Protecting stuffed friends

With the combination of nice weather and being home from work, I was looking forward to spending some daddy / daughter time with Ambree at our neighborhood playground. After "park" gets on Ambree's brain, its all she can do to muster up some patience while I get dressed and out the door.

Taking one of her pink poodles to the park is nothing new, but her budding imagination has given life to many of her toys. After running up, down, and around the play scape, it was time to show doggie around and give him a chance to have some fun.

First, it was up the stairs, showing Sizzles (the dog's name) exactly how to find his way around the play scape. Coming to the big clear plastic bubble-window on the upper level, I suggested Ambree show Sizzles the bubble. After a moment of thought, she thrust her doggie's face into the open space of the bubble - "see?" and we were off to more interesting things - the slides.

Today Ambree was hesitant to go down the slides on her own, which was a bit out of character but she was still having fun. Ambree did decide, however that today was a good day to introduce Sizzles to the slides. She carefully placed sizzles at the top of the slide, his little pink nose peering over the edge and down to the slide below. Ambree took a step back, considering how best to send him on his way...

"Slide scary! Slide scary! Its ok doggie! Its ok, its ok!" a moment later, Ambree whisked Sizzles away from certain doom, hugging him tightly. We both got a good laugh out of this, and after putting our heads together, came up with the plan that if Ambree waited at the bottom of the slide, she could catch Sizzles and make the whole experience a little less terrifying for all involved.

A playscape of our own in the backyard is probably in our future, just as soon as I can figure out how to stake 50 pillows to the ground underneith it so I feel comfortable standing more then 2 feet away from her while she plays.