting them in the box where they belong. Once into this game, little EC would not be deterred from finding all the blocks scattered in the play area and returning them to their rightful place.

But in her mind, the books still do not belong on the shelf. They belong scattered all over the floor.

We had gates installed this week, at the top and bottom of the stairs, and across the entrance to the play area. I consider the stair gates a necessity. One wrong move, and a fall down a flight of tile stairs could easily be lethal. As much as I’d like to just take the time to teach her to be responsible on the stairs, those consequences are just too much to ignore. I’m a little more ambivalent about the one cordoning off the play area. I like the idea that she should be able to crawl around and explore…why should the rest of the house be off limits?…but I also like the idea of being able to walk away for a minute and not worry about where she will end up, especially once she starts moving faster. The entire gate can be attached and removed easily, so at least we have the option.

I also installed some foam padding along a particularly egregious corner in the play area. The funny thing is, now that she’s been playing there for months, and has hit her head on the corner a few times already, she’s cautious enough that she avoids the corner anyway, even when it looks like she’s focusing on something else. Sometimes, oddly, she will crawl up to it and gently place her head against it, as though she’s making sure it’s still there. So maybe the padding isn’t such a great idea…maybe she’ll forget about being cautious.

She also likes doing what I call “baby yoga”, which consists mostly of a downward dog-style pose. She’s getting very close to pushing her legs vertical, but always with her hands on the floor. She still shows no particular inclination to climb to a standing position.