Figures...

So, in my first attempt at stay at home wonder-mom stuff, I took Jonas to a local park this morning. I think I mentioned it previously- it's in the nicer area of the city and it's covered and has all the newest equipment and whatnot.

Here is where I pause to tell you how frustrating it is that all of the playground in all of the city parks are designed for older kids. Aside from an occasional swing, there just isn't any age appropriate equipment for Jonas to play on. The slides are too high, the steps too wide, the drops to far, etc. You'd think that there would be at least ONE friggin park that has a baby area, right? Well, there isn't. At least, I haven't found it yet.

Ok, so we're at the fancy park enjoying the shade and playing on the equipment that's really too big, but we're having fun. I brought along a couple of his little trucks and a bottle of bubbles as well, so that he'd have something that was ok for him to do. It was fairly quiet when we arrived- just one other lady with her two kids.

Jonas and I were blowing bubbles and this little girl comes up and asks if she can blow, too. I tell her that's fine with me, as long as it's ok with her mom. Mom nods to me and goes back to sipping her coffee and about this time J takes off with a truck, so I prop the bottle of bubbles on the bench and tell the little girl she can blow them all she wants but to be careful not to spill them. She nods solemnly and continues waving her wand in the air.

Next thing I know, the little girl is gagging and sputtering and spitting and otherwise having a fit. The bubble container is upside down in the mulch and she's chugging water like there's no tomorrow. Yep. She drank the bubbles. Now why the hell would a kid, roughly five years old, think that bubble solution would taste good?! And get this- super mom the coffee sipper is mad at ME because her kid drank my bubbles. Get real, lady! Maybe you should supervise your kid! She grumbles something about how I'd better hope they don't make her sick. In my mind I'm laughing and imagining what potty time is going to be like for her later today.

So J and I throw away the bubbles and head for the slides. Now, I've read the warnings about letting kids climb slides that are too big for them and all that, but to be honest, this slide seemed fairly benign. A little tall, yes, but the platform was wide, well railed, and the slide itself wasn't horribly inclined, so I figured "What the heck?" Besides, Jonas is pretty good at sliding. He has a little one at home and he knows how to sit and put his legs in front of him, and he counts to three before yelling "GO" and pushing off.

First ride down the slide and his sweaty little leg sticks to the plastic of the slide. His ankle twists around and catches on the edge and down he goes, like the world's tiniest contortionist.

Time to go home.

Even now he's limping a little on that leg. It's certainly not broken, but it's sore. He'll probably never want to play on a slide again.

And it figures that, after only two days, I've managed to break the kid.

In other kid news, I hearby claim that ketchup is a vegetable, dammit, and Jonas likes it!

That's all for now. Just felt like bitching a little. And now the hunt continues for a more small-fry friendly park.

** As a post-script to this: As soon as I hit post J and I went to the kitchen for a drink and he slipped, fell and conked his big melon head right on the corner of the deep freezer. So now he's got a scrape on his knee from Tuesday at Abuela's, he walks with a limp from the slide incident, AND he has a big blue knot right in the middle of his forehead! I swear I don't beat this child!**