Remember when autumn meant things like new plush sweaters, lazy daytime naps and Noveau Beaujolais? I used to love that first smell of winter in the air but now that I have a two year old, autumn and impending winter mean one thing.
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO EACH DAY NOW THAT WE CAN’T GO OUTSIDE?
In the summer Mamie and I would go to the playground every day, have fun in the sun, cool off in the sprinklers and then conk out for 3 hours in the afternoon (yes, both of us.) I remember strolling her home thinking about how hard those early months were, but this, this was easy. Nah, this motherhood thing ain’t hard at all, I thought.
So of course it had to end.
Now, oh my God, every day is like, well, we can go to the ten dollar a day play space or to the bookstore or stay in and watch endless videos – or the same one video -- and sing songs in funny voices until one of us cries (usually me.) Then Mommy can pray for a three-hour nap, but that won’t happen because no energy was expended doing things like reading books or making shoes out of Playdoh. Playdates? They never seem to work out for us. One kid is always napping late, or early, or is sick or the mom doesn’t want to go to so-and so’s house because it is so incredibly filthy and last time we went Mamie tried to eat a dust bunny.
You’d think that in Park Slope, Brooklyn, home to ten zillion kids – and more a ‘comin’, that there would be more indoor play spots. But there aren’t. And yes, we do classes. Mamie takes a tumbling/gymnastics class and we do these hour and a half pre-pre-pre-school jobbies at the local synagogue called Terrific Twos. But we need something else.
I was kvetching about this with another mom at the local sandpit in Harmony Playground just last week during the brief stint of that wonderful stuff called global warming. She shook her head lots and then told me about something new! and exciting! and different! to do with your kid. She was talking about Granny Hour. Basically Granny Hour happens every Tuesday morning for an hour at the local geriatric center here. Yes, exactly what I was thinking, FUN. It consists of” old folks with dementia sitting in a circle while little kids play in the middle.” And yeah, that’s kinda verbatim. I said that didn’t seem like much enjoyment, but then the mom said that kids don’t really care as long as there are toys around.
Hmm, I thought: time to line up those playdates. NOW.
