Peggy Notebaert

This morning, we all (even The Dad!) piled in the Great White Moose and drove down to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. It's among my favorite spots for children aged 18 months to 8 years or so. Apparently, given the number of young families waiting in line (to get in, at coat check, for the bathroom), I am not the only parent to feel this way. Sunday mornings are an ideal time to visit the Field and the Shedd, but I suspect that many others feel that the butterfly museum is less of a (time) committment than Chicago's powerhouse sites on the museum campus.

The Boy, The Girl and The Tot were fairly cooperative in setting the day's agenda for our visit. We first went to the slide section, on to the water section, up to the butterflies, through the Amazing Amphibians special exhibit (the zip line was an immediate hit!), and down for lunch as the smell emanating from the caterers prepping for the day's private event inspired immediate hunger. After lunch, we went back briefly to the slide area, but The Tot began to rub his eyes after only about 15 minutes, so we called it a day. The Boy is starting to understand some of the science/learning aspects behind the exhibits, which is nice for me. Maybe one day soon, they'll stand still enough for me to read the placards, if not to pay attention to them themselves.

Mama-Tot Playdate

Whenever I spend one-on-one time with The Girl, she calls it a Mama-Girl Playdate. Today, I had a Mama-Tot Playdate. It was nice. It wasn't fantastically exciting, but when you are 14-months-old, even mundane errands can be fun.

I took him to Nordstrom to buy (him) new shoes. The traffic on the Edens wasn't too bad, but I was starving when we got there, so we stopped into the cafe to have lunch first. He had had lunch at home with The Dad previously, but he happily ate some of my salad while sitting on my lap. I made the mistake of sitting outside, so there was a huge lag between ordering and getting my food. I finally asked the server when he brought my check before my salad. There were four chatty ladies having lunch next to us, and The Tot enjoyed flirting with them while we waited.

After lunch, we went next door to the kids' shoe department to get a matching (to The Boy) pair of green Keens for him. I also ordered a pair of baby Cons for him, since they didn't have his size in the color I wanted in-stock in the store. He also got a balloon, which I tucked into the back of his shorts so we wouldn't lose it.

I ran down to Gap to return some stuff for The Dad. The Tot rearranged the lotions bottles while I made my return. He was only 10 feet away from me, but I could see where he was going from the yellow balloon attached to his pants. We made our way back through the mall to Nordstrom. I got a snack for The Tot -- chocolate-covered graham crackers -- and an iced tea for me. He wanted to walk himself and had a mind of his own on the best way to go. He was so cute walking determinedly through Nordstrom with a chocolate-graham in hand and a balloon sticking up. When I held his hand to re-direct him, he'd stop and squat down -- his way of telling me that he wanted to do it himself.

Traffic on the Edens looked bad, so I took Route 50 home. I think it took about as much time as the Edens would have.

Pink polka dot pajamas

This morning, after I dropped The Boy off at school, I took The Baby and The Girl with me to Dunkin Donuts for coffee, a bagel and a couple of donuts, and then to Home Depot. All while wearing my pink polka dot pajama bottoms (and The Dad's polarfleece). I was styling. My fashion standards have slipped so far that this is actually not the worst combination that the counter clerks at Dunkin Donuts have seen me wear.

At Home Depot, The Baby and The Girl rode in one of the racecar carts. The Baby loves sitting up like a big kid and steering the wheel like his big sister (or brother). I dislike pushing those giant things, especially for errands like today's where I needed a single thing that I could have easily carried without a cart if I had been there on my own. But the kids enjoy it and it makes shopping with small children much nicer.

The Girl went to MDO today. The Baby took a nap, had lunch, and accompanied me to on our weekly Treasure Store trip. We ran into my Treasure Store stalkers. It's funny, because I don't always go on the same day each time, but I always see the same people there over and over. Half of them are from the co-op.

The Girl and The Boy went over to their friends' house after school, while I took The Baby to Target for such exciting things as dishwasher cubes and deodorant for The Dad. When we got home, The Dad took The Baby, The Girl, and The Boy outside to play with the neighbors while I made dinner.

Vienna Beef

Yesterday, I took The Baby to the Vienna Beef Factory Store & Cafe for lunch. It's one of our new favorite destinations because it's on the way to the Treasure Store, it's fast, and we can split an order of 2 Chicago-style dogs and fries for $4.25. The Baby loves hot dogs. Perhaps because it's at the factory, the dogs often have unsealed-at-the-ends casing, which actually works out well for me, because that is the part that The Baby has the most trouble eating, and I can just peel it off.

He sat in a regular chair pulled up to the table, although two people offered to get me a highchair for him. I assured them that he'd be fine in a chair, and he was. He looked so little and so grown-up at the same time, sitting there in his rockstar guitar t-shirt, baggy Boden jeans, and baby Cons.

We brought the paper boat of fries with us, and he ate them happily while sitting in his stroller at the Treasure Store as I looked through the racks for jeans and pants for me. I ended up with a pair of Buffalo by David Bitton jeans, bright green J. Crew pants (that I plan to cut down into Bermuda shorts), and pale green Limited dress pants (with nobody inside 'em!*). All for a mere $13. By the time we got upstairs, however, The Baby was done with the Treasure Store. He was only slightly impressed with the original Fisher-Price, made in the U.S.A., plastic horses ball I found in the housewares aisle.

The rest of my day was fairly busy as well: I volunteered to prep art projects for hanging for St. Bart's art fair on Friday, so I spent the morning stringing fishing line into different fish art pieces for hanging. I took all three kids to Target after school to buy new Big Girl Underwear for The Girl. I did laundry. And I went to book club at Elephant Thai (my entree was great, but I didn't really like the chive dumplings) and the Chocolate Shoppe (weird service, good ice cream -- I tried about 4 different kinds before settling on maraschino cherry) in Edgebrook (cute neighborhood, seemed more like Evanston than the city).



* Does anyone else recite snippets of Dr. Suess books in their head at odd moments? The reference above is to his story, "What Was I Scared Of?)

Baby Birthday!

The first anniversary of The Baby's birth was today. All of a sudden, he is a little man.
The t-shirt came from the happy folks at The T-Shirt Deli in Bucktown. I am also a sucker for Baby Cons, so he's sporting those as well. And new jeans, to match those of his big brother, from the Chicagoland Boden Sample Sale. I think it's his first outfit that didn't come from the Treasure Store.