Woo and I have gone on a number of little adventures lately, some one on one time, and an opportunity to do some fun things that Goose is a little bit too young for. I recently decided that she needs to have some excursions of her own, so this morning was our first “mommy and me” morning. My plans were not big, just a solo trip to the community playgroup. She loves the park and loves the playgroup, so this seemed like a good fit.

I woke several times in the night to the sound of rain. This disappointed me, as playgroup is an outdoor activity that is cancelled when it is too wet. My fears were confirmed when we woke, and I went on to finding a plan B. I settled on Playtime for Kids on merivale, and we headed off. We’ve been to Cosmic Adventures a number of times, and I hoped that this would be a Cosmic-light type of place.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all that we had hoped for. We arrived, and we greeted by the chaos and noise that comes with this type of place. Goose was excited to be greated by three big slides, and pulled me towards them. We headed up the path that led to the slides, me following her to help her climb up. I am glad that I went in, as she wasn’t able to climb from platform to platform without me. We made it to the top and slid down once. Sadly, the effort wasn’t worth it for her and that was the end of sliding, and the end of her time in the larger play structure. She just wasn’t tall enough to move through it on her own. We wandered to the back where the little people area was and found the ball pit, a favourite. We spent the rest of our time hanging out in this area

I have a couple of complaints that will prevent us from going back anytime soon. They have a policy of “no outside food” and claim to be 100% nut free. With Woo’s nut allergy this is a nice feature in a facility. Unfortunately, it is not enforced. I saw many parents walking around with outside coffee or breakfast treats, and most families provided their own snacks for toddlers and older children. While I don’t expect everywhere we go to cater to the needs of my allergic child, I do expect that the management will make a token effort to stop outside food from coming in if they want to claim that the facility is nut free.

It is older and a small space. Everything is smaller in scale. This means that you notice it all the more when one or two larger children start to run around, or crash through the little people area. Thi shappened pretty frequently, and I had to be pretty attentive to ensure that Goose wasn’t trampled. She was pretty nervous and stuck to me like glue. The toys were also older and in need of replacement. There were rips in some of the cusions, lots of the balls were crushed, and there was not a great selection for little people who can’t climb in the bigger structure. I just got the feeling that maintenance was not what it should have been, at least in the lil peeps area.

We stayed for a little over an hour, and she was happy to leave when I broached the subject. I feel bad that she had a sad first date with me, ever though we got to stop at Loblaws to see the lobsters on our way home. I’ll make it up to her next time!