Guilty pleasures...

Yes, it was a bit chilly out today, but recently I have been beginning to feel like the walls of our house are closing in on us. Mantown has a lot to offer, but day after day of playing in the basement wears thin after awhile. So after a planned playdate fell through, I took CR out to a playground that we had been to before, and I knew some or most of it had direct sun exposure. We got there, and much to my demise, a lot of the playground was still covered in ice. It was no match for us. We climbed up the scrolling ladders, slid down the slides, rode the spring-coiled cars, and swung on the swings.

I thought about getting the little guy some exercise, so I made up a game..."Tag the Tree." To the side of the playground is a wide open field. A perfect setting for our game. The first round I played along, and ran across the entire field with him to "tag" the backstop on the far side. After running back to our point of origin, it was all him. I pointed out a tree, and he ran to it. I pointed out another tree or object, and he ran to it. It may seem a bit elementary, and maybe even a little cruel, but he laughed the entire time, and it achieved just what I wanted it to - rosy cheeks and a tired out little boy.

After playing, we went to a nearby cafe, and enjoyed hot chocolate and a PB&J sandwich.

Once we got back home, we still had some time before nap, so I decided CR needed a little practice for his swimming class. Many of the kids his age in the class jump in the pool and dunk under the water before they are lifted to safety by their parents. We tried this last week with CR, and it was not pretty...water up the nose and lots of coughing. So, we need to practice holding our breath and blowing bubbles in the water. I was not inclined to fill up the bathtub at 2 in the afternoon, so I took out a large mixing bowl and filled it with warm water. I slapped a bib on my dedicated pupil, and we took turns putting our faces in the bowl (if only B could see us now). He did great, until the last dunk, where water came streaming out of his nose, and he threw in the towel.

He is a trooper, I'll give him that...trying out new things that his mother thinks will be beneficial to him...do I really think that it will be? Probably not, but it sure is fun watching him do some outlandish tricks.