A Day at the Park
I’ve decided to start being better at taking Maisie to the park due to the fact that she is pretty much a lonely little puppy here. Daily she asks to play with friends. Daily she talks about her cousin Avery. Daily she asks if she is going to go to school. We tried to get her in school, but they are full and we are now on a waiting list.
These are a couple of pics of her yesterday after a little girl ran away from her in a square we were eating in. She was sad, needless to say.
So with all this sadness and two year old depression going on, I decided I needed to be better about getting her around other friends and hopefully I can make a couple as well. Let’s just say that our first day at the park wasn’t the most successful.
First of all, let me tell you about the park. It’s amazing. We live just a five minute walk from one of the coolest parks in Barcelona, called Parc de la Ciutadella. It’s also one of the oldest parks. One of the little play areas in the park is geared toward toddler and Maisie aged kids and they put out toys from 11-2pm (and in the evening again) for the kids to play with. I thought this would be a perfect time to take Maisie to the park and hopefully start some consistency of other kids in her daily life.
The park itself is great. They have little sand toys and wheel barrows and teeter totter things and slides and a little house that Maisie loves.
But I am noticing that Maisie is having a hard time getting into the groove of playing with other kids. I think it is probably the language barrier as this never happened while we were in the states. She will try to play with kids and they run away (and one little girl today even hit her). And I think all this is bringing about a bit of insecurity as she got bossy and possessive a couple times after we had been at the park for a while.
It’s hard to see your child hurt, especially emotionally. That’s the worst. I hope it gets better. We will continue to go to the park and pray that she gets into the school so she can learn to communicate with other kids in their language.
As for me, it was a bit depressing as well. My Spanish is nowhere near being able to converse yet. If anything it made me want to learn all the more. But towards the end of our time at the park, I did chat a bit with another mom who grew up in the area, but spoke English.
Here are a couple pics from the park today.
The day at the park ended with a huge thunder, lightening, and rain storm. Justin came just in time for the rain. We made a run for it from the park and hid out under a storefront window and waited for the rain to stop. I thought for a second we were in a beer commercial as there was a car parked right in front of us where two really beautiful lesbians decided it was a good idea to make out right then and there. Haha! It was a day to remember for sure.
And last, a picture of Maisie recovering from the day at the park and rainstorm at a little cafe called Sandwich & Friends.
Give my little friend a huge squeeze for me! I am so sorry she is having a hard time right now. Sounds like she needs to come play with Eliza…oh right, you live in Spain! Well, maybe it’s time to get a webcam going here so we can have skype playdates! I am definitely in need of a Jen chat here soon. Much love to you and the fam!
My heart hurts for little Maisie and I don’t even know her yet. My kids have been experiencing the same loneliness and difficulty in transition. It sucks! My daughter, Natalie, has really had a hard time. She desperately misses her friends from home. I’m so sorry about not getting Maisie into a school. It must be really hard to move to a new city by yourselves, no one there to show you the ropes. You guys are incredible and very brave. I’m praying for sweet little Maisie.
I LOVE the new look of the blog Jen!!! So cute, and so YOU!
This post totally made me soooo sad. poo. I wish I could fly Avery over there any old time to play with her. Let’s plan to have them video chat on Wed okay? Cute pictures!
ahhhh that picture of her staring at an empty bench made me sad! I hope you all makes lots of friends soon!! My husband and parents are on the same continent as you right now- maybe I should send them your way!
The picture of miss cutie on the chair made me want to scoop her up and protect her from any feelings of pain she will ever face again. Loneliness…it’s the worst. Love you and miss you.
Jen,
I do feel for you and your precious daughter. This is a hard time. But I also want to share an experience of a friend here moving with her young children to another state– sharing the same language and skin tone did not prevent the children from isolating her children because they were “new” and even at 2 and 3 years old, they had developed their own comfortable group of friends. They were not interested in including another child, or two and the other parents did not see anything wrong with this. So, it is a reminder that selfishness abounds and we have the opportunity to show a different way whether it be in the states or in another country.