During the week

Just wanted to toss up some pics of what our weeks have been looking like.  I'm finding myself more and more drawn to just hanging out close to home these days (natural nesting?  simple contentments?  driving freaks me out?  (don't even bother asking me about that street that was one-way and then... suddenly, it seems, was not... d'oh!) Typically, back in Brooklyn, the child often had to be cajoled for a jaunt.  Back when I was lively and willing (er, dying to escape our flat for some fresh air).  But life is fu-u-nny.   Now, I'm pretty content to just walk into the yard and dig a bit (or sit on the couch with my feet up and read to him;), and its the kid suggesting stuff he wants to do :)  I love, luuuuuv, his excitement and ideas and just his genereal joie de vivre. (Speaking of, in accordance with his newfound language fascination, dinners often begin with him asking, "Mama, do you have bon appetite for sugar snap peas tonight?  I sure do."  Teehee)  First, the close-to-home stuff:

Speaking of good appetites...  Oranges are too fun...  P's been juicing for E.  He loves the chopping and whirring...

Owl Pellet Dissecting.  P went through a whole period of reading books about owls (mostly fiction, but with supplemental stuff:) and he became fascinated with owl pellets.  When he found out you could actually DISSECT one and claim the bones within, well, the little collector was sold.  Mama, however, never got around to ordering the damn things (blech;)  But just days after Grams found out it was on the long-term wish list, the child was holding owl puke in his hot little hand, rodent skulls and all.  Oh the joy of it all!

The park up the street from us.  We're kinda in love with it.

E and P watch the tall trees blow in the wind.  It sounds different here.

And then, P announced last week he was desperate to swim.  Desperate.  Shoot.  Public pools in Brooklyn intimidated me.  Beyond the great schlep, there were all of the rules.   Like, white t-shirts only (gang issues.)  The child, nor I, even own white t-shirts.  You are allowed nothing but a towel into the pool area.  Well, this kid doesn't travel lightly, so...  The list went on, but, fortunately, the kid never really needed more than the sprinklers there, so it was a non-issue.  With this sudden longing popping up here though, I hoped it would be a bit easier, kinda like everything else has been so far ;)  And, um, yah, it was :)

The free pool time today lasted for three hours.  You can tell from the shots, it still wasn't that busy.  Pool time in July, to a NYer or Kansan with red hair (and a blonde child) means one thing, really: sunburn (or stroke;) The typical high 70's here during the summer made that a non-issue.  I was neither hot nor cold, sunstruck nor miserable.  When I was hungry (duh, pregnant;) there was a nice chair for me to sit in by the pool and eat my snack.  There were a million eager lifeguards on duty so that my son, were he to somehow start to drown in the balmy, 84 degree heated, gradually deepening wading pool (that never got higher than his chin), I needn't worry about being fast enough on my fattening feet.  The bathrooms were so clean I would have eaten off of the floor and the after-shower had the child proclaiming he is now a "shower lover."  Honestly, I was shocked, shocked at how delightful of an experience the whole thing was.  We plan to go back tomorrow.

 And all of this, while surrounded by towering trees and a gorgeous park (minutes from our house)!  I keep pinching myself...

 He even got to do a water slide.  

The kid also decided he really, really wanted to check out the science museum.  OMSI is not AMNH (sob) but, its pretty darn cool.  And really close to our house.  And the kid didn't say anything about the missing dinosaurs...  Of course, they had a huge sand area, so, really, he could have given a shit less :)  We also met up with some fantastic unschooling friends, so P had a blast.  (Its the only shot I thought to take - sorry for the lame photo:)

I think one of the reasons we're so happy to hang at home now is due to the luck we had with this rental.  P is reeeeally enamored with the neighbor boys and they play a Lot.  The younger one may not be the best match for P, and the older one is introducing the Little Man to more "typical" kid behaviors (I'm so used to being around unschooled/consensually parented kids that mouthy, sarcastic or judgemental chitchat is vividly surprising to me) but, they climb back and forth over the fence to bang sticks and such and I try and stay out of it lest my Mama Bear-ness fuck up his fun :)

The other big boon to home happiness is this yard!  What was basic when we moved in has blossomed in the last month of sunshine into a wonderland. As P and I enjoyed (3-D!!!) sidewalk chalk tonight, I looked around the front yard and, once again, couldn't believe I actually live here.  Its kinda fun feeling lucky :)

 Its a small yard, but its shockingly pretty to me!