Mexico City, Day 13: Flower Hunt
Greta slept! She didn't fall asleep until 9pm, but she slept through till 7am. Bliss.
Despite her good sleep, she still took a nearly two-hour nap this morning, and since Andrew was working from home, Lucia and I played outside by the pool. It's a lovely terrace--chaises, the pool, and a play structure. Lucia climbed around for a while, but the best thing for her was finding things on the terrace to collect: bougainvillia blossoms, round seeds from the trees in planters. She was absorbed in foraging.
After lunch, we went to the park, where the girls once again immersed themselves in filling their bunny buckets--this time with purple blossoms from a jacaranda tree. Greta is just thrilled to have the chance to wander around. Lucia wore herself out: she napped today for an hour, of her own volition. "I will take a nap today," she announced, and she lay down in her bed and promptly fell asleep.
Later this afternoon, we went on a flower hunt to find more blossoms. Greta was beside herself, walking around on the neighborhood streets--though watching her is enough work for two people, since she has no sense of what's sidewalk and what's road. Lucia was perfectly happy finding blossoms of all kinds. Then we went home and swam in the pool. Lucia dumped her entire bucket of blossoms into the water, and the girls were absorbed in catching the floating flowers, making piles on the side, etc. Truly, these girls' attention spans are amazing.
A nice day in the neighborhood all around. We'd decided to keep it simple today, since tomorrow we're venturing out once more to do some touristy things.
Lucia made one troubling comment yesterday that I feel the need to post about. We were at Bellopuerto, in the bathroom, and when she was washing her hands, Lucia pressed her palm against the faucet, causing a little water to spray onto the floor. I told her to be careful so we wouldn't make a mess. "That's okay," she said with a shrug. "The cleaners will get it." Yikes. Yikes yikes yikes. I had no idea what to say. She has seen a lot of cleaners lately--there's daily housekeeping service at this corporate apartment building, and every morning about five housekeepers show up in a flurry of cleaning. They sweep, clean the table, do the dishes, make the beds, clean the bathrooms. They're in and out in fifteen minutes, on to the next apartment. We're usually out when they come, but we've been here a few times, and clearly this has made an impression. And, of course, Lucia knows we have a housecleaner at home, too. But this is exactly the kind of comment that makes me feel like I need to start our three-year-old on a regimen of chores. I am so terrified of having our girls take privileges for granted--and unsure how to keep them down-to-earth while still doing things that we're lucky enough to be able to do. (Should we have stayed in a roach-infested shack to balance out the privilege of our two-week stay?) I have no doubt this kind of balance will just get more and more difficult as the girls get older. I'm not going to start making my tiny child clean water from the floor of a public bathroom...but I take it as my responsibility as a mother to ensure that she doesn't think an army of housekeepers is the norm. Yikes yikes yikes.
Despite her good sleep, she still took a nearly two-hour nap this morning, and since Andrew was working from home, Lucia and I played outside by the pool. It's a lovely terrace--chaises, the pool, and a play structure. Lucia climbed around for a while, but the best thing for her was finding things on the terrace to collect: bougainvillia blossoms, round seeds from the trees in planters. She was absorbed in foraging.
After lunch, we went to the park, where the girls once again immersed themselves in filling their bunny buckets--this time with purple blossoms from a jacaranda tree. Greta is just thrilled to have the chance to wander around. Lucia wore herself out: she napped today for an hour, of her own volition. "I will take a nap today," she announced, and she lay down in her bed and promptly fell asleep.
Later this afternoon, we went on a flower hunt to find more blossoms. Greta was beside herself, walking around on the neighborhood streets--though watching her is enough work for two people, since she has no sense of what's sidewalk and what's road. Lucia was perfectly happy finding blossoms of all kinds. Then we went home and swam in the pool. Lucia dumped her entire bucket of blossoms into the water, and the girls were absorbed in catching the floating flowers, making piles on the side, etc. Truly, these girls' attention spans are amazing.
A nice day in the neighborhood all around. We'd decided to keep it simple today, since tomorrow we're venturing out once more to do some touristy things.
Lucia made one troubling comment yesterday that I feel the need to post about. We were at Bellopuerto, in the bathroom, and when she was washing her hands, Lucia pressed her palm against the faucet, causing a little water to spray onto the floor. I told her to be careful so we wouldn't make a mess. "That's okay," she said with a shrug. "The cleaners will get it." Yikes. Yikes yikes yikes. I had no idea what to say. She has seen a lot of cleaners lately--there's daily housekeeping service at this corporate apartment building, and every morning about five housekeepers show up in a flurry of cleaning. They sweep, clean the table, do the dishes, make the beds, clean the bathrooms. They're in and out in fifteen minutes, on to the next apartment. We're usually out when they come, but we've been here a few times, and clearly this has made an impression. And, of course, Lucia knows we have a housecleaner at home, too. But this is exactly the kind of comment that makes me feel like I need to start our three-year-old on a regimen of chores. I am so terrified of having our girls take privileges for granted--and unsure how to keep them down-to-earth while still doing things that we're lucky enough to be able to do. (Should we have stayed in a roach-infested shack to balance out the privilege of our two-week stay?) I have no doubt this kind of balance will just get more and more difficult as the girls get older. I'm not going to start making my tiny child clean water from the floor of a public bathroom...but I take it as my responsibility as a mother to ensure that she doesn't think an army of housekeepers is the norm. Yikes yikes yikes.
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