The winter holidays have come and gone- Santa was very good to us and we had wonderful family visits, friends coming by and lots of yummy food. The new year is here-2008! After Christmas, and the cleanup I felt pretty exhausted- so much buildup to the holiday and then the climax and boom. back down into the normal- which is fine. It is just that somehow the whole thing took a lot of energy. Our mommy and me class has been off for three weeks- Sophie's tinker classes have ended and so we are in a bit of a lull here and trying to fill in the days a bit.
After a restless day at home yesterday, I was determined to get us out for Sophie to get exercise. It is so key to her happiness to be able to run around and climb each day. The last month has been very windy and most days the park is out of the question. The rain was supposed to start today- so we headed out to one of our indoor play places, Creative Leap. Normally it is fairly quiet in there when we go- anywhere from 5 to 10 kids running around. We walk in today, Alex in the bjorn, and it is mayhem. School is still out this week apparently and the place is just madness. It is actually looking past its capacity- but I don't think the employees they hire for 4 dollars per hour are noticing. My instinct is telling me to leave, but of course, we can't - Sophie already has her shoes off and has sprinted into the crowd. I pay her dues and find a solitary chair in the snack area to pull up and watch her climb into the massive structure they have. It has platforms and 2 giant slides and this orange tube/tunnel on a great incline for my little climber monkey. The last time we visited, Sophie hooked up with a 3 year old, Vivian and they made a route together- pulling themselves up these platforms by the net sidewalls, scaling the orange tube and walking to the giant swirling red slide- sliding down and doing it all over again. Like eight times- talk about a good workout, they both had a ball.
Today she goes up once and down the slide and takes off for various other interesting spots, a couple of minutes in the bouncy house, a visit to the painted dinosaur wall, climbing up the tower of cushioned blocks in the center of the room. But it is crazy busy, and she knows it- the place is teeming with kids and it is hard to do anything. Back to the platforms and up to the orange tube. And there it all stops somehow. She figuratively gets stuck. Kids are going up and coming down. She tries scaling it and almost gets to the top when two bigger girls come through the hole - she turns around and back to the bottom. She is staring at me through the clear plexiglass talking to me. I am telling her and smiling- 'climb to the slide bean!' It is not working, she appears semi-frozen. After about 10 minutes of me wondering if this is going to end and Sophie deciding that she will not move from her spot, she begins crying- red faced and screaming, I can see the panic in her face. Christ. Alex is sleeping on me, there is a table of eight women next to me eating takeout sushi. Oh man- three other women suddenly rush up to me- one offered to go climb up and get her, actually two did. I asked the third a kindly looking woman 40ish or so if she would hold Alex while I went for the rescue. Of course, she took him gladly.
I climb up there and retreive my unwilling child. She is having a full meltdown, kicking and screaming and will not come with me so I drag her out, trying to stay calm. It is loud up there, the kids' voices and screams reverberating through the orange tunnel. I can see how she stopped in her tracks- it feels overwhelming and sort've like a fishbowl staring out at all the craziness below.
We get to the bottom and I gratefully ask the mother holding Alex to continue to do so while I take sophie to the quietest corner I can find- next to the bouncy house in an assortment of oversized foam legos. She will not be quieted- she is in hysterics. I offer a sippy, a snack, to go home? None of these options are even slightly appealing to change her outlook. I go and get Alex back. I love the village, how the moms swoop in to help. She starts to calm slightly and grabs a ball, climbs the cushiony blocks but is stopped by other kids coming over the top like soldiers at war. The tears start again, and a small round cut, between her eyebrows that showed up yesterday starts to bleed again - that is it - I pull out the big guns.
"Let's go get a kid ice cream cone at Old McDonalds." And with that we begin our exit. Note to self: check when school is back in session before venturing to indoor play place.
After a restless day at home yesterday, I was determined to get us out for Sophie to get exercise. It is so key to her happiness to be able to run around and climb each day. The last month has been very windy and most days the park is out of the question. The rain was supposed to start today- so we headed out to one of our indoor play places, Creative Leap. Normally it is fairly quiet in there when we go- anywhere from 5 to 10 kids running around. We walk in today, Alex in the bjorn, and it is mayhem. School is still out this week apparently and the place is just madness. It is actually looking past its capacity- but I don't think the employees they hire for 4 dollars per hour are noticing. My instinct is telling me to leave, but of course, we can't - Sophie already has her shoes off and has sprinted into the crowd. I pay her dues and find a solitary chair in the snack area to pull up and watch her climb into the massive structure they have. It has platforms and 2 giant slides and this orange tube/tunnel on a great incline for my little climber monkey. The last time we visited, Sophie hooked up with a 3 year old, Vivian and they made a route together- pulling themselves up these platforms by the net sidewalls, scaling the orange tube and walking to the giant swirling red slide- sliding down and doing it all over again. Like eight times- talk about a good workout, they both had a ball.
Today she goes up once and down the slide and takes off for various other interesting spots, a couple of minutes in the bouncy house, a visit to the painted dinosaur wall, climbing up the tower of cushioned blocks in the center of the room. But it is crazy busy, and she knows it- the place is teeming with kids and it is hard to do anything. Back to the platforms and up to the orange tube. And there it all stops somehow. She figuratively gets stuck. Kids are going up and coming down. She tries scaling it and almost gets to the top when two bigger girls come through the hole - she turns around and back to the bottom. She is staring at me through the clear plexiglass talking to me. I am telling her and smiling- 'climb to the slide bean!' It is not working, she appears semi-frozen. After about 10 minutes of me wondering if this is going to end and Sophie deciding that she will not move from her spot, she begins crying- red faced and screaming, I can see the panic in her face. Christ. Alex is sleeping on me, there is a table of eight women next to me eating takeout sushi. Oh man- three other women suddenly rush up to me- one offered to go climb up and get her, actually two did. I asked the third a kindly looking woman 40ish or so if she would hold Alex while I went for the rescue. Of course, she took him gladly.
I climb up there and retreive my unwilling child. She is having a full meltdown, kicking and screaming and will not come with me so I drag her out, trying to stay calm. It is loud up there, the kids' voices and screams reverberating through the orange tunnel. I can see how she stopped in her tracks- it feels overwhelming and sort've like a fishbowl staring out at all the craziness below.
We get to the bottom and I gratefully ask the mother holding Alex to continue to do so while I take sophie to the quietest corner I can find- next to the bouncy house in an assortment of oversized foam legos. She will not be quieted- she is in hysterics. I offer a sippy, a snack, to go home? None of these options are even slightly appealing to change her outlook. I go and get Alex back. I love the village, how the moms swoop in to help. She starts to calm slightly and grabs a ball, climbs the cushiony blocks but is stopped by other kids coming over the top like soldiers at war. The tears start again, and a small round cut, between her eyebrows that showed up yesterday starts to bleed again - that is it - I pull out the big guns.
"Let's go get a kid ice cream cone at Old McDonalds." And with that we begin our exit. Note to self: check when school is back in session before venturing to indoor play place.
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