A -Tisket-A-Tasket... Evan Loves His Basket...

My how this boy loves climbing in baskets!

Since the time he could move, Evan has been intrigued with the basket in the living room. Pre-baby I used it to store old magazines. Once Evan came along I decided it would be a great place for diapers, wipes, and other baby essentials, saving me from excessive trips up and down the stairs! It turned out to be as handy as I thought...until a certain someone learned mobility!

This was taken when Evan was about six months old. His method of movement at the time was rolling; he would roll and roll until he reached what he wanted. He absolutely loved rolling over to the basket and pulling everything out. This continued through the crawling phase; crawl to the basket, pull everything out, watch mommy put it back and do it again!

Then just two short months after crawling came walking. Ever heard the term, "be careful what you wish for"? Walking very quickly led to climbing. It started with the stairs but Evan, being the gross motor skill master, figured out he could use that same climbing movement to get himself into the basket. The following picture was taken at around 11 months.

Once I realized that Evan having access to his diaper cream wasn't the best idea (see the older post on Boudreaux's Butt Paste for that story!) we began using this basket for books and puzzles. While he still enjoyed climbing into it on occasion, it had become less frequent that I found him sitting in the basket.

Then came height. It's amazing to me how Evan learns what his little body can do; I guess it's just trial and error and when something new works out for him - BAM - it becomes his favorite new activity. Hence, sitting in his toy box and blocks basket. Both of these containers are quite a bit taller than the basket he had been accustomed to climbing into so it took a combination of him growing another inch and being curious enough to learn how to scale the new buildings, so to speak!

In the last two weeks this is what we've learned to do...

Sitting in the basket where his blocks are normally kept
(and he sits on top of the blocks - OUCH!)

And sitting in his toy box (which is actually a clothes hamper that we use as a toy box!)

Whichever he decides to sit in you can count on the fact that he will begin the fun that is throwing everything in the basket onto the floor! You can imagine how many times a day I put toys away - something we're working to teach little Evan!

Now if he could only learn how to exit the baskets...his current method is a demanding grunt or yell as he tries to swing one leg over the side but can't quite figure out what to do after that!

Boys are GREAT, aren't they?