The Ferry at Bell-Square

Walter goes to hang out with a group of friends every Monday night and to make things easier for Padon drops him off at my work on the way. This is kind of a long trip for Padon. In good traffic it is a 1 1/2 hour drive just to my work and then to turn right around is boring and a long trip. It's not so bad if we take the bus because there are lots of people to meet and bus interior parts to taste. But this Monday I had driven to work and Padon pretty much voiced his frustration, irritation, and anger towards being put back in the car seat after he had already been sitting in it for such a long time. So to stretch our legs Padon and I went across the street to the Bellevue Square Mall to play on the ferry.

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In Bell-Square there used to be a really large hard foam tug boat and a small ferry but now it is just the ferry; the tug boat has been removed (sadness). When we arrived at the ferry there were just the right amount of kids around for me to plunk Padon down on the carpet and let him explore to his hearts content without getting trampled.

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At first he was a little wary, checking with me every few minutes or so but then with one grand belly flop he was estatic with this new place to play and be free.

He seemed very interested in the boat but it didn't seem to connect that everything around him was for him to play on. So I picked him up and put his hands on the boat and he was so pleased. He smacked the boat, laughing and shreaking. I love this love of textiles and textures phase!

There were quite a lot of kids still running around and one grumpy 4 or 5 year old who was quite offended that Padon's hands were in his way of walking around the edge of the ferry was sure to point out to me that Padon was in his way and didn't I realize he had already been doing this for some time? In other words, get your baby out of my way lady! So when it was definitely past the standard dinner time for kids and almost all the kids were gone I took the opportunity to plunk Padon down in the back of the ferry. He crawled all over smaking the hard, painted, foam, peering off the edge of the ferry and attempting to pull himself to standing above the mock carport. This was of course followed by lots more laughing and shreaking. I think had the ledge been a little deeper he would have felt more confident about leaning forward to pull his weight up but he kept pulling himself up halfway and then sitting back down.

We stayed until I realized that by the time we got home it was going to be his bed time. That was a mistake. He cried half the way home even though he had his bottle. I made a note to myself that next time we should probably only stay an hour.

We did have a really good time though! I totally didn't care I was in business dress on my hands and knees and Padon seemed to love it. The older kids were a little intimidating and I wished there had been more babies but Padon was still facinated with the little people around him. I think going forward we will go play at the Ferry every Monday night. Maybe we will even make some new friends to play with there!