Playland Debacle

Almost every time we drive by the Burley McDonalds Madeline asks if we can play in the tubes there someday. We aren't frequent McDonalds patrons, but last week we got a coupon in the paper for a free strawberry lemonade, so away we went.

She was so exited when we first got there and couldn't wait to go outside to the playland. She took her shoes off and went to the entrance to the tubes. She stuck her head inside and laughed and laughed. But, she wouldn't go in. She assured us that she was too scared and could only go in with mommy or daddy. We showed her the sign that states you must be smaller that 4 feet to enter, and assured her that both mommy and daddy were bigger than 4 feet tall. After a good 10 minutes of coaxing, she finally went into the entrance.

Then she wouldn't go any further. The other kids pushed passed her to get to the top and tried to encourage her to follow. In a moment of bravery many, many minutes later, Madeline made her way to the top. By this time, we had been at McDonalds quite awhile, and it was about time to leave.

Then came the real dilemma. She wouldn't come down. She sat at the top and yelled down that she was too scared to come down. She had three choices: the big slide, the little slide, or back down the way she climbed up. She refused all three. We coaxed and encouraged from the bottom of the little slide, but to no avail. The other parents were laughing by this point. Finally after another good 20 minutes, Scott climbed up the slide and pulled her down. It's a good thing he was with us because my 35 weeks pregnant body was not climbing into playland.

I told her as we were leaving that we should probably wait until she's a little older to go back to play land. She said, "Oh, mommy. I'm not scared anymore. We can come back anytime". At least I know I'll have to set aside an hour or two, and be sure to bring Scott.