Better Lawn and Gardens

I think Lilly's trying to say Baron! She was saying, "Bay-ay" every time she saw a picture of a dog while we were looking through a magazine this morning. (I'm guessing that she's associating all dogs with Baron.) Whenever she wanted to go back to see the picture again, she waved her hands around screaming, "Bay-ay!" until I'd go back to the right page. Then she'd point to it and smile. I was able to

 catch a tiny bit of it on camera, but nothing like she was doing earlier.

Raj hired Perez & Sons Lawn Care, Inc., who arrived today. They were very busy trying to reclaim our plants from being overgrown and neglected since (at least) last fall. They cut and fertilized the grass, trimmed bushes and trees, removed dead leaves and grass, and generally cleaned up the garden beds. They even removed 4 small dead/dying trees by the archway by the corner of the kitchen that they think were hurt by the drastic winter. Shawn had fun supervising from a distance - especially watching Mr. Perez using a power blower to clear out the mounds of dead leaves in the flower beds; though, we stayed inside and watched from the windows so as not to be in the way. Raj has the crew on a schedule to come back for mowing, fertilizing, and more plant maintenance. There's still some pruning that I think could've been done today, but it looks remarkably better. Even spending an entire weekend working on it ourselves, Raj and I agreed that we could not have accomplished all that Mr. Perez's crew did in about 4 hours this morning. Still, Raj is sure we won't need Mr. Perez's crew for very long. It is incredibly helpful to get the yard back in shape and see what it's supposed to look like though. Hopefully, we'll learn to maintain it by watching what they do - and we're getting a few yard tools this weekend so I won't need to borrow Shawn's plastic rake anymore!

While the crew worked, Shawn and I marbleized a couple of eggs with nail polish. I initially caught his attention by calling it an experiment, but I had trouble getting our strings to stay inside the eggs, so Shawn had trouble staying interested while I fumbled with them. He also wasn't keen on getting any of the polish on his fingers, but he did like pouring the drops of polish into the water bowl and watching if the globs would float or sink. I don't have a wide selection of colors to choose from, but I think it's still a fun project.

We spent the rest of the day in the back yard. While Lilly took a 3 hour nap, Shawn and I read a few books that we got from the library yesterday. We set up our folding lawn chairs on the back patio and brought out popcorn and drinks and enjoyed the gorgeous afternoon sun while the temperatures were in the high 50°Fs.

We spent the rest of the day in the back yard. While Lilly took a 3 hour nap, Shawn and I read a few books that we got from the library yesterday. We set up our folding lawn chairs on the back patio and brought out popcorn and drinks and enjoyed the gorgeous afternoon sun while the temperatures were in the high 50°Fs.

A love story

A boy and his dog: a story

Cuddles

After having a tough day, Lilly's not the only one who liked to cuddle on Mommy's tummy!

A Lean Baron

I was just at Baron's wellness checkup with his vet. He's current on all vaccines, etc. now & his parasite bloodwork check comes in tomorrow. (They said that no news from them means good news for Baron.)

Now, the newsworthy part of his checkup...  He was 50 lbs in Aug. (He's ranged from 50-58lbs for a while.)  He's 42 lbs today!! Vet said it's a great weight for him & he doesn't need to lose any more. (He'll be happy about that!) She asked what we've done to lose it all & I told her we changed food brands (less grains) & he's on the healthy weight formula of that brand, though I couldn't remember the exact name of it off the top of my head. Plus, I've been making our own dog cookies. They suggested green beans, celery, & broccoli also make great treat fillers. (Peanut butter & carrots were the obvious ones.) We'll have to try those in the next batch!
I think we'll go home & have a treat!

Lake Geneva - FAIL

Well, this weekend didn’t turn out quite like we had planned.

Baron wasn’t feeling well on Wednesday of last week, but by Thursday morning, he seemed to have the pep back in his step. So, I figured that whatever had upset his stomach and exhausted him on Wednesday had worked its way out of his system. Therefore, I felt okay about dropping him off at Chew Chew Doggie Daycare and for the weekend while we went to Lake Geneva for the annual Puri Cousins’ trip. I gave the boarding staff a heads up that he had been sick the day before and assured them that I’d only be an hour away if he hadn’t actually recovered and needed to be picked up.

Less than an hour later, I got a phone call saying that he definitely had not recovered and was still indeed sick. They didn’t think it was necessary for me to pick him up yet, but they’d keep him under close observation and let me know how he was doing later that evening. When I called later, when Raj was preparing to leave work and join us in Lake Geneva, they thought Baron had stabilized and would be okay after all.

With my mind at ease, Shawn and I played at the indoor water park with the cousins. Raj met all of us at a pizza place for dinner. Then we returned to the hotel for movies and games in one of the cousins’ rooms.

  



 

When we finally retired to our respective rooms, wiped out from the excitement from the day, the night took a sharp turn down hill.

Shawn was awake all night with horrible congestion and coughing. It hit him very suddenly. He had been fine all day and even during dinner. I noticed his nose was runny while we were playing games, but when he was trying to sleep, it was next to impossible for the poor guy to breathe through his nose. We tried propping him up and even opening his nasal passages in a steamy bathroom, but he/we still didn’t get more than an hour of sleep at any given stretch. He was miserable. Eventually, Raj went to a local grocery store and picked up some medicine for him. It helped significantly, but the sun was already on the rise and we were all exhausted. Finally, some rest.

Until, my phone rang.

Baron needed to be picked up. They were worried he was dehydrated and he wasn’t getting any better. He wasn’t playful at all and just wanted to lay down and sleep – very not like him. I immediately got in the car and drove back to get him. Along the way I reached his vet and scheduled an appointment for her to see him. If I could get there in time, they’d squeeze us in before the office closed. When I reached Baron, he was excited that I was picking him up, but I could tell it wasn’t because he was feeling better. We went straight to the vet.

Though we had to wait a while for our turn, I was grateful Baron could be seen that day at all. While we waited, he laid at my feet soaking in the petting and resting. Meanwhile, an 8 month old Great Dane puppy (who was already hip height to his owner!) was eager to greet everyone who walked by him and couldn’t sit still no matter how hard his owner tried to persuade him.

Dr. Stewart took a blood test and did a rectal exam in search of parasites or any other clues as to what was ailing Baron. He had no fever and she said he didn’t seem dehydrated yet. I was relieved to find out that she didn’t think hospitalization would be necessary. The test for Giardia parasite came back negative – phew! She gave him an antiemetic injection to settle his stomach and cans of I/D dog food to try to get him to eat again. She also prescribed metronidole (antibiotic) pills to give him every 12 hours. The rest of the test results wouldn’t be ready until 8 am the next morning (Saturday). She didn’t recommend that he go back to boarding in case he had some sort of virus, though she thought he’d be fine by himself for a few hours at a time …if we wanted to change our vacation to a staycation.

Meanwhile, Shawn’s medicine seemed to be helping him a lot. He was finally able to sleep, so he and Raj slept in to make up for the lack of sleep over night. When they got up, they spent the day at the lake on their own. They took a one hour boat tour of the lake’s historical sites and had lunch downtown. 

"Let's go there!" Shawn was mapping out their course.

Baron’s stomach had calmed down and I thought he’d be ok for a few hours, like Dr. Stewart had said. So, I drove back to Lake Geneva and joined the family for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. We ate much too much, but had a lot of fun. By the time we got back to the hotel and everyone was prepping for another night of games, it was time for me to get back to Baron. Shawn had fallen asleep while we were still at the restaurant, so Raj suggested that he’d be better off sleeping in his own bed. When we got home, I was able to transfer him to bed and change him into a pullup for the night without waking him. He was out.

Baron hadn’t had any other issues since picking him up from the doggy hotel. I think the antiemetic shot did the trick. He still seemed wiped out, but at least the vomiting and diarrhea had stopped. I unloaded the few things I brought back from Lake Geneva and crashed into bed. I let Baron sleep with me, but we were both so tired from the past few days, I don’t think either of us moved all night long.

I set my alarm clock to wake me as soon as Dr. Stewart’s office opened on Saturday. Unfortunately, she still had to analyze the test results, so she called me back about an hour later. Baron’s blood counts were normal. Though his white blood cells were slightly high, she thought it was a normal reaction to what he had been going through. He was a little dehydrated, but again not enough that she was concerned. His ALT liver test was slightly elevated, but she explained it was probably a result from having diarrhea. None of the lab results showed any concerns and since his energy was starting to come back, he wasn’t vomiting or having diarrhea anymore, and he was starting to act like himself, Dr. Stewart didn’t think I needed to bring him back in for further examination – unless his symptoms returned. I could reintroduce his usual food in another day, but he needed to stay away from other dogs for a few more days.

Shawn seemed to be better too. He slept soundly all night – over 13 hours total! His cough returned a little when he woke up, but significantly better than the night before.

Raj slept in at the hotel and then packed everything up to come home. I told him to enjoy the time with his cousins, but I think he had had enough excitement, too.

It was nice to be home and have everybody on the mend.

We spent the rest of the weekend moving some furniture around and working on the office/guest room. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but we made a good dent. It’s not quite what either of us had planned to do this weekend, but the whole Lake Geneva experience wasn’t working out for us very well either! Besides, the cousins will do the same trip next year. We’ll try it again then and keep our fingers crossed for better luck.

Cantigny Park with Opa

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHELLEY!
The morning started off very slowly. Shawn moped and whined about waking up at all and had a hard time getting going. Abby was in a fine mod, but she wasn't interested in eating more than a few bites at breakfast. Meanwhile, Shawn's breakfast inadvertantly greeted him back!

English muffin, cherries, &
scrambled eggs dyed blue

Once we finally got moving, we successfully wore out both kids fairly quickly.

We spent almost four hours walking through gardens at Cantigny Park, admiring flowers, plants, and trees. Shawn and Abby had a fantastic time dodging (well, not really) sprinklers and fountains, following different paths made from rocks, stones, pavement, grass, wood chips… you name it. Opa was an amazing guide through the gardens.  He found wild strawberries that we sampled (though they weren’t very flavorful).  He also introduced the kids to the characters inside the snap dragon flowers.  Abby loved roaring and snapping the flower, but Shawn didn’t like the idea of a dragon biting his finger and kept a watchful distance instead. We found a crabapple tree whose branches formed an almost perfect dome to the ground.  Shawn and Abby called it their ‘Tree Tent’ and could have played in its shade for hours. When we eventually coaxed them out, we found the Idea Garden with all kinds of fun things: a person made out of flower pots, a Big 10 container garden with flowers that matched the schools’ colors, areas designated to the four seasons as well as others planted with the five senses in mind. After all the gardens that we did see, I can only imagine how much of the property we didn’t get to!

The dangling bandaid on Abby's knee couldn't hold on any longer as her pants rubbed passed during a potty break - she was upset for a millisecond, but wasn't concerned about it any other time throughout the day. In fact, she ran and played as much as she did before her fall and did so with no limping, favoring, or even tip-toe walking! There were plenty of distractions to keep her occupied.


We took a break back at the car and enjoyed a picnic lunch under a shadey tree. Even a snooping ant joined us - typical! We used grapes to perfect our chipmunk cheeks.

 

 

Afterwards, we strolled through a an outdoor exhibit of tanks and artillery cannons that Abby and Shawn got to climb all over. Abby was more interested in the pictures on the informational signs and the clovers, sticks, and rocks she collected from the ground than the actual tanks and guns, but she found plenty to captivate her attention. Shawn liked exploring the military machines as if they were playground equipment, in addition to the clovers, sticks, and rocks along the way.

While they were both drained from our walks through the gardens early on, they were thoroughly exhausted on the ride home. Shawn was fast asleep and transferred to bed without batting an eye. Abby opened her eyes as we opened her car door, but just long enough to change her diaper and wipe off some of the dirt that she had magnetized during our adventure.

Meanwhile, Opa treated Baron to a short walk, which he was grateful for on such a nice day. While the kids napped, Opa and I enjoyed our own (well-deserved) 'quiet time' and snack.

When Raj got home, we took Opa to Shawn’s favorite restaurant – Pilot Pete’s. We pointed out the comedic ‘$100 hamburger’ on the menu, though none of us ordered it.

A $100 hamburger trip typically involves
flying a short distance (less than two hours),
eating at an airport restaurant, and flying home.
"$100" originally referred to the approximate
cost of renting or operating a light general aviation aircraft
for the time it took to fly round-trip to a nearby airport.

- Wikipedia

Shawn pointed out the variety of aircraft hanging over our heads and displayed in glass cases. Even when we don’t have a view of the runway, there’s always something to see at Pilot Pete’s, which possibly makes up for the so-so food that they serve!

Project: Conversion - Part 1

Shawn did a fantastic job at swimming class.  We got in the water about 15 minutes before class started, so he had a chance to warm up (and wake up).  I let him start with a float-belt with 3 floats on it, which he loves because his head stays above the water, but he does have to work a little, yet he has the freedom to ‘swim’ on his own.  Once class started, we traded the float-belt for a noodle.  (They do about the same thing, but the noodle is easier to use and not use it between activities.)  Shawn’s getting good at blowing bubbles, voluntarily putting each ear into the water, kicking is now second nature, and he’s starting to get the hang of doing arm circles while kicking.  He can easily use his arms or legs, but using them all together is a bit tricky – it’s a lot to keep track of!


The older kids in the class after ours were participating in a water safety exercise, which the teachers always hold on the second to last class of each session.  The teachers don’t actually get into the water at all, instead they coach from the deck.  The students put on life vests, learned how to jump into the water wearing one, how to swim on their fronts and backs wearing one, how to get into a canoe-type boat and maneuver it around the water.  Shawn was in awe.  Though we had been in the water for almost two hours, he didn’t want to leave!  He was amazed at what was going on in the other side of the pool – especially when the boat was involved.  Once I got him out of the pool, we of course had to warm up in the showers.  Apparently, it took a while for Shawn to thaw out because he didn’t want to get out of the shower either!  It appears that he’s either turning into a fish… or a human raisin!


We came home just long enough to pick up Baron for his grooming appointment.  While he was getting beautified, Shawn and I visited the library.  When we pulled into the parking lot, Shawn asked, “Is there a concert?” I think he was disappointed that we at the library just to get books this time.  He enjoys pulling books off shelves, occasionally reading a few, and putting others into our check-out basket, so he got over his regret pretty quickly.  The librarian helped us find a small stack of rebus books so Shawn can help read the stories.  He was very excited about them, which got her all a flutter!


On the way home, Yuppie Puppie called to say that Baron was ready to be picked up.  By the time we made it home, Raj was done with work.  It was a busy morning and I fell asleep with Shawn during his nap time.  Though sleeping in a rocking chair isn’t the best place for a nap, it was absolutely worth it (and cuddling made it an easy thing to do)!


Later in the evening, Raj started converting Shawn’s toddler bed to the next stage.  We couldn’t find anywhere on the boxes or papers what size bed the next level was.  So, we didn’t know if we needed a new mattress or what size it needed to be.  Not the best planning or design for the bed company!  The only thing we could do was – put the thing together and find out!


After a badly pinched finger (Raj’s) and an awfully bruised shin (mine), we discovered that Shawn’s new bed is… a full!  Not a twin!  The little man is going to get lost in the monstrosity!  The enormous converted bed not only required a mattress and bedspring (and linens), but we had to move other furniture around to get it to fit in his shrinking room.  Amazingly enough, we only had to move two bookshelves to a different wall and all his furniture is still in his room. However, since there was no mattress or bedspring, Shawn had no place to sleep that night… so he joined us again.

...We probably could’ve planned this better!

Happy Halloween!

Shawn's Eggs

Abby's Muffins

We started our Halloween morning with a little fun with our breakfast.

Since we don't have any scheduled activities today, we ran to Meijer to pick  up a few last minute things for our costumes.  Back at home, we played with play-dough and did a mini-art project  (thanks to Jennifer for forwarding the idea!).  I traced the kids’ feet and hands onto white paper, cut them out, and then decorated the upside down shapes as ghosts.  So easy!  Abby loved being traced, so we made a few sheets of ghosts for her.  (Bill’s birthday is on Friday, so we’ll make a birthday card for him using her ghosts.)  Shawn liked having his hands traced, but I think his feet were too ticklish to keep from wiggling while I was mid-trace.  I got a couple, but I’ll have to be creative when cutting them out to get the wiggled lines to resemble his feet!


I finished my costume last night.  With black pants, a gray sweatshirt, a bunch of scrap fabrics, and a glue gun, I’ve ‘built’ a building ablaze.  (I hate to admit that I burned myself more than once in the process!  …I guess that’s appropriate…)  I altered a red night shirt (also with a glue gun), added stripes with electrical tape,  and Raj added Chief Baron for our Fire Chief’s costume.  Shawn’s dog was store bought (from our Mothers & More Resale) and I’ve been working on his fire truck for the past few days.  It started as an apple box from Costco, but with the magic of paint, the glue gun, and some random materials, a fire truck has been manufactured.  I put some finishing touches on fire truck during naptime (the hose, drivers, lights, and siren).  DONE!

 

When Bill picked up Abby, I thought I had a little time to wake up Shawn, get him changed into his costume and truck, put my costume on, and then get Baron ready to go, but I didn’t have nearly as much time as I had hoped.  It seemed like only a few minutes later, Abby (Lady Bug), Bill, Viola (Olivia the Pig), and Heidi were at our front door ready to go.  I had my outfit on, but hadn’t done the flaming make-up or false lashes that I had planned.  I quickly tossed Shawn into his suit and then belted him into his truck and we left Chief Baron behind.  I almost forgot to grab Shawn’s Trick-or-Treat bucket as we rushed out the door!


Shawn loved being able to put on his fire truck, though I wasn’t sure he’d ‘wear’ it for long.  It didn’t make walking very easy, bumping into his legs with each step.  In fact, as we were rushing out the door to join the gang for Trick-or-Treating, Shawn took a massive tumble over the step at our front door.  I think the fire truck got caught up on either the step or the door frame, which threw off Shawn’s center of gravity, tipping him forward, over (and off) the front stoop, into the void where there should be bushes (luckily, there aren’t any right now!) where he landed on top of the fire truck completely shocked, disoriented, and scared by the mid-flight somersault he had just made.  Though the fire truck caused the accident, I think wearing the cardboard box actually prevented Shawn from getting hurt at all!  Thank goodness!  But, what a way to start the adventure of Trick-or-Treating !  It can only get better from here…

And, it did.  I was able to adjust the length of the arm straps to lift the box out of the way of his legs a little, but then Shawn said they were too tight.  So, we just walked slowly and I helped him up and down the front steps at the houses we visited.  Surprisingly, Shawn wore the fire truck the whole time we were out with Abby and Viola.  He even insisted on holding onto the fire hose, rather than tucking it into his arm straps, and preferred that I carry his treats bag.  (So, just to get this straight, you want to carry a pretend hose, while I carry candy?  OOOOOOKAAAY!)  We stopped at a handful of houses of people that Bill knew, but then Abby and Viola were ready to go home.  Shawn and I decided to go back out and visit some more houses.


As we past a group of other trick-or-treaters, one little boy stopped us and, with total exuberance, asked, "Did you make that?!" pointing to Shawn's costume.  Needless to say, he was in an entirely store-bought, plastic, one-of-a-million-just-like-it costume.  In fact, I hate to admit it, but I don't even remember what it was!  Maybe seeing us will inspire him (or his parents) to be a little more creative next year... maybe...  I can hope...


We tried finding our dog park friend, Ms. Katie, who would have really appreciated Shawn’s Dalmatian costume, but I only had a vague idea of which building she lived in within the neighboring townhome association.  It was really difficult to tell which residents were welcoming Trick-or-Treaters in her neighborhood, since some buildings had communal front doors.  Though we didn’t find Ms. Katie, we did stop at a plenty of other houses before heading home (well past dark).


I wasn't overly surprised, but still a little disappointed, that I only saw one other parent dressed up (a very elaborate witch) with the kids.  It's a fun excuse to do something silly with your child and there are only so many years that they'll let you get away with it before they're too old to tolerate having that kind of fun with Mom and/or Dad!  I say take advantage of the time while we have it!


Shawn did great and I had fun going out with him in costume, too.  He managed to find a just-loud-enough voice to say some combination of “Trick or Treat!” “Happy Halloween!” and “Thank You!” at each house.  He wore his fire truck a lot longer than I had ever anticipated and even when he was tired of wearing it, he still held on to the hose! The fire truck’s lights and siren were fading just about the same time that Shawn and I were.   It was time to go home.


Raj had been home for a short time handing out candy and his customary (and now requested!) toothbrushes.  He dressed as a crazed dentist… hmmm…


After Shawn changed out of his Dalmatian suit and into little boy pajamas, he continued to play with the fire truck and hose.  He was frustrated that the lights and siren wouldn’t work anymore, but at least the hose still stretched!

He and Raj greeted the last of the trick-or-treaters while I made dinner.  Our menu for the evening consisted of crocodiles’ eyes, lizards’ skins, owls’ tongues, rats’ hearts, frogs’ toes, and vampires’ teeth stirred in a cauldron of orange monster blood and topped with spiders and webs.  And, we nibbled on witches’ hats and severed fingers.

 

 In other words, we had carrot, cashew, and ginger soup (orange monster blood), to which I added meat stuffed tortellini (crocodiles’ eyes), diced onions (lizards’ skin), corn (owls’ tongues), diced red peppers (rats’ hearts), diced green peppers (frogs’ toes), and pine nuts (vampires’ teeth). Then, I garnished it with swirls of plain yogurt (webs) and cheese cut-outs (spiders). On the side, we had baby corn (severed witches’ fingers) and garlic dusted crescent rolls (witches’ hats). (Raj helped me come up with a couple of the Halloween-y names for the ingredients.) We had fun eating the ghoulish concoction and Shawn has now renamed baby corn as "witches’ fingers"!


We put the fire truck in the basement, since it’s still being played with, but I don’t want it to be run into the ground!  Raj thinks we might be able to use it for something next year, but I have a feeling Shawn will be ready for something different a year from now.  (It was a relief to see it last longer than a walk around the block.  Still, I kind of wish we could’ve used it at the Gymboree Pumpkin Patch Party, the Mothers & More Fall Family Party, or the wear-your-costume-but-no-accessories-please Language Stars class next week.  Oh, well.  It served its purpose.  I’ll totally admit I had fun making it, and I’m just glad it was worth all the effort and time!)


However, now that the festivities are over, I’m ready for another weekend!

Party 'Till We Drop!

Shawn completely lacked confidence during his swimming lesson today. He clung to me, the wall, or any floating device he could reach – practically white-knuckled. I’m not sure why. Ms. Becca and I agreed, since there’s only one class left in this session, Shawn needs another round of practice at this level, then we could revisit moving him up. Even though there are kids at the Pike level who can’t do some of the things that he can do already, because he’s so young, the director has higher expectations of him in order to move up. Oh, well. I’m disappointed, but I understand, especially after his ‘off’ day today. Another session of Pike with Parent certainly won’t hurt!
After class, we dropped Baron off for grooming. I made beer bread and spinach and artichoke dip (both from Tastefully Simple boxes) for a Mothers & More party this evening. While Shawn finished lunch with Raj, I picked up Baron from grooming. (They got out lots of his shedding fur out of his coat – phew! The fur balls he’s been leaving on the floor were big enough to sprout their own legs!)

I quickly showered and got ready for the Gymboree Pumpkin Patch Party, the first festivity of the evening. Shawn wore the Dalmatian costume that he picked out from the Mothers & More resale. (He’s been reminding us that he didn’t want the lion costume that I showed him that day because he liked the ‘Dalmatian Dog’ better – how does he remember this stuff?!)

At the Pumpkin Patch Party, we saw our friends Andrew (the cow), Alex (the pirate), and a few other faces that we recognized from various classes, but most of the attendees were pretty young in comparison to Shawn. (Probably because the party took place in the late afternoon, so little ones with early bed-times could come to this one.) There were a lot of really cute costumes, including three Tiggers, a Pooh Bear, a dragon, a catepillar, a fire fighter, a lion... the list goes on and on!  Not surprisingly, a few parents (and even a teacher) asked where Abby was and how odd it was to see us without her. We sang songs modified for the Halloween season. Even though the equipment was still set up in the same configuration as the ‘Animals in the Zoo’ theme from last week, they re-named each station to be associated with the holiday and season. We visited an arts and crafts table where Shawn decorated a foam pumpkin and Raj decorated a real one. A little later, we came back to the same room for Halloween cookies and water. On the way out, we said our thank-yous and good-byes to the teachers, who then gave us the rest of the party balloons to take to our next shin-dig!

Then, we headed out to Naperville to the DuPage Children’s Museum for a Mothers & More Fall Family party. We got there an hour early, so we visited a park around the corner to kill the time. It was a little odd having our little Dalmatian running around the playground, but it was a nice day to be outside and his costume kept him warm.

Once the party started, we had the whole place to ourselves. Shawn remembered being at the museum with Oma and with his friend Anna before. (Again, his memory amazes me!) It was fun to show Raj around to the different exhibits, since he’d never been there before. Shawn had no trouble jumping right in to all of the hands-on play-learning. Since it was a private event and we didn’t have to battle the crowds of kids who are normally there, we got to play in the bubbles area and work in the carpentry/handyman room, which we’ve never had a chance to do before. (Raj commented how fun it would be to host Shawn's next birthday there, but was disappointed when I told him that it wouldn't be a totally private event like this was.  We may still look into what a party would entail and if it's even possible, private or not.)  The kids lined up for a costume parade, which zig-zagged around the main floor. (Yet again, we never made it to the other floors, but I heard that there’s not much there and what is there is more directed towards older kids.)

It was a lot of fun. Even without a nap, Shawn did amazingly well. While we were refueling in the snack room, Shawn finally hit the wall. Raj and I joked about him falling asleep before we would get out of the parking lot, but Shawn even beat us to that! He fell asleep before we got out of the museum (~8:00 pm)!

Like last weekend, I wasn’t able to transfer Shawn to bed as smoothly as I had hoped, but since he woke up, I was able to change him from a Dalmatian back into a boy (wearing pajamas). He had a hard time settling down for the night and woke up a few times upset and screaming, but each time, he was later able to tell me, “I’m okay now, Momma.” When he was finally able to fall asleep for the night, it was still just about 9:30 pm.

I’m starting to wonder if we should cut out naps in order to get the early bedtime… 8:00 pm is much more reasonable than 11:00 pm!

Car Seats, Costco, and Party Hostess - Phew! What a Day!

There was no Spanish class this morning.  Language Stars is on Spring Break.  Instead, we took a fieldtrip to Costco.

As we were getting in the car, both kids climbed right in to their car seats!  Surprise!  Shawn can do it now, too!  Just like Abby’s first time by herself, he got in as if he had been doing it easily for months.  The give away that it was a new conquest was his immense squeal of delight, gleaming smile from ear to ear, and contagious giggle that followed.  Now, for their next goal:  buckling themselves in!

At Costco, we found a new dog bed for Baron.  However, just like everything else sold there, it was economy sized!  Since we had already been filling the cart, there was no room inside for the gigantic cushion, so I balanced it on top of the other groceries.  It actually worked very well because when it was positioned just right, Shawn and Abby could lean way back and rest their heads on the super plush, fuzzy bed.  They had the softest shopping cart seats of any other kids in the warehouse! 

A few aisles later, I was looking for a barrel of mini pretzel squares.  (I think they’re called Snaps, but I’m not sure.)  When I couldn’t find them, Shawn caught on to my disappointment and echoed, “Bubber, bubber, bubber!” (Bummer, bummer, bummer!)  Abby giggled each time she heard us protest.  (I think we even got a couple of smiles from other shoppers walking by!)  We did find pretzel rods instead, so it wasn’t a total failure.  Shawn actually would rather have the big sticks or full sized pretzels anyway, but I still like the size of the mini shapes.  I had to distract him from seeing the new barrel in the cart, because he wanted to dive right in!

Naptime brought on more freckle kisses from Shawn.  I just wanted to give him a huge hug and not let go. 

This evening I hosted my first (and probably only) Tastefully Simple party.  Thanks to everyone who came.  Abby, Anna, Veer, and Shawn played with Raj and Veer’s Dad (Shrenik) in the basement, while the ladies sampled the goods in the living room and dining room.  I will admit that, while hosting these parties isn’t my ‘thing’, I did have fun having everyone over – to socialize if nothing else. 

When the house finally emptied and quieted down and I finished cleaning up the dishes and leftovers.  It was well past bedtime (for all of us).  Shawn had a tough time going to sleep and I had a tough time staying asleep!

Dinner at 2Toots

Shawn did not sleep well last night; therefore, I did not sleep well last night.  Ugh.  This morning came much faster than I was ready for it to.  Rats.  As Raj was leaving for work, he suggested that we skip Shawn’s swimming lesson so that we could both sleep in, since Shawn was sleeping soundly now.  Though it was tempting, I knew that would throw off naptime and probably tonight’s sleep too, so I rolled out of bed and braced myself for the start of the day.

Once I was dressed and ready, I went in to wake Shawn, who I found sitting up in bed with a giant smile.  “I had a good nap!” he announced.  Well, it’s a good thing, because Momma didn’t!  He saw our gym bag in my hand and said, “Shawn and Momma go swimming pool!”  With that, we got him out of bed and out of his pajamas.  Before I put his swimming gear on, I sat him on the potty seat… just to see what would happen.  It must have been good timing because after just a few seconds - SUCCESS!  Shawn peed in the toilet!  YIPPEEEEE!!  Despite my rough night, today’s starting look not so bad after all! 

We got to the YMCA half an hour early.  The lifeguard on duty let us get in the pool even though our teacher wasn’t there yet.  Shawn did great.  The water was slightly warmer than last week, but he still shivered.  I helped Shawn practice climbing out of the pool and then scoot back in.  His arms were much more relaxed today and he was more willing to climb out and “jump” back in again.  I was hoping that being more active would help warm him up and stop his shivering, but no such luck.  Gradually, a few other students arrived and Shawn grew more and more observant.  Our friend, Tanner, and his mom, whose name I still don’t know, were back to class today.  However, there was still no teacher.  A new lifeguard on duty came over and asked us if we were a part of a class, “Because all the classes are cancelled this week for Spring Break.”  What?!?!  Our teachers told us that Spring Break is NEXT week!  I guess that explains the small class size and no teachers!  Arg.  Luckily, the lifeguard didn’t make us leave; instead, he brought over a crate of toys and encouraged us to take advantage of the unintentional “open swim” time.  So, we did.  The parents joked that aside from acting out a few nursery rhymes in a big circle, we’d probably be doing about the same thing even if the teachers had been there.  We agreed that it was nice to get an extra day of swim time out of our class membership.  Shawn and I finally needed to get going because Baron had an appointment at the groomers, but I think we’ll try to come early next week and see if we can get in the pool early again!

We rushed home, grabbed Baron, and rushed back out to the groomers (practically the same area as the YMCA was).  While “Baron taking a bath,” Shawn and I visited a thrift store down the street.  We found a couple of outdoorsy toys and two shirts that I think/hope will work as smocks, if I can get up the guts to have Shawn and Abby do some artsy-crafty projects.  With the hopes of finding some “foodrink” to snack on until Baron was ready to be picked up, we stopped at a deli that I had never noticed before.  It turned out to be a Polish grocery store, with nothing we could munch on there (mostly dried and canned goods); however, I found the mother load of KinderEgg Surprises!  Like a kid in a candy store, I grabbed a handful of them to use at Easter.  (We’ll see if I can hold out that long!) 

When we got back to the car, I got the phone call that Baron was done.  Then it was home for lunch and then naptime.  Just as I was sitting down to read Shawn a story for naptime, Raj came home.  So, we came back downstairs and played with Dadda for a little while before trying for a nap again.  This time, though he had been running around like a hyperactive squirrel moments before, Shawn fell fast asleep. 

We went out to dinner to celebrate Raj’s birthday, though it was really with Shawn in mind.  The 2Toots Train Whistle Grill was on Main Street in Glen Ellyn, steps away from the train tracks.  (It was really much more of a greasy diner, but food isn’t what they’re known for.)  Each table in the diner was situated alongside the tracks of a model train, which delivered the diners’ meals!  Shawn was in awe from the moment we walked in.  Raj was able to feed him while he focused on the trains that surrounded us: on the model train track, on the wall décor, on the small tv in the corner, on the real tracks just outside window, everywhere!  Shawn was so enamored with the place that I’m actually not so sure he even realized he was eating!  We’ll definitely have to go back, even though the “old fashioned comfort food” wasn’t very impressive.

When our meal was over and Shawn regained his ability to blink, we headed home.  Mona was on her way over to spend the evening with Shawn, while Raj and I enjoyed a simple movie Date Night on our own.  Nice!