The Indoor Playground

On Friday this week, Mudgie and I went to an indoor playground in Lowell (Perpetual Motion for anyone interested in going). Unfortunately, I forgot to bring our camera, but Mudgie was in heaven. We walked in the door, and Mudgie immediately saw the giant train, or "choo-choo" as Mudgie calls it. He was so excited he could barely contain himself! When he was finally set loose (we had to actually pay and take off his sneakers first), he went straight for the train. He played in all the cars, went down the slide into the ball pit, and played in the sandbox. His favorite thing to do was ride on this bike-type contraption that went around in a circle. There were 5 seats with a handlebar and peddles on a circular track. Mudgie's feet didn't even reach the peddles, so I pushed the thing around when there were no big kids to peddle. However, Mudgie really liked it when the big kids got on because they peddled faster than I pushed, and of course he's a little daredevil who loves speed! I had to drag him out there a half hour after he should have been down for his nap...he didn't want to leave. Of course he fell asleep as soon as we were in the car...

Later that afternoon we went over to our neighbor's house to play. Mudgie was so excited to go over there, but once we were there, he was very possessive of all the toys, and none of them were his! Poor Lauren, who's a year older than Mudgie and was so nice about sharing all her toys, looked so hurt every time Mudgie yelled "mine" and ran away. Obviously, this is something we are really trying to work on. Any suggestions?

Saturday night we went out to dinner with my family in Waltham. We met at the restaurant at 6pm, and we didn't get seated until well after 7. Mudgie was amazingly well-behaved, considering how long we were there. We entertained him with the giant moose head hanging on the wall while we waited for dinner. At first he didn't want to touch the moose, even though he was fascinated with it. Over the course of an hour, however, he must have gotten brave because he was petting its nose before we got our table! Great-Grammy and Great-Grampy saved the dinner by bringing Mudgie some Thomas trains to play with at the table. He was thoroughly entertained until just before we left, when Grammy and Grampy broke out the toy lawnmower they got him. We took it outside and Mudgie mowed every inch of sidewalk while we waited for everyone else to finish up. By the time we got in the car, it was 9pm and at least an hour after bedtime, so the fact that Mudgie was so well behaved all night was really something!