Park Day

Since it's gorgeous outside and our plans changed at the last minute today, I decided to take the kids down to Piedmont Park. I can't remember the last time I took them there during the week; since Maddux came along, it was a little too much for me to take on. That makes me sad because I used to bring Eli down there a lot when he was little. All the way up until I had Maddux actually. Ah, the joys and ease of only having one other human to keep alive at a time... But I digress.

So after breakfast we picked out a few whiffle balls and hopped in the car. All trips warrant bringing a bat and ball these days, so the baseball gear was not out of the ordinary. Once we arrived, the three of us climbed a big hill that Eli designated 'the pitcher's mound'. He wasn't hitting especially well this morning though, so after a few dozen pitches, the game was over. We then walked to the other side of the park to check out the new dog park. Both kids drank from the water fountain each time we passed it, soaking their hair and faces. We stopped so Eli could jump off of several rocks. Maddux has not yet figured out how to jump off of thinks half her height or bigger, but she wants to. In a major way. And what trip to the park would be complete without a snack? I brought along some fun new snacks for the kids to enjoy just before we headed back to the car.

As we were leaving, Maddie got distracted by a gutter. It wasn't a large one, but it was open. Eli warned her to not fall in: "Maddie, don't get too c-wose or you'll fall in!" Then he told me, "Then I wouldn't have a sister. And I'd be sad." I will replay that moment in my head for a while.

Of course, after we returned home, Eli was a whiny boy and neither child was obeying. (I knew this because I heard myself repeating, "Maddux, no. Eli, stop...go to the bathroom. Maddux, don't touch. ELI, go to the bathroom." again and again. Not a good thing. After a few repeats, which shows how on auto-pilot I was, I told Eli he lost his privilege for books before naps. I do not like to take that away from him, but sometimes it is the only thing that gets his attention. And we read plenty around here, so I'm not worried about him not getting his daily allotment of book exposure. After I put Maddux to bed, I walked into Eli's room to find him lying on his bed with his blanket. I was very calm by now, and I gently explained to him that Mommy expects first time obedience which means I should not have to ask him to do things more than once. He agreed that he was not obeying 'all the way, right away, and with a happy heart'. Then he said, "Mommy, I need a hug." Melt melt. He didn't even appear to be very sad, but I was more than happy to oblige. I told him we needed to make sure we got at least five hugs in each day. (For some reason, five is the biggest number to him right now. I'll tell him he has ten minutes left to play and he'll say, "Please can I have five?")