Park days

Isn't life better when you spend it outside? Today was one of those days that I can say yes. Of course the overnight cool off helped quite a bit, since we spent the last week in a rather unseasonable heat wave. But today...ah, it felt divine. The sun was bright and the breeze was cool and Elisa woke up at 8 a.m. Life was good. We took advantage of the late start by heading to St. Teresa's playgroup on the south side from 10am-12pm. I think the last time we were there was in October sometime when Elisa was actually waking up from her first nap by 10am (the joys of my early napper!). Finally having a new schedule and a recently condensed nap routine was all we needed to get back over there and it was nice to return.

We ran into our friends Jenny and Ella on the way and met up with Kerry and Kieran inside the church. It's a really open indoor playroom at a local Catholic church and I have to say the toys are a whole lot cleaner than at the park. Well, I should say there's less dirt. Germs? That's probably another story. Elisa still only wanted to run around in the covered car thingy or go up and down the mini slide. She seems to have those down pretty well and I even caught her walking up and down the slide. Somehow her shoes provided enough traction for that. Gotta love Stride Rite sandals. Seeing all the kids sitting around little tables enjoying a mid-morning snack was a reminder that they are all getting so big. It looked like a little school room for a few minutes and I was struck by how someday someone else will be watching her do all this. Don't get me wrong, some days that sounds fabulous (no kid!) but today, I was enjoying her awkward run-ins with other toddlers, her playful squinting and walking around with eyes closed and her looking around the room for "momma" when she had wandered too far away. I was right there waving.

Later after her nap, we made it over to the gardens park and she was again greeted by friends, Oliver and Juliet, and played for a few more hours while the sunshine lasted. It's definitely a luxury of the time I have with her at home that I can plan our days around this kind of relaxed fun. Or maybe it's just that I don't want to sit inside either and look at the things I should be cleaning? Either way, it works for us for now, but it has me thinking about what the future holds. There's talk about some of the kids in our playgroup starting pre-school/nursery school in the fall as they all start to turn 2. I realize that for some this is a necessity of the childcare situation or just the evolution of little busybodies that need more structure to burn off their energy. But for us, I'm pretty sure we'll still be hanging out at home or wherever we can find an impromptu playgroup for a little while longer. It gives us both more flexibility with naps and travel and just the day-to-day routines that I'm finally getting good at. Here's to more days like this one!