Charles, Corwin and I went to the park today while Mom played tennis. Corwin took his scooter and Charles took his new car (we went to WalMart to pick up kneepads for Corwin). This was Corwin’s first time out with knee pads. He’s had three spills on his scooter in just 3 days, each time on the same knee and mostly in the same place. He had one spill right before his party which meant bundling a screaming Corwin in to the car to go off to a party. Because this was the re-injury of already wounded skin I expect that it was truly painful.
Charles also has scraped up knees but his aren’t nearly as bad. While Corwin carefully protected himself so he could ride his scooter, Charles charged off in to the play structures of the park. The boy was demonstrating no fear today. The park had two play structures, one for bigger kids and the other for smaller kids. Charles of course headed right in to the bigger structure. He went for the big spiral slide. This was a concern because there was a small two step ladder with rungs far enough apart for Charles to slip through. Or his foot could slip and give him a face full of rung or metal floor. But Charles was just warming up.
Later Charles went over to explore the other play structure. This one had smaller slides but from the central raised floor it had a very steep metal stair to the ground. The steps were about 12 inches tall and made of metal. Charles found them and had to go down. At first I tried to hold on to him but that made him unhappy. Then I tried holding my arm in front to catch him if he fell and that was too much as well. Next I tried just standing next to the stair hoping to lunge forward to catch him but Charles didn’t like that either. I, however, stood firm and Charles eventually conceded. But he wasn’t done.
Later, after Charles had explored the swings, he decided to go back to the stairs on the smaller play structure. But he had a problem - Dad. So Charles took Dad over to near the ramp and told him to stay there. But Dad didn’t get it - Dad followed him as he ran up the ramp to the stairs. So Charles stopped and patiently pointed out where Dad should wait: at the bottom of the ramp. Not (and this was the tricky part) by the stairs. Dad still didn’t seem to grasp the concept so Charles came back and pushed Dad in to the correct position: the bottom of the ramp. Charles then took off at top speed for the top of the ramp, the central platform and then - the stairs! But dumb old Dad just couldn’t get it right because Dad headed over for the stairs despite all of the very clear instructions Charles had provided. So Charles was unable to taste the sweet nectar of victory. He reconciled himself to his fate with the stoicism that befits a two year old - he collapsed and cried for a minute or two and then went on. But, and I could see it in his eyes, he would go down the stairs without any supervision. No net for this boy!