Northstates brand play yard

Hey anyone own one of these? I am having such a bad time turning the panels :( i bought it new so i have the instructions and i was unfolding them. They are super tight and so hard to manipulate. The instructions expain how the spring locks work and u see in the picture i was able to unfold it enough to make a half circle. But the thing was in unfolding the panels they wanted to separate completely (see the 2 extra panels, they're all part of the same set) - so i had a helluva time just getting it even half way set up😲 is there a way to grasp two connected panels and make them rotate to the angle you need? Seems so simple!

omg! please help