In our probably fruitless war against the Midwest Winter Sludge, Katie and I are trying to go to the YMCA as often as possible. It’s the first year in many that she’s not played a sport during this time of year, so I have to find a way to keep her active. Me, too. When it’s nice, I walk/run the park across the street, and in my present state, I’ve lowered my expectations so that the lower limit of "nice" is 50 degrees and not raining. So yesterday, it was around the park, but today it was raining, so to the gym.

So we go to the Y several times a week. The downtown branch is the closest, but their child care is only open past 2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So the other days, we have to go way out west, which actually isn’t that far, but it seems to be. Both boys like going to the child care very much. Joseph preferes the downtown center because he and Michael are usually the only children there. No sharing necessary.

For his part, Michael has a tendency to pick up odd phrases here and there and claim them all his own and see the world through those lenses now and forever.  I guess the first time we took him to the child care at the Y, I told him he was going to stay with the ladies.

So, if , some late afternoon, you see a two-year old bellowing, "I wanna go see the ladies!" Please. Don’t be shocked.

He’s in it for the toys. Totally.