And Now... Presenting the Amazing Sleeping and Peeing SHAWN!

After almost 14 hours of sleeping, I finally had to wake Shawn around 9:45 am.  I would’ve let him sleep a little longer, but the cleaning ladies were here and I prefer to get out of the house so we’re not in their way.  Besides, we had exciting plans today!  The Magic and Illusion of Rick Allen was being presented at the Elk Grove Library.  I found out about it through the with Northwest Suburban Families group, though I didn’t actually see (or recognize) anyone there.  The description about the show was:

With personal stories and mind blowing magic, you will see and hear how Rick, as a ten year old boy, used reading to help achieve his goal of becoming a magician. During his show, you can actually hear your children "ooh" and "ahh" when beautiful live doves make their magical appearance, a table seems to float, and yes, one of the kids from the audience will levitate in mid-air!

And, it was right on.  I tried to watch and predict how some of his tricks were done, but he was a pretty good master of illusion, because I couldn’t tell how he got the white doves to appear from behind scarves, a rabbit from a box that looked empty, or a second grader to float!  He did a decent job touching on the importance of imagination, reading, science, and education in general and how they are integral to his magic; but, I think the kids just wanted to see more tricks!

 

Workers began replacing the shingles on the roof of our building today, but won’t actually make it to our end until about Wednesday.  With all the old shingles being thrown from above, I’ll be sure not to park in the driveway when they get here!

Their work, even though they were at the other end of our building, made naptime a bit challenging.  With all the hammering, nail gunning, yelling, radio blaring, and crashing debris on the ground, it wasn’t exactly a peaceful or relaxing afternoon.  I was hesitant to close the windows to block some of the noise because of the absolutely gorgeous weather yet again today.  (Partly cloudy, high 76°F / low 54°F)  But, I promised myself that if the kids had trouble sleeping, I’d shut the windows right away.  Luckily, the commotion outside faded into white noise fairly quickly, because both fell asleep without much dispute.

Abby woke just in time for Shelley to come home early.  They were going to a doctor’s appointment for Abby and needed to leave a few minutes early to get there on time. Shawn woke just in time to say goodbye to them.

A little while later, Grandma Fanny came over for her English lesson.  I introduced the short u sound today.  She loves the sets of picture cards I’ve given her for each short vowel sound.  I can tell that she practices with them all the time.  I told her that I have an activity for Thursday that will review all the vowel sounds.  She was a little anxious to hear that, but I think she’s ready to apply the sounds to more than just the set of pictures she’s been working with.

After our lesson, Shawn declared that we needed to go to the store for milk and salad.  He was right about the milk, but I’m not sure where the need for salad came from!  He said that he wanted to get it for Dadda!  I agreed to the trip, but tried to explain that we had enough salad already and Dadda wouldn’t be home to eat it for dinner tonight anyway.  (Raj worked late and then met up with Shrenik to watch the Bears’ game.)

When we got back home after our grocery run, I asked Shawn what he wanted for dinner.  He replied, “Milk.”  Good thing we just bought some!  “What else would you like to eat?”  “Carrots.”  “Anything else?”  “Potatoes.”  Alrighty!  You said it!  So, we had seasoned potatoes, some carrots, and some leftovers.  Shawn did a great job eating and then decided he didn’t need any dessert.  I was happy to get in so many vegetables after such a rich dinner last night!

After dinner, Shawn earned his final sticker on his Spiderman Potty Paper.  (He almost had a meltdown when there was one more sticker to go because he reeeeeally wanted a ‘toy surprise’ NOW!  But, we managed to hold off for another 30 minutes until it was time to try again and he earned his last sticker.  It was worth the wait.

He pulled a heavy tow truck from the Big Black Bag of Toy Surprises.  We even figured out how to hook it up with the ice cream truck, and (as long as we were extremely gentle) we could actually tow it around the floor.  Shawn seemed pretty happy with his new truck.  He was sure to show Raj and tell him all about it when he got home.

When Raj came home, he said he finally made an appointment to see a doctor about his sinus issues (that he’s been having for months).  Apparently, Raj has a sinus infection, which explains why none of the over-the-counter pills and sprays that he’s been using religiously have helped at all.  So, over the course of the treatment of the new meds (10 days), he should notice an improvement.  (Keeping my fingers crossed!)

My cousin, Andrea, made a post on FaceBook that I had to share:

EIGHT DAYS of 100% sun—glorious start to the best month of the year! ;) Oct oct oct...

Love it.

Did I See a Pike Shucking Corn?

The YMCA Swimming Director approved Shawn’s graduation to Pike (without parent) - IF he can swim a few feet on his own (preferably without floats), be comfortable in a back float (with help to stay afloat), in addition to the other things he’s already done like blow bubbles, bob, kick, splash, reach… SO, we have a strong focus on strengthening a few skills in the next 3 sessions before this class is over!

I put two boxes of old papers and files from when I was teaching into the back of my van before swimming class.  Afterwards, we stopped by the Roselle Train Station for a free public ‘shredding event’ to dispose of them.  (They’d been sitting collecting some nasty cobwebs and old leaves in the garage for at least two years, probably more, so it was time to say goodbye.) It felt good!

Then, Shawn and I went to the Kline Creek Farm Corn Harvest, which was an outing sponsored by Northwest Suburban Families, but the only member that showed up was on her way out when we arrived.  That’s okay though - Shawn and I probably had more fun on our own.  A blurb from the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County’s news release summarized what we did:

Help with the real farm work of harvesting and storing corn that will feed the farm’s cows and sheep this winter. Use authentic techniques of the era to try shocking, or stacking bundles of corn to let them dry; shucking, or removing the ears of corn from the stalks; shelling, or removing the corn kernels from the cob; and storing the corn in the corn crib.

So, we pulled ears of corn directly off the stalks.  We tried to leave the husks left on the stalks, but some people took them to another station to learn how to make corn husk dolls or 'action figures,' depending on the audience.  (We didn't make it to that activity.) We tossed the corn into the back of a horse-drawn wagon.

Then, we left the field to other workers and explored the rest of the 'living-history farm' grounds.  Shawn even got to turn the crank on a machine that twisted lengths of twine into a pretty nice looking rope.

This is Shawn making a rope, but the video of this in action wouldn't load properly.

Later, the wagon returned from the field full of corn, so Shawn helped toss the ears into a corn crib.

I asked a few times if he was all done, but he kept on working!  Other parents and I teased about the ease of child labor, when it doesn't involve their own toys and chores.  Eventually, we visited with some chickens, a mare, sheep, and cows.

With another day in the 80’s, it was a great way to spend the day.  (High 82° / Low 54°F with scattered clouds or mostly cloudy until the evening when they skies cleared up.)

Shawn fell asleep on the way home (Raj was napping after work, too) and when he woke up, Daddaji had come over for dinner.  He brought chocolate covered mini-donuts, the perfect size for small hands.  I cooked Indian food, which I’m always a little nervous about when there are other people consuming it, but everyone seemed to enjoy it.  He stayed for a little while after dinner to chat and have some chai.  Rather than the usual Lipton with sugar and milk, I served Chai of the Tiger (black tea, chopped and powdered ginger, chopped and powdered cardamom, chopped and powdered coriander, chopped and powdered cinnamon, chopped cloves, chopped black pepper, rose petals, lavender, and jasmine buds from Serene Teaz, where Mothers & More had our Open House a few weeks ago) in our fancy Ingenuitea infuser/steeper (a Christmas present from Oma and Opa a year or two ago).  Daddaji was impressed by the infuser/steeper, though I think he’s more accustomed to his usual Lipton version.  Oh, well, I thought it was great!  Shawn gave him the fish he made in art class a few weeks ago to display on his refrigerator.  When the evening was over, Daddaji went home with a paper grocery bag full of leftovers to hold him over the next few days.

After a day of swimming and working outside, it was definitely bath time!  Later, while Raj relaxed in front of the TV, Shawn and I followed along with a few Dr. Seuss stories on YouTube.  Then, he said he wanted to use his workbook, so we did a few pages (Shawn really enjoys matching and pattern exercises) before reading a bedtime story and saying goodnight.  Finally, Shawn put himself to sleep and I did some blogging.

What a full day! But, I have a super exciting adventure planned for tomorrow…!


FYI – There was no roofing work today… I kinda figured as much, since it’s Saturday, but not sure why the company claimed they’d start today!

Nibbles and More!

One of the parent groups that I’m a member of posted an outing to Nibbles Play and Café .  Not many people showed up, but it was our first outing sponsored by them, so we wouldn’t have known anyone anyway.  Regardless, it was a lot of fun!  It turns out that the cafe is about 7 minutes from Raj's Dad's house... I'm still trying decide if that's a good thing or not... I'm a bit torn...

It's not very big, but big enough.  We stayed for about 2 hours.  When we were getting ready to leave, Shawn didn't show that he was losing interest or that he was really all that ready to go yet!  (Just keep 'em wanting more, right?!)  The majority of the place was a cafe with pretty good menu of soups, salads, sandwiches, coffees/teas, and baked treats, but it also had a super kid friendly menu, too (like goldfish crackers by the scoop).  At the counter, there was a sign similar to what was posted on the website about unattended children being given lots of free cake and coffee, but this sign included that there would be a puppy involved, too!

Beyond the dining tables were areas sectioned off with waist-high walls.  (The website stated about how green and environmentally responsible the materials they chose were:  bamboo floors, cork walls...)  Each section had a different theme, including a train table, a pretend zone that was set up as a vet's office (with costumes of various animals as well as scrubs, depending on the character you pretended to be while visiting in the vet's clinic), a library with books that were associated with the theme from the pretend zone (it also had some random toys like dinosaurs and Legos), a construction zone (with not only toy hammers, etc., but shoots and ramps that velcro-ed to the wall), a mirror with various funny eyes and mouths to try on, and a belly-baby and crawlers only zone.  Parents could sip their lattes at the table and still see their kids in the different play areas, if they didn't want to actually go play, too.  Shawn was having so much fun in the different play areas that I don't think he noticed whether we were there with him, at the table, or back in the car!  (Hard to believe, I know!) 

Though I didn't check them out myself, I heard that they even have mini-toilets and sinks for the little kids.  One of the moms from the parent group said that her 3 ½ year old had gone to the bathroom four times in the two hours they were there, just because he thought they were "so cool!"  He didn't want her to go with him to help, because he could manage it by himself - SCORE! 

As we were leaving, a guitarist playing kiddie music was gathering a small crowd and passing out kiddie instruments.  There was also birthday party that was getting started.  (I'm not sure if the guitarist was there on his own or if he was hired for the party, but all of the kiddie-patrons seemed to be dancing and joining in, whether they were invited to the party or not.)

It would be a nice place to meet up with friends that also have kids (up to age 6 or so), so that parents can catch up while the kids play. I saw one mom that was working on Excel graphs & charts on her laptop and flipping through books and notes at her table.  Her kids (~2yo & ~3yo) didn't seem to mind that she was busy - they were pretty well entertained on their own.

We'll definitely go back sometime!

As if the day wasn’t exciting enough already, we were going to have lunch with Dadajee afterwards, but he wasn’t feeling well, so we brought him up some soup instead.  He must have been pretty bad because he was too nervous to let Shawn in the house for fear of spreading his germs.  For the few minutes we were there, he kept a handkerchief over his nose and mouth.  Had he been feeling better, he was going to come with us to Uncle Gulshan and Aunt Kusum’s house for a big Puri Family dinner to welcome Cousin Tony from India.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t feeling well enough to go.

Cousin Tony was only in town on business for a very short time, so we all got together to see him before he left.  The kids played while the adults played poker and/or talked.  It didn’t take very long for Shawn to warm up to all the people and run off to play with the cousins.  As usual, there was more delicious food than we could possibly eat, though I certainly tried my best!  Auntie sent everyone home with containers to enjoy later.  Yum!

I’m full!  I’m exhausted!  I need another weekend!

Not Just Books at This Library!

I joined a group called Northwest Suburban Families as a way to find fun things to do with kids and families.  Today, NWSF sponsored a playgroup at the Elk Grove Village Public Library.  The host was a mom, who was originally from Germany, and her two boys.  Being the only ones from the NWSF that showed up because of the cold weather, we talked and got to know each other until she had to pick her older son up from preschool.  It was a shame that we were the only ones there, but the Elk Grove library has an amazing youth “wing”.  In addition to the enormous room dedicated to children’s books, there’s a large corner that serves as a play room.  There was a puppet theater with a whole cast of animal puppets, a wooden castle and house, tables with magnetic toys built into the table tops and magnet wands attached to the underside, a small kitchen complete with dishes and pots and an entire pantry of play food, shelves of dinosaurs and trucks, a table full of Legos… I’m probably leaving things out, but there was such a selection, it’s hard to remember it all!  Abby and Shawn had lots of fun playing in the pretend kitchen.  Shawn didn’t even notice the dinosaurs or trucks until we were there for about an hour.  Abby met another little girl, who was extremely bossy – to kids and adults.  But, Abby played with her very nicely for a little while before she lost interest and rejoined Shawn.  We’ll definitely be going back to see what else the library has to offer little ones.

(And, I'll take pictures next time!)