Slip and Slide

Dear Sawyer,

You are a pretty cautious little boy. You don't like amusement park rides or even the swings at the playground. Before this summer, you wouldn't even go down the slides at the playground but now you do enjoy the shorter ones. And today, we found out that you enjoy the really tall ones, too!

We spent the afternoon at a playground in Central Park and on one side was a tall pyramid-like structure where you could climb up to the top and slide down a long slide to get to the bottom. You and GuhGaw were playing near the pyramid and JieJie was playing in the sprinklers at the other side of the playground. I was watching her and then when I turned back to look at you, you were flying off the slide! You had climbed up to the top of the pyramid and gone down the very tall slide! And it was a little wet from kids who had played in the sprinklers and then gone down the slide, so that coupled with the height of the slide compounded with the fact that you are on the light side meant that you picked up quite a bit of speed on your way down! When I looked over at you, you flew straight off the bottom of the slide and landed a good foot away! Luckily, you landed on sand so it was a soft surface but I gasped pretty loudly and ran over to you, unsure of what your reaction would be. It was touch-and-go for a few seconds there--your face was a little "Oh crap, what just happened?!"--but GuhGaw was laughing gleefully at your airborne adventure and that made you smile and laugh. Whew! When I got to you, you told me, "I go bump bump bump bump down the slide! I land in the sand!" I'm so glad you weren't traumatized . . . though I noticed that you didn't attempt to go down the slide again, haha!

Love,
Mom