Today I did something Completely Different!
One of the mothers on an attachment parenting list for locals here is doing some research around Life’s Birth Stories – a show I avoided while pregnant with Emily but watched obsessively while pregnant with Noah – and how there is a very set narrative that normalizes medical intervention, blah blah blah feminist/midwifery focus blah blah blah (those are not bad blahs, I just don’t want to try to present her research here.)
For me it was like manna from heaven – a place to bring your kids (because AP stuff you can almost always bring your kids) and eat almonds and dates (vegan, natural, whole foods) and hang out and talk and think about how stories were presented a particular way and perhaps why and share actual stories, but also talk about how those are also constructed and there is a set vocabulary and drink decaff espresso during the whole thing and – man. Everyone turned out to be a writer too.
All this in a tiny apartment (tiny for three people) in Kensington, which is sort of like you think Greenwich village was at some idealized point in time. Adjacent to U of T and Chinatown; oddball second hand shops mixed in with places to get free trade coffee.
Although I think I probably would have issues adjusting to the apartment sharing with a baby thing, it was stacked with books and hung with art and just had a really nice feel. And I’m babbling, because it was just that nice. I think I need to start a writing group or something.
To get there I chose to park near my parents’ and then take Noah on the streetcar in the Ergo; I didn’t really want to pay to park in Kensington, or fight around parking, but I also just wanted to take Noah on his first streetcar ride. Using the carrier instead of a stroller was great (streetcars are hard, with strollers, ’cause they’re high) and Noah was a dream. He sat on my lap and was intrigued by the people getting on and off; the doors opening and closing; the ‘stop requested’ sign lighting up and turning off; dogs and trucks and cats outside, and oh my all those urban things. And I really enjoyed sitting with him rather than being up in front driving.
He was also great at the meeting and the little scamp was walking back and forth between a chalk/metal board and a box of magnets, in a little alcove behind a futon. If I looked at him, he’d sit down. You see, around Carl and I, the boy cannot walk, nor in wide open space (unless he wants to run holding a ball), nor if one is holding onto his hand. But if you aren’t looking at him and he has something interesting to do in a secure feeling and confined space, he walks around doing it.
Coming back he nestled into me and slept the whole way.
It was a great day. I miss downtown, a little, but surprise! It’s still there! And it actually is getting easier to get there.
I think I will have to set up some kind of monthly reason to go down and explore.
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