Playgroup at the Mall

Topher and I have been invited to a playgroup a few times by a woman at church, and this week we decided to check it out. So we made our way to Merle Hay Mall and I think it was great for Topher to get out and to see a playground he wasn't familiar with. I think the real appeal is for all the women to be able to socialize, but unfortunately Topher is at that age that doesn't allow me to do that. He's too old to sit still but too young to play safely by himself. So for an hour and a half, I crawled around on the rubbery floor with him and tried to keep him from hitting the other kids. (He doesn't do it out of cruelty, but he likes to "pat" other kids the way he "pats" the cat.) The crazy thing was that every single woman there--I think 5 in all other than myself--had a toddler that was a girl and a new baby that was a boy. It's definitely a trend in this particular playgroup.

Topher playing on the assorted foam animals

Spinning these cubes around and around...he kept pointing to a picture of a raccoon and saying "bup" meaning "puppy"

Climbing the "castle" slide...all this equipment is very slippery so he didn't stand a chance in his little socks

Standing up using the fish

"Pulling" the foam boat through the water

Topher played hard, and was pretty well behaved. It's fun to see him around other kids, but he was at that in-between age (too young for the toddler girls and too old for the newborn boys) so this might not be his ideal playgroup. Luckily, later in the day our neighbor brought over her tiny little daughter Emi, who is about 6 months old, and Topher had fun patting her on the head. (Is he around animals too much and now thinks that everyone loves a pat on the head???)

Trying to love on Emi

Marianne taking on the full-time task of watching Topher's hands

It was a very social, very busy day for him. Unfortunately, it did not equal a solid night's sleep like I was hoping, but at least he had fun.

--KC