A toddler's interpretation

This morning John Paul woke up and, as usual, told me about all the things he wanted to do today.  "Music cwass!"  Nope, that was yesterday and we won't go again until next week.

"Cat-wick shop!"  Don't need anything, don't want to drive all the way to Chantilly just to browse, even though he absolutely LOVES playing in the little toy area there.  Every time we go to the Catholic Shop he immediately runs over the a Mother Teresa statue and strokes her foot.

"Pwaygwound!"  Yes!  I was planning on checking out a new playground today.  Our Wednesday storytime is done for the summer so I think Wednesdays will now be devoted to checking out a new playground every week.  So I told him that after he ate breakfast and got dressed, we would go to the playground. 

Bad call on my part.  I'm normally good about this - I don't tell him where we're going until we're just about ready to go, because otherwise he wants to go RIGHT NOW!  Well, I told him we would go when he was eating breakfast naked (I like to give him a little time to air out in the mornings, and it's easier to clean up after breakfast if he's not wearing clothes to get food on).  So of course, what does he do?

He sits down on the floor and starts putting his shoes on.  His loafers, to be specific.  I helped him get his shoes on, thinking that this was a funny whim and that he'd continue eating breakfast.

Shoes on.  John Paul runs to the door yelling, "PWAYGWOUND!"  Why exactly does he think that this is appropriate playground attire?

Slides.  Woodchips.  Swings.  Not something I would want to experience wearing nothing but loafers...

Then, of course, he decided to be very helpful by buckling Cecilia's car seat.  I finally managed to get him dressed and get out the door.  Breakfast did not get finished, so I just packed food to take with us (seriously, if this kid stops loving apples we are screwed.  Best portable snack ever!).

I was pretty excited for this playground because it's got awning and canopies which give almost total shade.  So not only did we not need sunblock, I didn't have to feel bad that I wasn't bothering with the sunblock because it really didn't matter!

John Paul LOVED the playground, of course.  He loves pretty much any playground, but this one had all his favorite things - swings, woodchips, and NUMBERS AND LETTERS!  He was seriously SO excited to see his "ABCDEFGs"

There were also shapes and numbers.  Those were awesome, too!  People are always very surprised to learn that he's not even 2, particularly when he runs up to things like this and rattles off exactly what they are...  The huge head throws them off, too.

I'm becoming more and more of a fan of playgrounds without swings.  I used to seek out swings exclusively, but now that he's old enough to climb and slide, it's getting to be more of a pain to have to lift him in and out of the swing while holding Cecilia.  Luckily she's decided that she likes the stroller (at least, the straps are pretty tasty).

And once the huge crowd of kids left, there was enough room to put both of them in the swings, which is always fun.  She LOVES watching John Paul swing, and he's always really excited that she's in the swing next to him.

There are kids playing basketball in the background.  John Paul was also very excited by this.  He counted 11 basketballs.  I'm not so sure there were that many.  It's much like when he counts the sacraments in one of his board books and wants to keep counting up to 8 sacraments.  Sorry kid, I don't think that's ever gonna happen.

We decided it was time to go when he fell off one of the big kid swings.  He's usually really good about holding on, but he refused to drop his woodchips (I don't understand the obsession.  He LOVES woodchips.) and would only hold on with one hand.  Not a painful spill, but I felt like a terrible parent so I grabbed the kids and left!

I think this is definitely a playground we'll be frequenting in the future (South Run Rec Center, if you're wondering).  The constant shade and breeze made temperatures in the 80s totally bearable!  And there were a good amount of kids there, which made for nice mom talks (and a very lengthy, one-sided conversation with a 6-year-old about Star Wars, despite how many times I told him I've never seen the movies).