Matti Meets Excavator Scoop!

I once was told not to let my little one play in public playrooms or play areas because it might be dirty and there's a great chance of the baby catching diseases or whatever (God forbid)! But I couldn't help it especially when I see that this brings happiness and so much energy to my little one! Just look at the photo above!

Back in October, we went to SM Cebu and as we were about to go home, we passed by the lower ground area of the mall and saw a play area named Chops Children's Park. I know play areas are identical in nature, with toys and everything. We had played at Kidzoona SM Seaside before which was really nice but we never tried one in SM Cebu so my husband and I watching at the time said it was okay to give him an hour to play.

Matti won't usually go to strangers but when the staff asked if he'd come inside while offering her hand, Matti didn't hesitate. He was already wearing socks so I just took off his shoes and he went in running!

Well, what I like about this area is that all its corners are visible to me even if I was just outside the fence. I can see where Matti is going and I can see all the other kids as well. This is very important because there are other play areas where there are blind spots.

This is also clean, the staff would pickup toys and place them in their respective sections when no one is playing those stuff any longer.

Toys are just placed all over the area. They got picnic tables, a kitchen, mini groceries, ride-on cars, slides, a ball pit, and so much more! Matti's favorite as always is the ball pit! But before going to the ball pit, he first explored the things in the ground.

We were blessed that after a few minutes of going inside, the other kids who were called as their time was already up! So Matti was left alone. At this age, he was all good with playing by himself unlike today where he looks after kids and would follow them whatever they do!

So Matti got the toys by himself and he got the chance to ride this excavator. He loves excavators as he watches Leo the truck show on YouTube! He calls this one excavator scoop, that's one of the characters of the show.

But it didn't take long before he got another company! There were new kids in the house! I was just following Matti wherever he wanted to go. I was suggesting that he check out this and this but he usually would not follow what I offer and it was okay.

And then it was time for him to get to the ball pit! I wonder why they didn't put this next to the slide though because that's how other play areas are usually designed so kids can enjoy it after sliding. Anyway, it didn't matter at that time as Matti went inside, and got the colored balls by himself! He was jumping, throwing the balls, even asking me to also jump and lie down into the ball pit!

I was happy seeing him this happy and so that's the reason why even if others would tell me not to let Matti play in these areas, I'd still prefer giving in.

One hour of play is very short, especially for a little one who enjoys playing. He was running around and hopping from one area to another. I guess the only thing that he didn't like was the trampoline! But I know in due time, he'd learn love that as well.

Here are some of the other toys he went to enjoy while I was just following him and taking photos and videos!

Everything must come to an end and this was probably one of the hardest parts of being a parent, when we have to tell our kids it's time to go. But thankfully, Matti isn't the type of child who'd cry rivers when going out of the play area. I have noticed this ever since, he would follow on if I tell him our time is up and we can say goodbye to the toys already. He would usually follow but not without a little bit of "mama, I want to play again!" and you can see that in the photo below:

There's resistance when his father was holding him so we can go. We just lure him into that we will go to a toy store so he can get his toy too and he was okay again! Just as my father-in-law said, life with kids is all about luring them!

That's it for today! Thanks for reading this blog!