Well, I've decided it's time to let readers know why I've been such a slacker about posting to the blog since January. Usually I prefer not to say too much about my personal life here other than how things are going in the neighborhood, but now something personal is affecting everything in my life, including how I relate to my neighbors.
I'm having a baby in August.
As is true everywhere, once you tell one person, the word spreads fast. Back in January I told Dorothy because my money was running tight, I couldn't buy her diapers, and I needed to make it really clear to her that I wasn't going to support/enable her anymore. "I'm going to have a baby to take care of, and I need to start saving money now," I told her. She got it, I think, because she took a few steps back and didn't bug me as much for a few weeks, and then I didn't see her at all for longer. However, she also got locked up a while ago--Yup-yup just told me the other day she had a court date coming up--which is probably the real reason she hasn't been hounding me lately.
However, before she got busted, she certainly got the word out. Ms. Ribs stopped by on one of the nice days earlier in the month when she saw me outside at the mailbox. "I heard you're expecting," she said. "Congratulations. I just wanted to make sure you were doing OK."
The other night, Tony ran into me on the street and congratulated me totally out of the blue. "Oh," I said. "I see the word has gotten out."
Junior's mom has also been looking out for me, primarily by telling her kids to quit calling me for homework help. I've been grateful for that. During first trimester I was wiped out at night and had more afternoon/evening sickness than morning sickness, so it has been nice that they haven't been asking for help. But now feel better and I'm a little worried about how Junior is doing (the quarter must be coming to an end), so I want to call him this week and check in. I might have mentioned that his little brother called a while back to say he met some UIC students; Junior got on the phone on that call to interpret for his mom, who wanted to know if I was feeling OK. She had a hard time with their youngest (he's almost a year old now)--she fell down in a parking lot and had to go on bed rest for a while--so I know she has been concerned that I take it really easy.
So, in the spirit of taking it easy, I'll quit there, but I'll give you a heads-up to expect posts in the future where I'll be working out thoughts about parenting here in the neighborhood. Even though I have good friends who are raising good kids here, and good friends who are middle class who are raising good kids in Little Village and Chicago Lawn I can talk to for advice, my inner suburbanite (yes I grew up in the burbs) is a little intimidated about the idea of raising my own kid here.
4 comments:
Congratulations! That's wonderful news!
Congrats! I get what you mean about raising your "own" in BOY. I grew up in BOY and still remain connected to it by family. I did learn a lot growing up there, but I would not want my kid to grow up there, while I know he/she would gain a greater perspective on life by doing so, I would want a "better" place for him to growp up in. but thats my situation because I feel I worked very hard to overcome growing up in BOY that I want my kid to start further along...thanks!
Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll probably devote a whole post to this topic some time, but I'm already thinking about how to balance time here with making sure my child is exposed to lots of other parts of the world, too. And it is pretty likely I'll end up looking for schools other than the nearest one when he gets old enough to start thinking about that, even though I like the principal and many teachers and parents at our local grammar school. It's really big and impersonal, and I'd like my child to have the benefit of a fully dual-language program, which they don't have.
Maritza et al...
In Chicago, I'd like to make sure parents know that to get into Inter-American's school's dual language program, you need to apply for preschool (4yo), not kindergarten. By the time kindergarten rolls around, all our preschool slots are filled -- no one leaves and there's no room.
In reality there should be more programs like this. There is a dual language strand at Talcott and heritage language programs at Tepochcalli and Whittier that I know of.
Good luck!
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