Climbing Frame!

Once he became confident with the concept of mobility, Nikki suddenly started acting much more like a little boy. Before he could walk, he was happy to sit and play quiet games for ages. Now, he wants me to read his favourite poem whilst he runs up and down the hall!

Due to the fact that we a) don't have a garden of our own and b) live in England, there can be days or even weeks when we don't leave the house for any non-essential reasons. This means that we will go to playgroup or the shops but avoid the play area - too wet/too cold/too muddy etc.

Nikki doesn't appreciate this. He doesn't care that the swing seats are sodden or the climbing frame is slippery - he want's to swing and climb! He also has far too much energy on the days when we go running or walk for miles; if we don't get out he is almost unbearably energetic!

Thus, to burn off some of that energy on rainy days, we bought him an indoor climbing frame for his bedroom. This is something which a lot of Russian families have in their flats, and was surprisingly difficult to find in England (the one we ordered had actually been imported from Russia!) but has been a big hit with Nikki, his monkeys and my little brother.

In this picture, you can just about see our safety mat (or a trampoline, as Nikki calls it). The blue on the ladder is a padded anti-climb device, so that Nikki  can only climb when supervised. It also comes in handy for padding the side of his toy chest when his is playing. The climbing rope and rings are tied up to the top of the frame when I'm not in the room.