Snippets

It seems all I think about lately is Dining with Monkeys. I haven’t felt an exciting blog entry or heck, a real essay, brewing for awhile now. Must be because I am in “editing the zine” mode.

So in lieu of a witty, well thought out entry, I bring you some snippets from our past few visits to the playground.

A few weeks ago, I found myself talking to an old college friend at Peabody Park about my former Peace Corps days while the monkeys ran around with giant water guns. At one point, my friend’s son grabbed one of the guns in an attempt to figure out what it was. I could tell my friend was a little concerned and all I could say was, “Sorry, I never figured I’d be the mom who let her kids run around with guns, but here I am.”

I somewhat redeemed myself a few days later when Satchel introduced one of the Peabody Park regulars, Adler, to seaweed. Adler’s dad usually lets him pick out a treat at the gas station on his way to the park. Treats I have seen include gum, peanuts, chips, etc. His dad and I were equally surprised when Adler announced, “Seaweed is good!” His dad looked at me and was like, “Where the heck do you buy seaweed?”

Speaking of Adler, he and Satchel were playing on the low bars by the swings soon after finishing off the seaweed. Adler looked at Satchel’s birthmark (see photo two entries below) and said, “What’s that?” Before I could answer, his dad said, “It’s paint.” I laughed and said, “No, that’s his birthmark.” Then Adler said in all seriousness, “Oh, I thought Satchel was part monkey.” His dad seemed pretty horrified by this, but I thought it was awesome. “He is most definitely part monkey,” I said much to Satchel’s delight.

One Sunday afternoon, we ran into RJA, aka Mr.Urf, and the Trio. I marveled at how well-behaved they were. S, the youngest, told me very matter of factly that her mommy (who was still quite pregnant at the time) put her panties in the bottom drawer so that her new baby sister could have her diapers in the top drawer. There were a few times that the Trio got into trouble, but it was all clearly due to one or more of them copying the behavior of Satchel the monkey boy. When it was finally time to leave, Mr. Urf said, “Ok time to go,” and all three of them quietly followed him to the car. What is that!?

One other interesting item I noted that day was that one of the park’s (presumably) homeless inhabitants was washing his socks in the water fountain.

On the homefront Satchel has been quite mean to his mommy and I can’t quite figure out what is going on. It seems to go as soon as it comes, but it is still unsettling. I asked him the other day why he didn’t like me anymore and he said, “Because I like Daddy and Daddy has big muscles.” I tried to pint out that I too had muscles—I flexed both of my arms and even my legs—but he was not impressed. “Well what about my boobs?” I asked. “Don’t those count for something? Daddy doesn’t have boobs that gave you milk for two years does he?” Quite adamantly he replied, “Boobs are not muscles!”

I think this may be somewhat linked to his current desire to be Mr. Independent. Satchel insisted that Warren take his training wheels off of his bike (even though he doesn’t know how to ride it without them yet) and he has been rallying for the removal of his floaties from his swimsuit (even though he doesn’t know how to swim without them yet). I guess a part of him thinks that he is ready to tackle the world without his mommy. He’s had a few occasions when he’s even said that he wished I was dead! I’m really looking forward to this phase being over.

I have noticed that part of his frustration with me stems from the fact that he thinks I am bugging him. For instance, there are several times every day that I have to ask him repeatedly to do something, like put on his shoes or pick up his toys. It’s like he is in another world and he just tunes me out. So by the tenth time I ask, he will yell, “Leave me alone!” or “Stop saying that!” Which is actually kind of funny, because he does the same thing to me—he will ask me a question over and over and over until I answer it. It’s kind of a what came first—the chicken or the egg dilemma.

Speaking of being in “another world,” Satchel asked me last night, “Is Elmo’s World in our world?”

Jiro is in the throws of the terrible two’s. Everything is a struggle and everything is “No!” Getting dressed, getting in and out of the car, eating, brushing teeth, everything! Things actually got to the point that Warren took all of the CDs out of the car. Yep, Jiro has been removed from his post as family DJ. The CDs are way on top of the computer armoire, just like all of the DVDs are on the very top shelf in the closet. (He hasn’t figured out where the CDs are yet, so we don’t have the daily pointing and begging that we do with the DVDs.) Poor Jiro.

On the bright side, we joined the Germantown Center last week so we can take the boys swimming to their hearts content. If you haven’t been there, it is pretty freaking cool. (And I don’t think too many things outside the I-40 loop are cool.) There’s an indoor and outdoor pool as well as a sprayground that makes Peabody Park look like a fancy sprinkler. You have to be a member to go, but we plan on going several times a week, so lemme know if any of yall wanna tag along as guests! You just have to promise to not look directly at me while I am in my swimming suit.

Ok that’s all I’ve got.