Overheard

Overheard at the playground today...

1. Screamed by a mom to her daughter from the opposite side of the playground, "STOP SCREEAAAMMMING!"

2. Uttered by an aggressive 5-ish yr. old to my older boys, "Who wants to fight me and see who's boss?" Response...look at each other and walk away.

3. Said by a father to a group of fathers after I walked by with my boys and an obviously pregnant belly (to be fair, maybe they were talking about this prior to our arrival), "Yeah, we got suckered into the multi-kid family, too...I mean, child #2 is a good kid, but child #1 was so compliant, easy and so fun. We thought it would just as easy with two." Please, father, don't ever say this when your children, especially child #2, is within earshot. But, seriously, suckered???

4. Still following my boys, offering challenges, the 5-ish yr. old says, "Do it! Are you a scaredy cat?" Elijah's response..."Nope. I've got 604 muscles." Does it and walks away. (Well, it's closer to 650 muscles, but who's counting...)

It was an interesting and very different visit to a playground in an area of Rochester that we don't usually roam...very well-to-do, very nice park, very culturally diverse. In the hour plus we spent there, I don't think anyone actually looked me in the eye or tried to engage in conversation. It was a bit sad, in my opinion, because I am used to chatting it up with other moms while the kids run around playing. Everyone mostly kept to themselves unless their children obviously already knew each other. Unfortunately, I overheard many conversations that left me wondering about these people's families, their beliefs and their priorities. We'll probably visit there again while Daddy plays soccer and maybe I'll just have to be more bold to reach out even if no one appears interested.