The Playground

Ok, so this is an Elf Momma and Elf Boy post.

Last night Elf Momma and I spoke about 10:00pm. Since it was late and since she was trying to get her kids to sleep, I thought it best to not go over. (She thought perhaps I could just wait until they got to sleep?!) So she suggested that we should get up early before everyone else and go out and get breakfast for Saturday morning. When I asked at what time she refused to give me an answer and said agitated that she would just call me.

Today she called at 8:45am. While I was thinking about getting up already, I hadn't had my coffee yet. She tells me that everyone is up and instead of going out to get breakfast to bring back, they want to go to the park and eat. She goes on to say that they are out of coffee and orders me to make some and put it in a thermos. I tell her that this is going to take a bit then, because I have to get the coffee ready and get myself ready. She is very agitated by this and tells me how important it is to get out now because she's going to get sick if she doesn't eat. When I explain that I haven't even had a cup of coffee yet myself, she gets further agitated saying, "This is a yes or a no. Can you or can you not go to the park?" When I tell her that it isn't going to work out like that and I that I would happily meet her with coffee, she gets angry saying that she doesn't have enough money to get me breakfast too. (Yes, it was that out of the blue) I explained that I'd meet her there and get my own breakfast. I was irritated enough that I didn't bother making them coffee. Passive aggressive? Perhaps.

Skipping to the real reason why I posted, Little E. was running around the playground. And the thing is, I can't just let her run off without feeling the need to keep a close eye on her. I do not, for instance, let her jump in big standing pools of water on the ground so she can roll around in it picking up peoples trash in it and drink the dirty water. I do not let her go down the bigger slide by herself without being there to make sure she goes down safe. I do not let her run half way across the other side while just sitting, staring at her. Things like that. But Elf Momma called me on the carpet. She wanted to know why I did these things when she was there watching Little E. I apologized saying that I really should just let her take care of Little E. She then began to question me about the above things and it got really uncomfortable.

I have a tough time letting things like that go. I can't easily watch things that I feel instinctively are unsafe. And now I'm being criticized for being irrational. Argh.