Beating the Heat

My friend Kristen invited Allie and I on a play date at the mall with her daughters Gabby and Madeline. Gabby and Allie are 11 days apart and Madeline is 3 months old. Kristen and I have been able to get the girls together about a couple of times a week this summer. Our usual spot is Hawaiian Falls (water park) but we both got a little sunburned the day before and decided the mall would be a great place to play out of the heat! I love when Allie and Gabby are together because they are both very shy in different ways. They hardly ever say a word to each other. But when we are heading to our destination all Allie does is talk about playing with Gabby and Gabby does the same thing about Allie. It took Allie a little while to play (again very shy of her surroundings) but once she did she had a great time. I was only able to capture one picture of Allie and Gabby together, because like I said they don't have much to say to each other.

I love taking Allie to places where she can interact with other children around her age. I think it's important for her to be around them because it reminds her of sharing and that the world doesn't revolve around her! Kristen and I feel like we are both magnets for children misbehaving and their parents are no where in sight. Why do parents think they can go to a play area and not supervise their children? Don't get me wrong, I of all people know that my daughter is not perfect and does things that are not kind to others, but I am right there watching her and disciplining her and redirecting. Before we left to get lunch at the food court, Gabby was eating goldfish out of a Ziploc bag and this little girl that was probably 3 or close to it, just came over to Gabby and grabbed her cracker right out of her hand. Kristen kindly told her that she couldn't do that and asked her to stop and the little girl continued to try and grab Gabby's snack. I was looking all around for her mother and didn't see her. Kristen finally told her that she needed to ask her mother if she could have any. She left for all of a minute and came right back trying to pull the Ziploc bag out of poor Gabby's little hand. Finally after Kristen firmly telling her no and putting it away the little girl skipped off and I watched where she was going. Her mother was completely outside of the play area. From where she was standing she couldn't even see where her daughter was. I mean seriously! I know that one day Allie could do the same thing, but I plan on being there when she does!
All in all, we ended our play date with a lunch and a little browsing in Gymborree. Which by that time both girls were in strollers and didn't like it if they weren't right by each other so they could laugh and talk.



Allie enjoyed dancing on the grapefruit.
The one picture of the girls together. I wonder what they were talking about.

Allie laying on a plate of eggs.

Playing Peek-a-Boo