I certainly did not take any joy in Vicki's being sick today, but it meant that I got to stay home and hang out with Samson all day. We started the morning playing in the kitchen in the basement. He has toy food and carried the toy pickles and cookies with him for the next several hours. God, I would love to get inside that little head.
The whole spring in winter thing continues, so we took a nice walk this morning to get Vicki some cold/flu stuff from the drug store. It's like there's a whole world I miss by being at work all day. We chatted with senior citizens out for their morning constitutional, exchanged pleasantries with the guy at the coffee place, smiled at the lady waiting for the bus, and came really close to belting out the chorus of "People in Your Neighborhood" as we waited for the light to change. At least I did. Maybe next time.
Thursday is gym day for Samson, so I got to take him to his 45-minute play session. It was awesome. I'm amazed at how much more relaxed he is since I went with him in October. And the teachers and some of the moms [there was only one other dad there, and he looked vaguely witness-protection-programish] knew Samson --- which was both cool and weird.
The class is crowded, and one of the mothers confided to me how many "new people" there were. Something in her tone made me think she was trying to sound vaguely like an Edith Wharton character descrying the horde of arrivistes at the opera. Which of course is just ridiculous, so I looked at her and said "well, our family has been coming to this playgroup since the early 1700s..." People are so weird.
Perhaps the best thing about the gym is this thing they call "turtle time." Essentially, they take a big plastic turtle (probably a sandbox in its outdoor incarnation) and fill it with wiffle balls and other toys and let the kids just play for a few minutes by themselves. It was so amazing to watch my little guy playing --- if not exactly with, then at least around --- other kids and just totally doing his thing. He walked right into the middle of things, took a ball from a kid wearing a CBGB t-shirt [an unwise move, I thought], had it taken back, and found something else to play with.
After the gym we went to Baja Fresh for lunch. This is a weekly ritual for Samson and Vicki, and so all the people behind the counter wanted to know where she was. I told our cashier, Oscar, that she was sick, and he asked that I convey my condolences. I'm not kidding.
And then I felt weird being like "it's just a cold, man. I mean, it's not like she has Guinea Worm or something. Also, I think we'll have the kid's chicken quesadilla and a burrito mexicano for me." Actually, it was very nice of him to be concerned.
The line got very long after we'd already been served, and one woman called from her table to her friend in line "Hey Nancy? Nancy, I've got cash, just get me what you're having. Thanks, Nance." No sooner was she finished than I heard from the high-chair at my left "Nan-cee. Nan-cee. Nan-cee..." I don't think the woman heard him. She didn't look like she would have been amused if she had.
Anyway, it was a nice break in the week. Vicki's already feeling better. And I've got too much to do to miss another day of work. Besides it's supposed to rain tomorrow.
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