Winter at the Park

Winter at the Park
Originally uploaded by nssmith2020

I was determined to get the kids out of the house today. The Northeast has been FREEZING cold the past few days so we have been confined to the indoors and I really wanted Norah and H to get some, clean, refreshingly chilly air pumping through their lungs today so we headed to the park. It turns out, I set my hopes too high and I think I nearly froze my children. Before setting Norah free to romp at the playground, I did a couple of laps around Edgemont Park. On my second lap, I noticed two boys, around the ages of 8 and 10, walking over a not completely frozen pond (ducks were still swimming in it). I don't know much about walking on frozen ponds--when it is safe and when it is not--but this felt really REALLY wrong to me. I stopped jogging and asked the boys to be very careful. Their reply was that they knew and they were staying close to the edge. Well, I continued to watch them and was even formulating a plan to rescue them if something happened. My heart was racing as they kept going further and further out into the pond. Finally, a police officer driving by spied them and pulled over. I saw her call to them and then eventually they left with her. Why didn't I say something more? Why did I let them continue playing? I have been really upset with myself about this all day.

The morning went well. I was going to head to Short Hills but avoided the retail therapy (and latent anxiety) with a meltdown from Norah. Instead, I went to get coffee, came home, and out them both back to bed. They slept for two hours!! I knitted and knitted and knitted and search etsy obsessively. I am getting close to being done with Harvey's Christmas stocking. I actually think I am going to cast on the fingerless gloves this weekend even though I still have three projects on my needles. The gloves and accompanying hat should be fast and easy. I need them now and I also nee the satisfaction of finishing something.