"The crocodidle was scary, so I keeped my penny."

That was Beth's take on the Rainforest Cafe. We were walking around the mall today with two other moms and their kids, and the kids were entranced with the animatronic animals and had to go see them. Josh and Kay were fine with the big crocodile and even threw pennies in the water to make wishes, but no way was Beth going to go near that thing. She tucked her penny safely in her coat pocket. But she's in looooove with the gigantic butterfly flapping its wings on the restaurant roof.

The mall walk was a totally impromptu thing that evolved out of a much-needed (and almost canceled) playdate, and it sounds nice and lively and fun (and it was), but there's a darker side: all three of us confessed to being absolutely stir-crazy and desperately needing interaction with other adults. Boston's a great town, but winter lasts For. Ever. and is horribly, bitterly cold. So we all sat there while the kids ate their Chick-Fil-A meals (still the best fruit cup out there in the fast-food world) and told each other how hard it's been. I'm the lucky one: I see my husband every night. (I've also weaned Sarah and have no plans to be pregnant any time soon, so with any luck at all I can go back on my antidepressant/Ritalin cocktail that so effectively managed my ADD. But I digress.) Scott doesn't travel for work, and he doesn't have 80-hour work weeks, and he's usually home for dinner and putting the girls to bed. So I'm not as alone as many of the women I know are. But it's still hard being in a new town where I still don't really feel connected to people yet, and where the weather is a pretty good barricade to getting outside and doing things. The fact that I have two small kids and need twenty minutes of concentrated attention (without Ritalin) to get them ready and outside and bundled in the car doesn't make it any easier.

Someday, we told each other, our kids will be in school. They will be able to dress themselves and feed themselves. They won't climb on us all day long. But until then we must keep each other sane.