super moms

today, my cousin sarah (visiting from ontario!) and i took ben to the "choo choo park" (one of the many parks around mill lake). lately, when we go to the park, i hope that ben will play on his own so that i can sit under a tree in some shade...i'm not the most mobile these days. after pushing ben on the swing for awhile, he got tired of that and headed off to the bouncy teeter-toter thing. i headed the opposite direction to the shade. sarah and i sat in the shade watching ben sit on the teeter totter until a little girl his age (and her mommy) came over and bounced with him. all seemed to be going well so i stayed put. then the mom pulled out some bubbles - ben was right in there with her daughter, wanting to blow bubbles. i'm sure the mom was thinking, "where's this neglected child's mother?" - i headed over. we chatted and she was super nice - i joked about sitting in the shade and watching ben from afar. the mom was happy to share the bubbles with ben.

after a bit, ben headed off in another direction so i followed him and bid farewell to the nice mom and daughter. once i had him playing on his own again, my stomach has just been SO achy (because it's HUGE) so i went back to the shade to sit down. minutes later, ben is back with mom and girl and the mom is pulling out two velcro-y board things that the kids put around their hands then can throw a beanbag back and forth and try to catch it. ben has one and the girl has one and they are throwing and catching like two year olds... :) the girl is quickly bored and heads off but ben is still keen to keep playing so this mom is playing with him! i jump up from my shade and head back over. i can't believe this mom has brought so many OTHER toys with her to the park! to me, the park is what it is - i'd never thought of supplementing the park play equipment!

ben and i play together with this board/bean bag game and when the girl and mom return, i have ben give back the game and say thank you. i suggest the slides and we begin to walk that way. mom and girl are walking with us and the mom says to girl, "do you want something to eat?" ben looks at me and says, "eat! eat!" uhh...sorry, ben - YOUR mom didn't bring anything to eat. the mom asks me if he'd like some fishy crackers. oh my goodness - this mom is a SUPER mom! it was pretty impressive. i declined the crackers as i knew he wasn't actually hungry and we parted ways as our kids found interest in things on opposite sides of the park.

there are some pretty cool moms out there - i hope to meet this one again one day. hopefully, i'll at least have a snack for my kid (and an extra for her kid?) on that day.