Dear Papa series: Playing by their own rules.

Dear Papa,
I have time to write this because by sheer miracle, all 3 children went down before 2000hrs. They were exhausted. There were tantrums and tears a plenty. But they went down quick and that was when I could start decompressing in a day that started before 8 and ended just before 8 as well.

Packrat left specific instructions that I was to take the day easy. Taking JED out on a well rested morning is already challenging. Taking them out when I had slept past one after dropping Packrat off at the airport would have been ambitious. So I should take it easy.

As usual, I thought I knew better and I thought it would be good for JED to be out of the house, so we went off to visit Aunty J. We detoured though and stopped by a playground.

JED had a whale of a time and I split my sides laughing. 

Things I discovered,

1. Neighbourhood playgrounds at 10 in the morning are empty especially when the sun is out, so the 3 of them could have full reign of the playground.(Playgrounds with a connecting McD's don't count)

2. The sun is actually quite scorching at 10 in the morning. But after reproaching myself for forgetting the sun block and insect repellant, I enjoyed the fact that the kids with flushed pink and were perspiring, Vitamin D, free and in its most natural form.

3. Kids discover their own ways of playing without the need for assistance. The greatest glee comes from figuring out on their own how to play with the equipment. The dizzier it got them, the more hilarious it was.

Jordan was also too short for the swings and since she couldn't get it to work in the usual way, she lay over it and used her body as momentum. She also looked like she was going to initiate a launch and landing sequence of sorts.

 

4. Jordan screams extremely loud and is terrified of the thought of bumblebees, worse still, the sight of them!

5. Muffin is too little to be on the swing by himself and needed Mommy's lap as a booster seat.

Eventually, they let me take a series of photographs to show Papa how they improvised on the swings. The trick was to hang limp and let their body weights move the swing. Of course, after that both complained their guitar ribs were numb.

Playground time is great. Being outdoors with all that space minimses quarreling and bickering.

Did they at any point ask about Papa? Yes, at bed time. Evan was concerned that it was so late and dark and Papa was still not home and why didn't Mommy go and pick him up because he must be so scared because of the lightning storm.

Anyway, 1 day down and 15 more to go. We hope you got there okay!

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