This past summer was the hottest on record and I don't think that anyone will disagree, it was miserable!! It felt more like Death Valley than Kentucky. Due to the hot temps there were days we were forced to come up with alternatives to playing outside. Driving by McDonald's I had the bright idea that the playplace would be great fun for the kids. I should have just kept on driving.
The people who do marketing for McDonald's are quite clever, obviously. So good they could probably convince a fat girl like me to buy a bikini and make her think that she looks good in it. The happy meal, free toys, and the playplace, they are all targets for those little people in the back seat, to lure them in, and get them hooked! We had visited the playplace once before with our older cousins and it was a good experience so I figured that this would be a great way for Liv to burn some energy.
We had a little talk in the car before going in about eating first, then she could play. For those of you who know my child, she doesn't eat much, sometimes I wonder how she can be my daughter! We got our food, sat down to eat, and to my surprise she finished every last bite of her meal. Frankie and I were still eating but I told her that she could go and play.
I watched her ever so carefully climb all of the way to the top of the play equipment and continue to go through a maze. At first I was a little nervous because I could not see her when she was in the maze but every few minutes I would hear, "Mom, watch me"! Meanwhile, Frankie was still enjoying eating his chicken nuggets, so I sat and continued to feed him while watching her play. As I was people watching, I noticed a woman who looked more like my mom's age with no less than 5 kids with her, she looked tired and worn out. While trying to figure out if she was the mommy or grandma, I heard this piercing scream from the top of the maze. I knew that it wasn't Liv, and then I saw the mom/grandma look up at a screaming little girl. She was trying to coax her down, but with no luck. She proceeded to climb all of the way to the top to bring her down. Have you ever seen these things? There are no ladders, just platforms made for a 3 year old to climb up. The entire time I was watching her I was thinking, I'm so glad that isn't my kid. Then it hit me, I could see my future right before my eyes. I knew that this is exactly what I was going to be doing. It was not 2 minutes and I hear Liv yelling, "MOM, COME GET ME NOW"!
I could see her peeking through the window in the maze and I was trying to tell her how to get down, but all I got in return was, "come get me, I'm scared"! Scanning the play area I thought, there has to be an older kid in here that can climb up and get her. No such luck. They were all little ankle biters just like her. I knew what I was going to have to do. I grabbed Frankie out of the high chair and walked to the "platform tower" area. I took one look at it and thought how in the world am I going to get this fat @%% up there all while holding Frankie? Definitely should not have eaten that Big Mac. I started the climb. With every platform that I had to squeeze through one handed, her screams got louder. I had back sweat. This was not good. After what seemed like climbing Everest, I made it to the top platform. I looked and she was at the end of this tunnel. NO WAY can I fit through it. FINALLY, she got close enough that I grabbed her foot and I dragged her to the platform where I squeezed back to the bottom while holding two kids. When I made it to the floor I wanted to kiss it. I looked around and realized that not only did I have an audience inside, there were people in the drive thru watching too. GREAT, I'm going to end up on some Youtube video...FAT MOM CLIMBS UP TO SCREAMING CHILD. Thank God that I have not seen it...yet.
We didn't even clean up our eating area, we went straight to the car, and I got the heck out of that place as fast as I could.
Whenever you have the idea that going to the playplace would be great fun, just remember that you could be that mom/grandma climbing to the top to get your crying kid.
Next summer when it is blazing hot and we are looking for alternative activities, we are going to the pool!
No comments:
Post a Comment