Exhausted.
Apr. 7th, 2006 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaAlex crashed just before story hour today, and took a 40-minute nap - from 9:30 to 10:10am. She didn't wake up when our friends Emily and Zoe knocked at the door and came in, or when Zoe screeched, or when I put her shoes on. Just as I was wondering aloud whether I could get her into the stroller without waking her up, she finally opened her eyes as I lifted her to my shoulder. Surely, it seemed, today of all days would be a two-nap day.
Nope.
Nine consecutive hours of awake toddler are too many.
We went for a long walk this afternoon and explored a new park. It's not actually very far from the house, and I've often glimpsed the corner of it while driving, but I'd never actually seen it up close. It's promising: a vast stretch of grass, lined with brick paths and dotted with trees. Mostly deserted. Alex enjoyed a long and vigorous crawl, occasionally stopping for nature exploration. Lots of tiny, tiny purple flowers that were not forget-me-nots, and a fair number of dandelions. Plus sticks!
There was a police car parked under some trees at the far end of the park. At one point it started up and drove directly across the grass to the park entrance, where the cop spent a fair amount of time talking to two men who had just wandered in. Then it went back to the far corner to wait. So when we were ready to go, I took a detour down to that end and asked if it was safe to bring my child to the park.
"In the daytime, sure," he said. "I wouldn't come here after dark. People come here to use drugs."
Why was he staking the park out at 4:30pm, then? "I'm just trying to keep cool."
Our front door locks with a deadbolt, but the doorknob plate has one of those enormous inch-long ancient keyholes - probably as old as the house itself. We don't have a key for it.
This afternoon I found Alex standing on tiptoes with my keyring in her hand, trying her damnedest to put a key into the keyhole. I don't know how she figured out that that's what it's for! It doesn't look anything like the locks she watches us open.
Nope.
Nine consecutive hours of awake toddler are too many.
We went for a long walk this afternoon and explored a new park. It's not actually very far from the house, and I've often glimpsed the corner of it while driving, but I'd never actually seen it up close. It's promising: a vast stretch of grass, lined with brick paths and dotted with trees. Mostly deserted. Alex enjoyed a long and vigorous crawl, occasionally stopping for nature exploration. Lots of tiny, tiny purple flowers that were not forget-me-nots, and a fair number of dandelions. Plus sticks!
There was a police car parked under some trees at the far end of the park. At one point it started up and drove directly across the grass to the park entrance, where the cop spent a fair amount of time talking to two men who had just wandered in. Then it went back to the far corner to wait. So when we were ready to go, I took a detour down to that end and asked if it was safe to bring my child to the park.
"In the daytime, sure," he said. "I wouldn't come here after dark. People come here to use drugs."
Why was he staking the park out at 4:30pm, then? "I'm just trying to keep cool."
Our front door locks with a deadbolt, but the doorknob plate has one of those enormous inch-long ancient keyholes - probably as old as the house itself. We don't have a key for it.
This afternoon I found Alex standing on tiptoes with my keyring in her hand, trying her damnedest to put a key into the keyhole. I don't know how she figured out that that's what it's for! It doesn't look anything like the locks she watches us open.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-04-08 06:45 pm (UTC)When my youngest sister (now 10) was around Alex's age, maybe a bit older, she also had a facination with keys. She'd play with them, hide them, man did she love keys. One day, Mom had to leave to pick up our other sister. Her keys where NOWHERE to be found. Not even in the couch cushions, youngest sister's favorite place to hide anything and everything. We called a friend to bring other sister home. Other sister came in and up through the basement. When she opened the door, something jingled. There, in a keyhole as you describe, were our mother's car keys.
We have an exterior door with a keyhole like that, and we do have (and use) the key for it. So perhaps that's where she figured it out. Who knows? We made it a point to keep keys out of her sight for the next couple years, lest we find ourselves stranded looking for missing keys again :)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-08 07:23 pm (UTC)