A cry for help

Tonight after dinner, my hubby was working late again & my son & I were restless. So we went to McDonald's where my son joined the other kids climbing in the maze of tubes & appearing out of a slide. The entire time you hear the kids talking & laughing without ever knowing quite where they are except for an occassional peek out a plastic window. After doing this once or twice a child started crying somewhere in the tubes. I knew almost instantly it was my son's cry. I tried calling to him but he wasn't kept crying. After a minute of trying to figure out what to do, another parent said, "Go ahead on up. We've all been there." With that I tore off my shoes, covered up my purse & keys & started crawling around the tubes calling for my son. Near the top I heard an older girl asking if I was looking for my son. She told me she was sitting with him & that he was scared to go down the slide alone. After we went down my son was fine but got upset when I wouldn't go back in the tubes with all the other kids in there.

So we packed up our stuff & went to the YMCA where we received new 'electronic ID cards' & provided with a locker key for the private locker room (because I pay extra to use the steam room) along with towels. We changed & went into the pool for some swimming! My son did very well. He loved practicing climbing up the ledge & then jumping in the pool (while sitting on the ledge), blowing bubbles in the water (until water went up his nose), holding onto my arms while kicking his legs behind him, jumping into the air out of the water off my legs & finally watching a girl appear & disappear in & out of the water (she kept diving for her toy). We had a blast.

We put away his toys before bedtime & he refused to lay back down after his book. So I let him cry it out while I started a quick shower (he was crying on & off). It was at the end of my shower he walked into our bathroom still crying. So he waited patiently while I dried off & dressed in my pjs. Then walked calmly into his bed, listened to a story & then started giving me a hard time again. He quickly calmed down & went to sleep easily then.

It was a fun evening out for both of us. We'll definately start going to the YMCA more often.