The hearing test and slides

Nikko had a hearing test today at Lutheran General Hospital. Because he woke up from a short nap in the car I carried him into the Yacktman Pavillion wing. He was curious about his surroundings and I had to stop in the rennovated lobby to tie my shoe. I put him on the ground to walk and he immediately had a spring in his step. That is, until we reached the elevator. We went inside and he immediately reached up for me to pick him up, which I did. Our wait wasn't long and soon we were walking into a ramped room into the soundproof booth. There was only one lady present, which made me nervous at first because last time they told me there are usually two people present. I wondered if we would have a hard time like last time, but hoped for the best. Nikko and I were in a tiny room with a chair, some toy furniture, but no other toys, while the doctor was on the other side of a dark window. The sounds beeped and a lighted, spinning toy appeared in either corner before us. Nikko wasn't distracted this time around by any toys; he sat on my lap and looked around curiously when there was a beep or tone. I think this helped his chances of passing greatly. We were done in less than ten minutes, probably even fewer than that, and he had passed with flying colors! Yea! He tromped down the ramp and had a lot of energy, so I mused over the idea of taking him to a park on the way home to let out some steam. I drove to a park on Owen Street, opposite of the park that we had the boys' birthday parties. This one had some pretty good playground equipment and lots of slides. Nikko had a blast in the short time we were there. I watched him explore the slides and how to get to the top of them. He ventured easily over ascending stairs but stayed away from ladders. There were some "wobbly" bridges that he took tentative steps, but later on I nudged him over the bridge so he wouldn't have time to second guess himself. On another slide his butt got wet from leftover water, but that didn't stop him. I also noticed that as he climbed the stairs faster to get to the slide, he started taking each step one foot at a time instead of placing two feet on a step. He looked like a little boy taking big boy steps. Aw! When I gave him a few warnings that it was "Last call for slides", he hurried his pace and tried to go down the slide a few more times. I think he is learning that an activity is coming to a close whenever I give that warning. Therefore, when it was time to scoop him up, he didn't struggle against me. He did look back at the park and vocally wanted to go back, but he didn't wriggle out of my grip. I think it's just awesome to see Nikko try to figure out the apparatus in these parks. I want to show him how to climb a ladder, but there's probably some skill involved that needs some practice. After all, he just learned how to jump and needs to learn how to jump on command, so I should give him some slack. But just a little.