Sandbox Boy

Awhile back I started getting really excited about the idea of getting Thomas a sandbox! Our yard isn't landscaped yet, so I'm always trying to find ways to have fun outside with Thomas doing something besides just walking around in the dirt and picking up rocks. I've been using our back deck a lot as our "back yard," so to speak. The back of our lot slopes down, so our back deck is one story up. The deck is pretty large and since it has a railing all the way around, its nice and contained...we do have stairs going down, but I just gate them off and then I have one giant playpen! I thought putting a sandbox out on the deck would be great for Thomas and me, because he could play in it while I sat out by him and read a book or something. Plus, our deck is covered so it would be out of the sun.

So about a month ago I finally went and got the sandbox and a bunch of fun sand toys, and Thomas loves it! He was hesitant to actually sit in the sand at first. But he has a great time playing with the shovels and rakes and the fun sand gadgets. The only downside is the mess...I didn't think it would be as messy as it is! I bought the sand at Toys-R-Us, and its really fabulous play sand because its cleaned thoroughly and is very soft, but also...it is incredibly fine! Sand blows all over the deck and inevitably some of it gets into the house when we open the back door. So...*sigh* the sandbox might have to be relocated to the basement patio, overlooking our dirt lot, which is not quite as fun. Oh well...I'm just glad to have something new and fun for Thomas to play with outside until we put in grass!