A Trip to the Mall

With winter seemingly upon us, with the exception of those lovely 60 degree days (thanks, global warming!), we have been struggling to come up with activities for Annie. One of her favorite things seems to be playing at the mall.

But not in the mostly enclosed, rubber padded FREE play are with fun colorful structures. Oh no. That would be too easy. She enjoys playing on the metal car ridey rides on the outskirts. The ones that are half broken and sticky and smell like urine. And cost money. 3-4 quarters a pop. And the change machine is usually broken.

The good news is that she seems to finally have realized (and her father has now accepted) that she hates when the rides actually start moving. Her favorite was the big pink bus featured above. In and out. In and out.

Climb in.

And out. There are TWO ways into/out of the bus. Thank the good Lord or one might actually get bored. There is also a window. With a view of the play area.

Ultimately we decide to bail on the bus and head to the book store. We are practicing walking and her holding my hand. As the mall is not crowded I figure this is a perfect time.

I was wrong.

After recovering her after a mad dash at Build a Bear we had our first full-tilt boogie melt down.

On the floor, rolling around wailing.

I was stunned, paralyzed. I recalled every time I had ever seen a mother in this scenario and I had judged them. I had no idea what to do, but I did know I didn't want to get mad. On the outside at least. I always hear that you have to ignore a tantrum.

So that's what I did. I employed the first responder rule that you don't move an accident victim unless their location places them in more danger. And then I started to laugh at how ridiculous we must look.

There she was. On the ground in the middle of the mall, snot and tears flowing. With her maniac Mom standing over her, laughing.

After a short time she got up and we headed to the book store to use the free train table. And look at some books. It's like the library but the books are clean.

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So if you ever see a Mom standing over a wailing child in the middle of the mall, please don't judge her. Smile and nod and maybe give her a hand if she needs it. And give her any spare quarters if you have them.