Big City vs. Small Town

Despite the bad rap - For toddlers, there are distinct advantages to raising a child in the city - or at least in the Kiev Micro Region where we lived.  Number one advantage - was that I didn't really need to look for a way to entertain her (except of cold and rainy days)  I just had to walk out of my apartment to one of the many playgrounds around our building and there would be at least 1 but sometimes as many as 20 other small children her age, all running around and stealing each other's toys. on the way to or from the park, I did grocery shopping and got her back in time for lunch and a nap.

We have been in a Alister's home town in Northern Ireland since February.  It was nice to miss the cold weather they had in Kiev - but some days it is pretty hard to find something to do.  In small towns where people are car dependent and where the weather is cool and rainy - you don't find people with small children flocking to the play parks.  True - There are playgroups - on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we make our way to the specified location and sit for two hours as the children play and get a snack - all for a pound!  Well worth it if the weather is rainy!  Sunday is Church and Family day and so that leaves Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday (and holidays when play group doesn't operate) to find something to occupy Saphira.

We walk a lot - and it is a good thing Saphira is a good walker and that our town has more to offer than the one I grew up in.  Often our walk looks like this:  Over to the post office to either put cards in the mailbox or say "hello" to it and then down the street to window shop in the two chemists and the Thrift store.  I then browse the short dated aisle of the grocery store and we continue walking down to the Animal Auction.  Monday is Sheep day and Tuesday is Cow day.  There is a public restroom there, and for some reason Saphira always likes to stop there for a potty break (once out of necessity - but after that she always says she has to go potty whenever we pass it - so we stop and she goes).  We watch the animals unload, listen to the impregnable chatter of the auctioneer (Saphira has started shouting out numbers - but so far the auctioneer hasn't taken her up on her bids) and sometimes if we are lucky we get to pet an animal.  Saphira REALLY likes visiting the auction house and brings up our animal encounters ferquently.

If the weather is dry, we go to a playground in the morning or afternoon, and normally we visit her grandparents in the afternoon after her nap as well.