Summer Outings
Kate and I have been keeping quite busy lately!
Wednesday my friend and I took our kids to the zoo. The kids seemed kind of unimpressed, but sat in their strollers looking at everything quietly while us moms were all, “Oohhh, look at the cougar!! Did you see that bear?! Oh the fox!!” Clearly people like us have kids so we can do the fun things that people don’t typically do as adults. We also saw a monkey nursing her little toddler-monkey (and commented on how we really felt for the mom, having the toddler leaning everywhere and climbing all over her while mom just stared off into space), and a kangaroo with a baby climbing in and out of her pouch and nursing. (JLK: “Lucky her, she has a built-in carry pouch!” Me: “She’s probably thinking Kid, seriously, get off me for two seconds!“) I of course took pictures of all of them.
Thursday we were at the park with the moms group. I remembered to put sunscreen on Kate, but not myself so I had some pink on my shoulders, even though we were in the shade under the trees on the playground. But Kate had a great time! She’s really mastered climbing up and down steps on playground equipment. Getting down a step is kind of funny to watch because she sits down at the edge and then scoots forward until her feet touch the ground. It was a nice little gym, with wide deep steps and bars all along the sides except where the ladder went up. There was of course a slide, maybe 5 or 6 feet tall, plastic with a wavy bump in the middle. I went down it with Kate on my lap and quickly realized that those slides are NOT meant for adult legs, ouch my knees. Kate would climb up and play around at the top and climb up and down the steps with the other kids. She would sit at the top of the slide and wiggle forward as if she was going to go down it, I’d put out my hands to hold hers, then she’d roll over and climb away. I tried a few times but she just wasn’t interested. She was enjoying herself climbing around and I was chatting with some other moms. I was frequently turning to check her location. Then as I’m turning my head to look I see my child blur past my vision down the slide by herself. She slid to a stop at the bottom (didn’t fall off the bottom of the slide, thankfully), laying on her back staring at the sky. Gave me a damn heart attack. Of course my kid won’t go down with help, but she’ll go down all by herself. (She learned how to go down slides on the slide at our house, a very small toddler slide. I guess she figured to try the big one in the same manner!) She wasn’t scared, didn’t cry, I picked her up and put her by the steps and she climbed right back up the equipment. She did not go down the slide again, however – I think it was a bit more than she was expecting!
After playtime the moms all sat on the grass, most with blankets to sit on, having a picnic lunch. Kate predictably was not interested in what I’d brought for her, so I was eating my sandwich and the apple slices I’d brought. She drank some milk from her sippy and tried dropping food in the grass. While I ate she got up and was being social. Next thing I notice she’d walked over to another little toddler’s blanket and started eating the puffs that were sprinked around him (I went to get her, but the mom said it was fine). She then proceeded to go around “visiting” with everyone on their blankets, mooching food! Goldfish crackers, cheese… whatever, she was flirting and trying to snag other kids’ sippy cups (umm, NO, I think not!). Kind of hilarious, kind of frustrating!
Kate is definitely not a clingy baby when she’s feeling good. I’m always having to check to see where the heck she’s gotten off to, and oftentimes I’d be watching her toddler-run across the darn field. (I’d wait a minute or two to see if she’d turn around, then sigh and get up to run after her.) She loves following kids around, and she’ll just walk off to go visit people.
Yesterday we went to the beach with our friends! This is the second time Kate has been to the beach. She did really well with the sand, although my prissy girl is not as enthralled by playing in sand as one would think a kid would be. She played with a bucket and shovel for a little bit, but then got up to walk around. Her favorite toy is my beach chair, again. Den was there to help out this time, which certainly came in handy at lunch time when Kate was tired and just wanted to be held the entire time.
We took the kids to the splash park. I’m really quite sad that Kate does not seem nearly as thrilled by water as I would have thought, given her love of baths. She was tentatively putting her hand in some sprays, but that was about the end of it, she’d run off and explore. She started walking through puddles, starting to have a good time. And then I saw her walk straight into the middle of what was a circle of fountains that turns on and off. It was off and Kate had no idea. I was just stepping towards her to grab her when it turned on. Water spraying up all around her, soaking her. Kate’s arms went up, and she started crying, very quickly becoming almost hysterical. I had to reach in and pull her out through the water and she was so upset! Sadly no pictures of this, though her face when it turned on was pretty priceless. She calmed down pretty quickly but was done with the splash park after that!
I also took her to the pool, which again, she’s not nearly as thrilled about as I would have expected. I think part of it is the cooler water than the bath water, but also it’s just unfamiliar for her. She whined and clung to my neck, clearly not pleased with this whole pool idea. But this time, as the first time we went to the pool, I let her “swim” to the side and pull herself out. I have to lean up to grab her hand so she doesn’t run off on me, so she turns around and walks to the edge and “jumps” in (walks off the edge into my arms). She seems to think that is a pretty fun game! So I’ll keep working on her with getting used to swimming and swishing in the water, but I’ll keep playing games and trying to make the experience enjoyable for her.
Today we are off to a friend’s Fourth of July party, with hopefully more swimming involved! Kate is having a packed summer. I just hope that I don’t get too burned. ;) (I’m already pinkish after the last two days, and I was wearing SPF 50 at the beach!)