Superbowl Sunday

I really don't care that today is Super Bowl Sunday. I can see Raj trying to restrain his excitement because he knows the football hype will probably just annoy me, yet he wants to get Shawn all pumped up about the big event. Shawn doesn't seem to understand what the big deal is. He knows there is a football game, and that makes Daddy a happy, but that's about it. Instead, he was more excited that it is snowing again outside and that we picked up new books at the library yesterday. That's my boy! In fact, Shawn brought a library book about Batman to Raj and had him read it to him first thing this morning. They sat on the floor read it together. Then, when Raj said it was breakfast time, Shawn picked out another book for him to read to him while they ate: Dino-Football. (We've checked it out a few times already.)

It's been a great way to start the day and it has nothing to do with "Teams of hulking millionaires with felonies" trying to "give more brain damage than they receive" as a friend so eloquently posted on Facebook today!

A Bee-Boppin' and a Pee-Peein'

Shawn slept until around 8:15 am, when Raj brought him into our room to snuggle. (Raj must have been tired, because he never wants to have Shawn sleep in our bed!) We all fell asleep for another hour or so. Then, the boys went downstairs to have breakfast, while I hung out in bed, but awake. It was a very
                         nice
                                             slow
                                                                      morning.

Eventually, we started moving a little faster. Raj gave Shawn a bath and got most of his little black dog-nose off from last night. By the time Mike and Bill came over to take another look at our leaky toilet, everyone was up and ready for the day. Unfortunately, it turns out that Mike needs to order a part, so they weren’t able to finish fixing it today either. Hopefully, though, by the end of this week it should be back in business for ‘business.’

While Raj went to the Bears’ game and Shawn and I went to the Roselle Public Library to see a jazz concert. Shawn was really excited about seeing the instruments. We saw the Eric Schneider Trio featuring a saxophone, clarinet, keyboard, and bass. Shawn and I were the youngest ones in the audience by at least a few decades. I think we were the only ones that hadn’t retired yet! At first, I found a seat on the edge of a row (for easy an easy exit, if needed), but then I opted to find a seat for us on the floor off to the side in front so Shawn could see the musician’s hands better. (I made eye contact with the librarian who was hosting the concert to make sure it was okay that we weren’t sitting in the provided audience chairs.)

Throughout the concert, Shawn had stellar behavior. He watched the concert, listened quietly, and clapped when he was supposed to. During the brief intermission, when we found some cookies and water, a few of the blue-hairs came over to talk to Shawn and comment on how surprised they were at how interested he was in the concert. Apparently, a few of them were paying almost as much attention to Shawn as they were to the musicians they came to see! Before the show resumed, I brought Shawn to the instruments so he could see them up close, yet explained that we couldn’t touch them. He noticed that the clarinet and saxophone had “metal on them” and that the bass was made of wood, “like the harp!” He was a little confused about keyboard versus a piano, but did point out it had a pedal, “like the harp, too!” When the musicians returned from their break, we rushed back to our place on the floor for the remainder of the concert. Afterwards, Shawn told the musicians (I translated), “I really liked your music, thank you very much!” A few more blue-hairs offered their compliments and then we went upstairs to the children’s section. We found a stack of CDs (songs, instrumental, as well as stories), a few ABC books, a few Dr. Seuss books, and a few potty training books (some for kids and some for parents).

When we got home, we stripped off the pull-up and really focused on potty training. We read the kids’ books while we ate a snack. We sat on the potty seat on the toilet while we read them again. Shawn didn’t reject the idea of sitting on the toilet a single time this afternoon/evening/night! Sometimes in the past, he’d say, “I don’t want to go pee-pee OR poo-poo!” at the slightest mention of the toilet, but not this time. He was much more willing to sit, whether he had to go or not. So, I took advantage of it. I had him ‘race’ to see how fast he could put on or take off his underwear - off is much easier! I had him ‘race’ to see how fast he could put his seat on the toilet and sit on top. I had him ‘race’ to see how fast he could put it all away. He was loving it – though it was nothing that I hadn’t done before! I’m not sure what made today different, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. Not a single accident all afternoon or evening… until he pooped in his underwear. But that was the only one! Without a doubt, he earned another Toy Surprise for filling up his Potty Paper with stickers. This time, he pulled an armored half track military jeep/pickup truck from the bag. He (we) had never seen a truck like this before so I explained that it was a truck that carried soldiers on the benches in the back. We talked about how soldiers and other the people in the military were very special people. The military is a little bit like the police, but they keep all of America safe, so we can be free. I also told him that Opa, Pappy, my Grandpa Bill were all in the military.  (I’m not sure if he understood all of what we talked about, but he seemed to be listening and concentrating very hard.)

Things were going so well that we didn’t even think about naptime. He didn’t get to sleep at 8:00 pm, like the other non-nap days, but today wasn’t quite as exhausting as those were either. He was tucked in bed before 9:00 pm, which is still far better than 11:00 pm!

Shawn had been long asleep by the time Raj came home around 11:00 pm. I got some cleaning, blogging, email, laundry, and reading all done in the meantime. And, celebrating with a little glass of wine…

It was a good day!

Long Grove Apple Festival

Happy 142^nd Birthday to Mahatma Gandhi

Shawn and I slept in while Raj went off to tailgate for the Bears’ game.  Though I was half-awake long before, I really woke to the sounds of Shawn playing in the corner I set up for him in the computer room.  (There’s a small table, crayons, and drawers with paper, coloring books, etc.)  It’s rare for him to get out of bed on his own, not to mention wander into another room without calling for attention.  I took advantage of his independence and listened to his quiet playtime from a distance.  Eventually, he ran into greet me and we snuggled and played under the covers until the lure of eating breakfast was too strong.

This morning Shawn proclaimed, “Momma, I was a baby.  I’m bigger and bigger.  I’m a boy.  And, I’m starting to get a man.”  You are absolutely correct, just not too fast, pleeeeeease!

I had planned to spend the day at the Apple Festival in Long Grove.  But, it took a lot longer than I expected to convert the van from a harp-hauler to a child-hauler.  The fact that our neighbor’s daughter, Yazi, came over didn’t exactly speed things up.  She and Shawn decided to pull toys out of the garage, which would have been a great way to occupy Shawn while I got the van setup, but it didn’t work out that way.  I ended up chatting with her mom for a while… we investigated a praying mantis on their back window… Yazi and Shawn ended up playing in the van (though I did get her to 'play' with the hand-vacuum and suck up Shawn and Abby's stray snacks!)… and by the time I had everything ready to go, I looked up to see Raj home from the Bears’ game and we hadn’t left the house yet!  So much for spending the whole day at the festival!

Luckily, I convinced Raj to go to Long Grove with us.  We only got to spend about two hours there, but it was worth it.  Shawn got to ride a pony and a tot-sized train.  We bought a mini-caramel apple pie, full-size apple pie, a caramel apple dipped in cinnamon sugar and white chocolate, and chocolate mummy on a stick (which we ate right away - YUM)!

I took pictures of Shawn playing while we were there, but ironically...

 

...where are the apples?? (I swear it really was an APPLE fest!)

We stopped at Barnaby’s Family Inn for dinner on the way home, since the food vendors at the fest were shutting down.  It wasn’t at all what we expected, though it was certainly family friendly.  I wasn’t impressed with the food at all, but it was priced about right.  There were patrons of all ages and the parking lot was full.  (Shawn was mesmerized by a table of squealing tweens next to us.)  It was a popular place to come, but I don’t think we’ll be revisiting any time soon!

Just before bedtime, Shawn told Raj, “I have to go pee-pee!” and pulled down his pants.  Raj was busy brushing his teeth, so after he quickly escorted him into the bathroom, I helped him get onto the toilet.  And, he peed!!!  He hadn’t announced it after-the-fact, like he has in the past, he announced it BEFORE he went and was able to get to the toilet in time to actually go!  YIPPEEE!!

It's Finally Friday

Abby arrived at 7:30 this morning.  About half an hour later, we were playing and getting ready for breakfast downstairs when we heard, “A dump truck!  A dump truck!” being squealed from upstairs.  Shawn’s awake!  He was very excited to see a truck from the landscaping crew parked in the island in the center of our cul de sac.  (It was actually a pick-up truck, but who’s counting?)

At breakfast, I opened the front and back doors to let some fresh air in.  It was a bit wishful thinking though, or maybe just too early in the day.  We didn’t even finish the meal before I closed the doors again because it was too cold. 

Both kids had pants problems today!  Must not have eaten enough at breakfast!  They’d be playing and look down to see their pants on the floor.  Shawn was even running around without them for a few steps before he even noticed it.  We decided to change clothes (or at least put on different pants) before going to Gymboree – otherwise, they might have climbed right out of them!

Listening to CDs on the way to Family Gym, Abby identified Mickey Mouse’s voice each time he sang a song.  Though it was a CD of songs song by Mickey and his friends, it turns out that most of them are by Goofy.  At Gymboree, the theme of the day was ‘Construction Zone.’  The kids made ‘cement’ by putting scarves and air bags into a big barrel, they filled ‘holes in a bumpy road’ by stuffing toys into the creases of a mat, they ‘hammered and sawed a leaky roof & painted the house’ using plastic sticks on a climbing structure, they ‘fixed a clogged pipe,’ by retrieving a huge pile of scarves from a tunnel, and they ‘turned on a faucet’ by climbing through the cleared tunnel.  Later, both actually participated in Freeze!  Towards the end of class, while Abby was catching bubbles in the air, Shawn was trying to pick them up off the ground.  When that didn’t work very well for him, he switched to purposely popping them with his fingertip.  Much easier!  Of course, Abby loved dancing to the music, and Shawn danced a little on his own today.  When Gymbo (the toddler-sized clown doll mascot) came out at the end of class, both of them gave him big hugs.  There’s part of a song that gives directions of how to dance with Gymbo.  One part says Gymbo’s tired and goes to sleep, so everyone lays down on the mats and pretends to sleep.  BOTH kids did it AND BOTH jumped up when we realize that Gymbo doesn’t really want to sleep.  Usually, I have to give Shawn more than a little nudge to get him to lay down and then it takes him a while to get up again afterwards – he’s too busy watching everyone else dance along to the music.  We stuck around for a little while after class was over to play in Open Gym, but we still needed to have nap time, so we didn’t stay very long.  Neither of  the kids were quite ready to go when I was and they kept trying to go back to the equipment and play more.  Sorry, guys!  We’ll have to wait until Monday!  (I did manage to schedule a makeup session from when we missed music class to go to Kiddie Klub Lane.  We didn’t get another music class, but we have an extra gym class next week.  Next Wednesday we’ll start with music,  stay for a gym class, then come home for lunch and naps – perfect!  I think they’ll be happy to have gym after music class anyway.)

While both napped, I opened the doors again.  It was just shy of 50 F, but the fresh air was nice.  Abby woke up and Bill came to get her shortly after.  When Shawn woke up, he asked if the boys were playing games outside, like yesterday.  He also wanted to “ride the bicycle with Momma” again.  How could I resist that?  So, out we went! 

Unfortunately, the temperature must have dropped considerably by that time because by the time we got to the park (the closer of the two near us), I was already chilled.  Grant it, walking with Shawn isn’t exactly expeditious!  We stopped along the way to check out each “fy-ah hide-nt” (a.k.a. fire hydrant) and mailbox in our path, not to mention the occasional pinecone and stick too.  Plus, he had picked up a football from the garage before we left and was practicing throwing it (which looks more like holding the ball over his head and then spiking it down to the ground) at least 2 or 3 times on each block.  When we finally got to the park, he climbed the stairs and went down the big spiral slide a couple of times before I figured we better start heading back before it got much colder.  (At the rate it took us to get to the park, it very well could have been dark by the time we got home!)  Another boy at the park arrived on a small, neon green and black bike that captured Shawn’s attention.  When he and his mom were leaving the park in the same direction as our home, it was pretty easy to convince Shawn it was time for us to go, too.  We watched the neon green bike peddle ahead of us until it was out of sight, but luckily it helped keep Shawn motivated to walk forward – we even passed a fire hydrant or two without him noticing.  The combination of watching the fancy bike and my resistance to let Shawn investigate every landmark on the way made the walk home much faster.  Still, he was not happy that I rushed him inside to warm up and get ready for dinner, rather than let him play outside on his tricycle or in his Cozy Coupe car.  They will be there another (hopefully slightly warmer) day, little man.

An Adventure to LegoLand

We got more snow last night, but nothing like a few days ago, so we didn’t get too excited about it.  It won’t get in the way of any of our exciting plans for the day!

We started with a trip to LegoLand.  What a cool place!  I think Raj and I had just as much fun as (if not more than) Shawn!  We were greeted by a giant Lego model of a giraffe spanning the entrance, a huge replica of Albert Einstein’s funny face (with moving eyes!) and two little statues holding toothpaste and a toothbrush right inside the door.  We were hardly inside the building and we’re already very impressed.  It just got better from there…

There was a mock-up of downtown Chicago with flickering campfires on the beach, working lights and sirens at the fire department, and a light timer set up to show how the city changes in daylight and nighttime.  It was complete with Buckingham Fountain, Hancock Tower, Navy Pier, the elevated train, Water Tower Place, and even construction!  (With the amount of detail shown in this display, I wouldn’t be surprised if the model city was to scale.)  As if that wasn’t complicated enough, the Lego artists kicked it up by invading the city with Star Wars characters!  There was a scavenger hunt set up so you could search for specific characters, but we just had fun taking it all in and seeing what we could find on our own.  It was incredible. 

  

When we left the city, we walked right into a Lego Jungle!  There were life size tigers, monkeys, alligators, birds, giant spiders, a few safari guides (the only things that weren’t life size, though Shawn may disagree), and then… Indiana Jones from the Temple of Doom!  Later, we even saw Darth Vador and R2D2!

 

There was a ride through a Dragon Quest where we saw wizards and royalty and, of course, a very large dragon.  We took a very brief “tour” showing how Legos are made accompanied by a mini history of the toy.  Then we watched a 4-D movie featuring Clutch Powers, a Lego character.  Not only did we wear 3-D glasses (Shawn didn’t keep his on, but he liked playing with them), but during the movie you could feel wind blowing when the characters were outside or driving fast and there would be a light mist of water when the characters got rained on, which was the fourth dimension of the movie.  Though the movie was a bit cheesy, it was a pretty cool concept and a fun way for Shawn to experience his first movie. 

After the movie, we went to the Build & Test center where there were buckets of all sorts of Lego pieces to experiment with.  Shawn got a LegoLand hat, in similar fashion of the old Burger King crowns, to give him official Lego Builder status.  After building vehicles, we launched them down ramps to see how fast they could go.  We also played in Duplo Village with giant foam rubber Lego bricks.  Raj and Shawn built towering structures on an earthquake platform to test how long they could withstand the vibrations.  I think Shawn had more fun playing with the buttons and dials that controlled the quakes, but he was still Dad’s helpful assistant.  Finally, after working hard in close proximity to the café, we decided it was time for lunch.  We weren’t overly impressed with the café selections, so we headed out. 

We decided to try Sweet Tomatoes for lunch, but Shawn barely made the five minute drive across a few parking lots before he fell asleep.  Once we got inside, he decided that lunch was worth waking up for.  The enormous buffet was inspiring to our rumbling tummies and the quality of the food was impressive.  We sat a table that was in the path of most people making trips to fill their plates, so Shawn was thrilled to flirt with most of them, as long as they didn’t stop to talk, which made him shy and a little nervous.  We made dozens of trips to the different areas: soups, salads, pastas, pizzas, baked potatoes, desserts, etc.  Empty bellies no longer!

Shawn and I took the rest of the day/evening off.  We had plenty of excitement from the day.  He napped, I did laundry.  Raj went out with some friends to watch the SuperBowl.  Since it was painful that the Packers made it and he wasn’t interested in the Steelers, Raj claimed he was rooting for the Blackeyed Peas, who were performing at the halftime concert.  (Obviously, he wasn’t upset by the Packers enough to keep him away from the game entirely!)  Not interested in the game myself, I had it on in the background while I folded and put clothes away, just so I could catch a few of the famous exclusive commercials.  There were a few funny ones, but not enough to keep me interested in actually sitting down to watch!  (Raj was impressed I had it on at all.)  It’s a good thing we had a so much fun earlier in the day because Raj was a little resentful when the Packers won.  Sorry, honey, but the Blackeyed Peas just couldn’t score any points on the field!