Melting in NYC

The boys and I came down to visit my parents on Sunday, and today is the first day that the temperature has not been in the upper 90's. On Monday, we beat the heat by going to Jones Beach. The boys had a great time in the sand (good thing I packed shovels and pails, two each) and the water. The water was shallow, calm, and kept us wonderfully cool. For some reason, Ivan insisted on standing in the water; Nikita felt comfortable enough in the water to let me try teaching him how to swim. I'll have to build on this when we get back to Boston.

We spent Monday night at my brother Vincent's apartment. The boys were completely strung out, but my mom insisted on walking around the neighborhood before bed. The neighborhood has a nice yuppie/bohemian flavor. The bars reminded me of my own neighborhood, but Vincent's neighborhood is cleaner. I liked the townhouses, too, kind of like the North End.

We spent time yesterday in an indoor playground. Lots of kids jumping around jumbo-sized jazz instruments. Nikita liked it okay, but he prefered the Bob the Builder car ride. Vanya seemed fine; I think he'll appreciate it more when he's a little bigger. Both boys got knocked around a bit, but at least the kids were shoeless and the ground was carpeted. The weather cooled down considerably by the afternoon, and it was lovely spending time under the trees in the backyard - even though we were eaten alive by mosquitoes. You can play connect-the-dots with the mosquito bites on Nikita's legs; it's terrible.

In the midst of everything, I've been working on my conference proposal, which is due next week. Haven't gotten too far in either book I brought (A Box of Matches and The Balloonist), but I'm almost done with another baby bootie.

Vanya has had fun exploring - already broke one of my mom's glass objects; no one got hurt - but is basically clingy. Nikita is supposed to be drawing more trees for his art teacher. This morning, he actually drew one with five branches (which was his assignment the week before) while we were visiting my next door neighbor. He's actually been eating well here, but otherwise, it's been rather difficult dealing with Nikita. Lots of power plays. At one point, he actually drew a picture of me and him angry at each other. A preview of the teenage years? I hope a get a break before then.