BABY PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT

How to Photograph Your Baby's First Year

Designed for individuals without a background in photography, this simple guide shows parents how to take the best possible photographs of their child's first year. It is filled with helpful hints for creating high-quality images using simple, inexpensive equipment. Covered first are topics related to baby's first six months, such as getting close, shooting in the hospital, capturing a first smile, and taking baby's first portrait. The second six months are explored next, with tips and techniques for catching baby at play, taking action and beach photos, and capturing baby's first swim, moments in the park, adventures with food, and special occasions. Photo projects that can be accomplished with such common props as a bouncy seat or a sunny window are included, and the three simple steps for setting up any photograph are explained. Included with each photo idea is a trade secret and a helpful tip.

I played in this park as a kid (we lived around the block in a 2 family house), but the equipment was all very different then... There were old-fashioned "monkey bars" - on concrete, no soft pads underneath... There was a concrete tunnel that you could crawl through (and some kids, naturally, climbed on top of ) there were a few steps on one side, and it had a bit of a slope, like a slide, though you couldn't slide on the concrete (we used to sit in the tunnel when it was hot outside). There were two sets of swings - one for older kids(metal seats) and babies (square metal seats with safety bars that slid up and down the chains of the swing) A metal slide... All that metal equipment would burn your legs in the hot summer sun, if you weren't careful how you sat with shorts on. Of course, all this equipment, including the lack of safety pads underneath, is now considered far too dangerous and has been replaced with safer equipment... But I have happy memories of the old park, and none of us was ever seriously hurt. (Though I did chip a tiny piece off my front tooth one time when a swing hit it - we were pushing them without riders on them... I was very lucky that time!)

A year or two ago, while visiting my parents, the boys were playing here... My older son was playing on the new swings and my mom and I were sitting on a bench nearby. My son had a gameboy, and was sitting on the swing, not swinging at the moment, playing a game. A slightly older boy was watching him intently (as kids usually do, to see the game action.) The boy asked to try the game. At first my son said no, then offered him the game... As soon as the boy had it in his hands, he ran out of the park. It happened so fast that we didn't realize what happened until he was past us, and there was no hope of catching him. Security called the police, and we filed a report (my son kept hoping, with much confidence, that the police would catch the boy... We tried to explain the unlikelihood that would ever happen, but it was a long while before he gave up all hope.) My son got a new gameboy a couple of months later, for his birthday.

Now my son has very different memories of the park I played in so often as a kid... It makes me sad when I think of how he'll always remember the park... Ironically, it was renovated to make it a safer place for kids to play, but now there are different dangers to worry about.

We had a playdate with Milo and his mommy Erica at the park this afternoon. It was so beautiful outside we had to take advantage of it. Of course, the minute the camera came out, K decided to stop smiling. She really WAS smiling right before this. She does look bored. She wanted out of that swing so desperately, so she could go run around and play on all the fancy new playground equipment. Unfortunately, because this is the newest and fanciest playground in the neighborhood, it was extremely crowded, and we found that there was not a lot for little kids. There were a few things she could go on, but of course she preferred making mommy chase her and drag her away from where the big kids were playing. I was also disapponted that after the park renovation that took place late last summer and into fall, that they only put up 4 new baby swings. I think there used to be at least 6. Even if there were only 4 originally, they should have added a couple more. The park is nice, but for a 20 month old, she was just too little to do much apart from go on the swings and the little slides. Otherwise, she would have been stampeded by 6 year olds.


*** I'm breaking my own rule again, by using a Kenzie photo for my 365. I just didn't take any others, like I thought I would. ***

Baby Gerties specially sized to fit perfectly in wee hands. A wonderful first ball for little ones, these baby Gerties are made from the same soft material used in all Gertie balls. Featuring farm animal designs with friendly, smiling faces, your baby will bounce and giggle with joy over these barnyard babies. choose from 4 styles

Features include:

•The most catchable ball in the world
•Small World Toys All is focused on developing and delivering the safest and highest quality products for children.
•Small World Toys believes that play is an integral and necessary part of a child's development and education.
•Small World Toys prides itself in developing products that encourage creativity and building self confidence through play
•Baby Gerties specially sized to fit perfectly in wee hands