June 8th. in June Writing Challenge

first: I just want to say - i love my dudes. aaron's and awesome husband/father/friend and joaquin is the star of our lives these days.

anyway. yesterday was a great day, as i mentioned in my last entry; our friends arrived late friday night so saturday ended up being a late start with our little buddy. everyone was up & at 'em well before he was even stirring, which is highly, highy unusual. he was a little groggy when i first brought him out of his room to see everyone, but once he warmed up to our friends and their three boys (8, 10 & 13) he was hilarious.. he is really talking up a storm now, and his comprehension levels are growing by leaps and bounds. it's just really awesome to observe it all, and i am often reminded that this wonderful creature came from ME! how the heck?

our friends headed out around lunchtime to check into their hotel, and joaquin, aaron and i headed to our 'mall' to get some energy out of the guy (and aaron wanted to get a run in). i took joaquin to jump n' jammin for the first time, as a friend had recommended it. in theory, it sounded kind of amazing:

Jump ‘n Jammin is a huge, indoor, interactive playground. We’re all about physical play and keeping children of all ages active. We’ve taken the best most exciting activities and brought them together into one place, Jump ‘n Jammin!   Our mind-blowing, multi-level play structures consist of tube and web crawls, barrel roll, giant slides of all types, soft play, climbing structures, bridges and obstacle courses. You’ll also love our foam ball blasters, exploding foam ball volcano, vacuums, a tip bucket, interactive targets and much more. Even toddlers have a play area all their own. Some locations even offer rock climbing or virtual jump-rope.   Jump ‘n Jammin is always open to play. There are never any membership dues or class schedules to worry about. And, the best part, is that everything is designed for you and your children to play together. Yes, you get to play too! Jump ‘n Jammin is family entertainment at it’s best.

i mean, right? and at first, joaquin was taking it all in, a look of excitement, but not entirely sure how to feel, and as i carried him through the masses of running, screaming, jumping kids, he clung to me tighter, and tighter…. we made our way to the 'toddler' area where i set him down and watched him run around investigating all of the 'soft play' items. and at first he was totally into it. but then he noticed where all the Big Kids were and was like "WHOA, eff this toddler stuff." so i brought him out to the Big Kid area and placed him at the entrance of a staircase of sorts that would bring him up into the tunnels and climbing areas up above. he climbed up quickly and proficiently, and then headed through a tube, and noticed a little window where he could look out and see me. he scrambled through to the other side and then started looking around for his next move. but Big Kids were whizzing by him so loudly / quickly / crazily and all of a sudden i saw a very worried look come over his face. he nervously looked around for me, i think he thought i would be right behind him, and yelled MAMA, but he couldn't see where i was standing down below. so before i knew it, i could see him completely start crying and wandering around, totally shell-shocked. some sweet little kids helped show him where i was standing, just below where he was, but he was too upset to notice/care. so i ended up climbing up to 'save' him and he CLUNG TO ME SO TIGHT it was so sweet/sad all at the same time.

he wouldn't let me put him down, so i tried climbing up rope bridges and through tunnels with a little monkey strapped to me, but it really wasn't all that fun for either of us. a few times i thought he might be starting to settle down, but everytime i tried to put him down, he'd cling tighter and say "no, mama, no. no, mama, no" so that was that.

is it bad that i was secretly really happy that he 'needed' me so much and that my presence and hugs made him feel so much better? it's so hard for me sometimes for me to truly comprehend that i am THAT person to someone - their rock, their comfort, their happy place. it's just so cool and yet so MUCH PRESSURE to get it right. but being a mama to this boy makes me so happy. so very happy.

anyway, after that i brought him over to his favorite train ride and then we hit the play area on the promenade. while we were at the play area, a few older kids ran over to him and excitedly yelled "HI JOAQUIN!" a mom next to me asked if joaquin was mine, and i nodded proudly. it was her kids that knew him, and had told her about him. "Everyone knows JOAQUIN!" she said. Aww, it warms the heart.

in other joaquin news, he is finally graduating from "Kangaroos A" to "Bumblebees" on June 16th. this is a Big Deal at his 'school' and we met his new primary caregiver on Friday to start working on the transition. he's going to go from being the oldest in his 'class' to the youngest, and i can't wait to see what new 'things' he comes home with.

finally, for today, i just had my massage/acupuncture session and it was SO AMAZING. some of the needle placements hurt SO BAD going in because my back is all jacked up from mass quantities of joaquin-carrying, but by the time she removed them and finished her work, i was just a pile of jigggly mush balls. eff to the yes. aaron's going to be done soon, and then GoT will commence, and i will eventually call it a night, and chalk this weekend up as a complete success.

happy sunday, all.