Walking home

Each day I drive by Eric's day care on my way home from work so I can park the car and walk back 3 blocks to get him. This may seem counter intuitive to some but it is a no-brainer for Eric & Me.

We have been living in Alameda now for 8 months and these walks not only give Eric and me time to giggle, run, stroll, pick up sticks, look at leaves, point out birds, & catch up the days activities, but they also have helped us settle in to our neighborhood of tree-lined streets and front porches. This is a neighborhood where just about every resident will say hello and then some. Most folks have lived here for years and they have been quite welcoming. This includes the neighborhood cats (which Momma is allergic too).

If we decide to walk the east side of the block we are sure to be greet first by Peechu, a very brave kitty-cat who saunters right up to a two-year old boy who really wants to pull his whiskers. "Nice, pet nice," Eric reminds himself out loud before attempting to pull anything.

Then, a few houses down there is Maytag. He is a much more reserved cat and prefers to perch on his porch and give Eric the stair-down rather than get in his face. Try as Eric may, Maytag sticks to his porch.

As we round the corner to our street we are sometimes greet by the neighbor kids playing basket ball in the street, practice drums in their garage, or racing their bikes through piles of leaves. Kenyan lives on the corn and Mckenna across the street. The both love Eric and love to entertain him. Mckenna actually suggested we invest an basketball hoop Eric's size so she can teach him how to play.

Mckenna is a our 12 year old babysitter in training. She is also our sources of Girl Scout Cookies (now without transfats as she proudly pointed out to her dietitian neighbor) and holiday wrapping paper sold through her school.

Continue on up our street and you will soon be reminded of the season. Monty and Peter never disappoint and have a holiday display in their front yard that rivals any retail store window. Currently Eric and I walk by and practice naming the colors of the Easter egg lights hanging from their white picket fence and count the bunny rabbits in their front yard.

As we arrive home we may also be lucky enough to see our neighborhood dogs out for their later afternoon walks. Robbie and her little dog Jack are usually out. Robbie is a retired scientist and is always up for interesting conversation. Jim and his dog Kiki are sure to be by. Jim is retired military and always has stories of adventures (and women) from far off places. If you pet Kiki nice you may earn yourself your pick of the candies in he keeps in his pocket. Jim is also our source for tennis balls. He thinks all kids should have tennis balls and that Eric can never have too many. Good thing Eric got a racket from Oma & Opa for Christmas.

On the west side of our block there are brothers Cole & Nick, Shari & Brian, Clair & her bird & two dogs, Brendon and his dog Bo. We also have Dean, Emily, & Stacey right over the fence who are always cooking up something in their backyard.

Eight months here and it has pretty much felt like home since the first day.
This is that special time of day where we get to connect before we get home and are both tired and hungry. Some days I bring the stroller and we stroll home. Most days I walk and carry him so we talk and snuggle for the first two blocks after leaving Little Lions family day care. Eric says bye, bye, to Rosanne and Joerson, the husband wife duo, and we begin the walk and talk that usually starts with Eric pointing out Joerson's truck and Cashy's Momma's car.

We have lived in our neighborhood for 7 months and our walk home has definitely helped us get to know the place better. You can expect fun things on both sides of our block. We have Peechu and Maytag, resident cats on patrol on one side and the other side opera music coming from Jim's slightly open door. We will usually see Jim and his dog KiKi on their daily walk once we get around the block. Jim is an older gentlemen who has lived in Alameda his whole life and traveled the world in the Military. Anyone who pets KiKi gets a piece of candy.