Block Captain

Our next door neighbor travels a lot for his job and asked if I'd be interested in taking over as block captain for our neighborhood association. I agreed, although I did tell him I wasn't willing to attend the monthly meetings because I've heard that people attend to complain about parking and I have no interest in that. He and the association president said that the primary job of a block captain is to distribute newsletters and other print communications from the association, which is the perfect volunteer activity to do with Linus.

The first communique was to alert everyone about a meeting the city was holding in regards to changing the zoning for our neighborhood to allow larger buildings. (The president of the association is against this. While I wouldn't be thrilled for an apartment building to go in next to our house, I have read that increased density in cities is better for the environment.)

I had a hard time getting Linus to sit still for me to apply sunscreen. He was ready to run out the door with the flyers. I put them in one of my bags and slung it across his chest. He thought it was great fun putting the flyers at each house. He said he was being the letter carrier. At one house our neighbors came out to say hi and when Ed asked what was on the flyer, Linus said, "It has lots of words on it." Ed played along and said, "That's great, because we don't have enough papers with words on them in our house." It really didn't take long to finish our block and Linus wanted to keep going. Instead, we went home and I gave him a popsicle. I told him that Obama would be proud of him because he was asking all Americans to donate time to their communities this summer.

We had a fun week that zoomed right by us. We had Erin and baby Grace over for lunch and Linus was great about sharing some of his toys and books with her. He also scolded her for putting her feet on the table while Erin was holding her. We explained that he was right about feet not going on the table, but that she is a baby and doesn't understand that yet. I have to admit that I love how many things are still black and white for kids at this age.