Backyard Jungle

If you are walking Clio home from daycare and you are in a hurry, there are two dangerous pitfalls you might encounter. If you circle down to 4th Avenue and come back up our street, you will pass the schoolyard, which happens to have a playground that has lately been unlocked after school. You will, therefore, have a toddler who is very insistent on visiting the playground (unfortunately, she has learned the word "playground" and is not afraid to use it- no more playing dumb about what she's trying to say), and if you give in and visit the playground, you will find yourself feeling very protective of this little person who would like very much to take part in the game of chase that is inevitably going on among 5th graders who, I swear, are bigger than many high schoolers I have known.

If, on the other hand, you circle up to 5th avenue and come down our street, you will not only pass many houses with yard ornaments that all must be identified ("one, two, three bunnies!" "A tiny little bear!" "pennies in the plate!" "bear holding fish!" and so on), but you will also pass the entryway to our alley, to which you will most likely hear the plaintive little phrase, "I want to go back there!"

What's back there? Well, it is literally an alley (yes, in Brooklyn), with garages/ car ports on one side and fences on the other; it is overgrown with weeds; and it is home to a large family of bees. A lovely place for a child to play, no? But play she does.


Favorite activities include running up this "hill" to the gate,

exploring the greenery,

and picking and throwing rocks. Today I got her to agree to go inside (to take her nap) by telling her we would wash the dirty rocks she had found and graciously given to me.

In the process, I introduced her to the kitchen sink and the water-sprayer, two items that are even cooler than the back alley and will likely be the latest pitfall in any attempts to get Clio home, fed, bathed, and in bed in any kind of timely manner.