Transitions are hard for me, but I am sure we‘ll be in the swing of summer (in-person and online teaching) and all) before we know it.
Minnie is in love with parks.
Unfortunately, she is also MUCH TOO TINY to play safely on most of them.
So, I have been using this epoch between the semester and the start of summer (I will have to talk more about summer because I am really excited about it) to find the very best toddler parks in town. Expect a Madison mom roundup soon. But for now, some pictures of the ones we have enjoyed:
We are looking for a few things in our ideal park: ride-on toys, low-to-the-ground climbers, wide stairs that she can navigate on her own, slides that are fun enough but also not so tall that she’ll fall off and break her neck, somewhere to enjoy a pastry or some strawberries. Not too much to ask for, right?
Minne, who ate pizza, French fries, and ice cream for dinner because we are awesome parents, demanded “wawa,” or, more specifically, a “wawa baba” from the concession stand and delighted herself by throwing little fluffy white pollen balls from the trees into the air and screaming “BUBBO.”
Dorothy screamed “I am going to the park!” And streaked over to the Little League playground as soon as we pulled up. Ben and Minnie joined her briefly while I talked to a professor in my department whose son was also playing ball. I checked on Dorothy after I joined Ben and Minnie, but then we both got absorbed in the game. Finally, Minnie and I were ready (past ready) for bed, and I asked Ben to grab Dorothy for me so the girls and I could meet Jack at home.
AND HE COULD NOT FIND HER.
Before he alerted me to the problem, he scoured the pplayground and softball field, as well as the bathrooms, the concession stand, and some bushes at the perimeter of the park. Then we both sort of freaked out and started describing her to parents and kids at all 3 fields. Lots of kids reported seeing her and playing with her, but they didn’t know where she went. Dads joined in the hunt for a little girl with a curly blond ponytail in an orange dress and yellow Birks. Ben was about to get on the PA system and call for her (with the next step after that being calling the police) when word of her absence reached Coop on third base. As soon as his team’s side was retired, he ran to the dugout— where Dorothy and her softball friend were hanging out— and told her she was lost. Good old Cooper. He always knows where his sister is.
I have never been so happy to see someone in my entire life.
She claims she told me as she ran by that she was going to play behind Coop’s dougout (literally the farthest point from the playground she could find and still technically be in the confines of the Little League park), and that might be true. I was really watching Cooper bat because a 10 year-old playing with giant 12-year-olds is adorable, and I never really worry about Dorothy at baseball. She always knows where to find us, and we have always also been able to find her. But yikes. SO SCARY.
Speaking of Dorothy:
She performed a solo dance in her school’s talent show, and it was DARLING. The whole talent show was adorbs. I as especially touched by a 4th grader reciting the Gettysburg Address (I cried a little) and a cute little neighbor doing a card trick.
Instead of dance class this penultimate week of the rec season, Dorothy has had PHOTO WEEK instead. So, 4 times (!!) we have done full-out hair and makeup and gone to the studio for pics and a quick parking lot performance. Her studio has a cute little stage and awesome speakers from 2020 when the only performance they could have was a parking lot show.
When the three of us (Minnie is my constant companion) showed up on Tuesday, a musical theatre class was all dressed up like Mirabel and dancing to Bruno, and Minnie was CHARMED. She asked for “mo” (with word and sign) music, and she immediately took off her shoes and claimed the stage. Except for having to be suitcased off of there every time a class came out to perform, she was a delight all 3 days of pictures.
Booth by Karen Joy Fowler: I have been thinking about this book for DAYS. I did not love every page. The early middle was a muddle. BUT. The author's note at the end made me cry and reconsider the whole thing. Fowler is brilliant-- one of my very favorite authors. If you haven't read We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, then you should right away. Her book At Wit's End is unbelievably clever. She's terrific, and this book is excellent I have decided. **2022
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel: Oh wow! I adored this book. I also LOVED Station Eleven, but I was not wild about The Glass Hotel. This book, though, is like the very best combination of both of them. You should read it. **2022
Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott: I wish I had written this— read it right away! **2022
17 Books
7 books published in 2022
8 print book 9 audiobooks
111 books
39 books published in 2022
56 print books and 55 audiobooks
