Thursday, October 22, 2009

Field Trip AND a Freak-Show Mom!

Madeline went on her first school field trip this morning. Although Madeline attends school two mornings a week, her teacher planned a nice outing at a local pumpkin patch. The outing was just way too cute! There was a big orange tiger bounce house, hay towers and mazes, farm animals to meet and pet, a big sandbox that was filled with corn kernels instead of sand and bunches of pre-school sized ride on toys. Our group was also taken on a hayride and was given a small pumpkin to take home. Both Madeline and Mama-Dirtyfoot had a nice time.

Yet, I did have a weird observation while there. This was completely unrelated to our field trip group. I am an avid people watcher and this mother-son duo was quite bizarre! A mom had brought her son (approx age 2) to the pumpkin patch (was still open to public while field trip group was there). The first thing I noticed was that the mother and SON had matching pants on....that in itself is ridiculous yet to make it more bizarre, the pants were LEOPARD PRINT. The little boy wanted to get in the bounce house while tons of kids from the field trip were in it. I do give credit to the mom for saying that the bounce house was too crowded but that they could do something else first and come back later. After our field trip group moved on I eyed the match-y, match-y dynamic duo *both* in the bounce house with the mom on all fours bouncing around with her kid. Now, don't get me wrong, I can get silly with Madeline and I give credit to the woman for playing with her kid....but I think her kid was capable of enjoying the public bounce house by himself and certainly in something other than matching leopard pants! Later, the dynamic duo ended up moving toward the field trip group at the corn kernel box and ride on toys. I noticed that the woman's leopard print pants were not pants but rather and entire one piece PJ-like set. Okay, I know it's near Halloween but c'mon, that's over a week away..... Finally, it was time for Madeline and I to head home. I gave Madeline the "head's up" by telling her we were going to leave in two minutes. Leopard Mom overheard me give Madeline a "2 minute warning" and said to me, "Does that work for you??!?!?" as though she were surprised it could be so simple. Having already sized up the leopard mom and surmised that she's the type that probably tries to reason and negotiate with her 2-yr old I simply responded, "I don't give her a choice". After the two minutes passed I said, "C'mon Madeline. Time to go" And without a complaint, Madeline left the play area and toys. That's my girl!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good Mama!!!!!

gmama

Kelly said...

Why didn't you snap a photo of this dynamic duo???? I think your readers would love to have seen that.

Unknown said...

I agree with Kelly! I want to see a picture! Angelina says she want's to dress our kids to match (tastefully of course), which I'm okay with especially if they're close to the same age. But I think everyone can agree that we may not look good in tiger stripped onezies. HAHAHA.

Marty said...

PS: Near the end of the post, it's "Finally, it was time for Madeline and *me* to head home." I understand. You haven't taught grade school in a while so you're a little rusty.

Otherwise, great post! And: You da Mom!

Amy said...

Marty,
I purposely include occasional typos and grammatical errors to keep you on your toes....

Melanie @ Whimsical Creations said...

LOL, some people seriously crack me up.