You Know You're Raising Your Kid In the City When...
So the other day she came home from being with Daddy all day and went straight to having a nap -- a marathon nap. After two and a half hours, she finally woke up. I always take her outside in the afternoon after she wakes up but this time it was getting dark. I suited us both up as fast as I could and we high-tailed it to the park down the street. When we got there it was still light enough but there were these two dudes standing outside a white pervy van smoking something.
Now, anyone who grew up where I grew up wouldn't normally be bothered by this. You'd just think, "oh there's two dudes smoking something in the park" and then you'd proceed to plunk your child on the swing next to them and ask them how their day was going. But, here in the city it's different. You try that here and you'd probably end up on the 5 o'clock news -- I might be stereotyping a little and I'm OK with that... So, we strolled right on past.
I wanted her to be able to run around but the other park I knew of was too far and it was getting darker. So, we just strolled and strolled until we hit... Blockbuster Video!! Perfect! There was plenty of room for her to roam around, people to see, things to look at and I could just pretend I was looking for a movie! They don't need to know that I don't even own a TV...
I took her inside and we went to the back of the store to "look at movies". A nice young man came to ask if I was finding everything OK. I answered back, "I sure am!" Hehe :) Unfortunately, she wasn't in the mood for roaming around in Blockbuster. When we were in Edmonton with Uncle Garnet and Aunty Heather she loved it but with it being teething week, she wasn't in the mood. In fact, she got pretty freaked out with all the noise and the bright lights. So, we went outside. She climbed up and down the steps a couple of times and then we walked around the building. She stopped at all the doors to the businesses and made the people inside laugh and say, "oh look at the cute baby!" I couldn't hear them but I could read their lips. Then, we went to Starbucks where she pushed an empty chair over to the other side of the sidewalk. She finally decided she had enough; I put her back in the stroller and returned home.
All in all it was a nice outing :) It's nice to know that we always have somewhere for her to go and run around, even when it's dark and there's sketchy people smoking funny stuff in our park.
Now, anyone who grew up where I grew up wouldn't normally be bothered by this. You'd just think, "oh there's two dudes smoking something in the park" and then you'd proceed to plunk your child on the swing next to them and ask them how their day was going. But, here in the city it's different. You try that here and you'd probably end up on the 5 o'clock news -- I might be stereotyping a little and I'm OK with that... So, we strolled right on past.
I wanted her to be able to run around but the other park I knew of was too far and it was getting darker. So, we just strolled and strolled until we hit... Blockbuster Video!! Perfect! There was plenty of room for her to roam around, people to see, things to look at and I could just pretend I was looking for a movie! They don't need to know that I don't even own a TV...
I took her inside and we went to the back of the store to "look at movies". A nice young man came to ask if I was finding everything OK. I answered back, "I sure am!" Hehe :) Unfortunately, she wasn't in the mood for roaming around in Blockbuster. When we were in Edmonton with Uncle Garnet and Aunty Heather she loved it but with it being teething week, she wasn't in the mood. In fact, she got pretty freaked out with all the noise and the bright lights. So, we went outside. She climbed up and down the steps a couple of times and then we walked around the building. She stopped at all the doors to the businesses and made the people inside laugh and say, "oh look at the cute baby!" I couldn't hear them but I could read their lips. Then, we went to Starbucks where she pushed an empty chair over to the other side of the sidewalk. She finally decided she had enough; I put her back in the stroller and returned home.
All in all it was a nice outing :) It's nice to know that we always have somewhere for her to go and run around, even when it's dark and there's sketchy people smoking funny stuff in our park.
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