It was an instant hit.
Right after this picture was taken we learned the hard way that the slide is better played with in pants and socks. As she was sliding down her chubby little legs stuck to the plastic. Her body stopped instantly but her head didn't. She tumbled forward and did a somersault down the slide. It was actually pretty spectacular (and she only cried for a second).
She loves the slide. This morning she got up and right after we got dressed she headed out to play.
She loves it almost as much as she loves the shoelace that she carries around all the time, her red shoes or any of her 4 toothbrushes. (you can see the shoelace in this picture--and you can barely see her red shoes in the pictures above)
On Monday Claire didn't have any of the typical "poverty toys" she usually carries around and the darling girl who watches her at the gym smiled and said, "Claire, where's your toothbrush?" For just an instant I was ashamed and felt like I shouldn't let her take her toothbrush to the gym everyday. But it was just for an instant.
I'm working at letting Claire be the girl she is. I'm sure that when she picked up a toothbrush I could hand her a baby doll and she'd take it but there is something about that that seems....wrong somehow. She loves toothbrushes (and babydolls, but toothbrushes best) and I believe in letting her be the kind of girl that she is. So I put the embarrassed thought out of my head.
If she wants to take her toothbrush to the gym everyday, she can. If she wants to be the kind of girl who sits on top of the slide with her shoelace in hand, I'm okay with that too. And when she falls off we will gather up our girl, gather up her shoelace and head indoors.
And later, while sitting on the counter and doing dishes, we will sneak some of the chocolate chips which are actually for the cookies* we are baking tomorrow for the new neighbor and we won't think anything of it. Because we are chocolate-loving, shoelace-carrying, toothbrush-toting ladies.
*We're trying a new cookie recipe from our friend, Courtney. I ate one of the cookies once and I swear it was the best cookie I have ever tasted...if it works out as planned I'll post the recipe tomorrow
Loved reading this! They're NOT poverty toys--kids love what they love. Once Abbey made clothes for her little gingerman stuffed toy out of baby wipes. They were adorable and I felt so proud of her ingenuity. Of course, one of the babysitters was so worried about Abbey's lack of resources that she went home and made some clothes for the doll. Abbey never used them.
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