local domestic fauna

[flea]

mr. flea and the children - Casper on her bike - left 45 minutes ago to visit neighbors and set up a playdate for tomorrow. I feel like I ought to go find them, but I also feel like I should seize the moment and take a nap. mr. flea has been doing dissertation revisions which have taken much longer than I expected, and I've been unpacking and keeping the (very tired but non-napping) children from killing each other. The revisions were submitted today so I hope he can start carrying his weight now.

Neighbors:
Across the way we have ER doctor (we live 3 blocks from the hospital), children Hannah and Owen. We met them when we closed and they dropped off goodies today while we were out.
Next door (met only by email so far; they are on vacation), Habitat for Humanity honcho, children Spencer and Ruby.
Other next door, director of foundation for coral reefs (Mother heard "floral wreaths," hee), not sure if the house is 2 apartments? Someone who isn't the person we met is gardening there now, could be a gardener or another household member.
Three houses down, Assistant Principal at Neighborhood school, children Allison and Henry. That's where mr. flea is now - Allison is also a rising K. They came by the first night with cookies and asked if we've received our printed neighborhood directory yet (!! even Trinity Park didn't go that far!)

I am painfully aware that I ought to be being social and making friends as much for my kids' sake as my own, but I am just not up to it right now. Luckily mr. flea is better at small talk.

We visited the (public) library this morning, and it's big and newish (1992) and well-budgeted, clearly. They're open 9-9 every week day, 9-6 Sat, and 2-6 Sun, for example. Thursday morning there is a children's program called "Pirate School"!

Comments

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

Living in a neighborhood with its own directory would scare the everliving crap out of me. You already know the names of more people in your neighborhood than I do in mine.

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

Well, you don't ride up and down in front of your house on the sidewalk on your bicycle, do you? (Not being 4 years old.) I think it's partly a southern thing, possibly a kids-having thing, possibly a houses-built-close-together-older-neighborhood-with-sidewalks thing.

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

I do ride my bicycle up and down my street, actually, but no one's ever invited me to a playdate. I can't ride on the sidewalk because we don't have any of that fancy city stuff out here in the sticks.

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

It's funny, D and I both meet our neighbors all independently. I've had a couple of them take a while to figure out that we're together/married, but when either of us has K they're like OH, you're the OTHER HALF.

But then they think we actually communicate or something and expect us to give the other messages, which is a major FAIL.

[loligo.livejournal.com]

I'm so jealous your neighborhood has kids! The other house we were considering, in the "better" school district, was on a street that clearly had lots of houses with kids, but our tiny street here is all retirees and singletons. The nearest street with small kids is about a ten minute walk away, so that's not really doable for Chuckles yet.