This weekend was supposed to be our mini-vacation in Provincetown via ferry, but with Hurricane Irene battering her way up to New England it seemed prudent to postpone the journey and hunker down at home. Knowing that we’d be confined to our condo rather than crossing Cape Cod Bay, I wasn’t too concerned about Hurricane Irene until I watched the news for about 10 minutes. I saw footage of water deluging, people evacuating, waves pounding, winds ripping, and a parade of New England governors beseeching the populace not to take this weather event lightly! Well, I was going to do just that, but the media convinced me otherwise. We’ll see tomorrow, when Irene’s brunt moves into the Boston region, if I’ll thank them for whipping me into a panicky frenzy.
Right now, it’s Saturday evening and it’s raining lightly, though we saw some insane downpours a few hours ago. We spent the morning running Little Boy ragged in the playground, trying to expend as much little boy energy as possible before the forced confinement with books, crayons, trains, and possibly no television. Luckily, last week the *most exciting thing* happened to Little Boy when Daddy brought home a real bicycle with training wheels, a present from a former colleague who was eager to get it out of her garage. After a difficult 30 minutes of trying to pedal but not quite getting the motion, Little Boy was soon speeding along the sidewalk with unnerving velocity. He’s so proud of himself for being on a big boy’s bicycle. He loves to go to the playground to pedal around the paved basketball court and lord his bicycle over the other 3-year olds, none of whom apparently have parents as indulgent and crazy as us.
So we were at the playground this afternoon when the first trickles of Irene began to fall from the dark sky, and Mr. P and I began urging Little Boy to go home, to pedal faster, as the rain grew heavy. Little Boy obliged until we were halfway home, and then he turned to me and said “Mommy! Fingers wet!” He was very upset about this. By this point, we were all dripping with rain, so we began to push him on his bicycle, running down the sidewalk as he howled with displeasure. He does not like being wet, although he loves swimming and bathing. We hurried into the house to dry off. If anything, the whole experience turned him off to the idea of going outside in the rain… a sentiment that I hope outlasts the duration of Hurricane Irene…
