Since we weren’t fit to participate in the Jetty 2 Jetty fun run this year, my son and I went to Clontarf to just watch the finish. It was another beautiful Queensland day, providing some very nice running conditions.
We settled at a point around 50 – 100 metres from the finish. We saw four or five people from the running club, and cheered on many others as well.
My little guy was quite impressed at the number of little kids taking off at the start of the 3km event. He mimicked my cheering by yelling out random names at the pretty big crowd which got many giggles. Later he said he was just doing it to make me laugh.
We then went to a park in nearby Scarborough. It has a train, so obviously a big hit! My attempts at getting him to come with me to a cafe before the park were very ambitious. We went to the park first. Of course the train was the first thing used. He took to the controls, and barely moved for the next 20 minutes. That is, except to tell me to occasionally change the signals – which I could never seem to do right.
Another boy came along who also favoured driving the train. Although unhappy about it, my son accepted that his shift had finished so it was time to move to his second preference job, the train conductor. The Polar Express movie has a lot to answer for. My little guy was quoting lines to the other kids, most a little older than his three years. None of them quite knew what to make of the dialogue. But one other kid, quite older, thought he should be taking people’s tickets. When my son spotted this rogue activity I could read in his face, “Not on my watch!”
“No, I’m the conductor” he said very repetitively which didn’t get the result he was after. It seems the chain of command my son was working within at “the train park” had not been ratified. I thought it was an opportune time for us to check the train’s carriages. The other boy seemed to move on also.
Just before the hour mark I made moves for us to leave. It’s strange but he’s quite the opposite of most other kids we see at parks. He definitely gets quicker the longer he’s there. In fact we’ve had confirmation from other parents. One mother commented that we wouldn’t have many photos of him that weren’t a blur.
The thought of leaving wasn’t taken overly well, but it never is.
Two babycinnos, and a serve of pancakes with ice cream and maple syrup seemed to make things a little less disappointing. But he told me straight that he wasn’t very happy.