Playground Girl Friend

Jack has a cute Asian girlfriend! Well, at least that's my story. He met her a last week at the playground and they played together for quite a time. Then, a few days ago, we saw her again and they hung out. Jack's entire pick up line was, "Hi," and a smile. Enjoy it while it lasts, buddy.

At the Park

Today both my attractive wife and I accompanied Jack to the park. When we arrived, we saw Jack's Day Care playmate James and his mom. Jack and James love hanging out together and were thrilled to see each other at the park. We spent well over an hour trawling around the park together.


At one point, we reached the Big Kids Swing Set. For some reason, Jack has an aversion to swings and has not yet tried the kiddie swings in the 3-5 year old play structure. My attractive wife got on a swing and Jack asked if he could push her. I snapped the picture below. Quite possibly the cutest picture I've ever taken. :-)

Mud

We've had some much needed rain lately here in Northern California but it makes going to the park messy. Jack doesn't mind at all; in fact, he loves the mud and puddles. This morning we went and found most of the play structures to be dry and usable. Jack nevertheless was more interested in the various puddles and soggy grass lawns. He loved the smacking sound his shoes made when running over the wet grass. Of course, I had to keep up with him and my shoes got all muddy as well.

Splosh. Splosh. Splosh.

On the far side of the park, he found drain that was half full of water. He delighted in dropping very small rocks into the drain. It's some kind of put-things-into-receptacles reflex, I guess. He spent a good fifteen minutes dropping rocks into the drain and then squealing with delight today.

Plop. Splash. Squeal.

This is a behavior he exhibited when he was very young. He used to delight in trying to clog our pool filter with dead leaves. Viz:

September, 2007

Chasing Girls and How to Say Thank You

I took Jack to the park this morning. He quickly latched onto a cute older Asian girl who was running around the playground. Maybe it was her speed or the fact she was making funny noises but he wanted to chase her. He announced provocatively, "I'm gonna get you!" and proceeded to chase her around. She was about six or seven, long legged, and way out of his league. Still, it was fun to watch. She would let him get just in reach and then sprint off again. She would lead him to a park bench, sit and wait for him to get there before vaulting off again. Jack didn't seem to tire of the game which, I suppose, bodes well for his future social life in this department.

As I was walking around, I noticed something dark and plastic half buried in the wood shavings near one of the slides. I bent over to pick it up and saw that it was a car key fob, distinctly German in nature (either for a Volkswagen or Audi). It was just the fob and not attached to any other type of key chain. It looked old so I wondered if some parent had given it to their child as a toy.

I asked the first guy I saw if he had his car keys. He said yes and offered, "Wow, someone's gonna need that." I then re-acquired Jack, still in hot pursuit of the Asian girl. She was in the company of her younger sister, who was younger than Jack, and her father.

I walked up to him and asked if he had his car keys. He patted his sweat pants and said no, accompanied by a mild spasm of panic, as I offered him the fob. He took it, said a perfunctory thanks and walked away. It was like I had held the door open for him at the post office and not like I just saved his ass. Granted, he was trying to keep an eye on his younger kid but it doesn't take much to say a more genuine thank you. Some people.

At the Park

This afternoon we went to the park or, as Jack refers to it, the "parky." My attractive wife and my mother also went. Whenever Jack leaves the house, he has to take a motley assortment of toys with him, usually so many that he has to struggle to hold them all. I think holding onto the toys helps him with transitioning from one activity to another. This time, he held tightly to a silver, robotic dog, given to him by our wonderful neighbors, Dewy and Day-Day (Jack's nicknames for them), who function as surrogate grandparents.

When we arrive, I always suggest Jack let me hold on to whatever toy(s) he's brought with him as they invariably get in the way of his climbing over the various play structures. He usually responds with "No, it's mine," or "I'll hold onto to it." It was the same today and he enthusiastically tackled the play structures holding onto his robotic dog.

When he got to the top level adjacent to a slide, he showed his dog to two slightly older girls. He turned the dog on and handed it over to them and they were amazed with it's robotic antics. Jack looked down on me and said, "I'm sharing!"

The girls then went down the slide and Jack followed. They went to another slide and Jack tried to re-engage the girl who was closer to his age. I couldn't help but think he was trying to impress her with the toy and maybe get some conversation. But she had lost interest and quickly ran away. Ah, the great game begins, Jack. Get used to it.

Next, Jack went to one of his favorite slides, an enclosed tube. Getting to it requires climbing several levels of play structure. He did so, still holding his robotic dog. What's funny about this, and other slides at this park, is their plastic construction is quite conducive to static shock. My attractive wife has a particular phobia/dislike of static shocks; I am less affected. Just after I got home from Iraq and when Jack's hair was longer, it would stand up on end as he slid closer to the end of the slide. I would always laugh which, in turn, would cause him to laugh. Today, even with his hair shorter, it still stood up.

Time Management

So we went to the park today with Nanni and Pa. Jack did his usual carousing around and showed off his new ability to climb several new play structures. After forty minutes or so, Pa asked if Jack was ready to go home. "Two more minutes," he responded. After ten or so minutes, he looked at me and said, "It's time to go home."

Kickball

Jack loves to play "soccer" either at the park or in our condo association's back yard area. It's really just kickball. He makes this hysterical face when he's about to kick the ball which I tried to capture with my camera.

Pacifier

After last week's abortive attempt to go cold turkey on the pacifier, we have a new detente where Jack gets the pacifier only in the crib at night. Tanny, his day care lady, is under instructions to give in only when he goes down for a nap. We maintain a united front.

At the park, Jack will randomly announce that he's a big boy and doesn't need his paci but this self-confidence erodes when push comes to shove at bed time. No matter, some measure of progress and Jack seems okay with the new rules.

As If You've Never Been Away

While deployed to Iraq, I listened to a particular track from Ulrich Schnauss' album, Far Away Trains Passing By, called, "As If You've Never Been Away." (iTunes link). Schnauss' music falls into that hard-to-describe-ambient-techno-electronic-chill genre. At times very dense and German, the track in question is snappy, upbeat and, to me, very positive.

Listening to it in Iraq, I imagined re-integrating with Jack at home and hoped it would go smoothly. Today, at the park we were quite the team. I helped him conquer a new way of climbing on a particular play structure. At the top of the structure, he said, "I'm a big boy now," and, to my surprise, "I don't need Paci anymore" We'll see.

Still, I am happy at the re-intergration. Surprised, even, by how smoothly it's gone. As if I've never been away.

"What a great time!"

Several times since coming home, Jack has surprised me with a pithy phrase appropriate to the situation at hand. On several occasions he's said he needed something, like a different toy, and said, "I'll be riiiiiight back!"

Yesterday at the park we stayed longer than usual. When I said it was time to head back I put him in the stroller and he said, "What a great time!"

Where does he get this material?