ahh, it feels like spring!

Now that I have my crafty blog started, I can get back to the business of posting the stuff that everyone (especially the Grandmas!) want to see. Photos of Cole!

Today we celebrated what felt like the first real day of spring. The sun was out and the weather was glorious. The birds were chirping, the skaters were skateboarding, the basketballers were basketballing. We took a short walk to Gastown to visit Button Button, a vintage button (shocking!) store that recently reopened in a new location but was unfortunately closed today. I only found this out after lugging the carriage up about 10 steep stairs, to be greeted by the owner of the store who told me they weren't open. Um, you're standing there and the door is open. I just lugged a baby carriage up the stairs and I'm definitely going to buy something (browsers wouldn't have bothered) so just let me in, ok? We'll try again sometime this week because I do need some more vintage buttons for my projects.

Anyway, on our way to the closed button shop we stopped in one of the various nondescript parks in our neck of the woods. There are lots of them and none have swings, unless you walk over to the parks along the seawall, which are plentiful and do and are great too. But of course the advantage of the parks without swings is that they usually have much better slides. Cole is a bit wee for slides, but I stand to the side, hold him halfway up and then slide him down (over and over!), which he loves. Sometimes when there are no judgey moms around to give me the side-eye we climb up and slide down together. Today we had the place to ourselves and did lots of both!

Cole had a blast trying to climb up the slide - there was no way to discourage him. He was getting all sorts of static zaps from the plastic slide but he just laughed and laughed.

And he had a great time meeting his first real-life ladybug! I had to really try to keep him from touching her - it looked like a disaster (for the ladybug) just waiting to happen. Or maybe protein for Cole, who of course does put mostly everything into his mouth...

We went on a strange ambling stroll through Gastown after the button semi-fiasco, stopping to try on clothes and shoes, for an iced mocha (to celebrate spring, of course) and we stopped at our favourite place to pilfer daffodils on the way home.

And you must check out his walking! I haven't ever been able to get a video or photo even of his walking until now - he has prefered to hold a finger and run around the room or go between the two of us, but all of a sudden today he can really walk on his own! I don't know what changed, but he can just walk across the whole kitchen, or across his room or clear through the middle of the living room. He still reaches for a hand if there's one nearby or the edges of things when he gets wobbly, but it was so strange and amazing.