Scattered Sunshine

Yesterday was a sort of warmish day (so is today, for that matter), and the sun was shining in the afternoon. So when we picked up Zee and his friend J. from school, we stayed at the school playground and played for about thirty minutes. Despite a chill in the air (we're expecting snow this weekend), it was beautiful. My sister and her kids were going to join us, but her two-year-old woke up from his nap with a fever, so instead, I swung by her house and picked up her three-year-old, Kay.

I sat on the bench, soaking up the sunshine and smelling the fresh scent of new wood chip. Watching the kids run and yell and slide and climb and play:

• Kay literally jumped up and down, clapping, saying "I did it!" every time she went down the slide.
• Zee and J. made a "clubhouse" under the slides. They thrilled Gee by inviting him in. From inside, he called to me and proudly informed me of his good fortune. "I in the club, Momma!!!!"
• There is a tall spiral slide at the playground. I stood in a good spot, and as Gee came down, I shouted "Boo!" He laughed that sweet, hilarious, infectious belly laugh that toddlers are so good at.
• Zee and J. pulled Hebs (in his stroller) into the "clubhouse", and took turns playing with him.
• Kay was a little scared of the big slide, but Em patiently encouraged her until she made it down for the first time. After that, Kay was all over that slide.
• Em and Kay were playing some sort of chasing game, and while Kay ran past me chasing Em, she shouted out to me, "This is silly, AunRin!"
• I took Heb out of the stroller and put him on the ground. He started tripoding around the wood chips, and then pulled himself up to stand at the "clubhouse". He then spent at least seven minutes bending down to pick up and then throw wood chips through the "window". He looked very proud of himself the whole time.

Of course, by the time we needed to go, Gee was cranky and grumpy, Zee and J. were so hyped up they were hurting each others' feelings and not listening to me, and I was trembling with tiredness. But that is the way of kids, right?

As exhausting as these small people are, they are wonderful and marvelous and fun and exciting to be around. Hopefully I can remember the good time we had for the first 25 minutes, and not the cranky time during the last five. Otherwise, we might not ever go to a park again, and that would be a real shame.

Because it was beautiful.