Sunday with Parker

Rachel and the girls were going to a birthday party after naps today, so Parker and I headed out to have an adventure of our own. It being mid-day, we headed first to In-N-Out, where Parker enjoyed some fries and a shake, which he didn't like sharing with me.

Because of some good behavior elsewhere, Rachel had promised him some prize of his choosing, so I decided to take him to the toy store so that he could get it. I explained to him that he could have anything he wanted (within reason) and that he should look at everything before making up his mind. Right when we walked in we saw a giant, motorized marble game constructed of these little snap-together tinker-toy-like things called K'nex. He was intrigued, but we pushed on. I tried to interest him in various games, while steering him clear of the horrible branded stuff (there's a whole Star Wars aisle, which we ignored). He recognized the big bin of actual tinker-toys and was tempted, and I also tried to encourage an interest in the lincoln logs.

When we went down the Melissa & Doug aisle, he saw a magnetic chalk-board covered in magnetic letters and numbers, and it was all over. It has a dry-erase board on the back, a little string handle, and when he saw it he said, "It's got 26 letters and 10 numbers!" I tried to tempt him with various other, more expensive things, but he was adamant. I reminded him that he already had a large collection of magnetic numbers and letters, as well as no shortage of dry-erase options around the house, but it didn't matter. The kid's a connoisseur.

After the toy store, we went to Cesar Chavez park, right on the bay, for a bit of kite flying. We'd picked up a cheapo kite a few weeks ago, and hadn't gotten around to take it for a spin. I mentioned it to Parker as we were heading out the door, and he was not interested, but I knew once he saw how kites worked, he's come around.

The park was perfect for kites, and there were a good dozen kite flyers in the park. The wind was so strong that you could basically toss the kite into the air and it would take flight. Parker and I took turns flying the kite, and he got a huge kick out of the whole thing. He would let the kite nose-dive into the ground, and then run backwards as I tossed it back in the air for him. After half and hour of kite flying, we goofed off, running through the park, and made our way to the bay-side edge of the park, where the really big kites were flying, but I think I was more interested in that than he was.

When we got back home the house was empty, so Parker played with his new number board while I got dinner ready. Once everything was ready, Parker and I played Chutes & Ladders in the tent in the backyard until the ladies came home.

All in all, a great afternoon.