Playing in the City

With Gil at work on a fairly regular schedule, Marin and Charlie have been exploring things to do, see, and play with in the immediate neighborhood. Here is how we've been spending our time for the last week:







This is the tiny playground at the tiny Belsler (sp?) Park. It's just a few steps from our apartment, so it's a great place to go when Charlie needs some exercise. The "art" on the walls is a collection chalk drawings by the toddlers who come to the park. See if you can recognize Charlie's contributions.

This is Heckscher Playground in Central Park. Marin doesn't like it so much because it's too big for her to keep track of Charlie, but Charlie loves the space and the abundance of pigeons.

The weather has been nice for the most part, but on rainy days we like to play inside with friends. Here's Charlie with his friend Anderson, eating hotdogs in our apartment. We also made a fort out of couch cushions, banged on drums, and watched "Toy Story."

Charlie loves Sheep's Meadow in Central Park: tons and tons of open grass to run on! It's a nightmare for Marin because she has to run all over to make sure Charlie stays out of trouble. Of course, Charlie thinks it's awesome to be chased, so he tries to make things as exciting as possible. In this picture, Charlie is coming to Mom to give her a much-deserved kiss.

We discovered Clinton-Dewitt Park for the first time last week. The playground was deserted the first time we went, which was a little eerie, but the second time it was pleasantly crowded. It's got some great toddler-friendly playground equipment, and, best of all, some huge rocks for climbing.