Tuesday Running Around

A doula client and I met up with our kids at the Hinckley Reservation to chat about things. The kids ran around crazy and ate up carrots, cheese, and cheerios (Tuesday was brought to us by the letter 'C'). They played in the water pump, climbed on my car, tossed around a ball, watched Daddy Longlegs, and Bastian peed in his pants, but wouldn't pee in the outdoor toilets (which a small 3 year old could very well have fallen into - ewwww).

We also found a cool mushroom. Mushrooms are abundant all over right now because of all the rain we've been having. We should get a book on them...We stopped at a road-side farmer's market/country store to check out the flowers, but didn't buy any because nothing caught my eye and the perennials were too expensive. We got Cookies 'N Cream ice cream though (more letter 'C').
In the afternoon, we headed to the library and City Fresh for our farm share. This year, our Fresh Stop is at the part outside our library, so we can take the wagon and walk! There were bunches of kids climbing the mulberry tree and getting all purple. Bastian and Aleks joined in while I tried to sort out what happened to my registration (the website didn't accept it, apparently, so we only got a half share this week and no strawberries).

Aleks ran off to the Dreaded Big Park next door, which involved a lot of frustration on my part trying to track him down and keep Bastian from running off with a wagon full of library books and vegetables. If anyone knows how to gently handle a kid who runs off, please let me know - I'm at the end of my rope with this one and running out of ideas!

After dinner, we headed to the toddler park. Bastian wore the cape I made Aleks three years ago that he never wears. He's been really into wearing costumes a lot lately.

There was an egg beater on the playground for some reason, which the boys had a blast with trying to mix sand and using it as a fancy weapon. They ran around for hours with another little boy we remember from last year. This worked out really well because usually the park is just full of toddlers and babies who don't hold the boys interest any longer, or, come to think of it, never really did. They have a tendency to run out the gates without the presence of the 4-and-older set to occupy them.
After awhile, I noticed there was another big kid sort of watching Aleks, Bastian, and our friend running around playing, but not joining in. I suggested they go say hi and introduce themselves. They promptly ran over and did so, and the kid was relieved of having to make the first move. Then there were four. They ran and ran, around in circles, plotting against evil guys, trying to find the magic key, and other assorted fantastic adventures. They stood on the shaky bridge and spied a small German? Russian? (not sure on the language) boy with interesting Euro-hair and super-hip-looking parents, then ran away again. An older boy joined in too. It was really nice for them to have the opportunity to be boys in a pack, working together to save the world, the fate of humanity resting in their capable hands.