The Wicker Boy

When I was pregnant, we found a lovely wicker storage basket in Dunelm Mill, lined with blue gingham and with little wooden wheels. We stored in it all the bits and bobs of baby-clothes which we acquired, and some special soft toys. It languished in the corner of the nursery during the first few months of J-cub's life, filled with cot blankets which were too big to be used while he was tiny.

As he got bigger and the influx of toys started, the basket was moved downstairs to the lounge, was gradually filled up, and quickly overflowed. It's fairly sturdy, and J-cub first pulled himself to stand holding on to it, tempted by the bounty within. From time to time, he starts searching for something in it, chucking toys over his shoulder with little or no regard for people or cats who might be within a hitting radius.

This afternoon he managed to empty the entire basket, turn it on its side, and began to delight himself with the sound the wicker made as he hit it, and rubbed his hands on it, and scratched it. He then realised that he could see through the sides, and played Peepo with us through and around it for ages...

At the moment, when he gets excited he reaches both arms up to the ceiling, throws his head back, squeezes his eyes tightly shut and giggles before slamming both hands down on whatever it is that he's crushing on. I tried to get a shot-from-above of this move (pre-shutting-eyes) for today's look up photo, but was foiled. I just love the expression of pure joy on his face here though...

Having extricated the basket from the mess he'd made, I discovered that the wheels were sturdier than they looked, and I pushed him around the lounge in it for a while, getting up as much speed as possible and crashing into the furniture...

Then J-cub realised that he could push the basket around himself. He's been using his VTech First Steps Baby Walker for a week or so now, and is so proud of his abilities to walk across the floor with it. It does go a bit fast though, and he tends to get left behind and ends up on his knees (or flat on his face). He also can't push it one handed, and can't hold the handle with his giraffe Jemaine also in his hand. The basket solved both these problems; heavy enough to push at a J-cub-appropriate speed, and with room to spare for Jemaine to travel in style...

He also struggles to turn the VTech walker around corners, or to reverse direction, but the basket was just the right height to cruise around to the far side, then push it back the way he came...

J-cub played with the basket for TWO SOLID HOURS. I didn't get a proper look up photo, but it's my rules, and I say the second and third photos count. And it was great fun.