The plan for this evening was for Bug to play with the little girls across the street- they were supposed to come over and play around 4 pm today. I talked to the mom, S, this morning and Bug was looking forward to it all day. When he got home from school, I had snack ready and then I finished my work call. After the call, I stood at the door while he walked over to see if E and E were ready to come over. Older E yelled across the street to me to see if Bug could go with her to another house to play at. I told her I would have to walk down and talk to that momma. The request then came for Bug to play at her house and help while they unpacked some new furniture that arrived to day. Bug said he was fine with that and if he was fine, I was fine. 5 minutes later he walked in the door. the younger E was over at the other house, the older E was not playing, but instead was doing something in the house and Bug did not want to just watch. so he came home. He looked so sad.
This is the second time that he has been disappointed by these girls. The last time, in front of their mom, S, he asked them to come over and play- S said yes and 5 minutes later the older E was leaving and 5 minutes after that S came to the door to pick up younger E as it was dinner time.
I have pretty much decided that we are done trying to play with these girls. The girls are constantly over at another house playing as their mom seems to push them out the door so she can stay inside with the youngest daughter who is around 12-18 months old. I do not mind Bug playing at the other house, I just mind that the girls invite Bug over to that house without checking with that mom, A, if it is OK that she has 4 -5 kids at her house. I have spoken to A and she feels like she can't say no but at the same time she is not OK with the kids there all the time, it is the every day as soon as they get up that she minds. We are at opposite ends of spectrum- I would like to be more flexible like A and she would like to be more structured like me (she told me so). But I am not going to allow Bug to just walk into her house and start playing before checking that it is OK. Does this make sense? Does anyone besides me think it is odd that a mom would send he older kids outside not caring where they are and allow them to just invite themselves over to someones house all day long? Am I being too prickly about the fact that they have stood Bug up 2 times now?
In any case, I decided that we were heading out to the park after he came in looking so sad. So we headed over to the park by Mam and Pap's house. We got there and found out that the wood chips under all the equipment had been chemically treated (bug spray????) and the playground was closed. So I had t think quick before it became one more disappointment. I remembered that there is a playground in the large park near us and I headed over there. We were there once, I think the first October Bug was home, so it has been awhile. Apparently they moved the playground as there is disc golf area there now, but I found another playground in the park and it was so much better.
I think we are going to be going here many more times. Mam and Pap can come too as there are plenty of seats and shade right by the playground.
Across from the playground, they have this tree house- I am thinking family pictures here next year. There is a nice boardwalk to the tree house and a nice balcony to look into the trees. There is also a walking trail right at the tree house, so I will be printing off the map of the park trails and planning some walks for the fall and winter. The bench was a solid piece of wood, polished and shaped. Bug said it was so slippery.
The trees are stating to turn colors- mostly due to lack of rain. I am shocked to see some colors coming out instead of the leaves going directly to brown. I really think we are going to have poor fall colors this year. It would be nice if the rains pouring down on Guatemala could be sent up here where we are on the edge of mild drought. Now that I have written that, it will probably rain all day on Saturday and put a damper on our outing to see Thomas the Tank Engine with hermano. But we need the rain and Guatemala could use the break from the rain.
Bug played on the monkey bars. he could almost stand on the ground and each the rungs.
We both got to swing. I love to swing- I would spend hours swinging when I was in Jr High and High school. It was just so calming. So it was nice today to have swings that I could swing on and have Bug swinging mostly on his own next to me.
Of course he decided to start tiring to flip himself, so I had to make sure I was right there. He had a great time and I never had to tell him to stop. he is testing his limits on his own and I don't want to hamper him or hinder him. There are lessons he is going to have to learn- like flipping in a swing is not a good thing, but hopefully he can avoid any trips to the hospital.
He did some climbing and then the allure of the slide hit him and he finished out the day playing on the slide.
The day was beautiful as you can see in this photo. I was hoping to get a smiling picture of Bug with the sky as a background, but he was having none of that. The slide was more fun
See- lovely sky and his face looks like something else. He was telling me that he was afraid he would fall- this after climbing up the slide, hanging on the slide, etc. but he was afraid that by looking over the edge of the slide he was going to fall off. Silly little man, such a drama king some days.
It was a great day and we both enjoyed ourselves. We have missed going to the park due to the heat and humidity that we have had in July and August. So we are going to enjoy the cooler weather and the lack of humidity and get out to parks each evening or walk through the neighborhood.
Friday night, hermano and vaca momma are coming to spend the night since we are taking the boys to see Thomas the tank engine on Saturday morning. They should be here around dinner time. We are making homemade pizza and watching "Ice Age". Family movie could only be better if vaca daddy was coming too. Unfortunately, the vacas need him.
Love and hugs,
Deb
I'm so sorry the playdates don't work out with the girls across the street. Lots of kids in my neighborhood (an ungated development) are constantly outside without any adult supervision, apparently the 8-year old siblings are responsible for the 5 year olds? I'm SO not happy about it because there's literally no supervision, the kids are in the street and don't move when a car comes by. It's potentially very dangerous. But yes, I'm thinking there ARE parents who think it's OK to just say "go outside to play" and don't follow up. I constantly watch to see the 4- and 5-year olds, because they will be the 8- and 9-year olds when Tami's old enough to beg to play outside.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for moms who invite you over for what turns into a five-minute playdate, have I told you about Vicki? :) Have your 6-year old call me for hours on end to make plans, and then cancel as soon as we show up? Um, ok.
Rude. As if their child's whims are more important than my schedule.