Mid- to Late-Summer Adventures

Mid-Summer Adventures

Since coming back from Colorado, Marcus and I have just had an amazing summer. Poor Robert is jealous--he has to go into work everyday, have aggravating meetings, deal with assorted work-related stress, and we're just having a wonderful time enjoying each other and the city.

Marcus is taller (2-3T clothes), his feet have grown (size 9), he's explored every bathroom around Boston, and his sense of humor has expanded. "Know what, mommy?" he'll say. "No, what?" I say. He giggles. "Know what, mommy?" "No, what?" I say. Repeat. He can do this for the better part of an hour. He's developed a love for Fridays: if we say we're going to see a favorite friend later, he gets mad: "Don't say later, say next Friday!" he says. "Sunsdays" are also a favorite, and he loves playing in the "little room" (the living room).

His favorite book at the moment is a sort of memory/riddle book about a mother going to the beach with her baby. He laughs uproariously at the punchline each time. Before bed, we always read the same two books--a lovely saga about a cat and a dog who learned to become friends with each other, and a babywearing-around-the-world book with lots of pictures of babies and animals. He also loves blowing bubbles up on the roof, riding his bike back and forth, "locking" and "unlocking" his bike to the fence on the roof with a bungee cord (that's my city boy!),

"cooking" in his kitchen (usually while wearing his "cooking hat," shown above right), building elaborate Lego houses and trucks,

throwing bean bags, talking to and tying up and playing with two rolling wooden dogs,

and carting around a backpack of small stuffed animals that he unpacks and repacks.

Outside, he goes up to children and asks them if they want to play with him; he splashes teenagers at the Frog Pond and laughs when they give him good-natured outsized reactions; he walks up to adults he doesn't know when we're somewhere he feels comfortable (our local playground, etc.) and asks them questions ("What're you doing?" or "Why your baby crying?" are common ones); he greets his friends exhuberantly and defends them and their possessions fiercely against other children. Wherever we go, he loves playing with balls and is trying to climb every tree he sees.

We have playdates with Marissa and A. (and baby C.) at least once a week, sometimes riding together in a wagon and once releasing butterflies,

we see Miriam and Garrison every other week or so, and we've made some new friends and run into some old Isis ones around town. On Mondays we run errands, go to the library, and go food shopping if we need to. Tuesdays we go to Titus Sparrow Park for their kids' concerts,

then JP for the sprinkler parks, lunch out (usually Ula or City Feed sandwiches), and our CSA pick-up. Wednesdays we go to the Tenacity tennis lessons at Titus Sparrow.

Thursdays we go to the Tadpole playground on the Common for their Storymobile, then take a dip in the Frog Pond

and have lunch downtown (usually take-out from Chinatown, eaten in the Chinatown park). Fridays we go to the Greenway park near the North End for their Storymobile,

then splash in the "canal" and fountain, then walk through Haymarket on the way home. We've gone to a Saturday night family movie outdoors in the courtyard at the Prudential Mall, and we've also picnicked at a few of the Free Friday Flicks at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade (once to "Tangled" as a birthday celebration for me, catered by Sarah, once to "Toy Story 3" with a colleague of Robert's and her family).

Saturdays we go to Robert's softball games on the Common or on Constitution Beach and hang out and play and watch during the game. Sundays Marcus has been starting to go to Children's Church at Park Street, since he's ageing out of the nursery care. Of course, we see Great-Grandma Helena in Lynn once a week, either on Saturday or Sunday, depending on the rest of the weekend.

On August 10th, we joined a group of about twenty mothers and children to march from City Hall to Senators' Kerry's and Brown's offices, meeting briefly with each of their staffs (and having adventures going through security), asking the senators to "be our heroes" and sign the Safer Chemicals Act of 2011.

And finally, we've enjoyed a summer's worth of toddler-wearing, of course. Robert makes fun of me for taking and posting these pictures, but I think it's fun to document such a key part of our everyday life.