Getting more and more adventorous!

Here is Annie at the park. We found this new (to us) park in Charlestown that has lots of great toys; like cars to ride around in, fun things to climb on, and a sprinkler! The fun thing about this park is that it's a good size, fenced in, there's usually a decent amount of kids Annie's age, and Annie loves it. The one drawback is the climbing structures are a bit advanced for Annie. And while she loves to climb, certain parts of it give me a mild heart attack watching her navigate around. I would say she's usually pretty good about knowing her limits and actually responds when you ask her to come back from the edge of something, usually...

The other interesting thing about the park, and all the other city playgrounds are the dynamics/politics among the parents. We try to be the laid back type, not hovering over Annie's every move in the park. Because we believe that Annie will best learn how to play with other kids and resolve differences on her own if we aren't constantly intervening. The problem arises with other parents who like to follow their child around, and happen to be right there when Annie decides to go up to their kid and take a toy he/she was playing with and take her turn with it. I think most times everyone gets that the kids are young and are still figuring things out. With those kids and those parents there usually aren't any issues. You feel bad because your kid just took a toy from another kid and apologize, and the other parent gets that it's no big deal and that's that. After a few park visits you become pretty good at spotting who will and who won't be a problem should Annie have a run in with their kid.

I think the other interesting aspect is the parks on the weekends. On Saturdays it's dad central, which is fun. It can also be complete bedlam. Let's run with the assumption that the moms are usually more organized and have everything (spare clothing, snacks, etc) needed, while most of the dads have a cup of coffee and that's about it. One of the last times we were there these two kids wanted to go through the sprinklers. Their dad didn't have swim suits, so the kids just stripped down and ran around naked. It was hilarious, and you could see some of the other moms who were there just look aghast at the situation. I was glad Annie kept her diaper on at least...