cuteness

i have been completely unable to walk into work lately. i oversleep, or its too damn cold (yes, in April- i am really ready for spring to come and to stay- today is reasonable, but it's supposed to be cold again by the weekend) or i'm just too damn lazy.

but, today, as i was walking to the subway, i passed the house on the end of the block that has the three adorable children. i know the kids enough to say 'hi' in the morning, and i've had chats with the parents. i noticed as i was walking up that all of the doors to their van were open, and i figured they were just getting the kids into it for school.

the younger boy (i think he's 5 or 6) came out of the house and looked up at me and said 'we're packing to go to new york!'

'you are?' i said.

'we're going to new york and we're going to see the statue of liberty!' he proclaimed, so excited he was nearly vibrating. i feel for his parents on the drive.

'that's so nice,' i said. 'have a great time!'

'thanks,' he replied, going back into the house.

not only are these kids adorable, they're polite. and they get excited about things like the statue of liberty.

i feel for the parents because this weekend we went to nyc with my four-year-old niece to see 'the little mermaid'. the entire drive, and then lunch, was puncuated with 'it is time for ariel yet?' which was pretty cute.

and, yes, she had a great time, altho she did tell us that she did not like the part where ariel lost her tail. because ariel should have her tail all the time. i would like to perhaps turn that into a feminist lesson that ariel should not have given up her voice to get the guy, but... i doubt the niece cares about that. she just thought it was cool that ariel had a tail. and roller skates. that's how they do the underwater stuff on stage- everyone was in skates. sounds a little dorky, but it worked.

one more cuteness thing- or pretty, i guess. when i take the subway, i walk down a block that is houses on one side and a parking garage on the other. but one of the people on the block, i hear, has taken over the strip of ground behind the parking garage and planted the most amazing garden. i don't get to pass that block if i walk all the way to work- well, i guess i could, but it would require some rerouting. anyhow, even tho it has been a stupidly cold spring so far, every day, something else is blooming in that garden. today it was yellow tulips. dozens of them. it was very pretty.