MarshallAndFamily.com

 We had a busy morning last Saturday. First, we dropped Marc off at his Toastmaster’s meeting at 8:45 AM. We were scheduled to be at a playdate at 10:00 AM but it was all the way across town. I decided to stop at Greenlake playground on the way home to kill some time, figuring that crowds would be at a minimum at that time in the morning. WRONG-O! We were lucky to get a parking spot in the lot beside the recreation center. Normally (pre-child) I would avoid the “official” parking lots and park on the street but with my wrist in a splint and the high likelyhood of having to cart Marshall off the playground kicking and screaming, I wanted to be close to the car in case I had to leave quickly. So I did the rounds till a spot opened up. I let him loose amongst the playground equipment, dressed in his playdate finest – a cute sweater, matching pants, and his runners. I quickly discovered that the illusion of green grass was in reality wet mud. It was grass worn thin from the many hordes of children that have played there, running teams that cut across the playground, and endless people that used it as a shortcut to the public restrooms. And of course my delusion of him being cleanable slowly sunk in as Marshall became muddier and muddier with every fall and trip. He had a good time walking around exploring but it ended with me stripping his pants and shoes off before I would let him in the car (yes, I’m a dirt freak) and us heading home to get clean clothes. At Suzanne’s house he played very politely and ate infinite handfuls of Goldfish, signing, “more” and following that sign with, “please”!