Summer Plans

Luisa’s mom is a friend and colleague of my husband.  We met her and her husband at the University of Notre Dame.  Now they live in Brazil.  Six summers ago Luisa’s mom came here to collaborate with my husband as a “visiting researcher.”  She brought Luisa with her, and Luisa spent her days with us, my five-month-old son and me.

Before Luisa came I made a list of things we could do together.  I wasn’t used to entertaining a seven-year-old, and I wanted to be prepared.  We did projects at home:  baking cookies, sewing dresses for her Barbie dolls, making crafts.  I even bought a book of crafts ideas for us to try.  We also went on outings:  to the pool, to the park, on a nature walk, to the zoo.  She read books or watched t.v. when I needed to tend to the baby.  Fortunately her mom didn’t mind how much t.v. she watched;  some days my son needed lots of attention.  Despite that, we had a lot of fun together that summer.  I remember Luisa very fondly.

Now I have a six-year-old to entertain for the summer.  I’ve made a list of things we can do together.  On Mondays and Tuesdays, when my daughter is home from preschool, the three of us can go to different parks, go on picnics, ride our bikes to the ice cream shop, go swimming, go on a hike, go downtown to play in the fountain, go to the mall.  On Thursdays my son and I will go to the library.  I will sign him up for the summer reading program.  On Fridays he and I will get groceries.  Our car needs an oil change soon.  He has a dentist appointment in July.  Also, I will let the kids watch t.v. (an hour a day).

I bought a basketball and a soccer net.  (We already have a soccer ball, but it doesn’t work very well for shooting hoops.)  I bought checkers and Chinese checkers and new markers, and we got a dozen books from the school end-of-the-year give-away.  We will have a lot of fun together this summer.  I have a plan.