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.

Sundays with The Boy

Last summer, I was pretty good about getting one-on-one time with The Boy. Time and scheduling conflicts have interfered with my "Sundays with The Boy" plan, but I am able to sneak in a few dates with my boy. Thanks to Grandma Naperville, who came in to spend today and tomorrow with us while The Dad is in Cali, I was able to do so this afternoon.

We went to the 2008 Chicago Air & Water Show to watch the Red Baron do loop-de-loops and an F/A-18 buzz the beach. Despite the fact that the Air Show is the military's recruiting tool and propaganda, I am a sucker for it. I blame it entirely on being a midshipman's daughter; I grew up sailing on Lake Michigan and watching the air show every year.

The Girl emphatically did not want to see the airplanes and I feared that the engine noise would scare The Tot, so The Boy and I left them behind with Grandma and hopped the L to Oak Street Beach. The Boy insisted on holding my hand the entire trip down there, which is uncharacteristic for him. It was very hot on the beach when we got there, but we managed to find a place on the concrete step to sit down, and later, a bench in the shade. We stayed for about an hour before The Boy decided that he had seen enough and asked to return home.

On the walk back to Chicago Avenue, I stopped in H&M to look at some pants for The Girl. It made us a bit late, so we cabbed over to the blue line. The Boy was very excited to take a taxicab ride. We normally do not take cabs with the kids because of the carseat issue, but I felt safer with him in a cab today than I did when I had to take The Tot with me in one to the hospital last year.
The Boy was pretty tired by the time we got home; I carried him on my back for part of the walk back to our house.