Kids Play.

Ah it's here. The month of love. I do wish I could drop everything and take off to the Virgin Islands for a nice getaway (as long as a spa day is in there somewhere) but instead I'm looking at kids Valentine's and fun things to do with my little one . . . and I'm loving it!

I've been searching for places to take Sophie in the metroplex for some fun and stimulation. The poor girl really has never been anywhere kid-zoned for fun and we are limited too since she's not walking. Anyway . . . via my momsoutloud.com newsletter I found some places that I bookmarked and we picked one to go to yesterday. It was called "Doogoland" and it's in Grand Prairie not too terribly far from us. They have a place for younger kids that is soft and they can crawl all over it. They serve food and have loads of fun things. I was so excited. David and I bundled Sophie up and headed down there. We got there and a sign on the door said, "Doors closed permanently." Darn economy!

We were already out and I was in the mood to do something fun with her. I didn't want to head back home yet. I remembered they have a little place in the Parks Mall in south Arlington where kids can romp on giant animal statues and go through tunnels and stuff. Why not? So we headed over to the mall. It was insanely packed, like Christmas time. Sophie was the only kid there not walking. They had benches along side the wall for parents to sit on while they watched their kids. Sophie enjoyed herself and a little girl that was probably 6 years old said to me, "She's a pretty baby, can I play with her?" So she pet Sophie on the head like a kitten and proceeded to talk to her. It was cute. Sophie just stared at her like, " and you are? . . ."

She found a giant kitty hanging over a spool of thread that was a tunnel. She's taken to signing the "cat" sign since Grandma and Grandpa have a cat. She crawled right to the cat, pulled up and did the sign and said her version of "cat". It was cute.

We then found a carousel that was up near the food court and I wanted to see if she would enjoy riding it. We hauled up there and I stood next to her while she sat atop one of the horses. She like the lights on the carousel more than anything and then she saw that the horse next to us had some neat jewels on it's halter. So I knew she wouldn't stay seated once we started going so I got up on the horse and rode with her. I have a pic of her pointing to the lights as she said to me, "L-l-lie". I actually have pics of me on the horse and video too but I'm just not a sight for anything that should be published to the web so I'm leaving you with this pic of Sophie instead and me hiding behind the horse's head!

We are still on the hunt for fun things and I hope I can find time to do them with her. Seems lots are on Saturdays--I work almost all day on Saturdays--or in the mornings when I work too. So we'll keep searching!

Have a happy Monday . . . and Happy February to all of you!