The Park on Monday

Today was expected to be in the mid-70s and sunny, and then tomorrow there is forecast "100% chance of heavy rain," so I wanted to take the kids to the park before the rest of the week becomes much cooler.

I tried to visit McDowell again, but it was closed for a deer hunt, so the friendly park ranger directed me to a nearby playground with walking trails. The children fell asleep on the drive. Sadly, after a few blissful months--of coordinated naps in which daily I was getting to lay down for an afternoon rest plus get up and have some time alone to myself before the kids woke--currently our sleep routine is chaotic and bad. The kids wake up at different times, go to bed at different times, and nap at different times, if John naps at all. He still desperately needs a nap, as evidenced by his wretched behavior if he doesn't get one and that he falls asleep anytime he is in the car. But I can't actually get him to take a nap if Mary is awake and I can't get Mary to take a nap if John is awake. It's all just rather wretched right now and I am so very tired. There, now the momentary complaining is completed.

Mary is becoming quite the climber. Several mothers commented to me about how physically adept she was for one-year-old-in-a-few-days. Mary wanted nothing to do with the play structure designed for ages two to five, and was undeterred from playing on the structure for ages five to twelve years. Over and over, her goal was to make a bee line to that structure and climb up it, which she was perfectly capable of doing. Then I'd pull her down from the top level and she'd show me her new skills at throwing tantrums, almost like a full-fledged toddler. She'd arch her body and scream, flinging herself so hard that I could hardly hold her, so I'd set her on the wood chips and she'd slam her body to the ground and kick and scream to let me know just how much she wanted to be on the play structure. After letting her play and climb for about an hour, I confined her to my Ergo baby carrier and she threw a royal tantrum in there. I think I'm witnessing some new personality traits emerge!

But before I confined her, she had a grand old time and I took many photos of her cuteness.

John had so much fun climbing around. Many children approached him and struck up conversation, but John was shy, answering "I don't know" (with a shrug) rather than engage: that's his new tactic to avoid engaging, including with me. He'll answer "I don't know" if he doesn't want to talk, so, for example, when a little girl asked his name today, he instantly answered, "I don't know!" He has also begun saying "I'm not very good at it" to get out of trying to do something I've asked (even fun stuff), which is bothering me. I know just where he gets that (me) and I'm very familiar with that tactic from another certain melencholic child (me). So, I'll be working on not saying that myself and trying to cheer some of the melencholy out of my boy's temperament, which he comes by so very honestly.

The playground offered this neat "mountain." John scampered up and down it repeatedly, at one point sitting on top and thoughtfully commenting to me, "I can see everything up here."

Then we ate snacks on a picnic bench and went for a walk along the paved walking trail around the area. At one point John fell about 15 feet behind me because for once I wasn't stopping every seven seconds to wait for him. He shrieked, "Mama, can you come here, please? Don't run off like a shot." I replied, "Oh? I shouldn't do that? I think I was just walking, not running." He admonished, "Well, let's just stick together for safety." I wonder where he has heard such talk (a million times) before.

On our walk, we spotted deer scat and deer hoof prints in the mud, which sparked a vivid conversation about how deer come out for water when the light is dim, in the early morning and early evening. Later when we emerged from the grocery store at dusk, John said with authority, "It's dim now! The deer are going to come out to get water. Deer do not like to get water in the bright sun."

And speaking of climbing, I was working in the kitchen and knew Mary was playing in the pantry. After a few minutes of peaceful, silent playing, I went to check on her and found her perched on my stepladder. More evidence of increased climbing. And the girl must have heard me hoping that she doesn't have any more accidents so that I can take a pretty picture of her when she turns one later this week because this evening she got a shiner when she tried to sit in a bucket full of stuffed animals and it tipped over.