1/31/09 The Walk

I've grown to like going nowhere on Saturday mornings. Dave takes Gabriel to his piano lesson, so I hang around with Julian and Katrina and give them much-needed home downtime. I'm not completely idle; I get laundry done and take care of various things around the house, but nothing so encompassing that I can't spend time with the younger two.

Today it was such a nice day I decided to walk to a mailbox with Katrina. Sounds minor, certainly not worth a blog post, but I rarely have opportunities to just walk around with the kids, let alone with just Katrina. If we're walking somewhere with the boys, Katrina goes in the stroller (which she loves).

She was all for the idea of a walk, grabbed her favorite Kitty-Kat, informed me pointedly that it was time to zip her jacket, and we went out. She held my hand the whole time, kept moving, and followed my instructions, making it very logistically easy. Not all two-year-olds are so cooperative, but Katrina's not one of those adventurous gotta-go-everywhere sort of toddlers. She was so fun, talking the whole time, repeating anything I pointed out, observing things around her at every new view. Having her with me invited smiles and waves from every passerby, partly because I was walking so slowly, but also in no small part because how cute is a little toddler walking along so happily, smiling and chatting, clutching a kitty toy?

We went the long way around and got home before it got old for her, but I think she could have gone on a lot longer.

I met two neighbors today, in separate conversations, and had a nice time talking with both of them. I always feel so bad explaining that we don't really live here, we're moving out soon, just as we're starting to dig in. Everyone I talk to around here really likes living here. They have deeper reasons for being here than primarily the school district's test scores, as is often the case in our "real" neighborhood.

It was nice spending the day walking with Katrina and chatting with neighbors, instead of working on remodeling stuff. With a headache, a back that's still shaky from my near miss last weekend (half an hour of sitting puts my feet and lower legs into total pins-and-needles), and recovering from a nasty leg cramp on Friday, I took a nap this afternoon. But I woke up in the middle of it realizing that the painters had missed a set of doors.

1/31/09