The OUTDOOR public play area

I asked my best friend, mother of twin boys (god bless her), when she started taking her boys out to the park. I ask mommies random questions all the time. As a newbie mom, I need the reassurance. But really, when is a good time to bring your child to an outdoor public park for the first time? There probably is no one good answer. It depends on your kid and your willingness to let your kid be touched, and maybe shoved around by other kids. 

Over the weekend, we brought little man to Dumbo Smorgasborg. We're not new to taking the kid outdoors. That stroller has been used and abused...lots of miles on that bad boy. But we haven't let the kid freely roam around at an outdoor public play area yet. When a friend suggested I bring him over to the kiddie park area with all the colorful kiddie apparatus, my first thought was "oh hell no, look at all the kids in there!! He'll trip on something, fall flat on his face, get trampled on, then catch some kind of bird flu/mad cow disease combo illness somehow!!!" But I didn't want to look crazy to my friend, so I picked him up and said nice and loud, "let's go to the play area!!! Doesn't it look like so much fun???!!" Really doing this for my own sake. I fumbled with the gate, managed to get us both in without getting too many stares, and went to the closest colorful plastic structure that wasn't filled with kids. 

Now, my little man can't walk on his own yet. So he NEEDED me to be there with him. So it's ok that I crawl into that red blue and yellow plastic house(?) with him. I'm kind of taking up the whole space and it's kind of preventing more than 1 other kid from coming in...oops! Oh well! Not my fault! So there we are....gazing out through the little plastic window(?) at the parents sitting on the bench and I'm trying so hard not to feel like a fool. I mean, I'm here...might as well play the part! So I happily bang on the thing and clap my hands to get baby to do the same. If baby doesn't follow suit, I'll feel like a complete moron. Being the good little boy that he is (so far) he happily bangs along. Soon enough, an adorable toddler boy joins us in the house/castle/plastic prison. He talks to me and my son. He tells me he's two and tells me his name. The kid is adorable but I'm mortified that my kid isn't responding. How embarrassing! Say something, little son of mine! To my delight, baby lets out a shriek "HIIIIIII!" And I giggle with delight. We went on banging things and spinning things. 

As a newbie mom, the tiniest, dumbest little things will make me happy. And just watching him bug out at the park amazes me. He's not even a year old and knows what to do here. I'm feeling really out of place, but he obviously doesn't. Bravo, son of mine!