Back in the saddle again
You know the ol' adage, "if you fall off a horse, get up, dust yourself off, and get right back on", or somethin' like that. Well, we got right back up on that horse... so to speak... I didn't want to stop taking Caitie to playgrounds with the worry of what might happen, so I took her back to the same park she had the mishap at on March 11. She didn't fall this time, thank goodness, but it wasn't the most pleasant park visit we've been on. When we first arrived, there was one other child there. As we were walking from the truck to the playground, the little girl ran up to Caitie and gave her a big hug. That was nice. But things went downhill from there. After swinging for a bit and sliding, more kids showed up; a little girl and her brother. The sister and brother weren't real friendly and only seemed to want to play with each other on their own. That was fine, but what got to me was when there was a problem with the little girl that was there with her dad, and the little boy. I was watching Caitie and the kids while talking to the little girl's dad, but didn't know exactly what was happening until I heard the dad's daughter becoming aggressive and loud, and saw the boy with his arms out blocking anyone from going on the landing. Caitie was in between the two on the stairs, and as the other little girl became more aggressive and pressed into Caitie with her chest in order to get her past the boy, Caitie became upset and pushed the girl's arm up and went down the stairs and ran over to me saying she wanted to go home. I asked if she was all right, and she just kept saying she wanted to go home, and pointed at the two kids and said they were mean. After I talked to her for a bit and got her to calm down, she decided to go and play again. The dad I was talking to said that Caitie handled the situation really well; in a very mature way for her age. That was nice to hear. Caitie felt a little left out this time due to all the kids having tricycles; when they were riding their tricycles, she was on her own. But it wasn't too long before another child showed up and wanted to play with her, but all she wanted to do was sling sand everywhere, which ended up getting in Caitie's eyes, so Caitie walked away, but did so in a nice way. We left not too long after that. I hope our next park visit goes more smoothly and is more fun for Caitie. I did take a few pics...More swingin' pics. Caitie loves to swing.
Here is the brother and sister, and the other girl that were at the park; Caitie is on the landing. The boy and the girl in the purple sweatshirt are the ones that got into it on the stairs and upset Caitie. As you can see, all three kids had trikes, which made Caitie feel left out.
This is the little girl that ran up to Caitie and gave her a hug when we first arrived at the park. I talked with her dad while at the park; he's a nice Christian man.
They played together for a while, but the other girl, her name is Makayla, kept following the other girl and her brother around. The other girl was older and kept Makayla's interest. They had snack food, which was appealing to her as well, I think. Her dad didn't like that too much though, and asked her not to eat any food they offered, but she didn't listen. I can understand his concern, you can never be too careful these days. I wouldn't want Caitie taking food from strangers either, from kids or grown-ups.
Here is the other little girl that showed up not too long before we left the playground. She kept grabbing Caitie's hand to coax her into playing in the sand with her, but as I mentioned above, she kept slinging the sand upward which got into Caitie's eyes, so they didn't end up playing long; we left not too long after she arrived.
