Afterburner

Michael loved to go to the park.  I took him to the park in sets, sometimes we would go every other weekend, then we would hit a dry patch.  When we were at the park we played a few different games....

1) Afterburner - he loved to have me push him on the swing... I would push him high and hard, but not too hard and would say "Afterburner".  Pretending he was a plane, I would love to push him and say Afterburner.

2) Don't Come Back - This was his all time favorite.  As I would push him, I would tell him to get out of here and don't come back.... when he swung back toward me I would say... "I said get out of ere and don't come back", this used to crack him up.  He would always say "I am back"..... It was so great.  Who knew that continually pushing a swing and making up a game would be so fun.

3) Chase - He loved playing chase all the time, he loved to be chased and loved to barely get away.  I would usually grab a leg while he was on the playset.  He always managed to break free and "win".  The good guys always won in his book

4) Star Wars/ Good Guy/ Bad Guy - As he got older he loved to race from one playset to another pretending that we were on the same team.  We always managed to escape, get reinforcements, and live to fight another day.  Michael had a vivid imagination that he got from his mother, I will always remember our trips to the park, too bad we didn't take more trips.   

Parks

1) Tom Brown Park (http://www.talgov.com/parks/tombrownpk.cfm)

2) Tekesta Park - Great for quick trips to the park, excellent for pretend Star Wars

3) Winthrop Park - Great playground, excellent to play "Daddy is the Troll who wants to get me"