Playdate Bonus: JumpZone

This week we met with some of our play date friends a second time at the Jump!Zone Party Play Center here in Columbia. Strangely enough, I didn't get any pictures of Eddie or Caroline, but they were there with their moms, I swear!

The first thing you run into after registering and taking your shoes off is a big tree house with a very long slide. This was Jacob's favorite spot. He climbed up several times and slid down the slide. Once he wanted me to go up, but I feared I was too big for the slide. Later, I saw a mom go down the slide, so I missed out. We must go again. Here is Jacob, surveying the slope:

"Why doesn't the slide go from the crow's nest?" Jacob asks.

Here he is in mid-slope:

The main attraction of Jump!Zone is the seven or so large inflatable climbers. Jacob was not so interested in these. In fact, I couldn't coax him on to any of them. He would look at them. He would tell me to go in without him. He would drum on them. But he wouldn't go in. I don't know if it was the noise from the blowers that kept them inflated or the number of other children there, but he was not interested in playing on them. Maybe he thought they weren't safe:

Jacob as Safety Inspector (sans hard hat, since he doesn't like hats)

Lucy, on the other hand, loved the inflatables and would have stayed much longer if we'd let her. She went into the SpongeBob inflatable for a good ten minutes. She also went into the Jurassic Park inflatable, which featured palm trees, large bones and a climbing wall. She got to the base of the climbing wall but wasn't proficient enough to ascend. Some of the other kids who had climbed up weren't to proficient either. They dropped down and bounced on top of Lucy. I charged in to extract her Ian Malcolm-style. Luckily she was unhurt and unfazed. We went back to her favorite inflatable where things were calm enough for me to take pictures:

Lucy smiles for another camera

Lucy loved crawling and walking along the alligator's back. What a daredevil!

I think this mom secretly wanted to play in there too!

Lucy definitely got her money's worth out of Jump!Zone. Since we had a two-for-one coupon, I guess Jacob got his money's worth too.

Fun at and after play date

This week's play date was a big one for Lucy, even though it is Jacob's play group. She showed off her walking skills both outside on the grass (why did I forget to bring shoes for her!!) and inside on the hard wood floors. She also got to ride on the big kids' swing and down the slide (both with daddy constantly holding on to her). Jacob was rather aloof, hanging out by the rocks or watching from a distance. He became more enthusiastic when we went inside.

Inside plenty of toys waited for us to enjoy them. Lucy and Jacob loved Caroline's play kitchen. Jacob even microwaved a cucumber for me. I pretended to enjoy eating it. What will happen when he starts cooking for real at home!?! Lucy dropped a lot of the dishes on the floor. Chloe was quick to pick them up. Lucy also climbed up to the top of a toddler picnic table, presumably to get to the dishes Chloe had stacked there.

The real action was afterward during lunch at Pasta Blitz. I ordered a couple of slices of pizza and a lemonade. I brought some lunch for Lucy: Gerber peas, Cheerios and a banana. I cut up some pizza for Jacob and offered Lucy a piece. She loved it. I could barely get any spoonfuls of peas in her and not one Cheerios. All she wanted was cheese pizza. Jacob was too busy looking out the window to focus on eating. Lucy might have eaten more pizza than Jacob did. Jacob finally ate the banana along with a lot of my lemonade. Lucy totally amazed me. It may be time to give up the Gerber.

Found Another Library!

At this point, you probably think that all we ever do is go to the Howard County Library and the occasional play date. We've done some other things this week.

We went shopping on Monday morning (day before yesterday as I write) and back to the same shopping center in the evening to use our "buy one, get one free" coupon at Meadows Custard. The daily special was a custard called "Dirty Turtle," which sounds bad but tastes good. If you've ever eaten the candy called "turtle," you know it's a blob of caramel with five toasted pecans stuck into it and coated in chocolate. The pecans look like four legs and a head, hence the name "turtle." Such a description hardly does justice to how tasty such candies are. Anyway, this custard was clearly based on the candy and we weren't sure where the "dirty" part came from. The custard is chocolate with caramel flavoring and toasted pecans. They were the best toasted pecans I've ever had. We should have bought a pint, or a gallon, or the recipe.

Yesterday (Tuesday morning) we had a fun play date. Lucy is on the verge of walking and tried to show of some skills. She pushed a little ride-on toy around the first floor. The host's younger sister is about six months old and is on the verge of crawling. She tried to show her skills by chasing after some toys. The older children got along quite well. Jacob had so much fun he forgot to ask Patricia for her cell phone!

Today we went to visit mommy at work. We didn't see her office, instead we met out by the planes in the parking lot. No fooling, check them out:

She had some leftover snacks from a party, so we all had some cookies and grapes. Actually, Jacob didn't have any because he couldn't be bothered from playing with the rocks underneath the planes.

Since we were half way there, we went on to the western branch of the Anne Arundel County Library. They have a lovely children's section right by the entrance. The play area was fenced off by a train and included Legos, board puzzles, bead mazes and stuffed animals. Jacob and Lucy had a fun time playing with the stuff and the other kids. One little girl kept coming by and patting Lucy on the back. We rode the elevator to the second floor and walked around the grown-ups section. Jacob wanted to play with every computer we walked by. Luckily no one was using any of them. He is getting better about whispering in the library which is gratifying for me. Then we headed home for an early lunch and nap. The library was a fun discovery and will be a good stopping off point on the way to the comic shop in the future.

Tomorrow we are off to Costco and to our local library to return some items that are due. It's shaping up to be a fun week.

Jacob and Cell Phones

Jacob loves cell phones. He loves to play with them. He loves to push the buttons and see what happens. He likes to take pictures and play games on cell phones. And he has no reservations at all about asking people for their phones.

Usually, he harasses his mom and dad for their phones. My cell phone has about 200 pictures on it, 10 of which I took. The rest were by Jacob. I'll have to do a picture gallery of his work at some point. He also recently discovered my Sudoku app, which he loves, though he calls it "whodoku" every time. He even enters numbers though he has yet to complete a grid successfully. Angie's phone is also mostly a camera to Jacob.

The rest of the family gets to share with Jacob. Aunts Rosemary and Regina have recently upgraded their mobile phones. Jacob likes to play with the new phones and the old ones. He is always asking for whichever one isn't currently in his hands. They are very good natured about it.

Our friends are also targets for Jacob's addiction. "Uncle" Brian has a Droid cell phone, which has a lot of games including animal noises, fireworks and bubble wrap popping. Jacob has been too fascinated to even ask for camera mode. And Zahra's mom Patricia (from play group) also always receives cell phone requests. She is very patient and generous in loaning Jacob her phone. He is totally shameless in asking for it in his charming toddler way.

Last play date, we went to a neighborhood park with swings, a slide, a sandbox, and some riding animals and cars. Jacob had a fun time running around and playing, but he did load up Patricia's phone with pictures. He put some on my phone as well. While we were playing, another lady came with a child to the playground. I had to take Lucy back to the house to feed her a bottle. When Lucy and I came back, not ten minutes later, I discovered Jacob playing with the new lady's iPhone! He even convinced her to download the bubble wrap app so he could play it. I can't believe he got her to let him play with her phone. I can't believe how shameless my son is. And how successful. At some point he'll have to learn to ask not for their phones but for the ladies' phone numbers!

Here's a sampling of the photos he took on my cell phone from Tuesday's playgroup:

Jacob got a little bit of himself in this shot by accident and lots of slightly blurry wood chips.

Less Jacob, more blur.

More Jacob, less blur.

Apparently, Jacob was abducted by aliens at some point during play date.
None of the moms mentioned it to me, though.

Fighting a losing battle

Today was day four of the snow removal marathon. Since we were walloped with over two feet of snow on Saturday, I've been slowly digging us out. On Saturday morning, I dug out the car and the front walk. On Saturday evening (after the snow stopped), I dug them out again and got down the driveway as far as the sidewalk.

Sunday I dug out most of the side walk in two shifts (morning and evening).

Monday morning I dug out the rest of the side walk (which included cutting some tree limbs that had fallen and been buried about a foot down in the snow) and in the afternoon cut our way out into the street. We went to Chick-fil-A to meet some friends for dinner to celebrate our escape. See pictures here. It was a lot of fun to catch up with people and just to get out. Arriving home, we didn't make it up the driveway due to snow and ice that had fallen from the trees.

Tuesday morning I dug out to the street again, since the plow came through at some point in the evening. Of course, that meant icy, solid snow. We managed to make it out to play date. Angie was off, so she came too. I dropped her and the kids off at Chloe's home while I headed off to the store for more provisions.

The store was swamped with people. Most of the milk and all the fresh meat were gone. Most of the produce was gone too. The only bananas left looked green enough to serve on St. Patrick's Day. Still, I managed to get some food for us. Then I had the luxury of shopping at the liquor store without the two tots. I could by four bottles of wine without any juggling! I returned to play date to hang out for another half hour or so. We came back home for lunch and naps.

After we all woke up (except for Angie, who didn't get a nap), we went to Arundel Mills Mall for our last chance to walk around, because...guess what...it's snowing again. Another 10 to 20 inches of snow is expected. Which means another day or two of shoveling. Just when I saw the finish line for the snow shoveling marathon, they move it back another 26.2 miles! Yikes!!

Jacob and Lucy at Play Group

Jacob was initially reluctant to go to today's play date. When I asked him this morning, he said, "No go to play date." After some coaxing, he relented and said he wanted to go to Eddie's so he could play with trucks. I told him we were going to Justine's and that there would be trucks. He was suspicious but went along anyway.

We arrived and found plenty of trucks to play with, along with a little railroad track and some ride on toys as well. Jacob had a great time. Lucy stole the show, though, when one of the little girls brought out some cat ears. Lucy tried them on and even let me get a good shot of her wearing them:

It was an extra fabulous play date because Justine's mom whipped up a lunch in no time at all. we had some pizza, fruit and salad with a cookie for dessert!

At dinner tonight, Jacob said to me, "Want to go to play group." I explained that we just went to play group this morning. Jacob thought about that and said, "Want to go to play group...some more!"

Busy day for us

Today has been a busy day here at the Reninger household. We started off the day with Jacob's play date. Caroline and Zahra didn't make it today but everyone else was here and had a good time. We even have pictures to prove it:

Jacob and Justine are reading in the chair. We have tried several times to document how they will sit and read books. Unfortunately the digital camera and the camera operator are both too slow. Here they are posing for the shot which they know is coming. Jacob seems to be trying a Vulcan mind meld on himself.

Chloe loves to ride the horses! She has such a cute smile too.

During the play date, Jacob kept wandering out of the room. I'm not sure if he was trying to lead his friends to other exciting parts of the house or was looking for some alone time. He usually wandered back or was brought back quickly. Lucy was much more cooperative, though she did try to stay awake for as much of the time as she could.

After the play date, Jacob had a nap while we had pizza. After he was up and fed some cheesy bread and peaches, we went to the library for the farmers' market. First we returned some stuff to the library and got even more stuff. I fear that my library account will push past 40 items soon. We definitely need to return rather than renew all the books and toys we take out for Jacob. It's just too easy to go online and renew with Howard County library's web site. The library emails a few days before an item is due and provides a link to the web site for renewing. It's far too easy and convenient. Curse your great customer service, Howard County library!! But I digress.

We bought some corn and a loaf of bread and some treats at the farmers' market (which is out in the parking lot of the library). Jacob did not want to walk around and shop. He liked to wander behind the trucks and vans of the farmers. One fellow offered Jacob a slice of orange watermelon. He took a bite and was unimpressed. I wound up finishing the slice.

After that, we went to Giant to get groceries for the weekend. Since Grandpa is coming, we had to stock up on sour cream and onion potato chips and butter pecan ice cream. I already bought some of his favorite beer earlier in the week, so we should be all set for their visit.

Finally, we got home and got ready to go to the neighborhood pool party. By getting ready, I mean nearly forgetting to bring towels, a bathing suit for Jacob and the tickets to the party. We completely forgot to bring pool toys, a sippy cup for Jacob, and the camera. We were unable to bring swim diapers because we had run out. Luckily, Harris Teeter was on the way to the pool so I ran in and bought some. Unluckily, I bought the Ariel/Little Mermaid swim diapers. No notice was made of the error until Angie was changing Jacob at the pool and another mother said, "He must have a sister." Angie said, "Yes, how do you know?" Good thing we had swim trunks for him!

We all had a great time at the pool. Jacob loved playing in the water, especially with other kids' toys. They didn't seem to mind. The food was okay: hot dogs, chips, soda, and vegetables. It was free, so no complaints. The DJ was fun, which was good because he had to amp up the entertainment value after someone lost bowel control in the main pool. The pool was evacuated and still being cleaned up after we left. The kiddie pool was unaffected.

We finally arrived home a little before 8 p.m. We had a great day. We hope to have as much fun again, though maybe it could be spread out over a couple of days.

Another play date

Jacob and I made it to our Wednesday play date this week. He had a very good time at Sharon and Chloe's. We played at the house for a while until Sharon suggested that we walk over to the park.

The park is much like other parks in Columbia, with swings, wooden climbing structures, riding animals on springs and lots of mulch. Jacob followed his latest modus operandi and played mostly with the mulch. He did ride on the slide a couple of times and climb for a little bit. But mostly he was handing out leaves and sticks to the parents there. The others enjoyed the equipment quite a bit.

We went back to the house for a snack. The children started playing again. We almost ended in tears when they were all playing in the corner of the kitchen and Jacob tripped on something (possibly his own feet). That wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't reached out and grabbed Eddie, who also fell over. Eddie fell into Chloe, who somehow wound up behind the curtain. Justin was smart enough to have evacuated the area before everything went done. Or, more accurately, everyone went down. There were some sobs but the little ones recovered quickly. All were happy when we finally had to leave.

I hope every play date ends so well!

Falling asleep in the car seat: Blessing or Curse?

I'm not sure how much I like Jacob falling asleep in the car seat. Usually it is a great gift for us, but consider what has happened this week.

Wednesday morning, Jacob and I went to play date at Elana's up in Woodstock, Maryland, about half an hour away. We left a little before 9 so we could get there for 9:30. About 9:20, Jacob gave in and fell asleep in his car seat, as he often does. I wondered what to do, because we were just about there and I didn't want to bail out on the play date at the last minute. So I parked in the driveway, got stuff together to take inside and finally bit the bullet and took Jacob out of his car seat. He showed some signs of waking up. After we got inside he started to perk up quite a bit. By the time Elana served yummy pumpkin muffins, Jacob was in full play mode. Having a ten to fifteen minute nap seems to have done him well, because he stayed awake and was chipper the whole time (except when he overflowed his diaper and needed to change everything). We even left without any big conflicts/blow ups with any of the children. It was a great play date.

On the way home, he resisted falling asleep until the very last minute, which was harrowing for me. He didn't quite make it to his bed asleep, so I had to sing him back into sleepiness. I find that singing the same song over and over and over and over helps bore him back to sleep. Luckily, my tolerance for boredom is higher than his.

Today, we were going to the library for story time to be followed by the grocery story for shopping time. We left at 9:40. The library is only ten or fifteen minutes away. Five minutes into the trip, he was out like a broken light bulb. What to do? Should I stay the course and wake him up at the library with another 15 minute nap? Since the babysitter is coming today for her 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. gig, I thought it best to let him continue to sleep in the morning, rather than wake him and have him fall asleep at 12:30 and sleep through the time that the babysitter is here. I hope I made the right choice.

Why has car seat napping become so fraught with peril?

Play Date at Our Home Again!

We had another play date here at the home of the Reningers. Last time, we ended the play date when toddlers starting crying left and right. Today was a new story.

We had a new mom, Elana, with her daughter Justine. They joined Sharon and Chloe, Terri and Caroline, and me and Jacob. We had a good time in the family room playing with a variety of Jacob's toys.

Chloe loved to climb on the rocking horse. The only trick was the rocking horse has wheels, so he doesn't rock back and forth. This didn't stop Chloe. She figured out how to go forwards and backwards since her legs were the perfect length. Then she turned the horse around and Justine came and helped to push her forward. It was so cute, if only we had caught it on video. Maybe next time.

Everyone was great at sharing the toys, especially a little inflatable ball that was handed back and forth several times. I left Jacob's Easter basket out. They played with the plastic eggs which were empty. After several disappointed openings, we parents started putting items in the eggs, which made them into rattles as well as containing surprises. The other thing they shared from the Easter basket was the purple shredded paper that was the grass. The tots were a little too good at sharing that, as the carpet rapidly became strewn with grass! As we (the parents) tried to clean up by sweeping the grass into piles, the children would spread the paper grass around again. Eventually, we won out.

Jacob started to get really tired and was only a little whiny. But he definitely made the signal to go. He led the way out of the family room and was ready to climb the stairs to bed. I made him be polite and say good-bye to our guests. A good time was had by all. Next week, we meet at Elana and Justine's!

New Member Brunch

Jacob and I made it to the new member brunch in our stay-at-home parent group. A good time was had by all. We arrived slightly late due to missing a turn. But not too late. One other mom and the host were there with their girl and boy, respectively. Later, another mom showed up. We had a good time. The food was nice and the conversation fun.

Jacob had a good time running around and playing with the new-to-him toys. The boy had a pretty fancy box of toy tools. The power drill actually made a drilling noise and the flashlight really lit up when you threw the switch. A good assortment of other items made for fun times for the kids. At one point, I think Jacob was accidentally hit by a toy hammer, but he only cried for 30 seconds. He did not destroy anything this time. On the other hand, he had a juice box that he kept squeezing so juice would spray all over. Mostly all over himself.

Towards the end he became very cranky and clingy. I knew it was the end so we made our goodbyes. We took a slightly longer route home and he was asleep by the time we pulled into the garage. He slept well but the day became a two-nap day. In between naps, he played out in the back yard. I need to get him to play with balls more. So far, he'll just go get a ball I throw and walk it back to me or just bring me the ball when I ask him to throw it or kick it to me. I need to figure out how to teach ball skills to the child!

After his second nap, Aunt Maryellen and cousin Autumn were here for a visit. Jacob loves playing with Autumn and vice versa. Lots of laughter ensued. We went to a local pizza joint for dinner and to Rita's for dessert. The village center was fairly full of people since the temperature was in the 70's. Yay first taste of Spring! Yummier than custard! We begin and end this blog with food.

Does every playdate end like this?

I've joined a stay at home parents' group here in Columbia, Maryland, called Parents AT Home or PATH. The group is made up of parents and other caregivers who have decided to stay at home because of the great value it has for the child's or children's development. One of the activities the group promotes is play groups.

Play groups are small groups of similarly aged children who get together once or a few times a week to play together. The group can meet at parents' homes or go out to activities. The group I was placed in is going to the library on Fridays for story time. Also, we met today at my home for a play date, where the kids play together and learn to interact socially, or even just get used to other pint-sized people playing with their stuff.

Our group is small, just three children: Jacob, Chloe and Caroline. We played in the family room since that had the most toys and is the most kid-friendly room in the house. Things went pretty well. The children played together mostly. Occasionally one would wander off to a different part of the room. The headless musical rocking horse was popular but only once did Jacob and Caroline want to ride at the same time. They played with the musical instruments. Chloe would have decapitated one of her playmates if they had been in the line of the cymbal she threw. Whew, no one suffered from separation anxiety this time!

But toward the end of the playdate, Jacob and Chloe were playing with the blocks by the window and we parents weren't paying attention. All of the sudden, Chloe was crying. Well, not at first. She had that open-mouthed, look-like-I'm-crying-with-no-sound-coming-out face for about 20 seconds and then she hit the high notes. I think Jacob might have whacked her with the block cart, but there was no real evidence. Her mom comforted her. Caroline came over to give Chloe a kiss and hug, but she tripped on the way. Then she started crying in pitch with Chloe. I watched for Jacob to fall next. He didn't. I picked up Jacob. Chloe began to calm down. Chloe's mom brought her over to Jacob to give him a kiss. I was bending over holding him. Chloe clonked my head and started crying again. We parents had a good laugh; I hope the kids understood. We decided playdate was over.

I hope all playdate don't end this way. I hope even more that it wasn't just this play date that ended this way!