Schoolyard With Sophie

I was able to have 2 exclusive play periods with Sophie this Thanksgiving weekend. When Tim, Karen, Sophie and Lucy arrived here, Karen had to run an errand. I used the opportunity to run off and play with Sophie. She had a lot of energy to burn after sitting in the car. Just before they left at the end of the weekend I also ran off with Sophie to keep her occupied while Mom and Dad packed.

On our first outing we started in the backyard looking for kitties and then decided to go to the swings in the schoolyard. The swings are on the far side of the schoolyard, a pretty long walk for a toddler but Sophie played all the way. First it was the red sand she liked. Then she would take off and run and tell me to run, too. If I didn’t hold my arms just right and run just so she corrected me.

When we got to the swings, Sophie picked her swing and had to brush off every grain of sand that was on it before she would allow me to put her on it. She likes the swing. I got her going and she said she wanted to go higher. Every time she swung back to me for a push she would yell “Higher!” and I would push her a little higher—except for the times when I acted as if I was going to push her and just left my hand up in the air. She thought this was hilarious and she would laugh and giggle all the way through the swing until she came back for another push. Then it was back to yelling higher.

She stayed on the swing for a good long ride, directing me to also swing on the adult swing next to her. When I was swinging she, of course wasn’t being pushed. She looks at me and says “slowing down”, which was my cue to get off my swing and start pushing again.

After the swing we went to the slide area. It soon turned into a routine that we repeated many times before a tired out grandpa suggested we head back. The routine was this: I had my stairs (a metal net that I told her I could use but not her) and Sophie had hers. She would direct me up the stairs while she used “Sophie’s stairs”. I would tell her not to bump her head climbing the stars and she would say OK. We would meet up at the top of the spiral slide. Sophie would then decide whether I pushed her or she pushed me down the slide. If she pushed me I had to climb back up to push her and then slide down after her. I was climbing up twice as much as her.

We did some of the same stuff on the second venture to the swings but Sophie was not as enthusiastic for round 2. She perked up a little when I showed her a big branch on an oak tree that she could pull and make the whole branch bounce up and down. When she got her hands dirty with sand I found a water spigot to wash her hands. She liked that, too. Finally I found a nice straight stick for her to play with so she proceeded to “spell” everybody’s name in the sand. She’d poke the ground and say a letter and when she was done she’d say the name. Here’s how that went—“S-I-O-T-P-H: grampa!”

I told Sophie it was time to go home and she informed me that no, it was not home it was grama and grampa’s house we were going to. On the walk back we met Tim Karen and Lucy coming to find out what I was doing for so long over in the school yard.

When Sophie is away from her parents she is more cooperative and easy going. She played with me as if I were one of her playmates but, more importantly, she listened to me and did what I asked to be safe while playing. When we met up with K&T she went back into her normal mode. She turns a little more needy and less cooperative with a touch of Lucy jealousy in there.

I told Karen that the first play period I had with Sophie was precious to me. I wish I could have the whole session recorded somehow to pull out and cheer me up when I’m feeling down. I’m glad I had Sophie in such a wonderful mood. It was priceless!