The Little Post Office That Could

Here's a happy holiday story from Back of the Yards. We have a small post office location in the shopping mall at 46th and Bishop. It's official title is Finance Station L, and it's official address is 4642 S. Bishop St.

As you may know, the US Postal Service has lost a lot of business in the last few years. Stations are being closed. Our little station here was notified earlier this fall it was being considered for closure. I have a P.O. box at the station and it's an easy walk from my house. Even though there's a larger station on Halsted only a mile or so from the shopping center, it's not a pretty mile between here and there. You would either go through the Stockyards Industrial Park or take 47th from Ashland to Halsted and go north a little. I've biked it but didn't enjoy it much--there's a lot of trucks and it's pretty deserted. The road isn't in the greatest shape either (though it's much better than at 51st). And it makes a huge difference to me to be able to walk to the post office from my house rather than driving or riding my bike. (Someday I hope to ride my bike again!)

Anyway, it's not just the location, it's the service. The two clerks at Finance Station L are friendly and helpful and patient with all kinds of customers. I was just there this afternoon mailing belated Christmas cards and packages to faraway family. Rick helped me find a box for one batch and get my other box taped up and ready to go. Service beyond the call of duty. Two other women were in the station at the same time and said that our station is much nicer and friendlier than other nearby locations (I'll leave those to your imagination).

Then I noticed a sign on the window that said something like "due to the large response from customers, Finance Station L is no longer being considered for closure." I asked about it and Rick told me that people not only filled out the questionnaire the Post Office sent asking about service, not only signed the petition, but even took it upon themselves to call and say how much they would miss the station if it were closed. "They're still trying to respond to all the calls and questionnaires," Rick told me.

I'm delighted. Power to the people! Let's hear it for the little post office that could, and did. And thanks to all my fellow customers who, like me, put in a good word to the U.S. Postal Service. Our station is a treasure and I'm glad it's not going away.

Pros Arts @ Hedges

UPDATED: Here's the flyer inviting people to the Hedges performances earlier this month. The visual art exhibit continues through January 28, so stop by after winter break.

Pros Arts Studios and my friend Irasema Gonzalez spent "an eight week playdate" at Hedges Elementary here in Back of the Yards, teaching writing, art and theater to 8th-graders. Irasema, a poet, and her teaching artist colleagues Lungelo Kuzwayo (theatre), Krystin Grenon (visual art) and Maria Gaspar (performance art) wrapped up on Friday, December 11 with two performances and an exhibition of student artwork. The art exhibition runs through January 28, 2010, so if you're in the neighborhood, stop by Hedges and take a look.

The students wrote a play called Trouble @ Bubbly Creek. Just in time for Christmas, Irasema graciously shared some quotes from her students' writing:

"People don’t need to move to another neighborhood to live in a better one. People that live in our neighborhood can have a good future.” --J.L.

“…its important to follow our dreams and stop at nothing until we’ve completed…we can change our community if we don’t like it.” –D.A.

“The memories or items we gather along the journey can shape our future.” –P.O.

"We should keep luchando for our dreams" --D.

"the stuff that happens to us now can help us in the future…” X.O.

“maybe you can change your neighborhood without changing to a new house.” R.C.

“You can make a change in our city, country or community. You can shape your future and help others shape theirs as well.” --J.L.

Someone reading these quotes initially thought they were from students in Pilsen. When told they were young people from Back of the Yards, she said: "Viva back of the yards! Often the forgotten ones but great talent emerges from there ...in all forms. Heck, maybe the next President will come from B.O.Y."

Maybe so. With these hopeful thoughts in mind, I wish all the Tattler readers happy holidays and peace on earth, especially here on Marshfield Avenue!

Food, Glorious Food

I need to come up with a system to make sure my babysitter gets lunch. Dawn's mom just knocked on the door with a can of Coke and a box of Church's Fried Chicken for her. (They are friends.)

I invited her in, but she said she was on her way to Casa Catalina, the food pantry run by Holy Cross/IHM. I have a bag of cans of food here I meant to donate during the pre-Thanksgiving food drive at church and never brought up there. I gave the bag to her and asked if she could take it with her to the pantry, adding, "And if there's anything you want, take it first."

After she left, the baby woke up and was hungry. I took a break from writing to nurse the baby while Sitter ate lunch. We were joking about how neither of us had eaten lunch yet. She brought me a hard boiled egg from the fridge, with salt. The baby nursed, I ate an egg and Sitter ate her chicken. She invited me to have some, but I'm avoiding meat exposed to antibiotics (long story) so fast food is out. I offered her a hard-boiled egg, but for whatever her reasons were, she said no.

In addition to accepting donations of non-perishable food, Casa Catalina is looking for cash donations to purchase ham and turkey dinners for families. I am guessing they purchase the food for the dinners from the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Each meal's cost is very reasonable--about ten bucks for a turkey dinner, eight-fifty for a ham dinner. Click on the link above for details.

In case I don't get to post again for a while--Happy holidays, all!

HIgh School Hunting

Well, it's that time of year again, when I play high school admissions counselor for whichever kids are in 8th grade within a two or three-block radius. This year its Ines, Jay-Z and Tone-Loc. Ines will get into Rauner on sibling preference--her older bro is a freshman--but I should check with her and see if she wants someone to help with her application essay. Jay-Z and Tone are tougher nuts to crack. Both are special ed kids with lousy test scores, grades, and behavior records.

THis morning I am hoping both are going to the former Creiger Multiplex, which became home to the Noble Network's Chicago Bulls College Prep Campus back in August. I've lost track of things a bit in the high school openings world--I thought Bulls College Prep wasn't open yet, but it's still young enough they should have a better shot in the lottery than at some of Noble's more established campuses. And as I pointed out to Jay-Z's aunt yesterday, Noble has been working hard to find seats for applicants who don't win a spot in their first-choice campus, so they may get a spot somewhere else. Noble is planning to open a campus in Englewood next fall--depending on where it is it might be easier for Marshfielders to get to.

A couple of days ago when it was really cold I managed to drag myself out of the house and knock at Tone-Loc's door. HIs aunt was home and told me he has applied to Dunbar. I was glad to hear they had made some efforts themselves. I gave her the Options for Knowledge book with the standard application in it. I need to get them copies of the College and Career Academy application--it's online at The Office of Academic Enhancement web site, but my printer's ink cartridge is toast so I can't print.

If folks are interested in the hot topic of the new proposed admissions policy, the link is on the site's home page.

Tone-Loc's aunt was hoping I'd go with them to Cregier today, but between a three-month old, the weather, and a recent stomach bug, I'm not going anywhere today.I talked to Jay-Z's aunt yesterday and suggested maybe she could take Tone and one of his adult relatives--I think she's friends with one of his much older sisters. She was open to that idea.

Joey is in 8th grade, too, but his dad says he and Dawn are moving to Cicero and they want him to come with. I was hoping they would move farther west in Little Village so he could go to MAS, but I think that's not going to happen.

Chavez News

Amanda Rivera is the interim principal at Chavez Elementary. Mr. Correa has left. I don't know what's going on regarding the search for his replacement. The Local School Council is now alternating morning and afternoon meetings--I think the next morning meeting is in January. Maybe I'll be able to make that one and find out how the search for a new principal is going.

Sarah, who was having such a hard time adjusting to Orozco, has returned to Chavez. I saw her walking home from school the other day with her big sister and her nieces. She looked perfectly happy. It's a good reminder that academics aren't everything when it comes to a child's school experience.

Right before the holiday I stopped in at Chavez to let them know I still have school supplies left over from last summer's block party. The gentleman I spoke with took my name and number and said someone from school could come by and pick them up. That would be a big help. That's also how I confirmed what I had heard about the interim principal. Ms. Rivera was the founding principal at Ames Middle School in Logan Square, where she was highly regarded. I'm glad someone with strong middle school experience is at the helm at Chavez, even temporarily. I have heard negative comments from parents about the state of affairs at the upper grade center (grades 5-8). I hope Ms. Rivera can straighten that out a bit.

Dorothy Update

I have seen Dorothy here and there since the baby was born. She was on an ankle bracelet--house arrest--for a while--but I think that's over with now. She is staying down south of 51st, across the street from Junior's family's new house. A couple of weeks ago she left a blue snowsuit for the baby hanging off the knob of our front door. Thanksgiving night (yesterday) around 10 p.m. there was a knock at the door, and I suspect it was Dorothy. It was either her or Tony the car wash guy. Either way, we didn't answer--Papi and I were just finishing our late-night turkey dinner for two after the baby went to bed. The baby and I had gone to a vegetarian Thanksgiving feast earlier while Papi was working. We picked him up after work, came home, put the baby to bed (he'd fallen asleep in the car so we just hauled the car seat up to his room and left him in it), then sat down and had a little turkey and pie. Dorothy's knock came just as we finished the dishes.

"Who on earth is knocking at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving?" I thought. "There is no way I'm answering that door." Sometimes Tony Car Wash knocks late when the lights are still on, so it might have been him, but I'm trying to retrain my late-night pals to quit bothering me at those hours. It's so rare I'm up past 8 p.m. these days, and when I am, I just want to enjoy some peace and quiet.

Trouble

Day before yesterday I ran into Picasso as he was coming out of Joey's house. I had been out walking the baby for the previous two hours or so since it's one of the few sure-fire ways I can get him to sleep in the daytime at the moment.

Picasso and I stood in the twilight in Joey's front yard near the wrought iron fence and talked for a bit. He says his grades are good except for one or two classes--he didn't say which ones. He likes his American Lit teacher this year much better than he liked his freshman English teacher. The way he smiled when he said school is good made me believe him.

Then I went for it. "Try to stay out of trouble, OK?" I said with a knowing smile.

He smiled back, embarrased. "I'll try."

Just at that moment, a police SUV pulled up and flashed the spotlight on us. The baby stirred in his carrier. "Are you waking up, buddy?" I asked my son, jiggling up and down on my toes. The cops turned the light off and drove away.

"That's trouble," I said to Picasso. "Listen, if you get picked up and you need help, call this number: 1-800-LAW-REP-4."

"Law Rep four," he repeated.

"They give free legal help to teenagers who get picked up by the cops. If you get picked up, make them your first call. And let me know if you ever need anything," I said, and went in the house, thinking about how I wish I could do more and yet being OK that that is all I can do for Picasso at this point. He's not my kid. I hope to God nobody ever has to say stuff like that to my son.

Picasso was a good boy when he was in fifth grade, sixth grade. He still is when he's not screwing around. He knows how to be polite and respectful. He's still the same bright young man, with artistic talent to boot. But he's in deep trouble and I don't know how to help him through and out. Dawn and I were talking last weekend about how we both thought when he and Joey started to hang out that he might help Joey stay out of trouble. Looks like it went the other way. This is the kind of thing that makes me afraid of staying here when my boy is a teenager.

Belated Halloween Update

I really wasn't wanting to post this and have been using the baby as an excuse not to write about what happened on Halloween this year. We didn't get very many trick or treaters--don't know if it was the weather or the economy. We did get a couple of knocks on the door from the Chicago Police Department. They were looking for Joey and Picasso. Apparently the boys had been seen on Joey's front porch with spray cans and then there was "a disturbance" as one of the cops put it.

The first cop knock was a male officer asking if anyone lived in the house next door. No wonder they asked. There's broken glass all over the front yard and graffiti on the front stoop. ("He tagged his own house!" Jay-Z's aunt said to me months ago, utterly shocked.) The living room window is broken and hasn't been repaired in months. It's going to be a cold winter in there--if they are still there. People have been by to serve foreclosure papers.

I told the officer, yes, people do live there and gave their last name and a few other things. I had mixed feelings about this. It was an interesting insight into the culture of "don't snitch"--it's not just the fear that someone will retaliate, but the knowledge that people you know and care about are wanted by the police. Even if you know they are a menace, it's not fun to set the cops on people you know.

Then another officer, female, came to the door thinking it was a two-flat and looking for the other occupants. I explained only one family lives here. She admired the baby. I offered her candy; she laughed and declined.

Later, Picasso's mom came to the door. Some mail for me had come to her house by mistake, plus she wanted me to interpret for her so she would understand what the police were saying. I came back out. The cops, at least one of whom had seen me before, were surprised I came out on her behalf. "And who are you?"

"I'm her neighbor and friend," I said. "I speak some Spanish, so I can help you talk with her."

They told her she needed to watch her son more carefully. I told her they said that and added, "you know." I know she knows. Picasso is 15 years old, and she is working. I don't know how often he sees his dad these days. She does her best to keep a leash on him. She already lost an older son to this kind of madness. The cops were just useless.

She wanted to know what would happen to Picasso. "He'll be out of the car in a minute," one of the officers said. I said it again in Spanish. That was probably the only helpful thing that happened out there.

I called Joey's dad that night and told him if he didn't get his truck off my parking pad I was going to have someone else do it the next day. I had heard that people are out to get Joey. A couple of weeks ago, someone threw a brick at the truck and broke the windshield. More recently, someone broke into it and took out the radio. I had been bugging Joey's dad for months about moving his truck--he hasn't paid rent on the space in over a year--to no avail. Until Halloween, when I said, "The cops were after your son today. People here tell me they think this is his house because your truck is on the pad. I have a little one now and I'm afraid."

The next afternoon Joey, his dad, Dawn and Picasso all came to get the truck. "I still want to know who your teachers are," I said to Picasso.

"OK," he said.

Haven't seen him since.

You Just Never Know

...where life will take you. Back in 2005 I chose the four digits 2-0-0-9 for something because Dawn was starting high school and was part of the class of 09. Until she wasn't anymore. Soon after that, 2009 became the year my son would be born, which I had no idea would be the case when I picked the four digits. Now I'll keep on using them, but with a totally different meaning behind the numbers.

Dawn and her mother came by a few minutes ago with some big news. Dawn is six months pregnant--due in late January. She's not working right now and has not started back to school. I am just at the point now where I need some help to be able to start working from home again, so I asked her if she would want to get paid to come and help me with the baby for a while before her own baby arrives. I would never leave her alone with my son but I would be delighted to have her around to help out with him and with household stuff for an afternoon or two a week. So we're going to try it out on Thursday.

Uncle Yup-yup Stops By

Yes, Yup-yup is back. A couple of weeks ago I was up early with the baby and heard the cry on the street. "Aw, no," I thought. A while ago I asked The Groundskeeper if he knew what had happened to Yup-yup--it was quiet around here for months.

"He did something really bad," The Groundskeeper told me. So bad that even if he wasn't in jail, he wasn't going to hang around here. "IF he comes back here people will be looking for him." So that's all I knew.

But I guess the heat is off now. Maybe a week or so ago there was a knock at the door and Yup-yup was there, looking for an odd job (or a handout). Sarah and her niece were here in the house--Sarah had been doing homework--and I was about to send them home.

"Well, Uncle, want to see my new baby?" I said to him.

"Sure!"

I had the girls leave--I escorted them past Uncle Yup-yup--I'm afraid that was a little scary for them but they managed it well. Then I went and got BJ out of his bassinet and went out on the front step. He was awake and his eyes were wide open.

"He's going to be a leader," Yup=yup predicted. (I did not let him touch the baby, just look.)

Then Yup-yup launched his pitch. "Maybe this isn't a good time right now..."

"It sure isn't," I said. I also explained I've had a financial setback. "Maybe in a few months I'll be looking for outside help again. I'll let you know."

I have not seen him since, but I doubt that will deter him for long.

Quick Sarah Update

Well, Sarah stayed home from school today. She was out in my backyard in the afternoon with some of the other kids. "I had a fever this morning, so my mom let me stay home," she told me. She looked very happy.

Some of the neighbors are getting worried about her. Late last week and yesterday morning I could hear her from inside my house, up in the baby's room, sometime around 7 or 7:30 a.m. when it was time to leave for school. She was making a horrendous fuss, screaming "No!" and crying. This morning Jay-Z's aunt told me people across the street were worried her family was abusing her. I explained what was going on to her and to Picasso's mom, which hopefully will get the word out so no one calls the cops or DCFS.

And, yes, I slept through the mural celebration last Saturday. If any readers have news to share, feel free to comment.

Last night I was out on my front stoop chatting with a friend visiting from out of town. A couple of our local beat officers drove by in a large police van. "Is that your baby?" asked the officer on the passenger side.

"Yes."

"We were wondering where you've been. We miss you at the meetings. There's one tonight."

"I'll probably be back by December."

Mural Celebration Saturday

Here are the details for the mural celebration. Mothers for Peace/Madres por La Paz and Precious Blood Ministries are sponsoring a celebration of the new mural at 49th and Throop (by the railroad viaduct), from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday September 19. Mothers and youth worked together to design and paint the mural, which features a host of quotations from famous peace activists: Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, and Mahatma Gandhi, to name a few.

I'll try to get out there and get some pictures tomorrow if at all possible, but life with a newborn means there's no telling whether we'll get there or not.

Upcoming Events

This Saturday September 19, there will be a celebration showcasing a new mural recently completed on 49th Street east of Ashland (I have to get the exact address, sorry). Oscar Contreras and the mothers against violence worked with local youth to design and paint the mural. I'll try to get some photos if I can.

On Monday, September 21 at 6 p.m. at the Chavez Lower Grade Center (4747 S. Marshfield), the UNION Impact Center will hold registration for fall youth and parent classes. Registration is free but space is limited. Youth programming includes soccer, art, guitar, video and photography. Parent programs include aerobics (women only), women's support and leadership, and art for the whole family. For more information, contact Rafael Yañez at 773.600.1601 or email yanezr@unionimpactcenter.org. Classes begin September 22.

CORRECTION/UPDATE: Some class programming has changed slightly as of September 17. Guitar is now a family class; art has been dropped. A parent class in dance has been added.

Sarah Update

Well, I don't know how Sarah felt about school today, but she's over here now working on homework. She got to read Robert Blake's short story Akiak for homework tonight--it's a good story. She doesn't seem to be freaking out about doing the homework, so that's a step forward.

Maritza Seeks Help for School Phobia

Dear Readers:

This afternoon/evening, Abuela and I sat out on the step with Sarah, her neices, her mom and her big sister and had a big chat. Sarah has started at Orozco but she is having a lot of anxiety about it. The orientation went ok, but on the first day of school she got so nervous she threw up. The second day it happened again. Today her mom let her stay home and called me for advice. They're going to try to send her tomorrow but maybe she will just talk with someone and not go to class. On Monday her mom intends to speak with her teacher.

I asked Sarah to tell me about her experience. She said the building is very big and unfamiliar and they didn;t really walk around it during orientation. She made some friends during orientation and two of them are in her class, but they sit pretty far away from her. I gather on the first day the bus was late--it's supposed to pick her up from Chavez at 7:45 but it didn't arrive until 8:20, so she was late to class. Perhaps that was also a factor. She said she got nervous when the teacher gave homework, although when she got home and tried it she found it was pretty easy. She clearly misses her friends and teachers at Chavez andwants to go back there.

The problem is, as Tom Wolfe said, you can't go home again. Her mom tells me Mr. Correa has left Chavez and things are very disorganized now. She's also heard the stories about drugs and gang recruitment in the upper grade center (Sarah wouldn't be there yet, but soon) and she won't have her daughter go there. This sounds like a fairly titanic struggle of wills between mother and daughter. Sarah, like her mom, is a pretty determined person, but it's not in her long-term best interest to go back to Chavez. How to help her understand that, I'm not too sure.

If anyone has tips on dealing with school phobia, new school anxiety, etc., we are all ears here on Marshfield Avenue. Thanks!

Dual Language School Info from a Reader

Somosamerica sent in this comment for an earlier post, but so people can see it I'll repost it here as an entry:

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! ,

Welcome Baby Party

Well, I managed to have the official "come see the baby" soiree with at least some of the neighbors yesterday. All the kids have been bugging me about seeing him. Two of my friends were coming down from the north side for a visit, so I thought it would be a good time to open the floodgates and let the baby be officially seen while I had two extra pairs of hands around to help out.

Abuelita (Granny, here from Mexico, who deserves a note of her own at some point) and I went out for a walk yesterday afternoon with BJ (for Baby Jaime, not baby's real name) to show her where El Guero (nearest Mexican grocery store) is and go to the bakery for some pan dulce to go with the fruit I had from a lovely edible arrangement. Yesterday was the St. Joseph Summer Festival, so we stopped by on our way to 47th Street. Abuelita got to chit-chat with some real Spanish speakers--whew! I introduced her to a bunch of friends from the neighborhood who were around and they all chatted while Tony and I sat in the sun and watched the ballet folklorico. Abuelita knew the songs and sang along a little bit. My friend Lety took her under her wing and they went to get some food--she had sopes and a quesadilla. (I bet she was glad to have good Mexican food she didn't have to cook.)

I also got to ask Lety, "What is it with all the Mexicans worrying that he's cold all the time?" Abuelita has him bundled in three layers almost all the time. It is an unseasonably cold August, but it's still August. And he has jaundice and needs some skin in indirect sunlight sometimes. Lety was a good person to talk with--she was reminding me most Mexicans would say I shouldn't have even been out of the house (40 days confinement, and there's good reason for it, but I would go crazy inside that long), and that yes, the way they protect babies is to keep them very warm. We are managing some balance, Abuelita and I, but it is interesting. Lety was telling me her mother-in-law was very protective when her kids were infants, too. "Just remember it won't last forever," she said.

"True. And she is really a godsend," I said. "So many women don't have that kind of support--someone who is always there and has experience with their own children."

Then we took a look around the grocery store and went to the bakery. I forgot I had spend a wad of cash at Whole Foods and had to dig hard in my pocketbook to come up with the cash for almost 10 bucks worth of baked goods. We got it.

When we got back to the house Junior's mom was out front with Junior and his little brothers. The youngest is about 18 months older than BJ--I'm hoping they'll be friends when BJ is a little older. Apparently they already have a lot in common--similar birth weight, both had jaundice. Junior's mom and I were comparing notes. She's working nights I think; she looks really tired. Her older boys offered to come by and help out. They will get their chance, I bet. For now, I encouraged Junior's mom to stop by and talk with Abuelita any time since we have trouble conversing. Abuelita has made friends with Dawn's mom next door, which is good, but I'm hoping to help her find some more women she can have a good platica (chat) with now and then. (I'm not feeling so chatty in Spanish these days--the extra step to figure out what to say/what's being said is slowing me down big time.)

A little while later Liz and Lisa showed up and we got the pan dulce and the fruit out. Then a young friend of mine, F, who just graduated in June from Big Picture came by. She had a baby two weeks before I did. He's a boy with an amazing head of black hair. She had a tough labor followed by a C-section. She is up and about and getting ready to start a new class at Morton College with a three-week old. I have a ton of respect and admiration for her. I had invited her over to pick up extra baby clothes and gear--I got a ton of hand-me-downs and have been trying to share the wealth with neighbors and friends who have new babies but don't have as many friends with gear/clothes to spare and share. Sarah's niece, the boy down the street and now this Big Picture grad's little boy have all benefitted from the largesse. We had a teary new mom moment upstairs while F was looking through my stuff. She has been trying to breastfeed but it's been really tough between the C and sore, cracked nipples. Right now she is pumping and supplementing with formula. By contrast, I've had a really easy time getting the hang of it (the first week was hard but now he latches well and my nipples don't hurt and he's gaining). I felt almost guilty when F looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "It's hard, right?"

"Yes, honey, it's really hard getting started," I said. "And it stays hard for some people for a long time." I gave her a spare nursing pillow plus a ton of extra bottles and nipples. And a bagful of clothes we hadn't even sorted out yet.

Then the deluge. I'd say we had a dozen or so kids show up, and when the word got out there was food, kids I didn't even know (people's cousins) came in--I just sent them to the back to get food or pop. A couple of moms from down the street swooped in and had to hold the baby. I knew that was coming. Tony was quite mellow about it. I figure one of these moms has six kids and the other has at least two or three, so let them at it. My friend Christina told me the mom I don't know as well (with fewer kids) joked in Spanish, "I'm going to take him now. You can have him back when he's five."

"You know what--that might be OK," I joked back in English to Christina. (I'm not sure if she passed it on. I like school-age kids; I could save a lot of diaper changing and toilet training, right? So kidding.)

The kids I knew who wanted to hold the baby all washed their hands and lined up. Most of them have handled very young brothers/sisters/nieces/nephews, so I wasn't too worried. One youngest had to be shown how to support his head; the rest of them probably know more about the whole business than I do. One girl who I know by sight but keep losing her name helps her aunt out with her cousin, who is now seven months old. She clearly knows how it is for new moms. She came up right away and put an arm around me, and was clearly very interested in and competent with BJ. I still think Ines is my first choice on mother's helper, but they are buddies so maybe as time goes on they can help me out together.

The party gave me a chance to get a couple of key messages out to the kids--we won't be so visible/available for a few weeks, and we'll put a sign on the door to let you know when visits are OK and when not. I want to get someone to take pieces of red and green construction paper over to Kinko's and get them laminated together so I have an all-weather sign. Red=no visitors; green=welcome. Simple enough.

One of my friends brought a camera and took pics. Both helped me throw everybody out when I got tired. I may post some photos when I get them. Really glad that's over with, at least for now. (Some neighbors who want to see the baby couldn't make it.) One person I'd like to stall is Mrs. Ribs across the street, whose daughter told me she apparently insists on feeding babies potatoes the first time she meets them. Can I hold her off for six months??? :-) We shall see.

Maritza Takes Maternity Leave

My son was born last Friday night. He's now seven pounds and healthy, but still a little jaundiced. Obviously I'll be taking a break from chronicling the neighborhood goings-on for a while. Lots of neighbors have wanted to see the baby--a few squeezed in, but until the jaundice clears we're not having visitors.

More in a few weeks, most likely.

Unofficial Block Party Celebrates Street Resurfacing

I got home tonight about 9 p.m. and the new asphalt was on the street. Whoo-hoo! A couple dozen kids were celebrating with bikes, trikes, wagons and mini-cars. Fernando's mom and Peter Pan's mom were out in the middle of the street with the kids. The Brady dads were sitting on their front stoop keeping an eye on their joint brood. The south end of the street is still blocked off with cones because they're going to paint the crosswalk tomorrow morning, I think. So tonight there's nothing but empty, newly asphalted street.

"It's another block party," I said to some of the parents. They nodded.

Mrs. Traback was out with her new dog viewing the action, too. I think she might have been talking with the kids and their moms before I arrived. Please keep her in your thoughts/good energy/prayers--she's been having some health issues lately.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Overheard on the Orange Line earlier tonight: a young woman was on the phone with her mother explaining that she and a disabled friend who has a service dog had tried to get a meal at Golden Thai on Taylor, but the restaurant refused to serve the friend because she had the service dog with her. Her friend is looking into what she can do but in the mean time I won't be eating at Golden Thai for a good while and wanted to let others know.

Golden Thai is at 1509 W. Taylor.