Play date at Montrose Community Park

Montrose Community Park
3529 Clifton Place
Glendale, CA 91208

Nearest Cross Street: Broadview
Acres: 14.5
Amenities: 2 Ball fields, Basketball Court, Children’s Play Area, Picnic Areas, and 2 Tennis Courts.
Gloria in the GAP sweatshirt, (a nanny to 3 kids in the gymnastics program at the YMCA) invited us to Montrose Community Park this morning for a play date. This was our first time at this park and what a hidden gem! Located parallel to Honolulu Ave/Verdugo, two blocks behind Kids Funtown (with Mervyn's on the opposite side of the street.)

If you go to this park in the morning, make sure to bring some towels, as the slides get pretty wet.
Here Astrid is riding Maisie's scooter (or trying to) for the first time.Both girls offering advice and encouragement.Determination.Getting the hang of it.The kids went off collecting pine cones, sticks, and berries.I was astonished by how well the kids got along with one another.

As you can see, Astrid was thrilled to be playing with other kids (her "friends").They all decided to pool their loot together to make something collectively.Picking berries.Bringing her loot back to the collective.The kids came up with an idea to make a "potion". They needed something to put the berries in, and so I gave them this empty Altoids tin to play with, and to hold all their berries.Group shot #1.

From left to right: Pilar, Astrid, Dylan (standing behind Astrid), Diego, Maisie (fraternal twins), and Lindsay.Group shot #2.

It's not hard to pick out the kid whose mom took the photo. (Just look for the biggest smile, and the biggest ham for the camera.)Playing with a found pine cone.Having a picnic!Play dates are fun. Definitely more in store in the future.A game of chase, tag, touch a tree, and a lot of running and frolicking.Kids can make games out of anything. Here they made up a game using the metal bike racks.

We had such a lovely morning. Who knew play dates were so much fun?

The play date ended when the older kids left for preschool. Astrid cried and was so sad to see them go. She cried, "I want to go to school too." Yep, she's ready for school.

Play date at Lindsay & Dylan's house

Astrid and I met Lindsay & Dylan (and their mom Carina) at the YMCA, through the gymnastics program.
Here the girls are playing dress up.

Astrid just adores Lindsay, a 4 year old (even naming her doll Lindsay and talking about her constantly), like she's the older, cooler, sis. As a sign of endearment Astrid likes to hold hands (as seen in the pic above).

Lindsay & Dylan's mom saw how cute the girls are together, and how gentle and helpful Astrid is with baby Dylan that she suggested a play date at their house. It was fun for us moms`to watch the kids playing and having fun together. And it's amazing how time flies on a play date!Astrid playing with baby Dylan, who is not quite 2 yet.

You can see how much bigger Astrid is than Dylan, but she's almost the same size as Lindsay (just with a baby face). So it's not unusual for people to think Astrid is older than her 2 years and 8 months.

The older kids in gymnastics include her in their group (sort of). Let's just say she's on the fringe of their group. They know she's much younger, but she's so tall and more mature and physically developed for her age, that they accept her playing with them. Lindsay described it best when she said, "We don't play with babies, but we play with Astrid because she's a big baby."

On another related topic - Astrid's become quite bored with her "Mommy & Me" gymnastics class and I'm thinking about switching her to the older class (with Lindsay) even though she's still not 3 years old yet. (She's too old for the baby class, but too young for the older class. But I'd rather have her be challenged than bored.) The thing she looks forward to the most is before and after class so she can play with Lindsay and the other big kids (4-5 year olds).