Our Big Friday

Friday was a big day.  The plan was to do Danny's makeup Speech and Language screening at 9:30, then go over to Henry D's house (Henry D, who has the big Buzz Lightyear with the belt and button) afterwards.  This prospect was very, very exciting - exciting enough to entice Danny into normal clothes without much of a fight, and off we went.

The screening was fine, and as we got in the car to head over to see Henry D with the big Buzz Lightyear with the belt and button, we got some bad news:  Henry D had fallen ill at the last minute, and the playdate was canceled.  This caused enormous grief for Danny - not really because of his love for Henry D, oh no.  Because he wanted to play with the bigBuzzLightyearwiththebeltandbutton, duh.

Many tears were shed.  However, we decided quickly that all was not lost, and we would go instead to the really cool playground up the way.  This place is literally the absolute latest in playground technology - seriously.  You get the feeling every single height, surface, and apparatus has been analyzed to fully minimize injury potential.  The big slide is made up of little rollers so you can't get stuck, and the bigger you are, the faster you go down (actually flipping terrifying as an adult, lemme tell ya).  There is a hill that I call the "Lord of the Flies" hill - made of phony grass - where all the kids scramble to get to the top and then nail each other in the face with their sneakers on the way down.  Needless to say, it's the hot spot of the park.  On top of all this there is a huge sand pit and a crazy, crazy complicated and varied climbing apparatus thing that has everything.  It's a cool spot - and best of all, it's entirely fenced in.

So we changed course and headed over.  But since it was Veteran's Day, every other single family on the West Side of Los Angeles decided the same thing - it was a madhouse.  Danny headed straight for the Lord of the Flies hill, and within 3 minutes had his shoes off and was eating half of some cute little ladybug-booted girl's granola bar.  Then he was playing light sabers with a bossy little kid, but he was holding his own, so I stayed away.  I had no choice, really, since Matty was climbing right up the stairs and running along the ramp to the big slide yelling "THERE IT IS!!  THERE'S THE SLIDE!"  And "Whee!" - ing it up the whole way down this thing that's about a year past where he should be physically.  He was 4 inches shorter than anybody else on that thing.  The craziest part was that he can climb the snake all by himself.  He really shouldn't be able to do this, but he can, so me standing back with a camera looks pretty negligent, and got me a horrified stare or two.  Of course, the one time I try to film it, he stops short.  Oh well, you'll just have to trust me.

Shortly after this video was taken, Danny announced that he'd peed his pants, and we needed to go home.  Frankly, I was exhausted, so it was kind of a win-win.  We ran to the car, where he climbed right in and took off all of his clothes.  Well, there you go.   Most amused/surprised by this sight was Matty, who promptly yelled out "BA-BEE, BUTT BUTT BUTT!"  (This is Matt's version of our "naked baby" song that we sing when he careens naked around the house after a bath.)  I threw Danny my beautiful South East Asian scarf from Mom (thanks Mom!), which he used as a modesty drape as we went through the In-and-Out line.  Ha! 

Here they are having their well-deserved picnic (with fresh clothes for Danny.)  After this, both kids slept for about 2 hours.  Not a bad Veteran's Day, after all.