Park Day

Blane has been talking for two weeks about a playdate with Lauren Masters (cue angelic music and fireworks). Blane LOVES Lauren. He can never say just "Lauren"; her first and last name are always attached to each other: "Laurenmasters".

We had to reschedule our first playdate because I had double-booked. I had promised to pull weeds at the church (see a previous post). Anyway, we got it worked out.

The only way Blane really can mark time is by counting how many times he "sleeps" or goes to bed. That's a very concrete marker for him to envision. So he counted down the days to play with Laurenmasters.

The day arrived and we went to the park. Lauren came running from the playground yelling, "BLANE!!!!!"

They played together wonderfully while her mother and I talked and kept her younger sister occupied. They picked berries off a bush and planted them for a while. Then we went to the duck pond. For some reason, Blane climbed off a rock and stepped into the nasty water. I don't know what possessed him to do that--maybe love.

We walked across a narrow neck of the pond on wide concrete posts--we had to step carefully from post to post. I followed Blane to prevent a repeat of stepping in the water--though by the look on his face, I needn't have worried. Then, on the far side of the pond, Lauren and Blane found a huge green bullfrog sitting on a lilypad! They crouched down and watched the froggy for a few minutes, then fed the geese and ducks some pretzels. Blane made the rookie mistake of holding out a pretzel for a big Canada goose, which nearly took his fingers off. From then on, he threw the pretzels.

We went back, ate our lunch together, and let the kids play a bit longer. Then it was time to go. Blane was crestfallen (in part, because another little boy at the park had tried to "scare" them). But mostly, he just couldn't believe it was time to stop playing with Lauren. He had a pout session for a while, and deparately wanted me to buy a toy for him at Goodwill, which is where I went next. I told him no and he melted down. He got over it in time, but it cracked me up that two hours with Laurenmasters wasn't enough for him...