I actually got to put Josh's shoes on this weekend (No, not literally. He has big feet!) and play single parent. Josh went to Indianapolis to play fraternity boy at his fraternity's winter educational conference. He was invited to be a facilitator and since they were paying, I had no issues with him going from Thursday to Sunday. I left for Singapore for two weeks...twice. The least I could do was let him go to Indiana for 4 days. So mix that the spin topic of "What if..." and no motivation to work and I am blogging.
So, what if...
What if I was home with Abigail this weekend and I wanted to do something fun like taking my daughter to the park? Abby LOVES the park. We have to literally pass it on our to or from our house every day. Usually when I turn into our community, a little voice in the back seat shouts "Park? Park?" I try to accommodate her when I can because we all have fun at the park. Her playing and Josh and I enjoying her happiness. As we near the park, Abby says "Hi, park!". She is almost giddy as I get her out of the car and let her run. Her favorite thing is the slide and she now can go down all the slides at the park by herself. She will even sometimes say "WEEEE" and "Again!" when she is done. We usually go to the park every Saturday and Sunday.
With Josh gone this weekend, I figured the park would be great on Saturday. But since we were out and about early in the morning, the park was going to get an early morning visit. So we get to the park, get out of the car and Abigail makes her way to the slides. Unfortunately, the entire playground is soaked with morning dew (it was covered in a blanket of water but I know it didn't rain the night before). Puddles at the bottom of all the slides and water everywhere. Sort of like this:
Just kidding. But since I didn't care too much if she gets a little wet, I decided to let her play. She expertly got onto the biggest slide and went down fast since it was almost a water slide. It wasn't that bad. Well, I picked her up and she was soaked. I could have wrung out her pants. I decided this wasn't a good idea after all and we have to go home. Poor Abby did not understand what Mommy was doing and threw a fit. I felt terrible putting her back in the car (pants and shoes removed) and forcing her to go back home. But little did she know, we were heading to the mall later and they have a kids play place outside Macy's. Perfect!
So after her nap and some dry clothes, we headed to the mall. I got my few errands run and headed for the indoor playground. Now, this playground is not the greatest. It has a car and a plane to play in (which can sit two kids at a time) and a little house with a slide that is all of two feet high. It is borderline pathetic to call it a playground but it is enclosed and has kids playing. Not to mention I felt so guilty for her not getting to play in the morning, that she needed some running time. So she headed for the plane first and was in and out having fun. I was trying to observe the other big kids there to make sure they kept their distance. The playground allows for kids under 10 but there is a huge difference between a rowdy 9 year old boy and my sweet little 21 month old girl. But the guilt was keeping me there and she was having fun. Well, she spied the slide and ran over to it. She took her time going up the three stairs to the slide as I waited there to help her. This older boy (around 6 years old) comes up behind her and because she wasn't going fast enough, attempts to push her out of the way so he can get on the slide. I was NOT going to have any of that and just said to him, you can wait your turn as I took Abby's hand to let her get onto the slide (hence why I used the word attempt). What made it worse was that I figured out that his parents were just behind me and didn't say A WORD!!! They just didn't care. So she got down the slide and ran back to try again. This time that kid wasn't there but there was another kid about 5 years old playing around saying "Holy sh*&t" over and over. His dad even said "What did you say?" and when the kid didn't answer, the dad gave up...as the kid went back to saying "Holy sh*&t". And it wasn't just the boys doing stuff like this. There were two girls who were wrestling on the floor while their mom just yelled from her seat that she was going to beat their butts if they didn't stop. Well, that was my final straw and I decided I am not subjecting Abby nor myself to this anymore. Again, she didn't understand why after less than 5 minutes, we had to go. I felt so badly and had to strap her back into the stroller promising to go back to the park near our house which should be dry by now.
So after her nap and some dry clothes, we headed to the mall. I got my few errands run and headed for the indoor playground. Now, this playground is not the greatest. It has a car and a plane to play in (which can sit two kids at a time) and a little house with a slide that is all of two feet high. It is borderline pathetic to call it a playground but it is enclosed and has kids playing. Not to mention I felt so guilty for her not getting to play in the morning, that she needed some running time. So she headed for the plane first and was in and out having fun. I was trying to observe the other big kids there to make sure they kept their distance. The playground allows for kids under 10 but there is a huge difference between a rowdy 9 year old boy and my sweet little 21 month old girl. But the guilt was keeping me there and she was having fun. Well, she spied the slide and ran over to it. She took her time going up the three stairs to the slide as I waited there to help her. This older boy (around 6 years old) comes up behind her and because she wasn't going fast enough, attempts to push her out of the way so he can get on the slide. I was NOT going to have any of that and just said to him, you can wait your turn as I took Abby's hand to let her get onto the slide (hence why I used the word attempt). What made it worse was that I figured out that his parents were just behind me and didn't say A WORD!!! They just didn't care. So she got down the slide and ran back to try again. This time that kid wasn't there but there was another kid about 5 years old playing around saying "Holy sh*&t" over and over. His dad even said "What did you say?" and when the kid didn't answer, the dad gave up...as the kid went back to saying "Holy sh*&t". And it wasn't just the boys doing stuff like this. There were two girls who were wrestling on the floor while their mom just yelled from her seat that she was going to beat their butts if they didn't stop. Well, that was my final straw and I decided I am not subjecting Abby nor myself to this anymore. Again, she didn't understand why after less than 5 minutes, we had to go. I felt so badly and had to strap her back into the stroller promising to go back to the park near our house which should be dry by now.
On the way back home, I told her that we would stop at the park. There were a couple of big kids there (~8 year old girls) but usually when we are there and other kids join in, they are usually pretty well behaved. We have never had any problems at this park and enjoy going to it. These girls were nice and even when they were horsing around on the slide, they stopped to let Abby have her turn. But soon they realized how cute Abigail was and wanted to play with her like she was a doll. One of the wanted Abby to sit on her lap while she went down the slide. Since I was right there to help and the slide is not that big, I decided that it wasn't going to hurt anyone for her to go down on this little girl's lap. Abigail wanted to and the guilt had been consuming me. I made sure the girl held on tightly and they had fun going down. YEAH! Well, then this little girl wanted to carry her up the stairs...I don't think so. Then she wanted to Abby to follow her...you are ending my patience, kid. They decided that they wanted to go down the slide again. Again, I made all of my checks and they were good to go. I felt like an air traffic controller. Well, this time they came down on their backs and Abby just looked uncomfortable. I decided to be the bad mommy again and leave. Thankfully it was after about 15 minutes so I didn't feel that guilty and she didn't put up that much of a fuss.
So what if I was home with Abigail this weekend and I wanted to do something fun like taking my daughter to the park? I better make sure that I realize I may get more than I bargained. Boy did I need a day off after all of that yesterday. I don't think I am going to be visiting the park anytime soon without Josh...or a shot gun. Just kidding...maybe.
So what if I was home with Abigail this weekend and I wanted to do something fun like taking my daughter to the park? I better make sure that I realize I may get more than I bargained. Boy did I need a day off after all of that yesterday. I don't think I am going to be visiting the park anytime soon without Josh...or a shot gun. Just kidding...maybe.
7 comments:
Not only did you Spin, you are Number 1! Huzzah to you! I always have a twinge of fear before taking Sprite to the park. Are the kids going to be nice and not pushy? Will Sprite be nice and not kicky? Is it going to end in hysterics? Whose hysterics, mine or hers? Love this What If! You're linked! (I missed saying that to you!)
Very cute spin! What if you would have told that 5 yo to watch his d#*n mouth! Seriously, nothing bugs me more than kids (under the age of say...20) swearing. I swear. A lot. But I'm 33! It just irritates me so bad! I know my kids are gonna want to cuss at an early age bc of the bad example I've set but trust me, I will put the brakes on that!
So what if you'd have cussed out the little sailor? You probably would have ended up hearing even worse words from his dad.
IDK if I'll be spinning this week. I've had 3 of my last 4 post been about/from Sprite's Keeper!
It's hard when your little one is smaller than all the others at the playground. I learned to find a friend that had a kid the same age as mine. Safety in numbers. It's easier to be the bigger parent if there is more than one child/parent on the same page.
Great spin!
We have a park right around the corner from our house and there's been several times where we've taken the boys there and had to leave earlier than we wanted to. Sometimes teenagers hang out there and I would rather not have my four year old, who repeats everything like a parrot, around kids who are cussing and talking trash. And the other thing that drives me crazy is when people come into the park and let their huge dogs off leash when they can plainly see there are toddlers right there. I've had to scoop my kids up numerous times to avoid having them trampled by some strange dog.
My days at the park with my little ones are long past, but I know I had to keep my clenched fist in my pocket quite a few times.
"Hi Park." That's adorable!
I have the same anxieties when I take Maks to the park. I usually hover over him making sure that he is OK and keeping the bigger kids at bay. But there are times when it's just better that we leave.
Great spin!
Came from Sprite's. Great spin, you took me back to the days (my children are 19 and 16 now).
Once, my daughter was about fur, and I let her go on that disk thing that you spin. I was moving it very slowly and along came a boy who grabbed the bar and spun it so so fast before I ould stop him. My daughter flew out and cried for an hour.
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