I went to the Northgate Community Center yesterday with Hudson since I have the week off for Thanksgiving, and we piad the $3 for the Wear 'em Out "open gym" for toddlers they have set up. They put out a bunch of push-cars, rocking horse toys, climbing toys and a couple of bouncy houses and some big rubber balls. I went early so it was still pretty quiet, but it got crowded and crazy. I was surprised at how many parents just sat on the bleachers and let their toddlers run around by themselves. There were several that also were down on the ground playing, and helping to negotiate toddler battles over the cars.
Hudson pushed, rode, and flipped over cars to play with their wheels, and every now and then I was able to pick him up and introduce him to some other toys. Then he would go back to the cars. When other kids would come up to him, he just stared and a couple times even shook his head when I asked if he wanted to say hi. He's definitely shy around other kids. But the other day, in the coffee shop, a little girl a couple years older than him was giving him toys to play with and he actually smiled at her. That was awesome.
So it's pretty clear the obsession with wheels is not just a passing thing, it is lasting from the sitting stage to the standing to the walking to running to talking phase, (he's got a few words and sounds under his belt!) and I can only imagine where it will go from here. I wish I had time to relate all the details of Hudson's growing and changing, but I've been sitting in this coffee shop grading final exams and catching up on my communication all morning -- the whole point of having Thanksgiving break is that I get to be with Hudson and share all these experiences like Wear 'em Out that I don't usually do. He's probably been awake for a while now so I should get home and get playing.
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