Busy Week

I am pretty proud of how much I got Orion out of the house this week. With me either working on the house or taking care of the baby, I knew if we stayed home, he would just sit and watch TV or play video games. So Wed it was the Pirate Park, Thur it was Jamison Fountain, and today was Papa's Pizza for lunch.

On Wednesday, I thought I was supposed to be meeting Angie at the park, but I had my days mixed up. We ended up running into an old friend we hadn’t seen for ages, though, who has a son around Orion’s age. It was soooo much nicer there in the sand area with only a few kids.

On Thursday we got to meet Angie and the boys at Jamison. It seemed just as crowded as ever! There were several people there from an unschooling list I am on, but it turned out all the families who came were people I had never met in person before, so I didn’t get a chance to meet anybody new. We mostly had a great time. It was Angie’s first time, and her boys seemed to love it. The crazies were out though. There was one lady who was following a woman with a small dog and giving her a hard time about not letting the dog get anywhere near the water. And then some other woman gave Angie a hard time when Xander was going diaper free. Guess it was jerk day at the fountain. And then there was Papa’s.... Again, so nice to be there with only a few kids. It was a great group for Orion – mostly his age and older. There was one boy he kept playing with in the large ball pit who looked a year or two older. Orion was totally pelting him with balls and jumping all over him. I was a bit worried, but the kid seemed fine with it.

Then these two moms showed up that were totally fun and crazy. They were climbing up in the tall structure with their kids and being totally playful, even when dealing with "unwanted behavior". I started talking to them a little so I could compliment them about what they were doing. Then it was time to leave.... It was interesting to me to see how fast their demeanor changed when there was a time element involved. The little girl wasn't getting her shoes on like the mom asked, so she started yelling at her. The interesting thing to me is how fast parents can go from playful to yelling when their parenting is based on mood or situation instead of a commitment to a philosophy.