Carefully

My daughter has been outside most of the day lately.  This morning my husband left early to go to a golf tournament so my daughter had to ride with us as I took my son to school.   We returned at 8:45 and instead of coming in, she opened a garage door and headed outside.   When I asked her what she was going to do she said, "I'm going to be outside, mom" as if that answered everything. 

She is spending more time than anything else at the playset when no one else is around.   She's done so much swinging she has not only calluses but locations where calluses were that have subsequently torn off.   So this morning, down she went to the swingset and waited until her friends showed up. 

She's very much enjoying having friends to play with again—even though it's only a few in comparison to pre-COVID-19.  She has a new friend next door, Nora, who also has a toddler-aged brother, Leo.   My daughter likes playing with Nora and Keira equally much I'd say at this point.   She is in the middle with Nora a few years younger and Keira just starting middle school. 

The thing they've had a lot of fun playing with lately is the American Girl doll things sent down from Coco, my daughter's cousin.   I wouldn't consider letting the items go outside as I don't want anything to happen to them, but these days, if it can't go outside, it doesn't get played with friends. 

After two days of the girls playing with things under the deck on the patio, we changed plans and gave them free run of the porch for American Girl "land."   I spoke with my daughter in private about the importance of taking care of her things because if they were taken good care of, someday perhaps we could give them back to Coco if she has a daughter.

This afternoon I looked out on the porch as my daughter was inside getting an ice pack for Keira, who had hurt her leg on the playground.   My daughter hadn't been on the porch but I saw Nora and a younger boy in a mask (who turned out to be her cousin stopping in for an outdoor visit.)  They had separated, my daughter letting Nora have the space with her cousin and she had gone back to the playset with Keira.   I thought it was both polite as well as a good measure that they took that social distancing step themselves.

I asked my daughter if she thought Nora would take care of the American Girl things on the porch while my daughter was elsewhere with Keira.   My daughter said very matter-of-factly, "if I know Nora, she will."   That was enough reassurance for me. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son hasn't been eating a lot of his lunch lately at school and what he does eat has been the more preferred items, skipping the things he should eat first.   I mentioned it to his teacher when I dropped him off this morning after he had entered the building and couldn't hear me and I got some unexpected insight.   His teacher said, "he's not alone.   What's been happening is a group of the students hurries through lunch so they can go play, giving them more playtime."   There are some, like my son, who would rather play than eat.   Then there is the social eating group.  I'm not surprised my son would rather play than eat.   

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The swings on our swingset are in constant fluctuation.   I would say they change at least once per day.   I'll look out to see my daughter straddled and hugging the top of the A-frame chain in hand, preparing to swap one swing for another.   This isn't a simple feat because while disconnecting the existing chain and dropping it to the ground is fairly straightforward, getting out to the hooking in spot with the new chain in hand involves planning as well as a good dose of daredevil.   My daughter is such a daredevil.   I try to not limit her life any more than I have to so yes, she could fall and break an arm or worse.   Trust me, I think of that possibility all the time.   She is probably far more careful than most children because of her lack of sight.   So, I just tell the panic in my chest to calm down.   I was a child and my parents let me make my own mistakes.