Ever since we made the decision that I would stay home with Noah, I realized I spend an inordinate amount of my day keeping tabs on my street. Most days it's pretty quiet with the usual goings-on: parents dropping off their kids at the school down the street, dogwalkers out with their charges, and moms or nannies pushing strollers on the sidewalk. This is all ordinary in most neighborhoods. But then there are days like when I found the sewer sinkhole in the middle of our street and rather than just assuming the city would have someone out to fix it, or complaining about it to my neighbor, I got on the horn with the city's 311 non-emergency number. And then I called my alderman's office. And then I emailed my alderman's office. It still took the city over 3 months to come and fix it. I would know. I watched.
Last week some punk graffiti-ed the speed hump on our street. You better believe I called my alderman right away. I know when the old man across the street takes his smoke breaks on his front porch. I know when the neighbor to the east is "medicating" with his little friend MJ. I know exactly when the UPS truck rumbles down the street (approximately 3:15 pm everyday). I'm beginning to consider this the curse of the stay at home parent...especially when you live within spitting distance of all your neighbors. You know far too much. Or maybe this is a sign I need to get out more.
In other news, and because my mother demands pictures, Noah has reached that magical age where he can play by himself for extended periods of time. Do you have any idea how wonderful this is? Yes, you probably do but this is new to me. Before, he could entertain himself for, oh, 5 minutes and then he was all over me looking for attention. Today we reached a glorious HOUR of playtime before the whining set in. Miraculous! Angels singing! Sun shining! Literally! See for yourself:
Thank god for play trains. Especially the el cheapo ones from Ikea. Seriously.
We also encourage "no pants" play time.
Clearly Mommy pushed him past nap time so she could hit that one hour mark and brag about it on her blog.
2 comments:
Those pics are awesome. What's funny is I was all, "Is he wearing pants?" Heh. I don't judge as we are frequently without pants in our house.
When I was home on maternity leave and then, more recently, on bedrest, I was SO the Nosey Nelly. If it was happening on our block, I was on it like white on rice. Barb (our neighbor) is in her jammies! They added another bus route! The church across the street planted new flowers! The other neighbor spruced up the paint on their home! And on and on.
Love the pictures, especially that last one.
The playing alone took me by surprise. The other night, I was making dinner and suddenly realized Peanut wasn't pulling on my pants. Instead, she was quietly coloring in the other room. I did a little dance of joy.
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