After school

While we were making dinner this evening, my mom asked, "Is there anything I can do for you?" Apparently we don't say that enough around our house. Elias's jaw dropped, he looked with awe at his grandmother, and he gasped: "Oh, do something special for us!"

Elias's school day ends no later than 13:00 every weekday, which means that in theory we have lots of afternoon free time to spend in culturally or physically edifying ways. In practice, Elias is tired of edification. We have finally found a compromise between his desire not to go anywhere and my desire not to stay inside being driven nuts by a hyper child: the school playground.

Most of Elias's new buddies attend a very laid-back after-school program at his school. There was no room for Elias, but the director said the playground is public space and he should come by and play with the kids when they go out to play, from 15:00-17:00 every day. As I'm still responsible for him, I can't stray far, so while he's busy playing monkey-in-the-middle and jumping rope, I jog circle eights around the block and across the school yard. Preliminary data suggest that if Elias falls down and breaks an arm, he won't have to wait more than 3 minutes and 35 seconds for me to pass by. Today I did about seven miles. The scenery wasn't as varied as up in the hills, but I did get ample opportunities to observe the goth Realschule (middle school) kids experimenting with cigarettes, iPods, and budding sexuality at the bus stop.