Went to a park we hadn't been to yet, Peers Park. It's not that far from our house, and we really liked it (of course, we really like all the parks here!). It was our ward's playgroup day, which is nice. I go to it every week, even if it interferes with Lily's nap. I have GOT to stop feeling like such an outsider here, and that won't happen if I don't get out!
Anyway. As soon as we got there, we saw Angela, one of the moms in the ward. She has a daughter Jack's age, Emily, and a son who's 2. Angela had brought two little scooters for her kids to play with. Some other girl from the playground saw the scooters and came and just started riding on one, rode it right into the sand and Angela had to run and grab it and say "Don't run it into the sand, the sand gets in the wheels and breaks it." Just a minute or so later, I saw the little girl arguing with little Emily, trying to ride away on one of the scooters again while Emily kept her foot on it to keep it from getting away. The girl was saying "I'll hate you if you don't share with me! You're supposed to share! You've got two, you can just ride the other one!" Poor little Emily didn't hold up too well under the onslaught. I noticed that Angela was watching while this happened, and I said "You're being a lot nicer to that kid than I would be." Turns out Angela was only watching with her eyes and hadn't heard the things the girl was saying, so I told her. Emily gave up and let the girl ride away on the scooter, and Angela jumped up and grabbed it again, and then talked to Emily to give her a confidence boost.
Jack had a long rope that he took to the park to play with. That rope provides hours of entertainment! Well, little girl liked the rope too. She started taking the rope and playing with it on the playground in ways a lot like Jack does, but she was bossing the other kids around while playing. This time Emily handled it a lot better; I heard her say "You're not saying nice things. You need to be nice. Are you going to be nice now?" Jack didn't even seem to notice how bossy this kid was being, but he did seem to enjoy having someone to play with the rope with him. It was plenty long enough that they could each play with one end and be content. I warned Jack about not trying to grab it if it was going by really fast, so he wouldn't get rope burn, and he did just fine. But it made me so mad to see this girl bossing Jack around so much! And she was so harsh and mean about it, too! So I hovered, ready to intervene if I needed to, but I found I had to step away at times to keep myself from yelling at this poor kid. And all the while, Jack did just fine. I did see him completely ignore her if he wanted to, and that made me pretty happy.
I was really happy when the mom FINALLY came and took her kid away. I was finally able to relax!
At home, we talked about how that girl wasn't very nice. Jack said he didn't notice that at all. He said he did what she said b/c he wanted to anyway, but if she said to do something he didn't want to do then he didn't. He said he had fun playing with her. So I just gave him a hug and said I was proud of him :D
What would you have done?
I leave you with photos of my sleeping children:
Isn't she just precious? I tried to get some good pics of Jack kissing her and being a sweet brother. He did amazingly well, and never did wake her up, but my camera's shutter speed just wasn't fast enough to catch him being still.
This was the best I got. Adorable still, but not quite what I had in mind.
Jack conked out on the couch last night, and I couldn't resist snapping some pics :D
In other news, Tim most definitely has the flu. Body aches, 103.5 fever, chills. He doesn't feel worse now than he did when he woke up this morning, which is good, b/c he felt pretty awful this morning :( I went to the store to get him some more ibuprofen and sore throat spray, then came home and made sure we have easy food for at least the next week. Last time we got the flu, Tim got it first and I made preparations like this, then I got it and we did alright. We had food to eat, and our kids had movies to watch. So here's hoping maybe I won't actually get it this time!
Hmmm, 11:00pm. I failed :P
Blogging takes more time than it seems like. timing yourself is an interesting approach. :D
ReplyDeleteAt the playground I think it sounds like it all worked out b/c Jack was able to share his rope. :)
Wow - the park situation sounds like something that would get the "mother lioness" in me worked up! lol! Sounds like Jack has his head on straight and knows who he is at an early age! Good for Jack! :) Hope the flu didn't hit all of you! We miss y'all over here!
ReplyDeleteOh Teri, I was hopping mad at that poor kid. I had to constantly remind myself that I am a grownup and she is a 4-year-old, I have to set the example of how grownups act and not stoop to her childish level. I had to step away multiple times, b/c Jack was handling it just fine and I wasn't!
ReplyDeleteIt makes me feel better to hear that another mom would've gotten mad too :D No, the flu only hit my poor husband, and we miss yall too!