June 16, 2006

As I have said, Maddie is a climber. A couple of days ago I went into the kitchen, and she had climbed the stepladder in there up to the top, only two steps, mind you, but large, so she was about 3 feet off the ground. Happy as can be, looking for a tasty smackerel of something, no doubt.
The next day she was in the tub with her brother, and I was getting him out, after getting him snuggled into his towel T turned to her, and she was out of the tub, feet on the edge, bum in the air, feet on the toilet.
How on earth did she get out ofhe tub? She's just a little thing. I dunno.
She is sporting two full teeth, and has new ones coming in. She is drinking milk, still nursing, and is eating meat like it is cookies.
Trev was or is not much of a meat eater, but that girl likes it. And cheese. LOVES cheese. Likes bread and croissants, too. Has taste similar to her mother, I guess.
We (I) had support group meeting today for the unschoolers. I have mentioned before how much I like those women. It's nice to be with a group, and see your child way off with them, and know that they are not going to get in a huff over something, and judge you as a bad mother for not making your child behave in an xxxx manor. I saw Trev off in the sandbox with two of them, and I was perfectly comfortable with it, I knew that if there was an issue, they would handle it with grace and empathy, no think of him as "misbehaving" or something.
This came after a bit of an issue.
Trev was enjoying climbing up the slide (as most children do), and a couple of mothers got aggravated. I went over and spoke with him about it, and told him that a lot of little children were coming down, and we didn't want them to get hurt, so it wasn't a good idea to climb up when so many were coming down. And he said "But I am sleeping", and admittedly, it was a fine place for a play-acting cat to take a snooze. I told hime again that small children might get hurt, and asked him not to. What I should have done was direct him somewhere else, telling him that I would watch for not so many children to be on the slide, so he could climb up it when no one was around, but I did not think of it until later, and then did tell him just that. But just then I was too worried about people getting mad, and me not knowing what to do.
Anyway, he slid down a few times, and then a few minutes later I noticed a man talking to him, but Trev didn't look too concerned, so I wasn't really worried, then about a minute later he comes toward me bawling, and I thought he was hurt, but he said that a man pushed him off the slide, and told him he was a "bad boy". I was
pretty upset. I am sure it was the old man that I saw talking to him, and pointed him out, (they were leaving), and he said that it was him.
You know, climbing up a slide is much more satisfying, skill-building, fun, and adventurous than sliding down.
I wish people would remember that. All children love to climb up a slide.
And really, the slide moves much too slow (they are plastic, no one goes zipping down, usually you have to scoot yourself down) for anyone to get hurt coming down them. sheesh. Most children would love it even if there were a "train" of packed kids stuck in the middle of the slide anyway. Let them play.
Anyway. A lesson learned, and thought through, and next time I will handle it differently. I will just encourage Trev to wait til it is not busy, when the children are playing somewhere else to play on it how he wants to. Tell him that he has the right to do it however he wants, but the other children have a right to slide down safely by themselves, all are valued equally, and it's best to take turns. So everyone can feel free.
Another lesson learned, and moving along....