Glimpses

One of the things I find tricky about parenting is that you never know how things will turn out. Some days I feel like a good parent; on other days, I don't bring my best game. I have to hope that the good days will outweigh the bad days in the end. I hope that all the lessons I want to teach my son will take root and that he will end up a happy, productive, and healthy person. In the meantime, regardless of whatever happened today, I still have to get up and do it again tomorrow. Sometimes that means brushing off the fact that I returned home from work impatient and rolled my eyes when I had to play Grand Central Station with GeoTrax. Sometimes it means leaving behind my frustration with begging and whining and hoping that my child will be replaced with a pleasant and compliant pod person. Sometimes it means collecting those moments where I made my child giggle or when he thanks me for a gesture so small that it breaks my heart a little. "This is really good bread Mama. Thank you for making it." Sometimes it means appreciating that a four year old is proud that he knows how to make grilled cheese sandwiches and pizza and help bake muffins.

Tonight was one of those moments. We were working on cajoling Duncan to finish his dinner. I bit my tongue as he pulled the carrots out of his salad and stacked them in a pile on his place mat. A million voices screamed inside my head:  "Don't play with your food!" Then he put all the carrots in his mouth at once. A million voices in my head lectured:  "You'll choke." (Only one adult actually said the words aloud, and it was not me)  I was biting back "Don't play with your food!" again when Duncan pulled all the vegetables he didn't like out of his salad bowl and piled them on his plate. And in the silence where I was actively working on NOT nagging my child, he said "I'm going to put these guys over here. This can be the compost pile."

And I will save that one in my mental scrapbook to remind me that this child is really learning all the lessons I'm trying to teach him about the environment. He is learning that we don't use paper napkins so that we can save trees. He is learning that we don't buy individually packaged snacks so that we can use less plastic. He is genuinely learning that vegetables and eggs come from a farm and that farmer Dan works hard so we can have lettuce. The compost pile has become part of his everyday life. I see a glimpse that this child of mine will grow into a good steward of the earth, and it makes me hopeful; not just hopeful that he will turn out okay, but hopeful that he and his peers will make a difference on this planet. They will grow up learning how to put it right.

Talk about a leap of faith.

Yankee Stadium '09

It was bittersweet: walking around The House That Ruth Built to get to the new Yankee Stadium. With the newness, fortunately, came an incredible ease at managing security. If you don't remember the trials we faced trying to get into Yankee Stadium with Duncan last summer, please revisit that post. We were better prepared for this trip, to be sure. We didn't even attempt to take in a diaper bag. Duncan's spare clothes were packaged in individual Zip-Loc bags, and remembering having our spray-on sunscreen thrown away last year, we took wipe-on sunscreen in individual, disposable packages. Everything was contained in a disposable, plastic grocery bag in case we had to surrender it. Happily, it was all easy. Sure, we had to turn on our cell phones and cameras to get in, but the security staff was quick, efficient, and pleasant.  

Yankee Stadium is notorious for its ticket prices, which have only increased with the move across the street. Our seats were pretty high up because that's what we could afford, but those seats are not as steep as the old stadium, and they are grouped in smaller sections. The end result was that I was only slightly uncomfortable being so high up because I could only really envision myself falling down 10 rows. The last time we sat that high up I wouldn't leave my seat. We sat high up once for a subway series and once for a game we attended with John and Kathy. When we were that high, I wouldn't even get up to go to the bathroom. Luckily, we also sat on the end of the row, which came in handy as we took Duncan on walks to keep him from getting bored. It was furiously hot up there, but we were only steps away from the concourse, which is covered but open, creating a nice wind tunnel that dropped the temperature at least 10 degrees. 

Concession stands were plentiful and lines reasonable. One of my favorite features of the new ball park is the calorie count listed next to all the food products. It turns out that a hot dog is about one of the lowest calorie items you can buy at a ball park at about 275 calories. A soft pretzel tops in at abut 600, slightly more than ice cream (530 - 590, depending on flavor). Some people are probably finding this excess of information disturbing; I find it comforting. I like knowing exactly what damage I'm doing to my diet. I liked thinking that ice cream was a better choice than a pretzel. Another feature I appreciated was the garbage. No, really. Yankee Stadium composts. No joke. Each bank of garbage bins has one can for trash, one for recyclables, and one for compost. They could use some signs to explain what people can compost, but it's a great start. I happened to notice that my plastic cup was compostable as well as the cardboard try they put our food in. I've been told that the new stadium is a fairly green structure, right down to the low flow toilets, and I was happy to hear it. But composting at Yankee Stadium...who would have thunk it.  

Duncan had a lot of fun. Granted, he told us later that his favorite part of the day was the train ride, and he did need to wander quite a bit during the game, but we made it through six innings, double how long we lasted last year. There was plenty for him to watch, and he enjoyed clapping and cheering with the crowd. He told us he was a Blue Jays fan, which is a step up. Last we knew, he supported the Red Sox. I don't think any of us watched much of the game. I watched Joe Girardi get ejected for contesting Jeter being called out stealing third when there was no tag. Jamie and Duncan were out walking. I missed some big action too while Duncan and I were walking down the ramps and up the stairs, but we enjoyed the atmosphere.

I'm not sure when we'll get back to Yankee Stadium again, probably not until Duncan will remember and appreciate it, but we're proud to say he saw the old stadium in its last season and the first season in the new one. The old and the new, the young and the old; life is good.