Maya enjoys being out in the park. The nanny takes her to a park near our house pretty much the entire day, returning home only for an afternoon nap. The park has so become a part of her day that she doesn’t eat much solids if she hasn’t had a few hours at the park.

Shanthala also takes Maya to the park when she’s home and with her. I have been less park-friendly in the past. Since we moved to our friend’s house for a short time, I’ve been taking her to the park a little more frequently. We typically go after she has her afternoon nap and return in time for dinner. Sometimes, we go back to the park after dinner. One of the pleasures of summer in the west is that we can enjoy sunlight late in the day, as late as 8:30 or 9:00 PM.

Parks here typically host a few slides, see-saw, swings and large sections of sandy areas. The park near our house is a lot more crowded than the one near our friend’s place. Nannies, mothers sometimes nursing a baby and keeping a watchful eye on their toddler, grandparents and occasionally dads bring the kids to the park. The mothers usually hang together as do the nannies, most of them Hispanic. We end up chatting with some of these people as we stand side-by-side pushing our kids in the swing or when Maya picks up one of the other kids’ toys (usually a shovel or a rake).

How old is she, is usually the conversation starter. Most are surprised that Maya is only 16 months old. She’s tall enough to look at least two years old. They next comment on her exuberance and her big eyes. Maya takes all this in with a cheerful smile, knowing that we’re talking about her. These days she even raises her hand high above her head in greeting.

Initially, Maya just enjoyed playing in the sand, digging with a shovel or shoveling the sand into a bucket. She also enjoys pushing tricycles and strollers around the park. At this age, she doesn’t play with any other kid, though she’s happy to go greet kids that she takes a fancy to.

Swing was something she enjoyed right off the bat, but the rest she seemed to not fancy much. The slide she completely avoided. Two days ago, something clicked and she hasn’t been able to get over the slide. She runs up the steps to the slide, positions herself and slides down to make a perfect landing, usually. Sometimes she shot off the edge into the sand to land on her butt or her face. She didn’t seem to mind that, laughing as she picked herself up, racing around to the steps to start all over again.

She’s tried several times to climb up the slide. But with her footwear, she never managed to get a good grip and always slid down after the first two or three steps. Yesterday evening, I took off her footwear and she decided to tackle a swing in the bigger kids section of the park. The video shows her try a few times before she succeeds in climbing all the way to the top. Now that she’s got the hang of it, she tries climbing up all the slides, one of which is very steep. She hasn’t managed to climb to the top of that one yet, but it sure is fun watching her try it.

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