Daddy Strikes Again !

On Sunday we took Josie to the playground at Fox Studios (which they're trying to rebrand as "The Entertainment Quarter") where I added to my (mercifully short) list of "Daddy's less inspired parenting moments".

I was spinning Josie around on a piece of equipment that is a triangular (except the straight edges are rounded) platform about 2 foot wide with a shaped pole (some are simple S cirves some are more complicated) running up the middle. The kid sits on the platform and the adult (or the kid themself if they are old enough) spins the pole and the kid spins 'round. Well, I started experimenting with how fast she would go before she would not like it. I know, I know. Curiosity and the cat and all that. To be fair I wasn't just experimenting with my kid. She had previously started showing a predilection for spinning rides (the spinning cups ride and suspended-chair style merry-go-round (sp?). This started in the last 2 months and before that she had always disliked spinning rides when I had taken her (very seldom) on them. Also she has started to like going really high/fast on the swings which I think is a similar sensation to spinning in people (like myself) who dont like that kind of acceleration feeling in the stomach.

So anyway, she has become a bit of an acceleration junkie in the last couple months so I was seeing if she had a limit. Well as you have probably guessed by now I found her limit. Unfortunately even though I was increasing the speed by small increments she went from "Weeeeeeeeeee" to shaking like she was having an epileptic fit or an embelism with a terrified rictus on her face, instead of "Weeeeee" to "slower daddy!" like I was expecting. I swear I thought I had given her an aneurism she was shaking so bad. I totally thought I broke her for a second.

Some of you have heard my (apparently humorous) description of how the child's mother falls when tripped (no not by me, just by her own lack of ability to remain upright in the face of cunningly flat surfaces). And how as horrifying as it is to see someone you love go down like a sack of spuds, when they go down with hands shot straight up into the air above their heads like a tall-timber, well at the time it's happening it is still horrifying but once you know they are ok... funny as hell. Well this thing with Jose was nothing like that. This was just horrifying. Full stop. But the kid recovered alot more quickly than her old man did (as usual) and was back to normal after some reminding about the more enjoyable pony ride she had had just prior to the horror inflicted upon her by her schmuck of a father. I continued to flagellate myself for some time.