Apologies for yet another lame-o photo post; it’s been a crazy few weeks, and we’re now on our way to a long-weekend Japan adventure. Fresh air and sushi, here we come!
One Saturday morning, we woke up to beautiful blue skies. Charlotte couldn’t wait to get out to the park, and insisted on wearing a frilly dress, which to me screamed ‘perfect summer park photo shoot!’
monkey-child
Hanging out
Charlotte has decided that naps are for suckers. I’m pretty sure kids her age still need to nap, as evidenced by the fact that Charlotte is usually a big crank in the evenings, and goes to sleep a full hour earlier than usual (which often means that she’s up earlier than usual too, arggh).
This evening was no exception: no nap, grumpy kiddo. As per our new summer-time routine, we ate a quick dinner and then went to the park. “Just for a little bit” I told her, “it’s almost bedtime.” “Ok mama” she replied, and off we went. Shortly after we arrived, one of her buddies from down the street showed up. The girls played nicely together for awhile, but I could see Charlotte slowly starting to deteriorate and knew it was time to call it a night before she lost it.
I turned away for about 10 seconds to say goodbye to the other kid’s mom, and when I turned back, I could NOT believe what I was seeing.
The two girls were going at it, over this tricycle toy that Charlotte had ridden to the park and the other girl wanted to ride home (we have a kind of communal toy pile on our street). I watched in horror as Charlotte pushed the other girl, her hands dangerously circled around the girl’s neck. And then, as if in slow motion, I saw the other girl grab Charlotte’s hand and put it in her wide open, teeth-baring mouth. As her jaws closed around Charlotte’s hand, my mama-bear instincts kicked in and I sonic-sped over to them, grabbed Charlotte’s hand out before the other girl could sink her teeth in, and pulled Charlotte into the safety of my arms.
The walk home was a blur of sobs and tears and snot. I have rarely seen Charlotte so out-of-control upset like that, and the other times have involved hell on wheels a.k.a. her car seat.
I tried to talk to her about sharing, and to remind her that hands are not for hitting, but she was way too upset for learning lessons. And I was too angry to teach them.
Charlotte is now bathed, read to, and asleep. And I still cannot stop thinking about how that girl, who is one year and a good 10 pounds bigger than Charlotte, bit my child. She is someone we know well, the girls play together everyday. And she bit Charlotte. She bit her.
I think we’ll be staying in after dinner the next few days. Luckily, J. arrives in Beijing soon and once he does he’ll work his magic and get Charlotte back into her regular napping schedule. And if I ever see another kid try to bite my baby again, I swear I will bite them back, mama-bear style. Grrrr.
One of the highlights of my recent (and last!) visit to Moscow was a visit to Gorky Park. I’ve written about this wonderful, vaste expanse of greenery before here so I wont bore you again with background details, but I will just mention that everytime we go, I find myself humming the Scorpions’ ‘Wind of Change.’ Anyhoo….
When we left home, it was a beautiful sunny day. After a week of rain, we were excited to get out and enjoy some sunshine. We hopped on the metro and a short ride and walk later, we reached our destination. By this time, the sun had disappeared, replaced by some very ominous-looking dark clouds.
Check out this photo that Charlotte (budding photographer/iphone stealer) took of J. and I, you can see the storm brewing in the background:
Soon after, the wind picked up and the first few drops started to fall. Having spent six years in Vancouver, I have no fear of rain, so we kept on playing. When Charlotte caught sight on a car amusement ride and insisted that yes, she was big enough to go on it, we didn’t let a little rain keep her from her first amusement park ride. Which she LOVED!
We also managed to fit in a quick swing ride at the playground before the rain really started coming down. We watched as people screamed and ran for cover (some in really crazy spots- who hides underneath a metal airplane sculpture when there’s lightning?) as we slowly strolled toward the park exit, laughing at all the fools afraid of a little (ok, a lot) of summer rain.
And then it really started coming down, and I realized I needed to swallow my Vancouver pride and get my poor kiddo out of the rain. We found a small dry spot under a big tree, and huddled together to keep dry. Very quickly, our dry oasis flooded with water as the rain beat down and the wind whipped it in every direction. We knew we had no choice but to make a run for the metro station, which we reached after a 10 minute dash through puddles the size of swimming pools.
Needless to say, we were all drenched. Luckily I had a spare (and still dry!) change of clothes for Charlotte. With all of Moscow to see, I stripped her down in the middle of the station and changed her clothes. She thought it was hilarious, and she now loves telling the story about how she was naked at the train station.
