Month 12: Small World

Back in the day, I had an up-to-date passport. I even used it. Before I became a mom, I’d been to Canada, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, and some other countries I can’t think of right now. Partly that was because my parents, both teachers, had summers off and love to travel. And it was partly because I majored in French in college and studied abroad.

I remember one semester I attended this school in the south of France. I lived in a glorified garage, but outside my window was scenery straight out of “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous” – sparkling azure water, enormous yachts, huge mansions with sprawling gardens. I met people from countries I had never even heard of. (Seriously, Liechtenstein?)

One day this British classmate of mine arranged for a group of us to be chauffeured to Monaco, where we would play roulette at the Monte Carlo Casino and dine on oysters and caviar into the wee hours. Except they wouldn’t let me into the casino because I was under 21 and wearing jeans. But I digress.

The point is, there was a time not so long ago when the world was my playground. Now, my world is an actual playground. Only with swings and sandboxes and stuff. In the span of nine months, my universe shrank to the size of my 2,000-square foot house. In the very beginning, it was even smaller. I did the bed, shower, couch circuit for a while after the baby was born, before expanding my territory to include the baby’s room, kitchen, and back yard.

Even now that I have regained full mobility, my world feels unbearably small at times. There are entire days when Miles and I don’t leave the house. Really, is it worth it to stuff him into his car seat during the small window between nap and lunch for a trip to Target? I usually don’t even need anything, and just end up spending money on that $1 crap by the checkout counters. (Whose idea WAS that? A genius yet devious plan to extract even more dollars from gullible impulse-buyers like me.)

A not-quite-one year old is too young to fully appreciate the zoo, the aquarium, or the children’s museum, even if I wasn’t too cheap to fork over the admission fee. I haven’t found a playgroup, and since most of my friends work or have older kids, we have to make do with only the occasional play date. Or trips to the neighborhood playground.

Thank goodness for the jogging stroller. When the weather’s nice, long walks are our salvation. This past weekend, C. and I installed a baby seat on my bike and got Miles a helmet (which he hates more than peas, by the way). We’re even planning a trip to Cape Cod this summer. So there are signs that my world may be expanding again. Still, I don’t think I’ll be needing that passport anytime soon.

TIP O’ THE WEEK: I found a fun book that lets you travel vicariously around the world in short, frazzled mom-sized chapters: Life Could Be Sweeter: 101 Great Ideas from Around the World for Living a More Rewarding Life, by William Sinunu.