Big Changes and French Fries

This photo was taken on Thursday when I picked Donny up from daycare and had about an hour and a half to kill before Mike was done with work. For whatever reason, the thought of bussing it home and hiking up the hill behind a stroller full of baby filled me with malaise. I decided, instead, that we would have some adventures at the Strip Mall.

The Strip Mall has gone thru several different incarnations since I've lived in Pittsburgh. It used to have a big ol' Phar-Mor and a Payless Shoes. Its since been gentrified and has an Office Depot, a Subway and a China Buffet (which is one of my guilty, guilty pleasures...). After I picked up Donovan I wheeled him over to the Petland to look at animals. I'm not a PETA member but I was raised by crazy cat ladies and I know Petco is bad. That being said, my kid does not have much exposure at all to animals and a few koi fish in a petstore tank is better than nothing so we strolled around the joint. As usual, that which I thought would elicit squeals of delight did nothing of the sort. Maybe he was still coming down from daycare but, whatever it was, there was no sort of interest in the fish, dogs, hamsters or bags of cedar chips. Oh well.

After that I decided we needed to eat something. We went over to the McDonalds and I got a Filet of Fish Sandwich meal, thinking Donovan would like the fish. Wrong again, but he did like the fries and that bought us a little time.
I mention the fries as a segue into the fact that we signed Donovan up for the Little Friends program at the Pittsburgh Waldorf School today. The Waldorf School certainly does NOT serve french fries--in fact, looking at the snack menu, there were at least two different mentions of Nutritional Yeast. Mike and I went to talk to the admissions person there today and while we were still conflicted when we left, we talked it over and decided the pros outweighed the cons.

Plus, when we were given a tour of the playground area for his class, the guide said, "That little hill, the kids love it. When it snows we bring out little sleds and they have a ball." Sleds? ACTUAL sleds? SIGN US UP!

Joking aside, this whole move from one daycare to another is bittersweet. I think I feel more conflicted about moving Donny from Eastminster than I did when I left Elyria for Pittsburgh, which is just a little bit disturbing...