Last week’s promise to saw the legs off the bed has yet to be implemented. Three immediate constraints presented themselves: first, I need to buy a saw (I wasn’t kidding when I said DIY isn’t my thing); then the little one fell ill, and it seemed cruel to chop the bed down while he was still in it; and finally England started playing India in the third test. Of the three constraints, only one has resolved: the boy has recovered from his illness and is now causing an incredible amount of mayhem around the house.
There have been a few important milestones in my parenting journey so far: first words, first steps, first meals cooked together. But few have been more rewarding than first time singing along to Victory Test Match by Lord Beginner, or first youtube video of cricketing highlights watched together (it was Mahela Jayawardene. Of course.) I haven’t quite introduced him to actual Test cricket yet, though, and judging by England’s performance in the first two days of the India series, I should probably wait a while.
I’ve got to write these links quickly, before my fingers freeze altogether and I’m left tapping icicles on the keyboard in an attempt to make my points here. It’s about -3 degrees centigrade outside (about 26 Fahrenheit), and before the Americans and Canadians burst out laughing, our houses are not built for this: poorly insulated with random gaps to allow the ingress of small critters and cold air though thankfully it’s only the cold air I’ve had to contend with here.
Most people who know Chicago think TV and movies accurately depict the city, but nobody knows better than a local when entertainment goes astray. “Chicago isn’t a war zone,” one South Side resident said.