The Red Mountain Ranch park is not longer a place to explore, it is a dojo of dominance. She climbs up slides, she does the monkey bars, she hangs off the pull-up bars by her legs, and she hops on and off the merry-go-round. Sometimes she gets it spinning and yells at me to pull her up, sometimes she makes me spin it and yells for it to stop – G enjoys bending the playground to her will.

There is her favorite slide of wooden dowels that feels like a donkey punch to the colon when riding it down. At least it does to me – to G, its a nice added feature. A few months ago she tried to climb it and promptly faceplanted, then slid down onto the ground in a heap.   For some reason she decided today was a good day to try again.   Except after I showed her quickly about it slipping out from under her, she starts climbing up the railing and me in equal measure, and by this technique reaching the top.   This was pretty cool.   After an “AGAIN!” i sorted out that I should walk parallel to the slide and have a hand behind her, and she worked her way up sideways on the soles of her bare feet several more times.