A Mother's Work...

There are some things that moms just end up having to do... like rescue a terrified boy from a play structure.

I took Jeffrey out to lunch at the KFC today. Erin had a lunch day at school and I thought it would be something fun for Jeffrey and I to do together. We've been there many times before, but always with Erin and always when there were lots of other kids there. Today it's raining and kinda dreary. It ended up being just Jeffrey and I in the play zone.

The first thing he did was climb up the stairs to the top of the play structure. He was quite proud of himself. Then he started to head towards the slide. As I mentioned he's been there before and generally gets a little wary about the path to the slide. It requires the kids to climb through a webbing net about 20 feet off the ground. There are 12" rings around it every 2 feet or so to keep it from wiggling too much.

As Jeff headed into the webbing "tunnel" I followed underneath him to encourage him. About half way through he just got completely freaked. He started shaking and screaming for help. Generally there are other kids playing around, but not today. I tried to help him from the ground. Told him he wasn't going to fall, he just needed to go quickly. He tried to move again and just got even more scared.

So what does a mom do? Well in true Durstine fashion I tried singing to him. "You can do it Jeffrey, You can keep going. Because You are an Amazing Jeffrey Man." This is to the tune of Rondau by Jean Joseph Mouret from Jeffrey's favorite Little Einstein's episode (it's also the main theme from Masterpiece Theater). He and Erin love to make up new words to it. So there I am, standing in the middle of a restaurant, looking up at my screaming, crying little man singing to him..."You can do it Jeffrey, You can keep going. Because you are an Amazing Jeffrey Man." I felt a little silly, but was at my last option to get to keep going.

Sadly it was not much help. So up I went. Climbing up a play structure build for 6-year olds. I got to the top, but wasn't about to try and climb into the webbing tunnel with him for fear it wouldn't hold me. But he was still about 6 feet from me, and had to turn around to get to me. So I reached out my hand, and sang one more time. He finally turned around and reached for my hand. Took him about 30 seconds to move those 6 feet.

Once I got hold of him he made me carry him, shaking, down the stairs. We sat down and ate a few bites of chicken and some fries. He never went back to the stairs, but found a way to play for a while that didn't require the netting tunnel.

I guess a mother's work includes singing silly songs in public restaurants as well as climbing to the top of the playground.