Falling for it

Monday brought another opportunity to hang out with the new group of moms and kids.  The weather was sunny, but chilly - great weather for a day at the park for kids who run nonstop!  After spending the morning cleaning house, doing laundry, and preparing for the day, we packed a lunch and headed to the park.  As I rode toward the group of moms, they all started waving and welcoming us.  It brought a huge smile to my face and my heart to be welcomed so warmly by people that were becoming familiar.

As soon as we parked and pulled out our large sitting mat (a large plastic sheet for sitting in grass), my son ran off to play with the other kids.  It was like we had been going to this "gathering" for a long time.  I ate my lunch while my son played.  He was too interested in playing and not interested in food at that point.  There were 6 other kids my son's age, as well as several younger kids, to run around with.  We were sitting in an area that doesn't have any play structures, but the kids didn't care.  They were enjoying running around, riding their bikes, and discovering nature. 

After a while, we watched as three of the boys, including my son, headed over to the frog pond.  Another mom and I headed over to keep a closer eye on them.  For the most part, the kids just run around, but it is best to be cautious around water.  The boys were having fun gathering leaves and throwing them into the pond.  After a bit, the other mom went to wash her hands and I walked a short distance away to put my son's helmet in my bike basket.  I wasn't even all the way to my bike, when I suddenly heard my son start crying.  I turned around and saw he was soaking wet.  I dropped the helmet and ran towards him.  As soon as I reached him, I started stripping off his clothes.  Everything had to come off because it was all heavy with cold water from the pond.  As soon as I had all of his clothes off, I took my sweater off and wrapped him up in it.  The poor guy was already shivering and still very upset.  By that point, two other moms had reached me and started ringing out his clothes and one of them gave me her flannel to wrap him up in along with my sweater.  I was trying to get him to tell me what happened so I could confirm he wasn't hurt.  Finally, he was able to calm down enough to say he wasn't hurt.  He got too close to the water and fell in, but didn't hit anything.  He was just surprised and cold.  As soon as we reached the group of sitting mats, the other moms started asking "What size does he wear?" and were digging through bags of clothes that they all carry with them.  Quickly, my son was wearing borrowed clothes and eating his lunch like nothing had happened. 

At that point, some of the moms started laughing.  They told me all of the kids had fallen into that pond at least once (most of them more than once) and it was an official welcome to the group.  After several stressful minutes of worry, it was nice to have a bit of a laugh at the situation.  My son was fine, and hopefully will be more cautious in the future.  But, most likely he won't be more careful.

Once he had finished eating his lunch of leftover curry we had made for dinner the night before, he headed back to playing with his new friends.  Other than not having shoes for the rest of the day, it was like nothing had happened.  He played sumo, house, and firefighters with the other kids.  We stayed at the park until almost 4:00, when it was time to go home and cook dinner. 

As soon as we arrived home, he hopped into the shower and I started a load of laundry, so I can return the borrowed clothes tomorrow.  And tomorrow, I will be packing extra clothes - just in case.