September 18, 2000 - Monday
With Harry's new daycare and the busier post-summer commute, we've been experimenting a little with our hours and drop-offs. Harry's mother needs to be at work for eight hours, though the specific hours don't matter that much. We've tried 8-4, 8:30-4:30, and 9:30-5:30 in hopes of besting the heaviest traffic and thereby shorting our time - and Harry's time - in the car and seem to be settling on the earliest times.

Since we all travel together, someone needs to be the last one with the car. The long term answer to who gets dropped off and where will likely depend much on the weather and have to be determined on a daily basis. But, one of the solutions that we've tried is for Harry's mother to pick him and me up (and occasionally drop us off) at a point about eight minutes walking distance from his daycare. It's another twelve minutes walking to my lab, but the times I've carried Harry back and froth through a park and down a quiet side street have been very fulfilling in a small way. In the afternoon, he's usually happy and excited because I've just come to get him - in the mornings he's happy just to get out of the car seat - and we walk along looking at the neighborhood cats and dogs and I talk about what we see and Harry often hoots with delight as we pass pets and people. Sometimes people walk by and smile and when they do I think that it's probably a pretty charming picture of a father and child out for a stroll. I certainly feel that way. It's a happy time. I'm with Harry, we're bonding, and he's getting me fit again with the work out.


Comments, opinions?