11.12.2007

Central Market Fun

Mia and I joined some Other Mothers (a mom's group) and their kiddos for some lunch and fun at Central Market today. We hadn't been since Mia was under a year old, and we just had a picnic on a blanket with some other moms and their non-mobile babies. This time was totally different! The playscape area is really great. They have an area for toddlers and a bigger one for the older kids. Since it was Veteran's Day, there were many older school age kids playing, and Mia was in heaven.
She totally is aware of the hierarchy at the playground. When she's the oldest, she tends to push a little. Those little ones just don't move as quickly as she'd like. When she's one of the youngest, like today, she knows she's at the bottom of the totem pole, and acts accordingly. She moves aside then the big kids zoom by, takes turns and definitely tries to do big kid things.
Daryl and I have pretty much had the 'slide down the slide not walk up it' rule. But, when I asked Andrea if she lets Colton climb up slides, she said she did. I remember when I was a kid, sometimes climbing/running up was way more fun than just sliding down. You have to get some momentum going, lean forward.... I've reconsidered and mellowed our rule out a bit...'you can climb up as long as there isn't anyone wanting to slide down...if there is, get out of the way, QUICK!' :) See, stuff like that...hanging out with other mamas helps me figure out what kind of mama I am and what kind I'd like to be. We went (hiked) to the duck pond. First, getting that many kids and mamas organized was interesting to watch. I mentioned 'duck pond' and Mia was on her way. Some other kids had to be coaxed from the playscape. But, we got it all together, and found some ducks, but not before we found this awesome tree that we all hung out under. The kids tried climbing some of the very low limbs, others played with the fallen leaves. It was nice. When we did make it to the ducks, we all plopped down and broke out our offerings. We brought some 'so freakin' organic, they're yucky' cheese snacks (like Cheetos) that even during our snackiest time, we wouldn't touch. So not only were they yucky, they were now very stale. Perfect for ducks, minnows and apparently hungry kiddos. Oh, Mia met this little girl, Maeve, today. Maeve was wearing a pretty seersucker dress that Mia really liked the feel of :) Mia couldn't get enough of Maeve and her dress.

No comments: