The Mall

Today, I dragged The Dad to the mall. I do so only once each year or so, but it's still torturous for all involved. He was pretty good this year, despite a tight turnaround for lunch before our noon studio time at Flash! (and the only reason he'll consent to go to the mall at all). I stood in line to order at Corner Bakery (pesto cavatappi split four ways among me and the kids, and a turkey panini for The Dad) while The Dad took The Tot and The Girl to run off some energy in the center treehouse. 

Our photo shoot went really well, with individual shots of The Boy (who photographs really well), The Girl (who usually doesn't), and The Tot (who also photographs well), as well as the three kids together, and some family shots. I hate how I photograph, but the point of this exercise is to capture our family on film. After we were done shooting, we ran some errands around the mall to pass the time: the Hanna store to make a return and visit a friend, the Lego store to exchange The Boy's Y-Wing Starfighter that was missing parts, and Galt Toys in an attempt to appease The Tot, who heard "Northbrook Court" and assumed, "Hobby USA next to Nickel City."

When we got back to Flash! to look over our photos and make our selections, The Tot was very upset that we weren't going for another photo shoot. The photographer (Sam) took a couple off-the-cuff shots of him just to make him happy, which I appreciated. It was past naptime and The Tot was crabby. He, and both of his siblings, fell asleep on the car ride home. 

Working Moms Lunch

Today, I attended the first NPN event I'd been to since before my fleeting membership expired in 2004. This time, it was a lunch for the Working Mothers Group. Embracing my new status as a working mom, and after a long time spent with the enemy in the mommy wars, I was eager to meet those women of which I had heretofore only caught passing glimpses during school events or rushing for the morning train.

Unfortunately, I didn't get much out of it. I know that networking is a process, and a reciprocal one at that. It was only my first event; I am not ready to throw in the towel just yet. But at a table full of mothers of infants, I really did not have much in common with anyone. I deliberately skipped the nursing-sleep-deprived-new-mother stage of working; except for a few months when The Boy was wee, I was at home to nurse my babies and nurture their babyhood. I have three children, the oldest of whom is already in elementary school, so I'm also largely past the school-tours-and-application-frenzy stage (not to mention past the juggling a toddler and infant stage). And I was also the only mother there who recently returned to full-time work after a long period of setting my own schedule.

I did get to have a yummy Corner Bakery lunch and spent 40 minutes listening and talking to other mothers, and I rode in a cab (twice) for the first time in recent memory, so it wasn't a total loss. I'll continue to watch the WMG events list in the coming months, but I may have to form my own working mothers lunch group.

New Docs

Today was a relatively uneventful day: I took The Girl to camp, and The Boy and The Tot to their respective 6-year and 2-year well-child check-ups at the pediatrician. Our pediatric practice has gone through some staffing changes recently. Our favorite doctor, Dr. Shah, left to take a fellowship at U. Chicago. We met one of the new doctors, Dr. Deitch, at today's visit. The Boy and The Tot got shots, which pleased no one in the room.

We stopped at K-Mart to look for watercolor sets, got a new Bakugan lunch box for The Boy, and then went to lunch at Potbelly before picking up The Girl and her friend from camp.

Pirate's Cove Playdate

Today, the weather cooperated enough for me to take The Boy, The Girl, and The Tot to Pirate's Cove in Elk Grove Village. I was first introduced to Pirate's Cove by The Dad's sister-in-law, an EKG resident and fellow employee of the EKG park district, but hadn't been again since The Boy was just over 2. We met our friend Cara and her kids in the parking lot, and our huge group of 6 kids and 1 baby walked into the park together.

The kids had a great time; with a handful of automated rides and other kid-level amusements, all staffed by fresh-faced, madly-texting teenagers, the park is perfect for kids between 4- and 7-years-old (conveniently, the age of our group). Everyone rode the Safari train and played at the playground. The Girl, The Boy, Gracie and Kenley rode the kid-size carousel for an hour straight, and did the burlup-bag slide for another 1/2 an hour. The Boy lent John his Cons so that they could both do the climbing wall, and everyone waited in line for like 1/2 an hour to go on the hand-crank paddleboats (The Girl lasted about 30 seconds before she tried to hold onto the side of the pool, while still in the boat).

We left for about an hour and went across the street to Panera for lunch. That was an experience; 7 kids and 2 moms trying to have lunch at noon at a crowded lunch place next to an office park. We managed to all eat and use the facilities and even get cookies afterward. Then we returned to Pirate's Cove for a couple more hours of playing.

Cara had to take off around 3 to visit her eldest child at Girl Scout camp, so the kids and I left Pirate's Cove as well. We made a quick stop at Jewel in EKG before heading home to take The Boy to his swimming lesson at Independence Park.

Clean & Green

Although our participation in the official Clean & Green events in both Old Irving Park and Greater Independence Park was a bit of a bust, our family did manage to do a little gardening/improvement of our own today. We were hampered by the weather (on and off rain) as well as The Boy's Saturday morning soccer game, arriving at the GIPNA table too late to register or pick up trash bags. Our neighbors had come to similar fates, so we all cleaned the breezeways next to garages instead. I pulled out all the weeds, rocks, garbage and whatnot from the breezeway next to our garage, then installed our rain barrel on the alley side of the fence, leaving a good receptacle for rain runoff from the garage and giving us easy access to the spigot for gardening use when the weather dries up.

We went over to the OIPA potluck picnic about 12:30. My friend CD had asked me to have my bags available for green-minded folk, but when we arrived, the scant population was packing up to leave. So we went to lunch at Target. Despite the snags, it was a nice day.

The Mall

Chicago Mama's cupboard was bare, so I took The Girl and The Tot out for lunch today. I had suggested Panera, as it's right across the street from the Market Square Pottery Barn Kids. But The Girl declared that she did not like that PBK and wanted to go to the one at Old Orchard Mall instead.

In her younger days, before we had to worry about such silly things as school pick-up times and better budgeting, we spent a lot of time at the mall (our favorite, as a group, is probably Northbrook Court, with its giant treehouse in the center court). These days, although every retailer and its cousin is trying to lure us in with sales, rewards programs, and other incentives, we don't go very often. It probably also helps that the screenprint I saw yesterday at the T-Shirt Deli ("I take the fun out of shopping") aptly describes both The Boy and The Tot, thereby rendering shopping an activity best enjoyed without the company of children, and therefore not enjoyed very often by me.

And yet: we went. And despite the rain, it was (mostly) fun. At least The Girl keeps talking about how much fun she had. We went to the infinitely more preferable (than Panera) Nordstrom Cafe for lunch: Lime-Cilantro Chicken Salad ($9) for me, Simple Turkey Sandwich ($5) for The Girl, and The Tot shared with us both. On the way in, we ran into Carrie from Disney II, a mom of a child in The Boy's class, who seems to run in the same social/activities circuit as I do, and her little boy. After lunch, we headed to PBK to spend my PBK card holder rewards coupon. It was hard to come up with something I wanted to buy -- we checked out the stuff at Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma next door before settling on a pink Farmhouse Chair to complete our set; it's the only chair that we didn't buy as a floor model. We took a quick cruise through Gap Kids, where the salesgirl made me feel bad that my 2-year-old wanted to throw every one of the bucket of small playground balls set at perfect toddler height across the store. We stopped at the E-bar at Nordstrom on the way home for a latte (me) and snack (The Girl, The Tot) and skedaddled.

My Eyes! My Eyes!

That's what The Girl was saying after Dr. Zaparackis, our pediatric ophthalmologist, put the eye dilation drops in and the irises of her eyes started to expand. Two weeks ago, when The Boy went to see the well-known Dr. Z (I ran into Christina from Tippy Toes on her way out of the office as we were entering), he put up a fight to get the drops in his eyes, but wasn't as bothered by the actual dilation. The Girl was pretty OK with the drops going in, but did not like the dilation itself and complained heartily that she could not see very well. I don't blame her. As a 33+ year eyeglasses-wearer, I've had my eyes dilated more times than I can count and the vision disturbance bothers me a lot. Fortunately, both The Girl's and The Tot's vision were pronounced fine. As was The Boy's a couple of weeks ago.

Once the dilation and exam were completed, we went across the street to have lunch at Corner Bakery. I have to thank Becky for the tip that 3 people can share a single order of Pesto Cavatappi, which is what we did, and have lunch for under $13.

Organic Goodies in a Tiny Spot

I have been horrible about updating this of late. It's a good thing that my readers are like me as a blog reader: sporadic.

Last Saturday at 8 a.m., I happened to look at my planner and realized that it was one of the Green City Market at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum days. The Girl and I had been talking about going to one of the indoor markets, so I managed to pack everyone up and drive us over to the museum for the market. Despite the gray, dreary, rainy day, Lincoln Park was packed. I managed to find a parking spot on Cannon Drive that wasn't too far from the entrance to the museum, but also managed to forget my produce-and-goodie-schlepping bags in The Great White Moose.

We arrived at the museum entrance, took the elevator (The Girl doesn't like the main open stairway) up to the second floor, and walked into a wall of people in the South Gallery. Unfortunately for me (and The Girl and The Tot), they were a people unaccustomed or unaware of the presence of wee ones; The Tot was quite the tripping hazard. Not much grows in the Midwest for harvest and sale in early March, so the market was a lot of potatoes and canned/prepared foods. Not that any one of our party minded! I managed to spend $30 in cash in just under 1/2 an hour -- on crepes, baked goods from Bennison's Bakery, fresh soft caramels from Floriole Bakery, Honeycrisp Apples from Hillside Orchards (I think), a plate-licking pie from Hoosier Mama Pie Co., and a $1 donation to the market itself in exchange for a cup of coffee from Blue Marble Creamery (too bad no one in my house really drinks milk). We went downstairs to eat our pastry/drink my coffee. On the way out, The Girl and The Tot joined the market's Sprouts for Kids program by trying some sprouts from a shallot plant. The Boy, who of course is the one most reticent about trying new things, did not want to participate.

It was pouring down with the rain as we were leaving the market/museum. Although The Tot and The Girl had jackets with hoods, The Boy and I were bare-headed. I had bought an umbrella at the gift shop, but it was raining too hard for us all to share it. Rather than have us all get wet (and listen to misery all the way home), I asked The Boy and The Girl to wait in the myseym entrance vestibule while I got the car. There was a Green City Market volunteer standing there and she kept an extra eye on them as well, for which I was extra thankful.

On the way home, we stopped at the 1730 Outlet on Wrightwood, which I had passed a few times previously. I was looking for stools, although I did not find any that suited my needs. If I needed modern furniture in the C&B style, this is the first place I'd look. We took a quick cruise through the Tag decor outlet, but though the prices were good and The Boy and The Girl were begging, the decorative pieces contained therein would be destroyed within 90 seconds of entering my home.

Also on the way home, we stopped at Costco. Yes, on a Saturday. Normally, I avoid that sliver of land between Clybourn and Ashland Avenues like the plague on weekends, but it wasn't too awful. Although we had to park in a remote corner of the lot, we managed to arrive at the warehouse during a break in the crowds. The Tot never wants to go in the cart anymore, so my job was made harder by tracking 3 kids in a store crowded with carts that could easily crush a small child, but we managed to make it through within a reasonable timeframe, forgetting only one item on our list. I discovered that you can pay for cafe items at the main check out lanes, so we had lunch at Costco as well. You just can't beat feeding a family of 5 for under $9.

One of a Kind

Yesterday, Cara and Grace came into the city; we all headed down to one of my favorite Chicago buildings (and I say this every year*), the Merchandise Mart, to attend our friend Melissa's booth at the One of a Kind Show and Sale. We had gone (without the girls) last year, but it was a Saturday and much busier. This year, whether due to the weather (freezing!), the economy or something else, it was much quieter. We both bought beautiful chainmail necklaces from Rapt in Maille for ourselves, and cute wooden necklaces from Steinvika Designs for Gracie, Lily, and The Girl. I also picked up a pair of lobster-style mittens from Zola Jones Designs. The Girl had been getting over a cold and The Tot was past naptime, so we were pretty much done after a quick cruise around the booths surrounding Melissa's booth.

Before we headed up to the 8th floor, we stopped into Au Bon Pain for lunch. We arrived just before the lunch rush, thank goodness, as the crowd of well-heeled designers was not happy to see two moms and three little kids invade their space.

After we were done shopping, Cara and Gracie headed back to the car, and The Girl, The Tot, and I got on the L. The Girl was decidedly not happy about taking the train, but managed to calm down for a bit once we boarded the Brown Line, taking it the long way around the Loop to the Blue Line station at Clark/Lake. It turns out that The Girl was having one of her occasional (usually) crowd-related panic attacks about taking public transportation, despite the fact that the trains were not at all crowded. The Tot rode in the stroller (and fell asleep) and I held The Girl in my arms and managed to soothe her public transportation anxiety this time.

The Dad, who was working from home, very nicely came to get us at the station. We all headed over to school to pick up The Boy, then headed home.


*Maybe I will remember this next year when I am looking for a good (indoor) Chicago backdrop for our holiday card photograph.

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

One is silver, the other gold. It's been 14 years since I've been a Girl Scout, and the GS credo is still branded in my brain. Today, I got to hang out with one of my oldest friends, Cara, and her daughter Grace. With her oldest two in school in Aurora, and The Boy in school in Chicago, we don't get to see each other as much these days. We did see each other a few weeks' ago, but parties are only good for catching up if you're not the host.

Grace and The Tot had fun eating Dunkin' Donuts munchkins and playing in the bathroom sink together for about an hour at our house before we all piled into The Great White Moose to pick The Girl up from preschool and go to lunch.

We had lunch at one of my favorite spots in the area: Curio Cafe. When we arrived, a group of (impossibly skinny for just having given birth!) moms and nursing newborns was just finishing up. It turns out that it was the monthly meeting of La Leche League of Lincoln Park. The Lincoln Park must be a misnomer, because Avondale is a long way from LP. They meet the second Friday of the month at 10 a.m. - noon at Curio Cafe. C'est tant pis pour moi; I'm long past the point of needing LLL, but perhaps it will help someone else.

Cara had the steak sandwich; I had the plato tipico and they were both very good. Both little girls had grilled cheese, sliced apples, and grape Honest Juice pouches. The Tot had the alphabet noodles with cheese, which (while good) wasn't up to par, and finished the rest of the girls' sandwiches.

After lunch, we headed southeast to hit the Treasure Store, where we both flipped the racks for cute kids' clothes. I spent far too much money and made Cara late to pick up her kids from school. She did better, scoring a pair of MiniBoden pants in size 7/8 for $2.50. The Tot, The Girl, and Grace drove us nuts by playing in the racks.

Things'll be great when we're downtown

I was told that I was an adventurous soul by at least 3 people during our day's adventure. The Boy, The Girl, The Tot, and I took the Metra downtown, walked 1/2 a block, took the Wendella Water Taxi down the Chicago River, and disembarked at the last stop, which was Michigan Avenue. I've since learned that the Wendella Water Taxi (black and yellow boats) makes 3 stops along the river during the week (Ogilvie Transportation Center, Clark/Lake, and Michigan Avenue by the Wrigley Building), and goes to Chinatown on weekends only. Its competitor, Shoreline Sightseeing, drives blue boats and goes to Navy Pier and the Shedd as well as to the Mag Mile and Union Station. Still, at $4 for a day pass, the Wendella was a better deal (compare it to the $34 it would cost our party of 4 to travel on Shoreline). Our big goals for the day were to take the Metra and the Water Taxi, so I was at a loss for an activity once the traveling part was over. If I were going to shop the Mag Mile (which I haven't done since about 1997; I'll leave 10.25% sales tax to the tourists), I certainly wouldn't do it with 3 kids in tow.

I took the elevator to the Shops at North Bridge, intending to use the mall to cross up to Michigan Avenue and wander from there (the MCA? Seneca Playlot?), but The Boy started complaining as soon as we got into the mall part. I suggested to him that there was a Lego store and his mood brightened considerably. Along the way to Lego, we passed a Sanrio store, which immediately attracted The Girl with its various walls of miniature knick-knacks with Japanese anime in pale colors.

At Lego, The Tot was happy to move Lego from one play table bin to another, while The Boy marveled at all of the Star Wars, Speed Racer, and other licensed Lego sets. The Girl, meanwhile, repeated, "I want to go to the Hello Kitty store" ad nauseum. The Boy "needed" another set of Duplo (we are holding off on Lego until The Tot no longer wants to eat them). After Lego, we headed straight to Sanrio, where The Tot immediately found the plastic console filled with candy in the middle of the store. I was able to steer The Girl into a Hello Kitty lunch/bento box, and The Tot got a package of gum that he chewed his way through while we were in the store.

With that, we headed to lunch. I had asked The Boy whether he wanted to try a new place for lunch, or go with something familiar. Not surprisingly, he chose the old. We ate at Nordstrom Cafe and all had "the usual" (Cilantro-Lime Chicken Salad for me, chicken strips for The Boy, mac & cheese for The Girl, and The Tot shared with all). We headed back toward the Water Taxi entrance, but then veered off on a series of side trips.

We hopped the free trolley to Navy Pier. The Tot nursed and fell asleep, so we rode the trolley for awhile, switching to another line after doing the whole loop. The second trolley was headed, as we were, toward the train station. But when it passed the Howard Washington Library, we got off at the next stop and walked back. I have always wanted to go to the Howard Washington Library Center; whenever I search the catalog, it is the library branch that seems to have everything. It was gorgeous. It's one of those places I'd like to explore more sometime when I am kid-free. As it was, we visited the Children's Library on the 2nd floor, which was nearly empty at 2 p.m. on a random August Tuesday. The kids and I had a good time picking out and reading books in the S-Z section. I even found a book that seemed to be written for The Boy: Beatrice Doesn't Want To...

By then, we were all tired and the kids were rambunctious -- not a good combination with a quiet library -- so we left. We walked up State Street, stopping at Garrett's along the way for an afternoon snack of caramel and cheese popcorn, which we ate on the walk back to Ogilvie Transportation Center. Our fingers were stained yellow-brown and greasy from the popcorn. We arrived at the train station 15 minutes before the 4:05 train and were back home by 4:30.

Milwaukee

I didn't go to Milwaukee today. But my brother and sister-in-law did. As The Baby, The Boy, The Girl, and I were circling O'Hare Terminal 3 Arrivals waiting for Uncle Chris and Aunt J. to meet us after their flight from Seattle, they were, in fact, diverted to Milwaukee. And there was much crying (except from The Baby, who was asleep).

So we changed the plan, and went to get lunch. I got horribly lost trying to find Canfield Road from Cumberland, and by the time I realized my error, The Baby was awake and the four of us were grumpy from hunger. We stopped at the Corner Bakery on Touhy for some salad (me), pasta (The Boy), and a ham sandwich (The Girl). The Baby shared everything. Spirits improved immensely. The Boy told The Girl that she was a germ, and that he was a white (blood) cell, gave her a hug, and told her that he was attacking her. Maybe I should rename them The Germ and The Cell?

At the end of the meal, Uncle Chris called to say that his flight had landed in Chicago. And there was much rejoicing! So we skedaddled back to O'Hare and fetched them. We played around in the yard and the house, and then the neighbors came over and there was a mass of little kids running around this side of the block. That was fun!

We took Uncle Chris and Aunt J. to dinner at Curio Cafe. It was our first time there for dinner, and it was really good. Operating on the theory that it's better to do a few things extremely well than a bunch poorly, the dinner menu is extremely limited -- they offer a steak, a chicken, and a shrimp dish, plus the lunch items from their children's menu. The Dad, Uncle Chris, and Aunt J. ordered the steak, served with fresh guacamole and a mound of perfectly molded rice; I had the chicken, served with fresh sauteed carrots (and peas -- my only complaint about Curio is that they use canned peas instead of fresh or frozen) and a huge, steaming baked potato (which I gave to The Baby). Everything came with a side salad or soup of the day; I had the salad, which was served with a lovely cilantro dressing reminiscent of Indian cilantro chutney. Uncle Chris got the soup of the day, which was cream of asparagus and he reported that it was very light and creamy. They are BYOB, and they do not charge a corkage fee, so we split a bottle of white with dinner.

School's Out for the Summer!

At least for The Boy. The Girl still has 3 days left of MDO. This morning, however, The Boy went to school. And The Girl, The Baby, and I had a full day of errands. The timing of our day worked out nicely with the weather: we ran errands in the rain and then came home to play in the backyard when the sun came out.

First, I loaded up the car with our recyclables and headed to the Recycling Center at North Park Village. The Girl helped me, while I tried to throw bottles in one-handed with The Baby under the other arm (lest he wander into the parking lot).

That finished, we headed up to Schaumburg. First to pick up The Dad's birthday present at REI. And then to have lunch and get a replacement at IKEA. The Girl ate all of her kids' mac & cheese, while The Baby concentrated his efforts on his mashed potatoes. The Girl asked to go into Smalland, so I dropped her off. The Baby and I wandered around for a bit, picking up this and that. We checked out, grabbed our replacement from the returns department, and circled back upstairs to pick up The Girl from Smalland. She had a great time, although she reported watching "a scary movie" in the center. (It turned out to be an episode of Scooby Doo). The downstairs cafe is under construction, so no end-of-IKEA ice cream. We got a chocolate bar instead.

We picked up The Boy (and all of his stuff!) at school, and ran one last errand -- to pick up our pre-ordered, subsidized (by the city) rain barrel (ah, the irony...) from the Crafty Beaver on Montrose. When we got home, it was like unpacking the clown car -- there was so much in there.

The Boy, The Girl, and The Baby played outside -- a neighbor gifted us a plastic Little Tykes picnic table, adding to our collection of backyard plastics -- while I cleaned up part of the basement (the part within earshot of the backyard) and tidied up the lawn.