I picked Clay up from school yesterday, cruised through McDonald's drive-thru and headed to a park where I met my friend Gin. We had a little picnic with Clay and Brooklyn. I learned a few things yesterday. Well, actually I learned these lessons some time ago, but they were reinforced yesterday.
1. There's no reason to buy the kids food or make them lunch when going to a park for a picnic. They are physically incapable of sitting sit long enough to eat more than a half a fry.
2. In any given hour at a park, a child will say, "Watch me! Look what I can do!" at least 43,000 times.
3. 5 year old boys have no fear. None.
4. My butt has gotten significantly bigger since the last time I tried to swing.
5. Boys and girls play with toys completely differently. Brooklyn played with her little McDonald's American Girl paper dolls set. She sat there on the bench, gave a doll to my friend Ginny and held a doll herself. She "talked" for the doll. "Hi. What's your name? My name is Lala. Do you want to come to my house and play?"
Clay, on the other hand, took his Bionicle toy and said, "Look Mom!" as he threw it in the air as high as he could. The toy landed with a thud in a pile of woodchips. Clay ran after it and whipped it across the park again. After retrieving it for the 8th time, he ran to me and said, "I'm going to chop your arm off because he has swords here." He proceeded to give me little, plastic toy karate chops.
6. Bees are especially attracted to people who are allergic to them. (OK, so maybe that last one isn't actually scientific fact, but let me tell ya, they were swarming around me!)
7. A swing is a rocketship that can transport any child to the stars.
8. A child can find a stick at any given park. Sticks do not make good toys. Weapons, yes. Toys, no.
9. A kid can whine a million times about how hot and thirsty they are, but they'll still complain when it's time to go.
10. A cut or scrape doesn't hurt until the child sees blood, then excruciating pain sets in.
I hope we have a few more weeks of park weather before winter hits. :)
It's so wonderful to see kids out there that still have imaginations! I know it probably drives you insane sometimes, but it's a great thing!
ReplyDeleteI mentioned your blog in my master's thesis about mommy blogs and thought you might like to take a look.
ReplyDeletehttp://michelleglauser.blogspot.com/2009/09/yes-you-may-read-my-thesis-but-you-dont.html
Thanks for writing!
Lucky you! The thing I miss most about my grandson becoming a sophisticated 16 year old - no more trips to the park. I had some of my best times, albeit vicariously, through his antics in the park. Thanks for taking me there again.
ReplyDeletePS - the bee thing - I read somewhere there may be truth to them being drawn to those allergic - something in the pheremones. I, too, am allergic and always have to cover up to make it harder on the bees since they seem to gravitate toward me. I seriously considered buying a beekeepers outfit, or at least the hat, just for the hilarity of it, but gave up the idea when I realized I'd just look like the Pillsbury dough boy in mourning. ;)
Love your list, especially #3. I have two boys (6 and 5) and yes. Nuff said.
ReplyDeleteCan I add to #9? They also whine that they have to go to the bathroom, but complain when you leave. I don't get that one.
We are hoping for a long warm fall here in Canada. Seems our summer never really happened and I am missing the heat already.
Ha! So funny and so true!!
ReplyDeleteAugment to #10 - A cut or scrape doesn't hurt until the child sees Mom, then it's whining and crying galore like they have a broken bone. My youngest (8) doesn't that ALL the time. He scrapes his leg 2 hours before I get home, but doesn't cry about it or need a band aid until he sees me and has a breakdown! LOL
ReplyDeleteDidn't you hear that the toy hall of fame inducted "the stick" last year? Seriously.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1679850/the_stick_inducted_into_national_toy.html
A friend used to say her kids, she had eight, four boys, four girls, had to take different routes home from school. The girls would come home clean, with dry shoes..the same day the boys would come home filthy, with muddy wet shoes. There is a huge difference between the two sexes.
ReplyDeleteToo funny... I went to McDs with a friend of mine and her two kids today, and they had the new Barbie Happy Meal (for her daughter, we're stuck with the plain hamburger with nothing else for Little Miss I Can't Eat Dairy). It was pretty cool, but my friend was telling me about the really neat American Girl one they just finished. Check out the Barbie one when it comes. It's a neat magnetic notebook that is perfect for coupons and business cards, etc. My friend bet me I wouldn't last the weekend without hitting the drive through for my own Happy Meal.
ReplyDeleteAnd ummm Mister Man came home with a stick rifle right now. Which is sitting in our foyer (ha! not anymore!).
And nope, we got no eating done then as we were leaving, Little Miss insisted she was starving and had to eat RIGHT then. Figures.
Fingers crossed on that park weather. I'm off to the NU game, and I am hoping it's halfway decent!
This is so true.
ReplyDeleteI took my daughter to the park the other day and she's was all, "Watch me, Mommy!" or "Look at this!" Poor dear was doing the exact same thing each time but I pretended everything was different.
We've just been talking about how aggressive the bees seem to be this year. I don't think they cared who is allergic and who is not. At the last picnic, they were flying right into our plates. They were AWFUL!
ReplyDeleteHey Dawn...I know you don't have much extra time on your hands for reading. However, I wanted to give you a blog I think you might like to read. It's www.bornwithacape.com. My friends son was diagnosed about a month ago with ALL and is currently at St. Jude's. She started this blog as a way of keeping everyone informed about what's going on (and venting frustrations). Anyway, it's a very "real" blog adn thought I would share it with you.
ReplyDeleteVery nice information. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI've been a long-time lurker on your blog, but I can't help but note that no one in the comments mentioned this gem of eternal wisdom:
ReplyDelete=A swing is a rocketship that can transport any child to the stars=
What memories of mine that recalled.
Thank you. And here's hoping we have no crash landings.