Park It Up

Another season of warmer weather is upon us and with that comes the exciting trips to the park again.  These last two trips have been an interesting contrast to last year.  As a 2 and 3 year old, Eli developed some strange fears of the park.  He wouldn't go down the slides or climb on anything.  He made us lift him and carry him around.  He never wanted to play with any other kids.  But in the last two days, as an almost 4-year-old, he has been a completely different child.  He is adventurous and active.  There is nothing that is off-limits to him.  He has mastered the "fast slide" and can climb back up the twisty one.  I can't believe the difference.  He even gets excited when there are other kids on the playground and tries to start games with them.  Who is this social and less-clumsy kid?  I love it!

One thing that has not changed is his mommy.  It is no secret that I only have a pool of about 8 kids that I like in the world.  All the rest of them are brats, in my opinion, particularly when one of them wrongs my child.  I am often getting in mental fights with 5-year-olds and glaring at grade-schoolers.  Today was no exception.  When we got to the park, Eli was disappointed that there were no other kids there.  Since I had Marina strapped into the Baby Bjorn, I couldn't really do a lot of climbing and sliding.  So, he entertained himself while I followed him around and praised his awesomeness from the ground.  Then a kid in sunglasses scooted up on a scooter accompanied by his mom and her chatty friend.  He was about as tall as Eli but likely a year older.  He possessed one or two playground tricks that outdid Eli's.

After observing him for a minute, Eli was excited about the prospect of having a fellow adventurer so he ran up to him and started laughing and chasing him.  At one point, Eli called him over to show him a bunch of ladybugs on a pole.  Eli likes to watch them and make up stories about where they are going.  He calls them his friends and neighbors.  As Eli pointed, I watched in disbelief as the playground bully lifted his foot and started to smash and kill all the ladybugs.  Eli's face fell a little but he admired this kid so he just accepted it.  They both ran off again.  For a while, I thought it was really cute how they were playing together, but then I saw the sunglasses kid push Eli onto the bridge and run in the other direction.  Eli was confused, but then laughed and followed him.  This continued for a little bit until it was clear that the little jerk (anyone wonder where my son gets his name calling habit?) didn't want to play with Eli, he just wanted to run away from him and do his own thing.  So I tried to convince my son to not chase anymore but to come and play with his mommy (not as fun, I know).  Soon after, the two talking ladies called to the bully and told him to say bye to his friend (he glared at Eli) and they left.

I know it is ridiculous to think that I can or should protect my kids from all manner of evil (especially from other little kids) but I have a personality that is very protective of the ones I love.  And I love my kids, so if you are thinking about offending them, or killing the bugs that they value, you better believe that I am going to follow your little butt home and break your scooter (before you call the police, this didn't really happen...)

Here are some pictures of my park conquerers.