Evolution - Stay the Course

I am seriously thinking about taking out our veggie beds and putting in swings, or perhaps a climbing structure, or swinging rope climbing obstacle course. I love the concept of gardening, and the result – food we’ve grown – but our little boy needs more stuff at home to get his energy out. I say this because yesterday we went to the trampoline zone for several hours after which he was covered in sweat, and then on the way home he wanted to go to a playground. I have no problem with a playground, but I was ravenously hungry and needed to stop for food. “Noooooo,” he said. He did not want to stop anywhere. He only wanted to go to a playground.

This kind of thing tends to happen on days when he hasn’t had enough contact with his own kind – his own kind being other little kids who want to run and jump and wrestle and do imaginary play type things for hours, and hours, and hours. We got home, I ate, he ate, and then it was getting dark due to it being the heinous, rotten, no-good, life-wrecking standard daylight time.

“Sweetie it’s too late to go to a playground. Do you want to do some trampoline jumping or dancing?”

“I only want to go to a playground.”

“We can’t go to a playground, it’s too late. Do you want me to read you some books or play a game?”

“No.” Pouting. Head down. Miserable. Life Sux.

And so I retreated and gave him some space to stay curled up in miserable fetal position in the middle of the living room floor for a while. Then I put on his current favorite song – “I’m Still Standing,” from the movie “Sing” soundtrack – and he popped up and started dancing and singing and air drumming and air guitaring.

“Yeah!” He said, and nodded his head rock star style while I clapped along. At some point he jumped on me and then it became kind of play wrestling on the floor, with me dumping him onto the beanbags we have all around repeatedly, which he enjoyed.

I don’t like wrestling, but it’s clear he needed some kind of rough play, like a puppy, and I was the only one available. I tossed him around and let him jump on me growling for a while, and then inevitably one of us got hurt – him this time, by knee’ing himself in the face (truly) and then we were done. So I’m thinking yes a tire swing in the front yard, or climbing wall. Something.

Or maybe upgrade our beanbag situation to those big puffy mats like they have at gymnasiums. Forget the sectional, in fact clear out everything hard from the living room and fill it with a ball pit.

Or maybe just be grateful it’s Monday and he’ll be back at school with his people and a large climbing, swinging, sliding structure there. Yes. That one. I think maybe this year we’ll plant carrots.  I'm gonna keep going.