Lift and Push Duty

At this stage in parenting 4under3, the 5 to 7 o'clock stretch is the most wild, demanding, hectic, and thunderous time of our day. Some of you may be able to relate to having a famished toddler hanging on your leg while you're trying not to char the goulash or spaghetti sauce. Or you possibly know, or remember, what that time of day does to babies who can't verbalize yet that they just want to sit on your hip...until bedtime.

The other night we decided to try and avoid a tiring supper time by going out to a Chuck E. Cheese knock-off type restaurant. We liked the idea of ordering someone else to cook our food and letting the kids run their energy off in the mesh enclosed towers and skytubes. And by far, I liked the idea of someone else cleaning up the dried-on pizza sauce and pureed peach and rice mixture from the table.

It was great to be able to eat with my Marvelous.. and in silence to the loud pounding techno coming from the speakers, while watching Julia help Luke up the platforms. She would lift him up at his knees and push him onto the next platform while she followed. His almost-2-year-old body was a couple inches too short to lean over and jump up himself. As much work as it looked for Julia to lift a body, a couple pounds shy of her own, up 5 or 6 levels, she didn't seem to mind it at all.

The best part, though, was hearing this conversation between Julia and a "new friend" at some point during her lift and push duty.

Cutie 4-5'ish-year-old: "Hey, you want to come this way with me? We should go down the slide?"

Julia: "Ok." (jumping up to the top platform leaving Luke on one below)

Luke: (silence. staring....and I'm sure wondering what he's going to do now)

Julia: (looking back at him, realizing he's not coming)
"Wait! I can't! I need to help my brother."
(so she jumps back down and resumes the lift and push duty)



...off they ran through the tubes, together. And who knows where her "new friend" went.