Blood, Sweat and Tears (without the blood or the tears)

This morning, my friend Allison invited Owen and me to a playdate at The Bouncy Place.  I was a little nervous because Owen is still fairly young for these kinds of places.  It’s easy to assume he can do the same types of things that 2 and 3 year olds can do because he looks like a 2 year old. But when it comes to confidence, coordination and ‘survival of the fittest’ as is often the case when a bunch of kids are together, he is certainly still a 16 month old. But, I knew that I could go on the bouncy toys with him and I could help as much or as little as needed.

The playdate was at 10am. Owen woke up at 9:45am (and so did I). I momentarily considered not going for 2 reasons: It was so late and I had some major stomach issues happening that I can only assume were from some poor choices I had made for dinner the night before. But, not going would mean that I would have to deal with the mommy guilt later, so we threw on our clothes – foregoing the shower (this will become important later in the story) – had breakfast in the car and got to The Bouncy Place at 10:15am.

**A notable moment happened while I was paying our entrance fee, but is not pertinent to the story…I had my wallet open on the counter and my driver’s license was facing up and Owen pointed to it and said, “MAMA!” Heart melting moment.**

We walked through the big doors into the bounce room. I had pictured this place with a couple trampoline-type bouncy things. This room had about 15 different structures – some just bouncers, some obstacle courses, some slides and some that were combinations of all 3.

My fears of Owen getting pushed around by older kids never really happened. Mainly because this place was so huge, there were never more than 2 or 3 kids on one structure at once, but also because Owen didn’t spend much time on the bouncers. I tried to take him on a couple but he didn’t really get what they were or why they were fun and I think it annoyed him a little to be so off balance when he walked over the air. Owen did love running around the warehouse and screaming his “happy scream.” There was a huge inflated semi-truck (see Transporter picture below) that he loved looking at, but not playing in.

As a last resort, I took him up one of the slides (see Adrenaline slide above.) In order to get to the top of the slide, you have to climb up the “bouncy ladder.” Imagine a cross between a rock wall and a ladder but if they were made of balloons and they shifted under your feet when you stepped on the foot holds AND there are other kids bouncing on the structure so it’s like an earthquake at the same time. Difficult enough if you are climbing alone – extra difficult when you have to carry your 27 pound kid up with you. Luckily they have ropes strung along the side so you can use your one free arm to help pull yourself up.

We slide down together. Owen signs “more.” We climb up and slide down again. Owen signs “more.” Repeat. Repeat. Take a break and watch the semi-truck for awhile. Slide. Slide. Slide. Break. Slide. Slide. Break. Slide. Break. We hear the “closing time!” call. Thank god.

It was about halfway through the sliding sessions that I realized I not only should have taken a shower, I should have applied extra deodorant, taken a whole bottle of Tums and maybe did some stretching prior to this playdate. It wasn’t pretty. All the moms with 2 and 3 year olds were chatting outside the bouncy houses while their children played together alone. I was the only mom being an “active participant.” Although, I looked around and there were quite a few DADS participating. I think next time, this might be a great place for Steve to take Owen!