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poop beetle: charles river park
7.2002
YMCA day camp was a bust. A pretty expensive bust.
"But you don't know these things . . . until you do ", my husband tells me.
It was a learning experience. When I get some perspective on it and figure out the lesson, I will write about it. Right now I will just say, it was real dang sucky.
The baby is still going to Terri's house. He's having a ball. She is teaching him to swim. (one of the benefits I'd hoped Awais would get from the Y- but I digress).
I knew summer would be tricky. Awais' preschool just goes during the regular school year. I could have planned back in February to take the whole summer off- but that would have screwed Terri.
I talked to lots of other mothers about this. What to do? I was told in no uncertain terms, "You like your sitter? You do whatever it takes to keep her. Summer's not that long- deal with it".
I'm glad I did. Another mother whose baby used to go to Terri's- did do that, "I won't need you this summer. But probably will this fall."
Terri tells me, "That's what she thinks."
On the up side I'm spending some mostly good one-on-one time with Awais. He's bored out of his little mind and I struggle to stay focused, but remind myself- this time will go so fast.
Is a rhinoceros a mammal?
Is a hippo a mammal?
Is a dinosaur a mammal?
Is a frog a reptile? (I said yes- but he corrects me a few days later- "amphibian"
Is a lizard related to a dinosaur?
Is a rhino related to a dinosaur? (he shows me a picture of a dinosaur that looks just like a rhino).
Is a rhino a mammal?
What does "but" mean? Not your, you know . . . "butt".
We've been going to the Charles River Park, near our house. It is beautiful- and a good reminder of why we are trying to scrabble out a life in the big bad city.
Two brand new playgrounds- one for little kids, one for older- full of twisty tunnel slides. Also a wading pool/fountain. The water comes up to the knees of an adult. Four pipes spray water over the whole thing- there's the water dumping full force- there's the water sprinkling down pleasantly, there's the one with the multi sink-like flow of water that creates the sense of being in a tunnel and another one, equally interesting.
The water is so cold, only little children can stand it. Beautiful little children, from every country in the world. Benneton should do a commercial here.
When you get tired of the water you can walk down to the riverbank and feed old cheerios to the geese and ducks. You can watch Harvard's rowing team practice. The ice-cream truck stays permanently parked nearby. And McDonalds is just a walk away.
Its pretty much paradise. If you're going to do the whole work is at a stand-still, we're just running in place trying to get these children raised- this is the place to do it.
I read recently, the FBI is storming into Pakistani owned businesses- rifling they're books- carting everything away to be inspected by forensic accountants. They're looking for sources of Al-Qaida funding. The most recent incident I read about took place at a Jewelers in Tennessee.
Now, I don't want to sound as if we're so important, world events are going to genuinely impact our little graham cracker sprinkled lives . . . but I'm the accountant/bookkeeper at one particular Pakistani-owned business. Way before I stopped getting to deal with it on a regular basis, I was really bad at it. It will be so embarrassing trying to explain my "system" to the FBI.
I can feel myself about to run on into Geo-Political stuff. I'm going to save it for another post.
If you're in Boston area or will be visiting do not miss the Charles River Park. It's on Soldiers Field Road. Parking is available, they also have public bathrooms. Bring stale cereal.
