A Surreal Trip to the Park

So here we were, at our usual Thursday afternoon playgroup at the park. Kingston pretty much heads straight for the swings. He wants to swing in the swing on the far right of the set. No problem! We did some swinging for about 10 minutes. Then Kingston gives me the hand wave meaning "all done" and so out he goes. As I should have suspected, he walks over to the swing immediately to the left and says, "Up, please." Or "Help, please." Or "Uh, pees." I'm still not certain which.

So he's swinging along and a little boy comes running up to his mom who is a few swings down and says that he has to go to the potty. I think I hear Kingston say, "pee-pee" but I can't be sure. I ask him to repeat what he said and the mom who has put her son in the swing that we recently vacated say, "I think he said 'pee-pee'!" So we start talking about whether or not we are going to start potty training our kids, who happen to be less than a month apart in age and we both laugh and say we aren't in a big hurry since we would rather wait until it is the right time than force it and get really frustrated. We are having a great conversation when I look up at Kingston, only to find him vomiting profusely all over himself.

Sweeeeeet.

I pretty much freeze, not knowing what to do. I lean him forward in his swing and let him finish what he started on the ground instead of in his lap. Gross. Moms all around start to offer tissues, helping hands, sympathy. They all think he has swung too much. I mention that nearly every kid in his day care has thrown up at some point in the past 2 weeks and I notice a few moms back up. Can't say I blame them. My potty training friend encourages me to just strip Kingston down right there and I'm so glad she suggests it. I am trying to think how I am going to get him to the car without coating myself in green beans and fish sticks. Eew. (Sorry. Not necessary, I know. Luckily Ms. Cindy said he didn't eat much for lunch. Or any snack. Whew!) I strip him down and begin to fret about how I can clean the park swing out. I use Kingston's soiled clothes to do the best I can but I still feel guilty about leaving it. Contaminated.

I apologize repeatedly to my new friends and skedaddle. I take Kingston home and he is thrilled to get to lay on our bed and watch "Finding Nemo". Or "Mo-mo" as he likes to call it. After about 45 minutes of laying around, Kingston starts to say "eat, eat" so I give him some toast, goldfish and 1/2 of a bagel. He is hungry and eats a ton. Everything stays down.

He is now sleeping soundly. Hopefully for the duration. I'm hoping it was just a one-time thing that has come and gone. Luckily I have the day off tomorrow just in case things go south from here. Wish us luck! We have a busy weekend coming up. We can't afford to be sick!

That was definitely a playgroup like no other.