As early as 10 months, babies begin to imitate activities in their pretend play. They may feed their stuffed animals or brush hair on dolls or pretend to eat toy food.
For Aiden, in the last month or two, his pretend play has stepped up a bit. Instead of his animals doing a restricted set of actions like eating or drinking, they now have feelings. Aiden will say his ‘car ducky’ is tired when he is tired, and will gladly act out games with him. Ducky can do many songs such as If You’re Happy And You Know It and has celebrated many birthdays.
I know this is all the development of what will be much more complex pretend play as Aiden gets older, but it’s fascinating to watch it develop! First came actions, next was feelings, and at some point Aiden will begin acting out much more complex social situations. Very interesting!
In the photo: Aiden requested that his Teddy Bear have a bib and bowl at breakfast
Ambleside is one of the more well-known and well-loved beaches in Vancouver. Situated in West Vancouver, the beach spans a huge area from Lions Gate Bridge all along to about 13th St where you can continue along the waterfront path to many shops and restaurants, to John Lawson Park, or the beautiful seawall walk to Dundarave. The park itself features huge grassy fields for kite flying, a concession, a duck pond, and a playground.
The beach itself is one of the more ‘sandy’ beaches on this side of the water, though it doesn’t compare to beaches in Kits or Second Beach. Being exposed to the ocean traffic as it is, the waves can be quite large here (I have a memory from my own childhood of being pulled under from a large wave).
Depending on the tide, you will either enter the water from the sandy-ish beach or will have to pass through the seaweed / rock belt. Very low tide offers the best sand at waters edge. This is a beach that requires water shoes or sandals no matter the tide. The tidal pools in low tide are fun to search for shells and crabs and for collecting seaweed. Aiden is a little hesitant about the ocean at the moment, and finds the waves here particularly overwhelming, but I’m sure that will fade with time.
The playground isn’t huge, but it does offer some great activities for the really little ones. The ‘water park’ is essentially two fire hydrants with a controlled flow, so Aiden was completely in his element there. There are a couple of slides, some swings, and a playhouse to round out the toys.
A few weeks ago, we were trying to head to Stanley Park via transit for a free concert when a traffic jam made us change up our plans. Instead, we headed to Yaletown and David Lam Park. We were not familiar with playgrounds in Yaletown, and honestly weren’t in love with the one we found at David Lam Park.
Despite being a beautiful park, with the waterfront views and seawall, the playground area was not that great. There were a few different play structures as well as swings, offering a variety of options for kids, but it was a very “concrete” area and I was not in love with that.
Do you have an opinion on this playground?
On our way to West Van one day, we decided to stop at a playground in the Norgate area. Not being familiar with the area, we ended up at Norgate Community Elementary. After immense success at Ridgeway, I was excited to try more Elementary playgrounds before school resumed this Fall.
The playground area is gigantic, featuring older and newer play areas for various age ranges. There is an accessible area that is also great for early walkers, as well as slides and swings galore. There was what appeared to be a table for water play, though there wasn’t water anywhere to be seen. Maybe I misunderstood its purpose.
The school isn’t the nicest in North Van, so it’s not great to look at, but the playground was fun. Aiden wasn’t really interested in play that day, so we stayed only briefly, but I would definitely recommend it as a strong playground for the area.
Aiden is learning how to ride a scooter. One of the neighbourhood kids gave him her old three-wheeled scooter last week, so he’s been out with the lot of them trying to scoot around. He understands the concept of pushing with one foot, but doesn’t get very far very quickly yet.
Thankfully, the kids seem more than excited to help him, so I’m not always the one leaning over to keep him steady!
There are 5 neighbourhood kids that Aiden plays with in our back alley. Because our alley is one-way, it’s fairly quiet and the lane offers ample space to play on bikes, scooters or with water toys. The kids are out there every day, particularly in the afternoons before or after dinner.
I used to feel bad when Aiden wanted to play with them, since I didn’t think they’d want to be interrupted to play with a little guy, but as he’s gotten older they’ve seemed to become quite fond of his company. Aiden is definitely going to miss them when they all return to school this Fall!
