The unceremonious end to autumn has arrived and brought with it the arm-crossing, hurried pace of moms across Massachusetts trying to pick up their kids from school as quickly as possible. Gone already are the days of standing in the warm sun and lazily chatting with each other as one of us (maybe) keeps half an eye on the kids running amok in the parking lot or on the playground.
Oh, and Charlie has slunk off to a corner to eat wood chips in peace.
I miss those days acutely!
Although I whinge constantly about the upcoming weather, I can’t pretend that we haven’t had a divine–and even prolonged–fall. The girls and I have eaten up every moment of it, all the while gluttonously begging for more.
As the days and my patience grow shorter, I am adding new ways to entertain the kids to my repertoire. You know, so I don’t go nuts during the impending abominable snowdump. Temporarily, raking and jumping in leaves is providing some good laughs. Eventually, I’ll actually move the leaves to the compost bin. I got a great idea from the Interwebs to request coffee grounds from a local coffee shop to add nitrogen to the mix.
Museums are another newly introduced diversion. I would call my first jaunt into the city (to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum) only mildly successful, due to illegal picture-taking on the part of Triathlete Mom, followed by constant supervision of the uptight guards. Relax, man! Undaunted, we plan to try again, this time at more kid-friendly options like the Children’s Museum and Aquarium.
In the realm of outdoorsy activities, I am fully committed to relying on locals to teach my kids how to ice skate. I’ve already recruited a friend to the cause. Remember Laid-back Mom, from Vivi’s school? She’s Canadian, so of course her kid has been skating since she started walking. She gave me a lesson today on the difference between figure skates and hockey skates. Mine are figure, Nate’s are hockey, but I really had no idea there was a difference beyond that girls use figure and boys use hockey. Apparently, she has hockey skates because they are warmer, and something else I can’t remember. You see? I’m already a wealth of information on winter sports.