I remember when rock was young / Me and Jonah had so much fun

Our neighborhood association sponsors several concerts in the park over the course of the summer, with a range of musical performances, free ice cream, and other food available for purchase. While we didn't always attend these, it's become a nice event to go to as a family and it gives us an opportunity to catch up with some of our neighbors, many of whom Jonah has come to know and enjoy as well.

We took Jonah to a couple of the concerts last year, but his interest largely focused on pushing around a dump truck or some such toy that we would bring along. This year, he is much more interested in rocking to the music and checking out the musicians themselves. Last Thursday's concert featured dueling pianos (keyboards in this case), and a lot of recognizable music. Jonah had no issues walking up close to the stage to dance and was even called out by one of the musicians. Here you can see him getting into it a bit (Elton John's Crocodile Rock):

After dancing and studying the musicians for a while, the call of the playground was just too much. He's still working to master the other stairs to the top (they don't have railings in all places), but Jonah has been very interested in using the side stairs that provide more direct access to the slides. In the past, we've helped him up these and provided a lot of supervision as he goes up, but I don't think that's really necessary any more, as you can see in this video from last week. Getting up that first step is the biggest challenge!

Slide Adventures

We picked up a little outdoor play set for Jonah over the weekend. We didn't figure he would do too much with it yet, but that it would be something he could grow into. He can climb, crawl through doors and holes, and slide. As I write this post, I realize that we haven't really gotten a picture of the entire structure. This means it is a little more difficult to get a sense of its size. We did get some fun shots, though.

One of the most important things to remember when climbing through the door is to stick out your tongue.

Incoming through one of the side portals.

Checking the structural integrity of the upper platform.

One of Jonah's first trips down the slide. He wasn't too sure what to think.

"Look, Mommy and Daddy! I can climb!"

Climbing out the door.

One of the biggest surprises on the set came yesterday when Jonah resolved himself to climb the slide. We had to capture it to share.