Wednesday, November 07, 2007

things...

A few recurring notions swirling around amidst dissertation chapter 3, a draft which is fantastically behind schedule. I suspect there is some relationship between these thoughts but I have neither the time nor the inclination to figure it out much less attempt to express it.

1. As I was cleaning her up after dinner, my two-year-old daughter looked at me with a smile and yelled, "Charge!" Somewhat taken aback by the noise ( I was, after all, wiping her hands at the time of her pronouncement) I took a step back. "Charge?" I asked tentatively. "Charge." She answered resolutely. "They say it at the Brewer's game." She did attend some games this past summer but it's been months. Amazing!

2. Our babysitter came for a bit this morning she took aforementioned daughter to the library. When they came back, she asked me about the library. The conversation went something like this:
"Did you have fun at the library? I know it's a pretty ugly building but they have a good children's section."
"We had a lot of fun. I was impressed by all the books. They had movies too."
"Yeah, they have a good selection. You can request movies through the library catalogue and go and pick them up when they're ready. We use it instead of netflix."
"I think I want to get a library membership. The person in line in front of us was paying $3. Is that how much it costs to join?"
"No. It's free. You just need to bring a bill or something with your Milwaukee address."
"Oh... so then do you pay a monthly fee or do they charge you per item?"
"It's the public library. It's absolutely free. Most of their programs have no cost whatsoever. It's paid for by tax money, grants, donations and things like that. Had you ever been to a public library before today?"
"Never. I don't know anything about them."

3. Yesterday the kids took phenomenal afternoon naps. Since I had gotten some good work done while they were sleeping, it had been a while since I left the neighborhood and it felt too cold for a really long walk outside, I suggested to my partner that we get everyone in the car and take a field trip to the mall and cap it off with dinner in the food court. First my partner asked if I was feeling OK. Then he suggested that I hand over the baby and return his spouse. However, I suggested a trip to the mall was a cultural experience for our children and it would be fun. Since we make it to the mall about 4 times a year and eat in the food court half as often, it's actually something different when we do go. Granted, if I HAD to go to the mall to make a purchase or for a social engagement I would be extremely disgruntled. In my mind it's kind of like the difference between camping out because it's fun every once in a while and living under an overpass because you've been dealt a shoddy hand. We are fortunate people who can afford to live in a neighborhood that is safe to walk around and has a variety of places to walk to. For many people, the mall is where you go - mall stores are the arbiter of consumer taste and mall eateries the arbiter of taste. My partner grew up in that world. I did not. There is no mall on my island home, no chain restaurants of any kind. Our visits to those places were rare, at least as rare as they are in my life today. ANYWAY, we drove to the mall and did an upstairs loop, stopped in one shop to buy some hair clips for E. and then headed downstairs where we spent 15 minutes in the little mall playground. After that we walked to the food court for a junk food dinner. It was awful and greasy and it hit the spot. We had the vegetarian sub (with mayo!!), fries and lemonade from STEAK ESCAPE, mozzarella sticks & the Martha's Vineyard salad from Arby's (or was it Wendy's?), and E. finished the meal with a baby sized vanilla "ice cream" from McDonald's - her first-ever McDonald's fare. It was a lovely evening.

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