Full of ambition to show Sam the world, I took him to Maymont the other day, expecting to ‘wow’ him with the Children’s Garden, the gorgeous rolling hills, and perhaps a spin by the bears and the Italian and Japanese Gardens. Well, that was not to be. As we strolled towards the Children’s Garden, Sam barely glanced over at one of my most favorite sights in Richmond — the expanse of picturesque hills and strikingly huge trees dating back a couple of centuries, give or take a few. “Where’s the park?” he asked. “There it is! We’re in the park!” I replied, gesturing over to the stunning scenery off to our left. He was not satisfied with that at all and kept asking, “Where’s the park?” What in the world was he talking about?
Then I finally got it — there was no playground in sight, so to him it was not a park. I had to laugh — we had driven half an hour to go to the Belle of the Ball of Richmond parks, yet he would be happier at Wishing Well well within walking distance from our abode. Go figure. Once I pondered it for a few minutes, I could see his point. So after we checked out the Children’s Farm for a few minutes, we left. What was the point in staying?
We chugged on over the Nickel Bridge, now the Thirty-Five Cent Bridge, onto Westover Hills Boulevard. Lo and behold, we stumbled upon the new kids’ park right as we came over the bridge on our left. Now that was one ‘real’ park in Sam’s eyes. Yee haw! There was an abundance of really neat toddler-sized activities in several different play areas, all covered in glorious shade by beautiful old trees. Jackpot! It was a great find — and located right near the new South of the River Farmers’ Market. We checked that out too after an hour or so much to Sam’s chagrin, but you gotta throw Mom a bone every once in a while. Once he got a slew of chocolate biscotti samples, we was OK with being there for a few minutes at least.
And we topped off a fun adventurous Saturday morning with a trip to our old stand-by, Chick “delay.” Sometimes the old familiar thing is the best of all! Let’s hear it for the cow!
LibbY
Hooray for your flexibility and empathy, Libby, seeing the situation through Sam’s eyes!
I remember driving up to a nature management area in Northern Virginia when my three were toddlers, visualizing an idyllic stroll through the woods, remarking at bird songs and wildflowers. By time we got there, the kids were tired and all wanted to be carried. (Shouldn’t mothers be able to grow a new arm with the birth of each child?!)
After grumbling myself for a while, I eventually made lemonade, and began pretending that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bad guys were lurking behind the trees!
The birds looked at us as if we were crazy, and no one learned any ornithological lessons, but we had fun!