We have been experiencing torrential rain at the moment. Nearly every day for over a week, needless to say, the kids and I are basically trapped in the house. We've been making the most of it though. We did finally make those crowns. We also made books, a 'Disney Junior den', had a Lynnea-mummy-brannon- pajama-movie-cuddle day, and stomped in muddy puddles like Peppa Pig when the rain had slowed down a bit. So it hasn't been awful but I think all of us are going a little stir crazy. I really have to give the kids a ton of credit. They're high spirited little ones and they've been much better to each other than I thought they would be. Yes there has been fighting, arguing, hitting, and snatching but not even as much as on an actual school day. I think the morning crafts have really helped them stay happier throughout the day.
Today the weather was nice enough to actually leave the house! I made plans with my sisiter-in-law to meet her and my little niece at the park so the kids could all run around and play. I hadn't really thought this through though. When I go to the big park, it's usually when my husband is home. That way we can each watch one kid. During the week I take the kids to the smaller park nearest our house so it's easy to watch them both by myself and the play area is completely fenced in so they can't go running off when I'm chasing after the other one. This is not the case at the big park. You enter through a gate and the sides are completely fenced in until you get to the other end where it seems they must have run out of fencing materials after deciding to build some picnic tables and put up a giant swinging log. Personally, I think a fence is probably the more practical choice but I am sure the log seemed like a fantastic plan at the time. Hindsight is always 20/20 and all that, you know? Anyway, neither of us were completely tuned into this breach in security when Brannon saw another little boy start to run toward the open gate leading to the parking lot. Being a gloomy, overcast, chilly, windy Monday morning not many other people had the idea to join the park adventure, thank goodness, so it wasn't impossible to see your child if they run more than 5 feet away from you. After catching my tiny son mid-escape I turned around to notice that my daughter was no longer where I left her a second ago. Every parent has had this happen and it is absolutely the worst feeling you could ever experience. You feel like you're going to die from panic. You call the child's name as calmly as you can at first and if they don't respond you get increasingly louder and more panic striken. Luckily for me, I only had to call once for Lynnea and she had only escaped the fenced area to the big log (ah ha now you see why I went into all of that seemingly useless description of the park's layout). She was wearing the kind of ear-to-ear grin you'd expect to see on the face of an escaped convict when they find out they've not only gotten away with it but they've just stumbled upon a huge pile of cash to boot! This doesn't happen to me often at all but it really got me down. I literally felt like the world's worst parent. Maybe you're reading this agreeing with me or maybe you're breathing a sigh of relief to see you aren't the only one who has temporarily lost track of their child. Either way, when it happens to you just remember you are not alone in this and most likely your child is gleefully smiling at you having a heart attack.