Children's Museum

Now that it's been 5-ish days of inflammation all over my legs and parts of my arms (last night's soak did wonders!), I have a theory as to the cause. A few days ago, I ran out of my usual soap, so I used some of Lilly's Johnson's baby wash (as opposed to Raj's Irish Spring, which makes my skin itch just thinking about it). Being formulated for babies' gentle skin, it seemed the logical choice. I won't make that mistake again! This morning, I googled "allergy to Johnson's baby wash" and came up with numerous links. They mostly targeted babies' skin reactions, but that's generally who uses the stuff, so that makes sense. Web-MD cited a formaldehyde-releasing chemical, quaternium-15, which are known "potent allergens that can trigger rashes and other skin inflammation problems." Ah-HA! I think I'll try to avoid that one from now on! In the meantime, coconut oil and Vani-cream are working overtime to repair the damage.
The morning was productive: I did a load of laundry, the dishes, and  cleaned kitchen all before Lilly woke up! Once she was up and we were all fed and ready to go, we met our Gymboree playgroup at the DuPage Children's Museum. It was a fun afternoon. Even the moms had a chance to chat while the kids explored, which wasn't so much the case last time we tried going there!  What's that say?

 Lilly was mesmerized by a speeding pinwheel just outside the wind tunnel.

Shawn always makes a point to play with the circuits and electricity. Lilly liked turning dials and flipping switches with him.

  Shawn was very proud of building himself a fort from life-sized tinker toys. He normally doesn't spend much time here - I'm glad he did today!

Here's some of the  Gymboree Playgroup crew that was still left at the end of the afternoon: Liam, Lilly, Shawn, Evie, Katherine, & Vicky.

The museum closed at 4:00, which is perfect to give us plenty of time to get to karate... IF we didn't chat in the parking lot. So, we were late to karate. Oops!

On the way home, we stopped at Walgreens for some formaldehyde and quaternium-15 free soap for me, among other things. While we were there, Raj called to say he had a meeting tonight and wouldn't be home until late, so the kids and I went  next door to Culver's for dinner & dessert. At the end of our dinner, an elderly waitress (?) offered to take Shawn up to the counter so he could get his free dessert and I could stay with Lilly. We politely explained that he has learned how to do it on his own using his very best manners and that he takes great pride in this "grownup" task. She wasn't sure how to react to this - I think she *wanted* to take Shawn to the counter. After he figured out what he wanted to order (chocolate and vanilla swirled frozen custard with maraschino cherries), Shawn marched up to the counter to place his order on his own. Though I couldn't hear what was being said, I saw Shawn turn and point to me, so I waved and nodded - perhaps to acknowledge permission or maybe to show the waiter where to bring the dessert when it was ready (Culver's provides table service), I'm not really sure. Regardless, Shawn came back to our table, beaming. And a few minutes later, his dessert arrived - even better. THEN, while he (by choice) shared his frozen custard with Lilly (awwww!), I left him "in charge" and went to the counter to order a frozen concrete for myself (chocolate raspberry custard with peanut butter and brownie bites mixed in). I came back to find two waitresses chatting with them, but the staff frequently makes rounds to all the tables offering to throw away garbage, etc. so I don't think they were specifically checking on them.  (Lenore S. would be proud.) 

As we enjoyed our desserts, an older couple stopped by our table on their way out. The man said, "You have quite the handful there!" I'm not really sure what he meant because they were far from "handfuls" at this particular time (maybe eating by myself with two young kids?), but I replied, "I'd have it no other way!" Then the woman commented on what well behaved children I have and how I must treasure this time because it goes too quickly. She made a lot more sense than he did!

When they left, Shawn asked if we could do some Bed Time Math  problems. Since I have a backlog of days we've missed, we did a few while we finished dessert; after all, who am I to discourage math practice?!

At home, it was time for bed. Shawn did a great job getting ready for bed right away, a rare occurrence. I kept finding things that sidetracked me from bedtime (arg!), but both kids were sound asleep before Raj got home. I feel badly that he didn't see them awake today. It's a good thing we had quality time this weekend! (I'm hosting a Moms' Night Out for Mothers & More at our house on Friday, so Raj and the kids will have more time together then, too.)

The rest of my sidetracking-from-bed chores will have to wait until tomorrow... Right after I do one more thing!