Playground

Today I took Eddie to a nearby playground at the John Harvard mall. We don't usually go there because it's kind of small and often has older kids, but it's the closest one. Today there was just one other kid, Connor, who was maybe 3 or 4. He was really nice with Eddie! He had some cool wind-up cars (a school bus and a DeLorean) and let Eddie play with them. Eddie carried the car around the whole time. Then Connor would run around the playset and shout "Baby! Follow me! Baby! Come here!" At first, Eddie just stood about 10 feet away and stared. Then, after Connor had given up and run off, Eddie would head toward where he had been. After this went on for a while, Eddie started shouting "Baby" too. ("BABABABEEBEE BABY BEEBAB")

There was a bouncy bridge. Eddie feels some trepidation about crossing such things, which in this case was exacerbated by Connor jumping on it to make it bounce whenever Eddie set foot on it. But after a while Eddie screwed up his courage and walked all the way across. Then there was a big curly slide which Eddie went down several times, all on his own: the first few times on his belly, feet-first, and then on his butt.

The boys also shouted together into a speaking tube that they have at the playground. Eventually Connor had to go; he was reluctant, probably because he liked showing Eddie the ropes. Eddie was sorry to see his buddy go, but also a little relieved to play without the pressure, I think! It's kind of exhausting to have a personal play trainer!