The gate

We just got back from the playground and I was playing with the camera while Emmett played. Emmett spends a good percentage of his time opening and shutting the two gates to the playground, but he can only open by pulling. I have often wondered if they would have designed the playground so that the gates swung outward if he would only be able to open gates by pushing? I have also often wondered if they designed the playground with gates that opened inward thinking that gates that open outward would be easier to open since inward opening gates could be swung open and harm children who are playing in the playground whereas the odds of hitting a kid with an outward-swinging gate are much lower. I have spent a lot of time wondering things at the playground.

Back to the video. Emmett is opening and shutting the gate and I ask him where the latch is. It is not that exciting, but illustrates how he says words that sound like the intended word, but that there is a good deal of interpretation going on. He really seems to like sounds with a "ch" sound---"lunch" is another favorite as are "peach" and "cherry," where lunch and peach actually sound somewhat similar and cherry is only said "ch." Anyway, here is the video:


As you can see, this video, like most these days, ends with Emmett noticing that I am holding the camera and coming to get it. While cleaning the camera I found the following picture from yesterday when he was on the attack, too.
Nothing too much else going on that is too exciting. Emmett has been a little less than regular in the last week with his naps making us wonder if he is starting to make the switch to one nap. Yesterday he missed his afternoon nap and was spacey and sleepy at dinner and on Wednesday he missed his morning nap and I thought he was going to fall asleep face-down in his plate. He went down just fine today, so we will see what comes.

Oh, one other thing semi-kid related. Malcolm, the cat, had an increased limp that got to the point where he wouldn't put his foot down at all. On Wednesday Emmett, Malcolm and I took the bike (Emmett bike seat, Malcolm trailer) to the vet but due to bad communication between the vet and I we ended up riding home (after a 45-minute stay in the waiting room) and had another appointment at a walkable vet on Thursday. Ends up Malcolm had an abscess in his leg that got bad, gave him a fever of 105+, and needed to be lanced. He got that done and is now finally putting his foot down a little. It was sad to see him hurt, but I have to say that the plus-side was that he wasn't begging for food all of the time and he wasn't bolting for the door every time it was opened. Emmett was surprisingly good at both vet offices and just watched the whole procedure without complaint (well, not the lancing...we left for that).