all kinds of stuff and potty hilarity

today felt like a calm kind of day, it was, really, but we checked out a lot of things. first this morning we went to buy a dresser i found on craiglist as the beautiful hand-painted one suling made for us has pretty much been destroyed over here. we noticed kids of all ages entering the building next to the craigslist lady's and went in...it was the fabled acrosports.
even the acrosports staff commented on how active my daughter was as she darted around the office examining power strips, banging on glass doors, and pushing a rolling chair over to a desk in an attempt to get to the computer. this place looks very cool, huge rooms with big kids upstairs doing some kind of dance and toddlers below swinging on rope hammocks, rolling on mats, and jumping on a gigantic trampoline. then we went to citykids to buy an expensive new backpack for miles (sorry grandma josy the spiderman backpack fell apart) and a little potty for maya. i know she is young but i am tired of picking her on and off the toilet so she can laugh and make, well, expulsion sounds. i WISH the photo series of the kids on the potties wasn't so revealing, it is truly hilarious. this is the only decent one.

after nap we went to the water park which was kind of a dud. miles whiny, kids from a french camp eating pastries everywhere we turned, the fountains off and a city work very pissed off at the city for not dealing with them properly. miles wanted to go home soon after arrival but there seemed to be way too much left of the day before bedtime to head back. i redirected us somehow to the galeria de la raza
which is a few blocks from home. we were the only guests there and saw an amazing interactive exhibit about immigration. check out the website or better yet go to the gallery. there is a film series there that i will try to sneak out to one night after bedtime. maya enjoyed listening to the field-recordings made by people dressed in these incredible knit facemasks ( hippie raver, office worker, clown, young black guy from the hood) as they infiltrated various cultures around the city. miles listened to (in spanish) and watched a sad documentary about families separated by an immigration wall--dads hugging kids through a fence, sharing sandwiches in two different countries. he looked sad but did that fast wipe the tears away gesture and said it was a happy story.

then we were passing the brava theater and peeking in and i heard a voice call my name.
it was my old roomates' good friend who used to spend some time in our apartment during the party for 75 hours straight days. i strolled us into the theater where she now works doing something with the youth theater training component, and she showed us the elevator up to the last act of the kids shakespeare camp production. it was amazing. sorry to use the words amazing, incredible, etc som much here, i don't have much of a vocabulary for describing art. little kids, maybe aged 7-11 were performing a midsummer night's dream (duhh, great english major i am, i probably got the words wrong in the title) with not an obvious mistake and adorable little characters. i felt a tad freakish there with my stroller full of bags and kids and my bra straps hanging out and a very intense crowd of well-off and educated looking serious parents, but soon miles was standing on a bench with his jaw hanging open and even maya was getting into it, laughing when everyone else did. i did have to take her in the hallway when she started making those potty noises again.

home was fine. we played chipmunk and did a little gardening, and then it was almost time for bed. maya said i ub oooo about ten times with big open mouth kisses and baby monkey hugs, which made me feel fine. summer is just about over. now looms work and the beginning of kindergarten tours. i think it will be ok. i am in a place right now where i can see a lot of positions fairly clearly--the rich families in shakespeare camp, the immigrant families in our neighborhood, our friends who have moved to suburbs and small towns, our friends and family who are still here, our neighbors. and it is good to be able to see so much without moving from where we are.