Morning at the Park

Pensive at the Park
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen and I go to a playgroup once a week, where we meet up with two other moms and two other children. Our babies range in age from three and a half months to two and a half years. (Kathleen, of course, falls nicely in the middle.) It's been a great time for Kathleen to play with her friends Joshua (she'd follow Joshua to the end of the earth) and baby James (mostly she likes to sign about how James is a baby), and an even better time for Mommy to talk to other moms. Playgroup is probably less for Kathleen than it is for Mommy; I won't deny it. We moms get to chatter and the kids get to run around, so everyone goes home happy and ready for naptime.

This week we went to the park, where Kathleen's energy seemed positively unflagging. It's hard to believe that a few months ago I was worried because she seemed so timid, and wouldn't even try to climb the play structures. Ha! Kathleen climbed the stairs, tested out the slides, and walked right up to the edges of everything without any fear at all!

Complicating Kathleen's lack of fear was her frequent lack of sight. I hadn't realized until we'd gotten to the park that the sun hat I brought was too big for Kathleen. The hat would slip down over her eyes, and she'd wander back towards me, hands out, saying, "Mama? Mama?" I'd pull the hat out of her face, and then she'd run off again. Eventually, despite the sunny Hawaiian day, I decided that lack of sight was a bigger risk than sunburn and ditched the hat -- but not before we got some amusing pictures of Kathleen and her too-big hat!