A month ago, I received my weekly newsletter from BabyCenter which stated:

Variety is the spice of 2-year-old life. Your child needs exposure to all kinds of playthings and places to stimulate his developing brain.”

Now that statement is burned into my mind and I try to expose Owen to as many different things and places as I possibly can.

Our first trip that weekend was to visit our nearby park. Daddy was busy, so it was just Owen baby and I. It was a pretty sunny day with breeze so the canoes and kayaks were out. Needless to say, I took advantage of these stimuli and urged Owen to explore them. I have to come to realize, however, that Owen is quite timid when it comes to new things…he is afraid of them and needs coaxing before he would even come near them. I attribute this to our (grandparents as well as myself) over-protectiveness when he was younger. We will work to help Owen becoming more daring.

As you can see from the pics, Owen did finally get into the kayak and canoe! (of course Mommy had to get in it first to show him that it won’t hurt him).