My nannies would go wacky for the playgrounds we have in the States. Just the sidewalks leading to the playgrounds are a luxury. Addison climbed and navigated everything as my sister and I took turns making sure he didn’t fall and break all those soft little bones.

After navigating the gym set, he walked over to the swing set. After grooving on the swing, he sat in a little elephant.

This special needs thing takes a toll on my back. On everyone’s back. Addison sat soundly - we thought - in the wiggly elephant. After about two minutes, we turned around to see Addison hanging half out of the thing like a parachuter who’s just realized he doesn’t want to jump and wants to get back into the plane.

The screaming ensued. My sister ran over and got him out. The little guy quickly recovered, so we thought. I took over as only a mom can do. I placed him back in his stroller. We called Emma - the dog with the very long tongue - and our group set off for home. The day had been hot and it felt good to sit in the cool living room. I counted three gashes on Addison’s face, but figured we’d managed well since no human or canine in our group ended up with a broken head or a severed thigh bone. That is….until Addison threw up on me. I’m glad most of the green pea mush/white slime (that could only be digestive juices!) landed on mine and Addison’s shirt and not my sister’s couch. The shirt was new of course.

This is just one of those “special” things that tend to round out my days and bump up against my nights.