We’re always so busy trying to balance work, taking care of Daniel, visiting our families, doing household chores, running errands, and being with friends. We never take time for ourselves so we planned a “Trinh Family Fun Day” to spend some quality time together and take Daniel to do some fun activities. We even planned the day far in advance and scheduled it into our Google Calendars so that we didn’t accidentally double book that day.
Our first stop was an indoor gym called One Stop Fun in Westford, MA. They only had one small section for kids under the age of 4 which had a ball pit and a slide. We placed Daniel in the ball pit and he loved tossing the balls around and climbing in and out of the pit. I escorted him to the top of the slide. Daniel insisted that he slid down by himself so I watched intently as he positioned himself on his belly at the top of the slide. He would then slide backward on his stomach and look back up at me with a huge smile on his face. It was a little disappointing that all of the other areas were too advanced for him. At least the price of admission ($10) was reasonable.
After Daniel had his fill of One Stop Fun, we drove to Toys R Us to let Daniel pick out some of his own toys using some gift cards he received on his 1st birthday party. We picked out a few similar toys that he looked interested in and put them in front of him as we pushed him around the store in the shopping cart. He really liked one toy that was basically a toy steering wheel with a gear shift knob, turn signals, ignition key, and horn.
We also bought Daniel some new bath toys. (Note to self: Squirt toys can get mold inside and is very gross when you find out.) We bought some toys that can he could use to scoop the water. I think the best toy that we bought him was a musical bubble blowing machine which blew bubbles and played some songs when buttons were pressed.
After a meal at home we went to a local park playground. Daniel really enjoyed being in the baby swing. It was great seeing his face light up. I swung on an adult-sized swing next to him and he tried to imitate me kicking my legs to gain momentum. We then went down a slide with Daniel sitting on my lap. We also carried him back to the top of the slide and Tary would help hold him as he slid down by himself. He really loves showing us that he’s a big boy now. We then put Daniel on a spring-mounted motorcycle thingy. It was similar to a bouncy toy at home so Daniel already knew how to rock back and forth on it. Then Tary got on a merry-go-round while holding Daniel and I spun both of them a few times.
As we were wrapping up at the park, my friend Sai texted me saying to come over for a BBQ so we agreed and headed over there. It turned out that the BBQ was a combined party for his father, brother, and cousin’s birthdays. A lot of Sai’s relatives were there and it was really interesting seeing a strong family resemblance on his mother’s side of the family. It makes me wonder if Daniel will end up looking more like me or Tary when he gets older. Sometimes I see my mom in him. In either case, we enjoyed some light conversation and I had some more food even though I was already full from a prior meal but Sai’s parents wanted to make sure I was well fed.
It was getting late so we returned home. It was Daniel’s bath night and we were anxious to see how he’d react to his new bath toys. He really loved the new bubble blowing machine. Each time the machine blew some more bubbles into the air he would loudly shout, “Bubbles!” and try to pop as many of them as he can. He also loved scooping the water and trying to dump it into his mouth. I guess he doesn’t quite understand the meaning of the word “icky”. The new bath toys were a hit and I couldn’t get him out of the tub. I just watched on as he played with his new toys until he got nice and pruny.
Daniel seemed to really enjoy our Family Fun Day. He was generally happy and it was cute how he would randomly hug Tary and me. We should definitely take him outside more and let him experience new things. For the next outing, we may have a friends and family picnic and maybe some berry picking and petting zoo.
