Back to Work Tomorrow
Today was my last day of freedom. After 11 straight days off ? 5 vacation days, 4 weekend days and 2 holidays ? I have to go back to work tomorrow. It kind of feels like the first day of elementary school in September after a long and successful summer vacation.
We went to the <a href="http://www.bostonkids.org/" target=_blank>Children?s Museum in Boston </a>today with the kids. Great place for active kids. What made it even greater was that there was no one there. Today was the first day back at school for kids and we got there right when it opened at 10 and it was dead. By the time we made it to this one area that is like Mecca for kids under 3, it was kind of crowded but that is ok. The Museum has a bunch of different themed sections for kids to play in. It was perfect with only a few other kids, and at times no other kids, but I can?t image the chaos when it is packed. After all, there is only so much kids will share dress up clothes and things that shoot out air and make noise and slides for golf balls and crap. It would be like an indoor Lord of the Flies with a bunch of kids. In the Mecca section I sat down with Ethan while Patti and Emily played and there were like 20 or 30 kids in there with a woman singing songs in the corner. It was really cool watching how kids interact with each other, how parents interact with their own and other kids, and how parents who are strangers interact with each other. The parents are so polite and the kids try but it?s not in their nature and they struggle.
I accidentally took out a little girl about Emily?s age. I was squatting down with Emily when she got up and ran around something. Not being used to a bunch of little kids around me, I turned the other direction to go after her and bumped into this little girl. She fell over but pretty softly and I picked her up and apologized to her and her dad, but the shock had set in. She screamed. The father was like me and was really nice about it and it was the type of thing that Emily would not even have cried but every kid is different and this little girl really cried. We were on to the next section and I went back to see if she was ok. Her mom was really nice and said she was tired and hungry and her crying had nothing to do with me trying to kill her but I knew she said that to make me feel better. I felt bad but like all things that happen to kids under 3 she will remember nothing of this time in her life when she is older which is kind of sad because for parents this time in their lives are extremely special and I wish Emily could remember but I know she won?t. That is part of the reason I keep this blog. I normally would not write in a journal but since it is online and digital and a cool website is wrapped around it I feel much better and am more diligent with writing things down.
When we were driving in the city Emily pointed at a big building and said ?what?s that? so I said ?it?s an office building? and she said ?I love office buildings, I love playing with toys?. Emily of course will not remember saying that but I will.
Tomorrow it is back to the land of adults and deadlines.