Blowin' In The Wind

How many times must we go to the park, before we get tired of it? Yes, 'n' how many slides can my mommy send me down before she puts away her camera? The answers my friends, are blowin' in the winds, the answers are blowin' in the winds.

OK. Enough of my silliness. Yes, we took another trip to the park on Friday due to the weather being so PUURRRFECT. As you can see, I tried to mix up the photo collage by snapping more than the children on playground equipment.

Fall is here in full swing, and I love it. We even had to turn on our heater over the weekend — daytime and nighttime. The children's room have gotten to the point of being too cold at night so I took Anna and Alexander shopping yesterday morning for some one-piece PJs with feet. They're the same brand I got them last winter, and Alexander is already up two sizes. Anna's up one size.

This morning, while Anna was in school, I took Alexander to a friend's house to meet with a group of several other moms and their toddlers. This was actually a get-to-know you kind of get-together of our MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) small discussion groups. We basically had coffee, chatted and strolled our kids around the block (me with an empty seat in my twin stroller). I'm excited because there is a Russian girl in our group! She has a very cute little white-haired, blue-eyed 13-month-old boy named Dimitry. She grew up on the extreme eastern side of Russia in a very small and, apparently, very poor town. She has a sister who just moved from Ft. Worth to Austin, Texas, but all the rest of her family remains in Russia. She said she spent a month in Russia with her family this summer and doesn't miss it. I tried not to pry too much, but I think what she doesn't miss is the poor condition of her area, and I can understand that. Anna was born in and was living in a very poor area. However, as I've told Mikel before, I feel like I do, in some way I'm not sure I can put my finger on, miss Russia and really can't stop thinking about it or reading history books. I've just started another one about the Russian Revolution of 1917, specifically, how Lenin and the Bolsheviki party took control of what seems to me by comparison a people's mild overthrow of the monarchy system. Anyway, my new friend went to college in San Francisco then went back to Russia for several years. She's been back in the state for two years, after having met her husband online!

The big MOPS group just started meeting again last week. We'll meet twice a month. Since the group meets on Tuesdays, I'll only have Alexander with me. And that will be so much easier than last year. It was going to be easier anyway now that both children are fully mobile and can walk nicely beside me or hold my hand (in the parking lot) and because I no longer feel the need to pack 100 pounds of toddler gear into my bag and such as.

The dynamics have really changed since Anna began school. I remember how quiet it was with just Alexander and me after Anna went to school for the first time last week. We looked at each other and said, "Now what?" I didn't fully appreciate just how much the children keep each other entertained.