Thursday's plan included a LLL meeting and a trip to the Met with pals for the Start with Art program. Due to P's cold/teething combo we'd only left the house once (to play with Malek) all week! The morning went swimmingly, grabbing our bagel only ran us 30 minutes late for the LLL meeting :) We don't go regularly, I think this was our 3rd meeting ever, but its nice to occasionally be around mom's with lots of nursing experience. There's always lots of toys and kids and a generally supportive atmosphere.
All P knew was that we were off for a day's adventure and he was very leery when I started up the stoop to the meeting. After quizzing me about where we were headed he told me he was a little nervous and wasn't sure he wanted to go. I told him I was sometimes nervous going to new places too. He said "You nervous they gonna knock you down and take your toys?" I almost melted. Here was the key to his play-group anxiety! He'll often agree to a play-date (with a promise from me that I won't let kid's steal his toys), but a play-group is a stretch for him most days. Apparently, the poor kid has really taken it to heart when he's been hit. Understandably, but for some reason it still surprised me. I guess because he never cries or anything when he's attacked - he just tries to make nice and looks nervous. Apparently, he's very nervous.
We talked it through and went to the meeting. I had a quick night-weaning question (we night-weaned 5 months ago but Phoenix has yet to accept it!) during which he loudly announced to the whole group "This place is freaking me out! Let's get out of here!" Everyone laughed so he had to repeat it about 5 times and then we were off to Central Park.
We started towards the Zoo but were sidetracked by some big boulders to race cars on. When it came time for the Met he stalled and stuttered, so we skipped it. Enough big groups for one day - he wanted to play with "just you, mom." We meandered to different areas of the park, looking for the just right dirt-pile, just the right rock to race on. These were all things we could have done in Prospect Park, but Central Park is just special. There's the beautiful backdrop, of course. And you can't beat bumper cars on boulders beside a live jazz quartet. He nixed his nap, pulled handfuls of grass from the Great Lawn and then ran over a woman's painting. I suggested it was time for the Tisch Zoo.
We had somehow missed the existence of the Children's Zoo in Central Park. Perhaps it was the pull of the big polar bear that had blinded us, but I was excited to have finally discovered it. Though short on actual animals, it was long on fun. There were lots of lily pads to leap (P's personal favorite), giant bunnies ("Where their faces go? They lose them?"), turtle shells and eggs to crawl in, alpacas to feed, giant spider-webs to climb and tunnels to run through. He had a blast and I didn't knock him down or steal his toys even once:)
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