Trekhprudny Lane

Where else but Moscow could toddler play groups be grueling? We're just back from one and all three of us are utterly exhausted and covered in slop. With Lula in the sling, EB (mostly) restrained by the hand, and my pockets stuffed (since there's no room in this equation for a purse), we spend an hour or more crawling through the soppy streets, wading through puddles, sprayed by traffic, up and down and up and down innumerable stairwells, sweating underground and then leaning into sleety wind on the street, and then it's just as long and difficult coming home -- all for a mug of coffee, a croissant and some impersonal banter for me, and for the girls an hour with bright plastic toys that talk and sing. And the cajoling required to keep EB moving... that's the worst part. I try to dress like I did in Chicago but I need combat boots and a fishing vest for this job, really. Thus we only attempt this once a month or so.  

It's tiring to be at war with your environment. I see why many women with children tend to be very particular about having nice homes -- why homekeeping and motherhood go so closely together. It's not necessarily an aesthetic concern, or following fashion. It's that, with small ones, much of the time, you're forced to stay in place and just be... to be attentive, patient, available, butler-like almost, just waiting and watching, and that can be a terrible bore if your environment is grating, if you're trying to shut out the sights and sounds. If, on the other hand, your surroundings include pockets of real loveliness, they can feed you, sustain you, keep you interested. We feed off of our surroundings when forced to stand still. Maybe I sound like James Jackson Jarves but I can see why the Progressives thought that beauty, whether in shop windows or well-designed lampposts or public parks, improved the moral fiber of American society. :)