Hee. To both of you. I wish I could be there to teach K.

We wish it too because it would mean you felt better. She's all angsty about calling for info and taking a class for the first time, etc.

Kat, IMO, y'all have got more right to the playground than the little beast who doesn't have manners.

At those ages, Nate was always a big kid-- maybe not the tallest, but he was solid compared to most kids. Because of that, I always, always impressed on him that he had to be careful of smaller kids and be patient with them.

At the very least, that kid deserved having the riot act read all over his bullying behind by his parents, not the Willy Wonka "No... don't... stop..." followed by hairpats.

K. was just protecting Noah and by extension, the other little boy.

Kat, I totally think you've got a right to go to the playground.

However, I also think that pushing and shoving and getting run over are pretty normative for playgrounds.

Not that you can't insist that children take turns and no shoving the little kids. But it's a place where kids learn to negotiate with other kids without a lot of parental oversight.

I'd definitely step in if a kid were pushing my younger child at the top of a slide. But nobody learns to get out of the way at the bottom without getting run over several times.

Frankly, I get impatient with kids that dawdle at the bottom or the top. Take your turn, no shoving, but GO!

And if you don't get out of the way at the bottom, bruises are your lot.

In NC we refer to "down east," which seems to be pretty much all of the coastal areas, whether or not they're south as well as east of the speaker.

I would bet this comes from the same source as "downeaster" and "down island" on Martha's Vineyard -- in nautical terms, east is "down," because it's going down the longitude measures.

The procedure is wearing off on the left side. Pain's coming back. I'm of two minds about having it done again. I can't keep doing it every four months forever. And it hurts so badly for days afterwards.

Give me a few days. I'll probably be begging for it.

...interesting.

ALBANY — Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell wants desperately to persuade his colleagues to legalize gay marriage. Here is how he has pursued Republican Assemblyman Greg Ball’s vote:

He stopped Mr. Ball’s parents while they were visiting the Capitol, and asked them to urge their son to back the measure. He cornered Mr. Ball in a statehouse elevator, and taunted him: vote for same-sex marriage, or you won’t get invited to my engagement party.

Mr. O’Donnell has even told Mr. Ball, a square-jawed former Air Force captain, that he was “the best looking guy in the Assembly, and he owed it to the gays to vote yes.”

I'm really not sure about how effective that last one will be. [link]

Tonight I am pleased with myself for having gone to a birthday party where I knew only the birthday girl and (kind of) her husband. It was a good enough time, too!

I was proud of myself for going to The Container Store and only spending $40.

Kat, honestly, it sounds like K maybe wanted to punish the boy a little for his rudeness? I mean, if she only wanted to rescue Noah, just grab him off the end of the slide. I know everyone else here has got your back, but if someone clotheslined my five year old to make her teeth rattle and then just walked away without saying anything, I would be right pissed. I think you can go back to the playground, but if you run into that kid's parents again, some nice-making is in order. It's never wrong to apologize for hurting someone else's child, albeit unintentionally, even if said child was being a brat.

Our old playground has a separate playspace that was intended for up to three (with structure and slide) and that was really nice for the more cautious kids (though Casper was into the big kid playground by 18 months, Dillo might still be on the little playground sometimes.)

But it's a place where kids learn to negotiate with other kids without a lot of parental oversight.

I agree with this up to a point. I'll let D work it out on his own with other 2-3 year olds, but I intervene if there's a significant enough age/size/development difference that someone could really get hurt. (I intervene much faster if it's D about to run over a crawling baby than the other way around, though - it's a little scary how well he can hold his own with the 4-5 year olds.)

Kat, honestly, it sounds like K maybe wanted to punish the boy a little for his rudeness? I mean, if she only wanted to rescue Noah, just grab him off the end of the slide. I know everyone else here has got your back, but if someone clotheslined my five year old to make her teeth rattle and then just walked away without saying anything, I would be right pissed. I think you can go back to the playground, but if you run into that kid's parents again, some nice-making is in order. It's never wrong to apologize for hurting someone else's child, albeit unintentionally, even if said child was being a brat.

I agree with this.