Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Ballet

The Girl had ballet this morning at ARCC with Peri, and then we went to a garage sale.


Bounce...Bounce...Bounce

Once upon a time, we went out to the 'burbs on a weekly basis. These days, the school day is much longer and the price of gas much higher and, consequently, we don't make it out as often. Today, however, was a special occasion: Gracie's 4th birthday.

We dropped The Boy off at school this morning, but when the bell rang at 8:50 a.m., The Girl did not run inside to her own classroom, but instead hopped in The Great White Moose with me and The Tot for the drive out to the western 'burbs. Our ultimate destination was the Bounce Town in Oswego, but we made stops at both Oakbrook Centre (for sheets at PBK and in-person shopping for a friend at Hanna Andersson) and IKEA-Bolingbrook.

Until recently, I had never even heard of Oswego. It is far from the city. It is far even from Aurora. It felt like I was driving forever down Ogden, past warehouses and strip malls full of big box stores that used to be farmland and prairie. We got there a bit late, but The Girl had a bit of time to climb on the giant, inflatable structures before we adjourned to the party room for pizza, cake, and to watch the present-opening. The Tot was a bit overwhelmed by all the unfamiliar little people; he stuck close to me the whole time. The Girl hugged Gracie good-bye and we headed back into the city.

Grandma!

Grandma Naperville came to visit today. She watched The Tot and The Girl while I had an appointment, and she stuck around to play with The Boy after school. We stopped at Smoque on the walk home and picked up some BBQ brisket to go. Yum!



Sunday, September 21, 2008

Football Sundays

More home projects while The Kids went with The Dad to Uptown.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

MDO

Mother's Day Out/Co-op is a non-starter for The Tot. He started crying when his teacher, Ms. Becky, said hello to him today, and pretty much continued until I came back for him at 11:00 a.m. The class is filled with boys and they were all setting each other off on crying jags. As much as I would love some kid-free time, he is not ready for MDO at 17-months-old. I had the same debate with myself when The Girl was the same age, and came to the same conclusion. She went happily into the class after the Christmas break; I am hopeful that The Tot will follow in his big sister's footsteps.

For now, he'll get lots of one-on-one time with Mama in the mornings while The Girl is at preschool (and The Boy is in kinder). The 2.5-hours of preschool does not give us a wide enough window to do much or go too far, but The Tot has been happy enough to cruise around Target and Trader Joe's, or putter around the house, with me in the mornings.