The Swings at Little Toots Park

We had Fergus' first birthday party yesterday at Little Toot's Park.  It's about a five minute walk from our house.  As my Mom said, "it's the perfect place to have a party."  For so many reasons.  Grills.  Picnic tables.  Good Shade.  Baby Swings.  Slides.  Sand.  Lots of soccer playing space.  Public art that's fun to climb on.  Never mind the best reason: I don't have to clean the house!

It has me thinking about public space.  Since moving in to our place, I've used parks, the library, the pool, the bike path, the restaurants and the river much more.  I think common grounds are under-utilized in our lives.  Is this connected to the size of our homes?  I am reminded of two Latin cultures I've lived in where the homes are much smaller and people outside more.  Granted, climate may have something to do with this.  But for me--rain, sleet, snow or shine--when the walls start to close in, I treat my town like an extension of my living room.  Because I have to.

Gracie and Fergus swing while their mamas get some talking done.

Take the Swings at Little Toots.  When mama needs some therapy time, it's time to get in those swings, kiddos.  I can't count how many friends I've met, and meaningful conversations I've had while pushing, pushing, pushing.  

If it looks like a day when exercise won't happen for me,  we treat the stroller like our car and the bike path like our commute.  Let's walk to Ace Hardware!  Let's walk to Bamboo Market!  Let's walk to the post office!  In this way we can turn mundane car errands into invigorating treasure hunts.   A stop at the park on the way to the hardware store where popcorn is waiting for us is much more fun than a drive in the hot car where I have to literally force the kids into their car seats (not pretty).

So, this is a shout out to all the fantastic public space in our town.  Thanks for helping to pay for it, community!  My family is so blessed to use it nearly every single day!  Hope to see you out there!

Sleep

Sleep: the thing I have ruminated over and talked incessantly about this last year.  Why the last year?  Well, about a year ago, our darling Fergus was born.  He was sent for many reasons, one of which was to put us in our place after all our bragging and credit taking for how well his older brother sleeps.  We thought it had something to do with us!  We thought we did such a great job with "sleep training." HA HA HA!  HA HA! HA!  I can laugh now.  I could also go on and on about how challenging the last year has been in that department.  But I won't.  Catch me at the swings in Little Toots Park, and maybe that will be your chance to hear about it.   But for now, I'd like to use it to illuminate a deficiency in our (marvelous) small home.  We have very little in the way of sleep options.

Take a typical night: boys (presumably) fall asleep in their room.  Fergus first, Mason second.  If we upset this order by putting them in there awake together, peek-a-boo and blanket toss and giggle fest will ensue for about two hours.  Which is cute.  But not so cute when they predictably wake up at 6 am sharp, except extra grumpy.  Then Scott and I have our romantic time which involves at least an hour of dishes, laundry, food, dishes, laundry, food, dishes, laundry, food.  Clean up the floor and put the couch cushions back.  Read between two and ten pages in our books and then pass out.  Half an hour later, like clock work, Fergus starts screaming.  And then two hours later again.  And then two hours later again.  And then two hours later again.  You get my drift.  So should one of us be loosing our minds after a YEAR of this, where would one go in our house?  NO WHERE!  The couch is even closer to the little beasties.

We've considered sleeping in the garage, the car, and the motel down the street.  I've considered going out for a pack of cigarettes and not coming back.  Just kidding.  Sort-of.

So, as you can see dear reader, there are good, sane reasons for extra bedrooms.  This is where "Nana's Casita" comes in.  Hopefully mom realizes that in addition to being a cozy zone for her, we will be in there taking turns ACTUALLY SLEEPING!!

Love you Fergus!!!  Happy Birthday!

We do need to get away!

Attempting to relax after work.

So it is a tad unrealistic to think we all don't need some personal space.  I'm just not sure it needs to be in a separate wing of our home.  I'm a big fan of leaving the house to relax anyway; who wants to look around and see all there is to do?  I, for one, thank all who voted in and are paying for our amazing public library.  It is my second living room, without the vacuuming.  I knew we were comfortable there when Mason did his first public pottying.  Or when the clerks mention they haven't seen us for a few days.

Family Space

Spurred by many, many comments on my last post (most of which were upon seeing my beloved readers around town--love comments written on the blog as well ;), I've been thinking a lot about families in their houses.  And how dwellings contributes to how families work.  Firstly, I've realized I have a goal: I don't want the size of our house to be what our kids remember about it.  I don't want them to recognize it's "smaller" or "bigger" than other homes.  Or has more or less stuff.   What I hope they remember about our home is that it is where they felt safe and loved and (mostly) organized.  Where they laughed a lot,  slept really well, and enjoyed their mother's amazing cooking :)

What is home?  Inside and outside? What do we remember about our childhood homes and how does that impact what we build on this fine earth?  Certainly, the (screaming) man mentioned in the last post who built the 11,000sf home was impacted by his upbringing: "having lots of room is a good thing. Look, he says, his wife grew up in the projects of New Haven, and he grew up without much. He always shared a room with his brother."   Uh-Oh.  Should I be worried that Mason and Fergus will be building homes over 11X as big as ours because they are sharing a room?  Contrast this man with many friends who, even though they have enough bedrooms to give everyone their own, are purposely putting their kids together.  They have such fond memories of sharing.


Certainly, I have limited control over what my boys will remember.  Here we spend all this money on activities and they'll probably just remember digging worms in the garden.  Yet, big house or small house, what's happening inside is what matters most.   Why, exactly, do we need to get away from each other?