A Shopper in Training

I bought one of those little shopping carts for Emma today. To say that she really likes it is a total understatement. I thought it would be good for her to be able to walk around without the help of us and learn to balance more on her own. It is definitely working. She has wanted to play with it since we got home. In fact, she used it so much that she wore herself out and took a 3 hour nap. I consider this money well invested!

Our downstairs makes a circle and I followed her around no less than 20 times today. Here is a short video of her with her shopping cart. She always looks back at me when she gets to a dead end. I think it is to make sure that a) I'm watching and b) to make sure that I am noticing she is stuck and for me to come help her turn around. It looks like she is ready to shop to me:



Before we got the cart, she was standing up for a short spurts without holding on to anything. But now, she is standing for long periods of time and balancing herself great. I think the distraction of all the toys and music right there at her fingers makes her forget to hold on so much. I don't think it will be long now before we have an official "toddler" on our hands.

Here is an action shot that I took of her:


I could never get a video of her from the front angle because as soon as I'd set the cart in place and walk back far enough to video, she'd already be right in my face. So, here is a video from tonight that Josh took after I did the set up.


She was also really cute playing with her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse shapes today. She kept fishing out the shapes, putting them in, then turning around to make sure I was watching, and then she'd clap for herself. So sweet.