Best Playground Ever

Okay, I’m sure that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But we did find an awesome playground about a mile from our house thanks to our neighbor whose twin boys who once frequented the place. Milo has a blast whenever I take him there, which has been daily lately, due to beautiful weather and a strong need to get out of the house to burn off some of that little boy energy.

The best part about this place (other than the hoards of kids Milo meets)? It is a literal dumping ground for people’s old toys. Yep, you name it, it’s been dumped. The result? Shopping carts for all! Plastic wheelbarrows for three! Really, there is no problem with sharing a toy here because there are at least two of everything. Need a ride-on toy? Have your pick from six! Need a plastic garden rake? Have ten! Want to dump sand onto the seat of a car? Go ahead, it’s not ours… or anyone’s for that matter! It’s amazingly cathartic to be able to let your kid play with someone else’s toys and not have to worry about breaking them or offending someone.
And with the short attention span of a toddler, it’s great to have so much for Milo to explore.
Like the kitchen of a house with real dishes to be put away! What a good helper. Now if I could only get him to do that at home…

And of course, the slide, a new favorite of Milo’s. And this picture is deceiving. There is no going down the slide feet first, sitting up.

No, this is more Milo’s style:(This is when I had to put down the camera and grab my little boy before he careened headfirst to his death). Actually, it’s not that bad. I let him do it (with both of my hands guiding him down, of course), despite some of the horrified looks of those a bit more overprotective than I.

The drawback of the park, or maybe just of this area, is that there are very few stay-at-home moms around, and many, many more nannies. This makes for annoying “how long have you been his nanny” questions and makes for even more awkward “who does this child belong to because no one seems to be watching him/her and he/she is pushing/grabbing/hitting/taking/kicking (insert-inappropriate-behavior-here)-ing my little boy” questions. I guess because Milo is so blond and blue-eyed and I am so not, people assume he is not mine. The very strange thing is, today we went to the park for the first time on a weekend day, and I recognized some of the kids, but none of the parents. But it definitely makes me feel so lucky that I can stay at home with Milo. I realize that some people want to work, and others have to work. So thank you, Andrew, for not only supporting us financially, but also supporting my decision to stay at home and have so much fun with our little Bum!
…. I mean, it’s really hard work, but somebody’s got to do it.