Derecho!

Shawn woke up at an unreasonably early hour (4:00 am) and it was all I could do to get him to go back to bed, but sleep just didn't come for him. He was up. I certainly wasn't ready to be. Yet, he wouldn't let me sleep either with "Mom, can I get up NOOOW?" what felt like every few minutes. He tried getting Raj's attention, but that didn't work either. Even when he tried playing in his room, he wasn't quiet at all and I was still awake. Arg. Lilly didn't seem disrupted by the morning's excitement though.

I finally gave in and got up. (Lilly did too.)  He asked for strawberries and an omelet from the eggs we gathered at Primrose for breakfast.  We also read more of his The Lego Movie novel. It's funny to catch parts that we missed when we watched it.

Around noon, I got a message:
"Weather for Kane... ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A FLOOD ADVISORY FOR THE FOX RIVER... FOX RIVER AT MONTGOMERY AFFECTING KANE AND KENDALL COUNTIES .WATER LEVELS REMAIN HIGH ON THE FOX RIVER AT MONTGOMERY FROM RECENT RAINFALL. ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL EXPECTED TODAY AND TONIGHT MAY RESULT IN RENEWED RISES ABOVE BANKFULL. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A * FLOOD ADVISORY FOR THE FOX RIVER AT MONTGOMERY. * UNTIL MONDAY JULY 07. * AT 1145 AM MONDAY THE STAGE WAS 12.4 FEET. * ACTION STAGE IS 12.5 FEET. * FLOOD STAGE IS 13.0 FEET. * FORECAST...THE RIVER WILL RISE TO NEAR 12.6 FEET BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON."

Not a surprise at all. Last night's storm was a doozy. I'm glad the mudroom door and the sump pump / backup are installed!

This afternoon, Lilly decided to accessorize and make herself a new hair bow.

She used materials she could reach.

This evening, Shawn fell asleep during the couple minute commute to karate. With the uber-early morning and the gloomy skies, he didn't stand a chance. I considered taking him home and tucking him in for the night, but I was able to rouse him and he barely uttered, "can I still got to karate?" So, we stayed and he woke up.

Again, Shawn was the only green belt in his green/purple combo class. They worked on round kicks (these look hard!) and some cris-cross punches. He even got to demonstrate hook-hook punches with his monstrous yell. (He needs to work on his speed, but he still almost knocked over Mr. Drescher with his too slow punches!) They also worked on upper cuts, which should be 1-2, not 1...............2. Next, they did thrust kicks, that Shawn got to demo again! Then, run-jump-side kicks (how they didn't fall over in the process - it amazes me!)

It was a small class tonight (the impending nasty weather probably scared off some people), but a few of the older boys were really struggling to focus. Mr. Drescher had to stop more than once to get their attention, to stop them from goofing off, to redirect, and to repeat what he had just explained. That did NOT go over well with him at all. (Naturally.) Unfortunately, that all took time, so they didn't have a chance to do obstacle courses or games at the end of class. On the other hand, Shawn was so on the ball in class (quite the opposite of how he had been with me at home this afternoon!), that Mr. Drescher didn't make him test for his first stripe! (I thought he still had a class or two before testing, but I've been wrong about that a few times.) Shawn earned his stripe from his work during class and didn't need to prove anything more. Awesome!

Glad I didn't turn back home to tuck him into bed after all!

At the end of class:
"THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
WESTERN COOK COUNTY IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS...
EASTERN DE KALB COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS...
DUPAGE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS...
KANE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS...
NORTHERN KENDALL COUNTY IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS...
NORTHWESTERN WILL COUNTY IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS...

* UNTIL 715 PM CDT

* AT 612 PM CDT...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED ALONG A LINE
EXTENDING FROM HUNTLEY TO SOMONAUK...AND MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.
HAZARD...70 MPH WIND GUSTS.
SOURCE...RADAR INDICATED.
IMPACT...EXPECT CONSIDERABLE TREE DAMAGE. DAMAGE IS LIKELY TO
MOBILE HOMES...ROOFS AND OUTBUILDINGS.

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR...
SANDWICH AND GILBERTS AROUND 620 PM CDT.
LITTLE ROCK AND SLEEPY HOLLOW AROUND 625 PM CDT.
WEST DUNDEE AND SUGAR GROVE AROUND 630 PM CDT.
YORKVILLE AND ST. CHARLES AROUND 635 PM CDT.
WAYNE AND STREAMWOOD AROUND 640 PM CDT.
WEST CHICAGO AND OSWEGO AROUND 645 PM CDT.
THIS INCLUDES NORTHWESTERN PORTIONS OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
...<.75IN
WIND...70MPH"

From Accuweather:
5:30 p.m. CDT Monday: Derecho moving eastward towards Chicago, expected to arrive in the city within the next 90 minutes. Current radar:

When we got into our seats in the car, I could see the kids in the rear mirror, but the gray skies blackened almost instantly and when I turned around to help Shawn buckle in, I could barely see him! Though it was about 6:15 pm, it looked like it was the middle of the night! We got home just in time for the worst of this part of the storm to hit. Shawn seemed a bit concerned about it being more than just a thunderstorm, but it passed fairly quickly and he was distracted by some reading practice, writing practice, and dinner.

From Accuweather:
7:33 p.m. CDT Monday:

Nick Ulivieri @ChiPhotoGuy
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Here's the storm front passing over the #Chicago skyline #ILwx #CHIwx. Wow! >
7:25 PM - 30 Jun 2014
(That's what our sky looked like when it suddenly turned to midnight as I buckled the kids in!)
Another wave of the storm hit just as we were turning off Shawn's lights and saying good night. The lightning was often enough and bright enough, I think I could've read his bedtime story without a light on! A few minutes later, there was a particularly dazzling flash of lightning and boom of thunder that shook the house, I nervously looked at Shawn and Lilly, expecting to see the whites of their eyes staring back at me for reassurance, but they were both fast asleep. Phew! So, I simply moved Lilly to her bed and tucked her in. I'm so grateful they aren't fearful of thunderstorms! This was another doozy of a storm and for the second night in a row. (I learned a new meteorological term: derecho!)

From Accuweather:
9:39 p.m. CDT Monday: Another line of storms is about to blast through the Chicago area. (We're just west enough to get the weather slightly before the 'Chicago area' does.)

10:15 p.m. CDT Monday: Wind gusts up to 82 mph in Bolingbrook, Illinois, reports NWS spotter.

Hoping this derecho doesn't cause us to have any run ins with Dorothy, Toto, or any of their friends!

Very Sticky Thank Yous

This morning, both kids took turns sitting on our new potty seat.  Neither of them did anything while on there, but it was very exciting!

In the car on the way to Open Gym at Gymboree, Abby counted, “Uno, dos, tres!”  Diego would be very impressed, I’ll be sure to let him know tomorrow!

At Open gym, Abby rode a teeter-totter/rocking horse and exclaimed, “Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!...”  One of the other moms jokingly asked, “So, she likes horses, eh?”  On the other side of the room, Shawn climbed up an A-frame.  It had skinny round rungs instead of slots for the steps on each side, so it was a little more tricky than what he normally climbs.  Still, he managed to climb up and down “all by my-self!”  I think I held my breath a little while he did it, but boy was he proud of himself afterwards!  There was a parachute flung over the monkey bars by the A-frame.  It generated some major static electricity and Shawn fell victim to it while he played under it.

Shawn and Abby also had fun going down the slides.  Shawn made sure to give another friend a chance by saying, “Sundus’s turn!”  Later, when she and her mother were getting ready to leave, he said, “Bye-bye, Sundus!” though he was rather quiet, so I don’t think they could hear him.

After Open Gym, we stopped by Dominicks for some groceries.  The check-out clerk thought Abby and Shawn were “absolutely adorable!” and gave them “Thank you!” stickers used to mark over-sized purchases.  Abby and Shawn were thrilled with their sticky accolades.

      

Shawn, Baron, and I took a two hour walk after Abby went home.  It was just to the park by the train station and back, but stopping to look at every pine cone, branch, and fallen leaf along the route took a very long time.  Shawn has gotten very confident climbing the playground equipment to get to the slides.  He has no interest in the short slides at all – only the big, bumpy, and spiraling ones for this big boy!  It was getting pretty chilly on our walk home and definitely time for dinner.  It’s just so hard to leave the park behind, so we walked home via the path by the dog park to help distract Shawn from having to say bye to his slides.  The dog park was busy, so there were lots of dogs to see as they ran over each other to greet us at the fence.  I felt bad for Baron since we weren’t actually going into the dog park – such a tease, I know.  Sorry, buddy.  Shawn’s still at eye-level with most of the dogs there and can barely hold his own against Baron (or his tail!) when he gets excited.  When he gets a little older, I’ll reinstate our dog park membership and we’ll all go play in there.  In the meantime, it's time for dinner!

Mullet Be Gone!

Back in September, Raj talked me into having Shawn's first hair trim done where he gets his cut, at Great Clips. I was really unhappy with the results. You could tell that the stylist didn't like having a child in her chair. She rushed through it, ending with a really choppy cut and saying that it was as good as it could be because Shawn was "difficult".  Meanwhile, Shawn was terrified of her and sat on Raj’s lap in an almost bear-hug. It was not a good experience for a first timer!

This time, I took Shawn to KidSnips in South Barrington today. It's only his second trim, though it's way over-due!  He had a super curly mullet that was getting out-of-con-trol!  (Raj was calling it his "Kane-r," after one of the Chicago Blackhawks hockey players.)

(I had to have a little fun with it one last time!)

Anyway, the KidSnips stylist, Ms. Julie, did an amazing job.  Shawn sat in a chair that looked like a little car, got to watch a Thomas the Train DVD (which was a big treat, since we don't watch TV, unless Raj’s home), and played with toys while Ms. Julie worked her magic. Not only did we NOT need a bear hug to hold him still, but Shawn was perfectly happy while scissors and clippers went zipping around his head. When she was finished, Ms. Julie gave us a "First Haircut Certificate" with a lock of his hair and a picture of the new "do," since his real first haircut wasn't exactly one to put in the baby book! She made Shawn feel very comfortable and relaxed (even pretty excited when he saw the trains, trucks, buses, and other toys she offered him). For a child who normally has stranger anxiety, Shawn was far from being "difficult" during this haircut. He was happy and his hair looks great. He even got to leave with a new toy of his choice (a red double-decker bus) and a balloon.

We'll definitely be going back to Ms. Julie for our future haircuts!

On the way to the Chicagoland Kids’ Expo, we stopped at Culver’s for lunch.  While we were eating our burgers and fries, Shawn squealed at the sight of two firetrucks zipping by with sirens blazing and lights flashing.  Talk about the right place at the right time!

Finally, we made it to the Chicagoland Kids’ Expo.  There were aisles and aisles of vendors and activities.  We had lots of fun at the petting zoo and even got to ride on a mini-train. 

There were magicians and musicians.  We even saw Craig, the director of Language Stars.  Shawn didn’t get to experience all there was to offer though, he fell asleep on my shoulder.  Okay.  That’s my cue that it’s time to go home. 

As luck would have it, Shawn woke up for the entire ride home!  How is that possible?!?

The Not So Traumatic Trauma

When Shawn woke up this morning, I just couldn’t resist snapping a few pictures of his glamorous new look.  I’m sure he’ll hate me for it later, but it was worth it!

After breakfast, we were playing with some toys in the living room before going to Gymboree.  Abby slipped and must have bumped her lip on the toy she was holding because she cut either her gum or the underside of her lip.  (It was hard to tell exactly where it was.)  It bled for a little while, but after having dealt with a similar injury on Shawn when he was less than a year old, I held some paper towels on it and gave a sippy cup to her to suck on.  It didn’t take long for it to stop.  We wiped away the tears and, before I knew it, she was antsy to get back to playing with Shawn again.  I let Bill know about her accident, but when he heard her giggling with Shawn in the background, he was pretty confident that it was nothing serious and she could stay the rest of the afternoon as usual.  We tried to keep things low key for a while to give Abby’s mouth a chance to heal.  Luckily, the cut didn’t reopen the rest of the day, she could even eat with no problems.  Phew! 

We went to Open Gym at Gymboree for a little while, but we got there late and with the excitement of this morning, we decided to leave early for nap time.  When they woke up, we went to the basement to play.  (I thought we needed a break from playing in the living room this afternoon!)  The pictures almost make it look like they’re tired and laying down, but believe me, they were WIDE awake and very energetic!  I could barely keep the kids in focus as they rolled and danced in the playhouse.  Obviously, the pain and suffering of this morning’s trauma has past!

There was lots of good sharing today.  Here, Abby's sharing some goldfish with Shawn after lunch.