conuly

This is a public playground that's called McDonald Playground and is coincidentally next to a McDonald's. Consequently, many people assume they're connected, but they are not. One of these days I have to figure out who this playground is named after.

I had stepped into the bathroom to help Evangeline with the toilet (hard to flush, toilet paper rips too easily), and when I came out Evangeline decided she was my mom and started trying to drag me places. Ah, like toddlers everywhere, I pulled her in the opposite direction entirely. "No, honey, we have to see the animals!" (Apparently we were at the zoo?) But no, I said, I needed to see her sister for a sec since it had probably been 15 minutes since I'd last laid eyes upon her and I don't want to entirely look like a bad auntie.

And good thing, too! I'd left Ana near the swings, and she was still near the swings - but now she had a crowd of kids around her as she climbed a chainlink fence. The fence started maybe 4 feet above the ground (it rested on a concrete ledge) and went up another 10 or 12 feet above that. Ana was at the top... and apparently she wanted to lean over and grab some snagged balloons for another child. Well, that's all well and good, but no. If she were to fall she'd land right in somebody else's property that I didn't know where the gate was, and that's... really the line I draw.

So I took a picture of her, reminded her that she's not supposed to climb that high without telling somebody, and told her that, unfortunately, I didn't want her leaning over if she did climb up there again. (The balloons were snagged on barbed wire, too. Ye gods.)

Man, you should've seen these other kids! They were just stunned that Ana wasn't getting in real trouble! Well, I told them, Ana's allowed to climb. She's just supposed to tell me first so, you know, I know! (And she was punished - I didn't let her climb it again. Much more effective than a time-out or a lecture with Ana.)