Trials of the Working Mum #1

This evening, at the GIPNA 4th Annual Fine Wine and Cheese party, I ran into my friend Meredith, who asked me about my new job, and whether I was still blogging, although not necessarily in that order. She told me that she used to read this blog and feel guilty because I was always taking my children on fabulous adventures, while she was working.

I now understand what she means, as I've neither written for pleasure in almost a month, nor done anything enriching with my children in twice as long. Where I used to have five solid days each week to take my children to museums, on playdates, and to IKEA, I now have but one (the other taken up with football with the cousins until early February). And that day is also the day that suburbanites trek into the city to see the fish, tourists on a mad-dash Windy City trip gawk at the Bean, and all of Lincoln Park/Lakeview goes shopping. Add in my regular chores of laundry, bill-paying, dry-cleaners, menu-planning, Target runs, and catching up on my sleep. Not to mention squeezing in quality one-on-one time with each child (one of whom insists that that time include a ride on the trip and a trip to Starbucks), and well, there's hardly time to breathe, let alone muster the energy to pack three children into a crowded museum for the day.

Yes, I know: this is a uniquely middle-class problem, and I'm fortunate to count myself within it. I've been spoiled by years of visiting the Field, the Shedd, MSI, the Notebaert, the zoos, the Arb, and the Garfield Park Conservatory (not to mention the big blue box) pretty much on my own terms. But: I now understand why people take vacations. I have not worked long enough to feel guilty, as Meredith did, about the adventures upon which I am not or no longer taking my children. Someone ask me in a year if this is still true.

MSI

The Boy, The Girl, The Tot, and I observed today's CPS professional development day, which gives The Boy and The Girl the day off, by going on an old-fashioned museum outing. We met Cara and Gracie at the Museum of Science and Industry, using The Boy's first-day-of-school voucher to gain admittance to the museum gratis.

As usual, parking on Hyde Park's streets was easy to find, so we skipped $13 underground museum garage and trekked the block or so to the museum's main entrance. Fortunately, my kids are pretty used to my cheapskate ways about parking; they didn't even complain about the walk, although it was quite cold on the return trip. The landscape of the area -- LSD dividing a treeless lakefront from the wide lawn of MSI creates a wind tunnel: it is always blustery and windy down there. It was also overcast and the temperature dropped all day, so it was windier and colder than usual today.

We had arranged to meet Cara and Grace in front of the Jollyball, but ran into them in the elevator instead. The Boy was thrilled to see that the Jollyball was fixed and all 4 kids spent the better part of 1/2 an hour glued to the rail in front of it. It was The Tot's first real viewing of the contraption and he took it in silently, pulled up to the railing with a serious look on his face. Meanwhile, I enjoyed a cup of coffee from the nearby Brain Cafe and marveled at the lit and decorated Christmas trees already dotting the interior of the museum.

After my cuppa, we went upstairs to The Great Train Story exhibit, otherwise known in our household as "the choo-choo hall." It is an area that can (and has) easily occupy The Boy for most or all of our visits. The Tot, who has just discovered trains himself, was similarly enthralled with the trains. Unlike The Boy and The Girl, however, who run from step to step around the exhibit to see the trains from different vantage points, The Tot was content to watch everything go by from a single location.Alas, the girls were not content to watch trains all day and we moved on to the Genetics exhibit to watch the baby chicks come out of their shells. The Tot liked this as well. There were a few small school groups in the museum and one of them had named all of the hatching chicks, which was kind of cute. One of these days, perhaps on a future football Sunday, I'm going to have to go back to these museums without the kids so that I can actually explore the exhibits on my own timetable. The kids were completely uninterested in learning about the double helix structure of DNA, genes, genomes, etc. All in good time, I suppose.

Next, we went downstairs to the Idea Factory, which was mobbed. They were at maximum capacity, so we actually had to wait a few minutes to gain entry into the area. I barely saw The Boy once he got in -- he was quite happy "running the factory" toward the back of the exhibit. The Tot spent most of his time getting utterly drenched, taking balls out of the river and putting them into the air tube.

We all had lunch and then did a quick twirl through Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle. Twice (for The Girl -- Cara, Gracie and the boys checked out the fireman's area just outside of it). By then, we were all pretty tired so we decided to call it a day. On the way out, The Tot noticed the Silver Bullet/Zephyr; I told him that it would have to wait for another day.

Museuming

My kids don't go back to school until September 2. However, most of the suburban districts as well as the Roman Catholic schools are already back in session. Which made today and the next 5 days the perfect time to go to Chicago's museums and other attractions (we plan to make our annual pilgrimage to Kiddieland next week).

This afternoon, we met Allison and her kids at the Museum of Science & Industry, undoubtedly my favorite Chicago museum. In fact, I think I need to go there one day by myself so that I can actually explore the exhibits in a way that allows me to gain something from them. My big brain challenge of today was trying to remember all the element symbols on the "chem time" clock in the Idea Factory (in addition to keeping track of 6 kids all wanting to go in different directions). I really want to see the Green + Wired and Glass Experience exhibits.

Thanks to the museum's fee special right now (until September 1), I paid only $12 to enter the museum. Street parking in the neighborhood directly adjacent to the museum is pretty easy to come by, so that and my $2 coffee and chips were my only expenditures for today's outing*. Although I'd love to join MSI, I'm maxed out on museum memberships right now. My Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum membership gives us 50% off at MSI through a reciprocity agreement; in the future, entrance to MSI will be $15 for me and 2 kids (The Tot is still free).

My kids can spend hours in The Great Train Story exhibit (it and the Jollyball are must-sees for every visit), but today we spent most of our time in the Idea Factory (the Jollyball wasn't working). The Tot immediately dumped about 5 bucketfuls of water down his front, soaking his shoes, shorts, and shirt. Then he had great fun putting balls in the air tube connected to the "factory river." It was such a joy to see him work out how to reach up on his toes to put the ball in the hole. He didn't get it every time, but when the older kids (non-siblings and friends) didn't rush to grab his ball, he'd go after his ball and try again. He smiled every time he saw his ball go up and over in the tube. By 5 p.m., he was wiped from all that work and just wanted to be held.

Allison took The Girl and her girl to see Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle, which they both loved, while I stayed in the Idea Factory with the boys. We also saw Farm Tech briefly -- just long enough for The Boy, The Girl, and Enver and Peri to "drive" the ginormous John Deere tractor -- and went back up to The Great Train Story before heading out at around 5:30, closing time.


* And $11.13 for 3 McDonald's Happy Meals on the way home as it was dinnertime as we left and a week's worth of single parenthood had dwindled my supply of easy-fix meals.