Too Good to Be Real

That's how The Girl described her Snookelfritz sweet mint ice cream. I would describe it as too rich for my milk-intolerant self (the things we do as parents...stopped drinking milk when The Tot was a babe and haven't been able to tolerate much of it since), but: if you love milk, ice cream, and fresh ingredients, I highly recommend that you try it. We found Snookelfritz and lots of other organic goodies (farm eggs! fresh cream! a giant pretzel bun! arugula!) at the April Green City Market at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, where The Girl and I began our long Saturday morning Mama-The Girl playdate. (Yes, my five-year-old is weird: her idea of a good time is helping me at the grocery store, do the laundry, etc. I hope as her abilities grow, she'll start thinking that a mother's chores include going to work as well.)

Anyway, we went to the Green City Market. For some reason, I thought it was outside and found primo parking just off North Avenue. We ended up walking all the way up to the butterfly museum and back, passing tons of joggers and families of three pushing strollers. It was a long walk for me, let alone a not-quite 5-year-old with short legs. It was a beautiful day, but quite windy. We stopped at Starbucks for some iced tea on the long walk back. The side trip sparked a conversation about the origin of the name Starbuck. The Girl's theory is that it's called Starbucks because you can get drinks for a buck there. 

By the time we returned to the car, we were both pretty tired, but still had to go to Trader Joe's to do the bulk of our food shopping. A man about my father's age heard our conversation and was chuckling at the girl's reasoning for what went in my cart versus hers. I'm glad that we are so amusing, but it was actually quite refreshing to run errands with just one fairly helpful little person, in the city on a gorgeous spring day.

To Mecca

Or so I'd refer to the experience that is the "new" Whole Foods in Lincoln Park. We needed groceries, dinner and to leave the house yesterday, hence the 5 p.m. trek to one of the busiest stores on a Sunday evening.

We managed to get a parking spot on the third floor next to a giant snowbank. The Boy's fear of heights is contagious, affecting The Girl on this trip. The Dad and The Boy took the escalators while The Girl, The Tot and I waited forever for the single elevator, while DINKs in black Northface jackets gave us the stink eye as they hurried past with their gourmet cheeses and bouquets of freshcut flowers (in a single brown paper bag).

We headed straight for the Riverview lunch counter for Whole Foods' take on the Woolworth counters of old: burgers, fries, dogs, shakes and rootbeer floats. The Dad, The Boy and I ordered cheeseburgers, which reminded me of In & Out - right down to the iceberg lettuce on the freshly baked buns. The Girl had a grilled cheese and The Tot nibbled fries and sucked down his dad's vanilla malt. Not bad for $30 -- far less than a similar meal at Johnny Rockets.

After dinner, we got our shopping done as quickly as was possible with 3 kids and the St. Valentine's Day gourmet foodie/yuppie crowd.

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. 

Hooper's Store

Grandma and Grandpa Texas and Aunt Sam left today. We went to Curio Cafe for brunch before they left for the craziest airport in the U.S. on the second craziest air-travel day of the year. As I have said before, and will continue to say, I love the Curio Cafe. Grandma and Grandpa Texas have been there several times -- Grandma Texas even went once with her friend without kids! When we walked into a full restaurant and I immediately recognized 6 kids and 3 sets of parents, Grandpa Texas commented that he expected Elmo and Oscar the Grouch to walk in at any moment. He meant it as a compliment to Claudia and Lucy; that they've created a neighborhood eatery with good food and good ambiance, where everyone ends up at one point or another.

After we said our good-byes, The Girl and I dropped the boys off at home and headed out to Oak Park, to attend a Leslie B. show. Grandma Naperville introduced me to Leslie B. last year.  It's like Chinese artisan/Etsy with lots of one-of-a-kind stone necklaces, pashminas, scarves, etc. The Girl behaved beautifully in the car and at the party, staying close to me and serving as my fashion advisor.

Nickels

With Grandma & Grandpa Texas at lunch with Grandma & Grandpa Naperville yesterday, we found ourselves with nothing to do on a late-fall Saturday. While I'd normally take this opportunity to go to a museum, I think that's what the rest of the non-shoppers would choose also, so The Dad, The Boy, The Girl, The Tot, and I headed up to Northbrook for our quarterly trip for arcade fun at Nickel City.

It was a slow-moving start in the morning, so we didn't leave until about 11 a.m., which is The Girl's and The Tot's usual lunchtime. Cranky kids + a 25-minute car ride does not for a fun time make. We were all much cheerier after lunch at Panera in Glenview.

We got to Nickel City about 1 p.m. and stayed until just after 2 p.m., playing Skee Ball, Bozo Buckets, Spider Stomp, and various other games. In the free section in the back, I discovered an ancient Japanese game that was a precursor/combination of Bubble Bobble and the iPhone app Bubble Pop and played that for a bit until The Tot and The Dad came to find me. Normally, I get a headache within an hour, but I was actually not ready to leave when The Dad declared that it was time to go. That said, an afternoon at Nickel City is one of my favorite ways to spend $20 and time with my family. We racked up just over 300 tickets between the five of us, enough (with $1.50) for 3 Ring Pops as consolation for having to go home.

The Dad took the kids into Hobby USA adjacent to Nickel City while I ran into Hancock Fabrics (great prices, a massive line for the cutting table and only two people working in the store) for a bodkin. Then we went home - and score! The Tot fell asleep on the way.

Nickels

This morning, The Girl and I headed out to Lee Nails for a brief Mama-The Girl playdate. She got her fingernails polished ($5) from my lap, and I chatted with the D2 PTA mom and the CFC mom I knew.

Afterward, we went over to Sears to check out possible replacements for our slowly dying and terribly impractical side-by-side refrigerator (the icemaker is toast and has been since about 2003). The Dad and I currently debating the merits of SBS with icemaker in the door versus a French door or other bottom-freezer model. Why this is a debate, I'll never know, as we're both tall and leaning down to reach stuff in the bottom of the fridge is a PITA.

After The Tot's nap, we took a family outing to Nickel City in Northbrook, a favorite destination for both The Boy and The Dad. The Tot just likes putting nickels in the slots, whether he plays the game or not. I played a couple of rounds of DDR, but grew too tired after I moved out of beginner mode. We had collected 135 tickets by the time we were ready to leave, and I overruled the kids' desire to use it for tiny pieces of plastic junk they'd lose in the car and forget about by the time we got home; instead, we got a bag of M&Ms, which we split 3 ways among much crying. The Dad took the kids into Hobbytown USA, and I headed to Tuesday Morning, where I inadvertently started my Christmas shopping with a $15 Corolle doll for The Girl and German wooden train set for The Tot. We went to Panera in Glenview for dinner--and no one complained about that choice! A sweet afternoon all-around.

Vella Cafe

With The Dad and The Boy out of town with the car, I decided to take The Girl and The Tot on a little adventure on the L this morning. After a thorough read of good-for-kids brunch spots in Logan Square and Bucktown, I decided to hit Vella Cafe. To echo the Yelpers, it's hard to believe that this tiny building under the Western Avenue L stop could be so full of light, air and space, but it was. I ordered the polenta triangles for me for $8, a $3 side of scrambled eggs for The Tot, and a $4 cinnamon-sugar crepe for The Girl. Also ordered fresh-squeezed OJ ($3.50) for The Tot, fruit lemonade ($2) for The Girl, and an Olla something latte ($3) for me. With the exception of the cherry-lemonade, which was too sour for the The Girl, it was all good. The polenta-cheddar triangles were smothered in scrambled eggs, cheese, and salsa verde; yum! The Tot mostly ignored his eggies in favor of eating bits of The Girl's crepe (which she called a "grape" -- a good reminder to use the proper French for such words).

She asked me if I could make crepes at home. I told her I could, but I needed a special pan for it, and suggested we get back on the train to get to that store (Sur la Table). So we got back on the Blue Line, transferred to the Green Line (The Girl wanted to ride the Pink Line, but the green came along first), and then again to the Cubs-Fan-packed Red Line, disembarking at North & Clybourn. We headed over to Sur la Table for our $25 crepe pan (and $4 India Tree pink sanding sugar), then did a bit of impulse back-to-preschool (assuming there is PFA in the fall) shopping next door at the Carter's outlet. And then we went home the long way, transferring to the Blue Line at Jackson.

Wandering in Wicker Park

The Girl went back to camp today. I had planned to take The Boy and The Tot to Des Plaines' Choo-Choo Cafe, but after reading several Yelp reviews that panned the restaurant, I abandoned the plan. I went in a different direction to achieve the same end: a train ride and lunch.

So we took the L to Wicker Park -- The Tot was both excited and mildly freaked out by the train -- and bummed around. I completely forgot that nothing in Wicker Park really opens before 11 a.m. and it started to rain just as we exited the Damen station, so going to the playground was out. We got coffee and pastry (and cupcakes, for The Boy and The Tot) at Red Hen Bread and had just started to wander aimlessly when The Boy and I remembered that Wicker Park is the site of The Boring Store. So we trekked down Milwaukee to go to the store, but discovered that it opened even later than the rest of Wicker Park.

Back down Milwaukee to kill more time, we stopped into Urban Outfitters, one of the only stores open at the normal retail hour of 10 a.m. I tried on skinny jeans and decided they look ridiculous on someone my age. The Tot wanted to walk upstairs, so we did and looked at the tchotckes there. Then we had lunch at Penny's Noodles at The Boy's request, and went back to The Boring Store.

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.

Craft Mobile

The Girl stayed home from camp this morning and spent the day with The Boy, The Tot and me. We started the day by attending the Disney II kindergarten playdate; Caroline D. moved it this week to Kolmar Playlot so that we could take advantage of the park district's Craftmobile. From my perspective, this was a disastrous move; most of the kindergarten was at camp, Magic Mushroom, or other summer programs, and The Boy was not happy about playing with the 3 girls from his class who were at the park. He eventually calmed down enough to paint a beautiful dolphin as the craft. The Tot and The Girl painted dolphins as well.

We made a quick dash to K-Mart afterwards, where we ran into our neighbors D. and H. and their nanny. We met them a bit later at Athletic Field Park to run through the sprinklers together. I somehow ended up pulling 4 kids in our wagon on the way home. Oooof.

A Day Off

I've just come home to a quiet house. The Dad has taken The Boy, The Girl, and The Tot to the AMC Theater on Western to see Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Like many white-collar companies, The Dad's company is observing the Independence Day holiday today, and has given everyone the day off. Since he has the day off, I thought I'd take the day off as well.

So I took the bus to Lincoln Square to meet my friend Jen, have lunch at Oparte Thai House, buy a couple birthday gifts at Timeless Toys (it is kind of fun to look at toys without the kids), and stop in at a treasure store on the way home. I overheard way too much Michael Jackson blasting from everyone's stereos on round trip. Now I'm off to read my book, The Billionaire's Vinegar, and take a nap.

Mama and The Dad Do Madison

This past weekend, The Dad and I had the wonderful opportunity (thanks Grandma Texas!) to get away for a weekend without The Boy, The Girl, and The Tot. The occasion was our 10th wedding anniversary, which actually falls over Father's Day each year, but I'm willing to slip the date a bit if it means a weekend with my husband without the kids. We had originally planned to celebrate the occasion in early June, with a combined business/anniversary trip to San Francisco for Java One. Unfortunately for all of us (me, The Dad, and Grandma Texas, who had already booked our flights), The Dad's company, with its acquisition by Oracle pending, canceled his trip.

So we set our sights closer to home: Madison, Wisconsin. A town (technically a small city, but after Chicago and San Francisco, it feels like a town) where neither of us had ever been, despite our combined 52 years' Illinois residency. The Dad's been to Milwaukee many times, however; the only place I'd ever really been in Wisconsin was Kenosha, just over the Illinois border.

It turns out, Madison is pretty cute. The New York Times covered Madison recently in its Travel section, although its reporter was much more interested in the varied pursuits of the town's residents. The Dad and I, on the other hand, were not that ambitious. We didn't bother with the university, Frank Lloyd Wright (although having recently read Loving Frank, I was mildly interested in checking out Taliesin -- until I found out a visit would require reservations and getting in the car), or Lake Mendota.

Our interests were much more basic: eating, drinking, walking, and light entertainment. Like the NYT reporter, we dined at both Harvest (a localvore foodie's dream) and the Old-Fashioned, the latter of which really is a microcosm of Wisconsin (The Dad got a shot of beer to go with his bloody Mary). We also ate at a less-than-stellar Ethopian restaurant on State Street (although it passed the people test with flying colors), grabbed coffee at Espresso Royale (which brought me back to my own college days, where I went to Espresso Royale in Urbana on a daily basis [except on Saturdays; then I went to Gypsy in Champaign for beer]), and shared a communal table in the crowded, but excellent (and on-par with its Yelp reviews) Sophia's Bakery Cafe. I bought myself a pile of books to read from A Room of One's Own bookstore (The Dad had a stash from home). We also saw Star Trek at a theater with horrible sound on State Street. And slept at our hotel, the Doubletree (a quick walk to both the university and the central shopping/Capitol area). And read. And walked lazily around the Capitol Square on Saturday morning, buying (and eating) loads of fresh pastry and freshly shelled peas and strawberries and maple syrup from the vendors at the Dane County Farmer's Market.

On our last day, we took the long way home - via the Elkhorn Flea Market, one of the Midwest's biggest and well-known flea and antiques markets. We got there late and weren't charged the $4 pp entrance fee. I did manage to find a sweet occasional chair for our living room, which just fit in our Toyota Corolla rental car.

Note to Self: Dempster Hosed

On Thursday afternoons, The Girl participates in a 3-way kid swap with two of her friends. Today was our turn to host. Before we could open our home to a gaggle of 4-year-old girls, however, we had swimming lessons for The Girl and an errand to run.

It was very important to The Girl that Grandma Texas come to watch her swimming lesson at the Leaning Tower Y in Niles. She did, and The Boy, The Tot, Grandma Texas and I watched the lesson through the glass wall between the pool and the SRO entrance lounge. The Boy and The Tot declared that they were hungry, so I spent my last $1 in cash on a bag of Cheetos from the vending machine.

After class, I got The Girl dressed and to the car, and we headed north and east to Vogue Fabrics in Evanston. The Girl was starving after her lesson and complained loudly that she needed a snack all the way down Dempster, which was completely backed up due to traffic. My snack destination of choice was Breadsmith, near Dempster and McCormick, but The Girl could not wait, so we pulled into the Starbucks drive-thru in the converted Skokie train station and ordered up 3 apple fritters (the kids), a blueberry muffin (Grandma), and a tall nonfat vanilla latte (me). After that, the traffic on Dempster wasn't quite as irritating, although we were still running up against the time contraints of both Grandma Texas's friend coming to our house in the city and the start of the girlie playdate.

I needn't have worried about Grandma Texas's friend, who came from the south suburbs, got stuck in Taste of Chicago traffic, and made every wrong choice possible in the drive up. It took her 2.5 hours to make a drive that should take about an hour.

Fortunately, we found Vogue Fabrics with only a little help from the folks at Verizon Information, parked easily just across the street, and zipped in and out of the store. If you need oilcloth for any reason, they have some great patterns at this location. I picked out a cute black and white pattern that is more grown-up than the juvenile/retro patterns I was expecting to find (and found) based on oilcloth mats available at Land of Nod, etc. We made it back to the city with time to spare.

Mobile Misses

Cell phones only work if you remember to charge them. I planned my morning around an 11:30 a.m. appointment with my friend Sarah M. to return her kids' Kettler tricycle. Despite otherwise careful planning -- up at 8, The Girl's lunch made, weather checked, trike in the car and ready to go -- I failed to charge my cell phone and was unable even to text her to say we were there. She got there at 10:30, we got there at 11:00. I paged her at 11:40, but she'd already headed back to the Gold Coast.

Grandma Texas is coming today so that The Dad and I can leave The Boy, The Girl, and The Tot in her competent care while we travel to Madison, Wisconsin for the weekend. It's an ever so slightly belated celebration of our 10th wedding anniversary. I should clean my house in anticipation of her arrival, but Grandma Texas is my mother and, fortunately as such, she's taught me everything I know about housekeeping. Which is that life is too short to spend it scrubbing the floor more than once/month or so.

The Tot, The Boy and I brought The Girl to camp at Kilbourn Park, then headed south to do a little Treasure Store run. I bought 4 dresses, a Cynthia Rowley jacket, and a sweater for me, all for less than the price of one dress elsewhere (and by elsewhere, I mean Target or TJ Maxx). Given the number of trendy young women at the T.S. today, I'd say that the folks there have gotten wise to us bargain-hunters -- the prices I paid were a bit higher than usual as well.

After our failed Target meet-up, we also ran to the Carter's Outlet to pick up some short-sleeved PJs for The Tot; he's been sweating in his Hanna zippers every night. PJs were on clearance, so that was good news for me. I also checked out the new fall stuff for girls. It's very Mini Bodenesque.

School's Out for the Summer

And we celebrated by lots of crying and sassing, and a single swat on the bum for good measure. Ay yi yi yi, it's going to be a long summer.

Really, we zoomed out of school at 10 a.m. and headed up to Schaumburg to go to IKEA. We had tried to go on Thursday after our playdate with Melissa, but The Tot fell asleep and we abandoned the plan, so The Boy and The Girl really wanted to go today. We got there about 11:40 and went straight for lunch, then headed back down to Smalland, which was full with a crowd of kids waiting to get in. Apparently, everyone else had the same plan to go to IKEA rather than spend another day watching the rain and shivering, even though the weather surprised us with some sun and oppressive humidity.

So we wandered around and looked at dishes, bookcases, beds, as-is, outdoor stuff, and the kids' area. I bought only dishes and placemats. The Girl decided that it would be a good idea to ram the cart containing said dishes and The Tot into bookcases and glass partitions, and would not be deterred or restrained in her pursuit of this activity. That's how she got the bum swat. And did not get our regular post-IKEA ice-cream treat. No one did, although The Boy was really well behaved. And he took the ice cream news really well.

Afterward, we drove to U.S. Toys in Skokie to buy journaling notebooks for The Boy. I suggested that he keep an occasional journal about his summer adventures, and knew they'd have teaching materials of that nature. If anyone is interested, I'll transcribe his sentiments in his blog. US Toys also has lots of toys and art supplies; The Boy spent some of his allowance money on a Playmobil racecar and I spent a lot of mine on tempera paint, Shrinky Dinks for The Girl, a Toby train for The Tot, and various other things to keep everyone occupied during the down times.

Then we went home, stopping at Dominick's on Cumberland on the way for dinner fixins and right-now snacks.

Mommy-The Girl Playdate

The Girl was pretty jealous of my field trip with The Boy yesterday, so we took advantage of The Dad's work schedule to take a Mommy-The Girl playdate this afternoon. I had once suggested to The Girl that we get her nails painted on one of these dates and that is indelibly stamped on her brain as the thing to do with me for one-on-one out-of-the-house times.

So we went to get pedicures and a manicure at Lee Nails in Six Corners. The best part of the experience for her may not have been the bright pink polish they put on both fingers and toes, but the Dora flip-flops that I bought her for the ride home so that the polish did not smear in her shoes. Once done with the nails, we still had an hour left in our time allotment, so we walked over to Marshall's to browse around. I tried on dresses (because somehow it's easier to go shopping with one child) and we found a new bedspread for The Girl that matches the color theme in her room (lavender and green) perfectly.

May Flowers

Last fall, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum started offering one-off classes for preschoolers and early elementary-aged kids. I pulled The Girl out of preschool, and took her (and The Tot) down to the museum this morning for the second of their spring-summer session classes for 3-6-year-olds. Today's class, May Flowers, was engaging and informative, and great fun for The Girl. It was also a good value, at $7 ($9 for non-members). In the class, they read books, picked dandelions outside and used them to make stamp-pad art. Then they opened up the class to revolving stations within the room; The Girl pounded fresh flowers to make art, used fresh flowers to make "stained glass," decorated flower stems on a paper wall, and made a rainbow flower collage. The Tot and I played with a giant bin of fake flower petals, tossing them up in the air and at each other and giggling.

After the 1-hour class, we went downstairs to play in the slide area, which wasn't as crowded as the rest of the museum, which was hosting two large school groups during our visit. After about 45 minutes, we headed out to Panera for lunch, and stopped at Gymboree to get some clothes for the boys with the 30% off Circle of Friends coupon that Gymbo mailed me.

The Tot fell asleep on the way home, and I dropped The Girl off at a friend's house for the afternoon. The Tot and I are watching WTTW and having a wee cuddle on the couch.

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.

Tot Turns Two

We celebrated The Tot's 2nd birthday today and oh my! I'm not sure that I am ready to say good-bye entirely to the babyhood stage of mothering. The Dad would argue that it's one step closer to the end of diapers. True that, but there's something irresistible about chubby babies tucked into mei-tei carriers or slings.

To celebrate, we had a little party at home for The Tot. Grandma & Grandpa Naperville came in and were joined by two families that The Tot sees most often: Allison, Becky and their respective children. It's probably not what Barbara Kingsolver had in mind with her recent book, but we ate locally: pizzas from La Villa and a wonderful chocolate carousel cake from Whole Foods Sauganash (this buttercream version was delish and comparable in price to those of Dinkel's Bakery, at $25 + $6 for the personalization on a 1/4-sheet cake). We had lemonade for the kids, beer and wine and water for the adults, and I made a simple ricotta-lemon-chive dip as an appetizer. The kids all played happily, leaving the adults to chit-chat.

The Tot wore his new "2" t-shirt from the T-Shirt Deli, which The Boy and The Girl helped me choose from the Andersonville location on our way to pick up the cake. He was in absolute heaven with the Sodor Bay Bridge that Grandma and Grandpa brought, although he first had to be distracted away from the plastic wagon of outdoor toys that Becky brought for him. The Dad and my gifts to him (Duplo Lego) are still sealed in their brown shipping box. We'll get those out on another day of this rainy week.