Baby Olympics

The cold and snow has kept us indoors a lot lately. But, rather than playing with the same old toys and reading the same old books, we decided to go with a timely theme -- the Olympics. I can't say we've been completely swept up in the Olympic spirit, but my husband Kelly and I have been keeping an eye on things over in Turin and I find myself more and more glued to the TV to watch things that I'd never ordinarily be interested in (pairs figure skating long program, for instance -- too much nude pantyhose, sparkle and flowing sheer fabric strips. And that's just the men!). But this is no ordinary time. It's the Winter Olympics. So we're enjoying the games.

So, in that same spirit, Lola, Locke and I have developed our own Baby Olympics. Locke has started his own version of the giant slalom. This morning he put one hand in a tupperware bowl, the other on a small book, and crawled across the room, weaving in and out of toys, chairs and other obstacles. It was quite impressive. Lola has been practicing standing by herself, a balancing feat I'd compare to the big air tricks of the women snowboarders. But our best event was the two-person luge.

I picked up the end of a blanket they were both sitting on, and began slowly pulling them around the room. They started laughing and tumbling around. Lola fell off the back, mostly from giggling too hard. Locke slowly slid off the side but kept trying to crawl back on, laughing the entire time. I piled them back on and went for another round, picking up the speed as they got more and more steady. When the both slid off I just pulled the blanket around and Locke chased after it trying to hop on face down. Lola just giggled at his attempts. It was the most fun they had all day. Tomorrow we're going to try some carpet hockey. Although I forecast a low-scoring game.