Friday, September 12, 2003
I am still neglecting my side of the blog :)
Hallelujah! Our neighbors finally put up a fence, and a wood one at that! We are now planning how to do the same in our yard, and are still debating chain versus wood. I think it would be weird to have one type up against another, so we might do wood on that side and chain link on the other, but we have not decided.
In the meantime, it is time to do some yard maintenance prior to the fence going up. The arbor I bought for the back slab is great, and just fits on the patio, but funnels water directly at the already crumbling foundation of our French Doors (here's to you, Mr. Builder man). We are going to expand the size, and I think we're leaning at getting a professional to do it, but haven't shopped for quotes yet. In the meantime, a neighbor decided to throw away all of her outside yard toys, and we got a quite servicable sandbox and slide for Parker.
As Kristin pointed out, our monitor has died, and finding a repair place to look at it was a real pain in the neck. Finally, I went to some dusty old television repair shop. The technician looked like a cross between Bill Nye the Science Guy and Kris Kristofferson, with a salt and pepper beard and a bird's nest of wavy hair. Naturally, he and his partner were watching the X Files. He really hemmed and hawed about his ability to fix it, but finally decided to give it a go as our mobitor convenintly has a trap door in the back for reaching critical electronics, which many monitors don't have. Still, he was overly pessimistic, so we might be shopping for a new one shortly. Of course, until we get our home network up and running agin, we can always use the teeny monitor.
After a week of being cooped up with his sick mom, Parker finally got to cut loose for a short time at the Pizza place and at the supermarket. At both places he found children to play with briefly, and had a blast with both. However, their mothers were a lot less inclined to let their children roam about and have fun. At the pizza place, the little girl who tried to show Parker how to hop was swatted by her mom for getting ready to have a bowel movement without saying she needed to go to the bathroom. At the Publix, Kyle, a five or six year old black boy, tried to get Parker to play tag with him, but his mother kept telling him to quit it and finally made him leave. Can't parents let their children be kids? I know they probably had a long day, but they were having fun. I was perfectly fine with letting Parker run about, as long as I could see him.
Sadly, after Kyle left, Parker wandered about the store looking for him. Kyle had been doing these jerky dance moves and once fell on his but in the middle of the ailse. Parker imitated this behavior up one ailse and down the other while looking for him.
Tomorrow the dads of the moms baby group will be getting together for a Play Group. I think I'll take Parker.
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