Yesterday I was afforded some time with Haddon since Jen had a meeting and Chinese class in the afternoon. I did some research and found an indoor playground. I’ve been to indoor playgrounds so I wanted to explore and find another place for Haddon to play, aptly named Fundazzle. After lunch, Haddon and I began our Daddy & Me time.
Fundazzle is southwest of us, so I had to take the subway and make a transfer to get to my desired stop (Dongdaqiao).
Our subway stop. Took us about an hour to get here.
Happy to get off the subway!
Knowing that I would be at a disadvantage because of language and knowledge of the area, I wrote down directions to Fundazzle and followed them diligently. But perhaps too diligently. Here’s a map that shows where I was after following directions. The purple X is where Fundazzle is.
Sort of missed the mark.
As you can see, I completely missed it. So I walked back with Haddon to the Beijing Blue Zoo because one of the newsstands told me. In walking to the Beijing Blue Zoo, I remembered reading that Fundazzle was somewhere near Worker’s Stadium. I walked around the entire stadium looking for this place. But I couldn’t find it because clearly the purple X was not in Worker’s Stadium.
Really missed the mark.
After walking around the entire Worker’s Stadium and coming back to the Beijing Blue Zoo, I was ready to quit. I was frustrated and was apologizing to Haddon (to which Haddon gave some sympathetic babbling). I finally asked another Chinese worker where I could find Fundazzle to which they pointed for me to continue on the street. So I listened. I asked another worker and he pointed me in the direction of Fundazzle and I was elated and excited. After two hours of traveling, we finally arrived! This was Haddon’s reaction:
Sweet. Haddon’s knocked out. Can’t blame him though. Being in a stroller for two hours can be quite exhausting, but I was determined to have Haddon enjoy our Daddy & Me time at Fundazzle. I woke him up and he immediately tried to take off his straps and jump out of his stroller. I could tell he was super excited! Look at this place! If you were Haddon’s age, wouldn’t you be excited?
The first thing he did was observe the fish pool. He loves watching live fish swim and he had a huge infatuation with this fish pool throughout our time there. He also enjoyed the ball pits there.
Haddon in the small ball pit
They had balls pits for children of all ages. But the one Haddon was most excited about was the ball pit for kids 2 and up. Unfortunately, the worker said he wasn’t able to play in this one because he’s too small.
Ball pit or ball pool?
After about an hour of playing, we had to leave because Fundazzle was closing and we needed to go home to eat dinner. We had a tremendous time there and even I was amazed by how much fun a child can have in these indoor playgrounds.
Daddy & Me time was pretty frequent back in the States. It’s going to be less frequent while we’re here, so I want to cherish these times. A couple of observations:
- I’m in need of much grace and mercy from him while traveling. It’s easy to travel by yourself, its another thing to travel with a child in a stroller. On two occasions, while climbing stairs, random people helped me carry Haddon’s stroller. It was nice of them.
- While traveling a total of 3 hours for 1 hour of play doesn’t seem worth it, I still liked the alone time I had with Haddon and with g. Though frustrating, it allowed me time to think and communicate with him.
- I’m grateful for the time I spent in the states with the Mommy & Me crew. Trained me to bring diapers, water, and snacks any time I go out with Haddon.
- It looks pretty unusual here for a dad to be with his son by himself. It definitely challenges the norm as I noticed people giving me glances as if people were trying to figure out where Haddon’s mother was. I can definitely sense it when a seat opened up in the subway. People are inclined to let mothers and their child have the seat, but not the father and his child. Just a unique social observation during Daddy & Me.