Victory!

When Silas was a wee lad (that is, summer of 2011) he loved the second closest park to our house. (The closest park is the “bad park.”)

True fact: we were really worried that his ears were going to stay that way.

The nice thing about the second closest park is that is combines two rare commodities: open space and shade. It’s also not a “fun” park for humans–it’s just a large picnic area, and there’s a playground and all kinds of stuff just down the block. It’s practically a guarantee that we’ll have it to ourselves on a weekday. So, this is the best place in town to put Silas on his long line and play frisbee or to get a “quick fix” on days it’s too hot to stay out more than a few minutes.

Unfortunately, the year that Silas was a wee lad we had a terrible drought, and the park lost a lot of trees. There’s still shade in the park, but the barrier between the parking lot and the road had to be cut down at the beginning of last summer. Silas couldn’t handle it. Even on the extreme back edge of the park, he would catch sight of the moving cars and panic.

I really needed this park back. The third closest park hosts a lot of summer activities for children. The other parks in town are all at least half an hour away.

I’ve been very strategically working Silas through his issues this spring. First, we would go to this park, but either play on the sunny end, which is further from the road, or run on the trails. Then I would take my husband with us on the weekend, when you can park in a different place, where you can’t see the road. Silas re-learned that this park is Tremendous! Fun!

So, yesterday we tried it. And it worked!

I can’t entirely praise myself for it–the bushes and ground cover have started growing back between the parking lot and the road–but I do think I deserve a little of the credit.