Lilly isn't one of the sillies...

who tread on the lines...  Just watch how she walks in all of the squares!

Whenever I walk in a London street,
I'm ever so careful to watch my feet;
And I keep in the squares,
And the masses of bears,
Who wait at the corners all ready to eat
The sillies who tread on the lines of the street,
Go back to their lairs,
And I say to them, "Bears,
just look how I'm walking in all the squares!"

And the little bears growl to each other, "He's mine,
As soon as he's silly and steps on a line."
And some of the bigger bears try to pretend
That they came round the corner to look for a friend;
And they try to pretend that nobody cares
Whether you walk on the lines or squares.
But only the sillies believe the talk;
It's ever so portant how you walk.
And it's ever so jolly to call out, "Bears,
just watch me walking in all the squares!"

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!

St. Martinstag

To celebrate St. Martinstag yesterday, I made a German-ish twist to a Creamy Beef Stroganoff (see the recipe below), sauerkraut, and green beans. Raj & I had some beer from the Galena Brewing Company (not German, but good). We finished the frozen store bought pretzels I had left from Oktoberfest (not the greatest, but they did the trick). I was going to make Apful Kuchen for dessert, but realized too late I only had one apple. It wasn't a big deal, we were full after the pretzels anyway!  We could've done our lantern walk last night, too, but I didn't feel like the lantern was quite done yet and it simply got too late to go before we realized it! 

Creamy Beef Stroganoff (from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

1 (10.5 ounce) can beef consomme 1 tablespoon prepared mustard 8 ounces wide egg noodles, cooked and drained 1 cup sour cream

Directions:

In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in flour and salt until blended. Stir in soup, consomme and mustard. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Stir in the noodles and sour cream; heat through (do not boil).

However, as it usually happens with recipes, I really didn’t follow this too closely.  I left out the extra salt, only had beef bouillon crystals, added some garlic, chopped onions, sliced mushrooms, and parsely, and had to substitute for a lack of sour cream (with a mixture or cottage cheese, yogurt, milk, and lemon juice - thanks to my very handy book Substituting Ingredients: An A to Z Kitchen Reference by Becky Sue Epstein and Hilary Klein).  And, to help boost the German-ish feel, I swapped the wide egg noodles for Spaetzle.  Even with all of the substitutions and deletions from the original, the final dish seemed to be intact.  It turned out pretty well and it was nice to try a different recipe.  (I should’ve reduced the amounts in the sauce though, I have waaaaaay too much left over and no more Spaetzle!)

So, we waited until this evening for the lantern, but we did that part of the St. Martinstag tradition, too. I used a guide to help get me started on a balloon and paper mache lantern, but once I read through it, I remembered that it really is pretty easy.  I only made one lantern, since *ahem!* NO ONE else was interested in helping and I didn't think it was quite reasonable for me to make three alone! (grrrr...) I tried to get Shawn excited about making or at least helping me make a lantern, but he was absolutely not interested at all.  (Sometimes he’s all about getting his hands messy, but lately it seems to turn him off completely. Bummer… in a way.)  Raj used Shawn as his ‘out,’ too.  Oh, well!  I had fun doing it!  Once it was done, Shawn (finally) got excited about it.  He helped Raj find a stick that we could use to attach to the lantern. 

(No, I didn't draw any of those pictures myself, they are clip arts that I've used on our lanterns for the past few years.
Wish I could claim them as my own, but not even close!
After paper mache-ing them onto the balloon, I used permanent markers to dress them up a bit.)

Once it got dark out, Shawn got really excited about going on a walk with the lantern.  Raj did express a little concern about looking strange as we paraded around the neighborhood, but I made sure to point out that Shawn and I had just returned from a short walk and only saw one person the whole time, and besides, who cares?!  The weather was still holding on to a few warm degrees before dropping into Chicago's sub-zero winter that is looming just around the corner. (Though, the gusting winds were a bit tricky at times.)  In past years, we've kept the lanterns inside due to weather.  So, we took advantage of the evening, and it was a lot of fun!  Shawn got even more excited about the lantern when he saw the green glow stick to put inside of it and then watched the whole thing turned into a radiant orb!

 My camera's flash was too bright to get the full effect!

Gusting winds and an excited 2 year old swinging the lantern around made it a bit tough to get focused pictures!

Shawn carried it for the majority of the walk, but I think the long stick got a little awkward to hold and maybe even a little heavy after a few blocks.  When we were almost home, and Shawn was starting to lose interest and slow down, I took the glow stick out of the lantern and the three of us took turns tossing the gleaming rod a few feet ahead of us and then watching Shawn squeal, giggle, and race to retrieve it in the darkness.  NOTE: Glow sticks + outside + night time = FUN!  (Duh!)  Once that happened, there was no way I was going to get the glow stick back into the lantern – even back at home!  So, Raj had fun teaching Shawn ‘light-saber’ sounds and Shawn was his fully-attentive student.

Next year, maybe Shawn will be more willing to get his hands gloopy.  Or, maybe I’ll find another way to make lanterns.  Either way, it’s fun in the end and I’m thrilled to be bringing back some of our old family traditions!

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!

The Chicago Botanic Garden's Model Railroad Garden: Landmarks of America

This morning, we drove to the Glencoe Metra Station (actually taking the Metra would’ve been fun, but incredibly inconvenient for this particular trip).  We parked a few steps from a waiting trolley, which carried us to the Chicago Botanical Gardens.  In addition to being a fun ‘adventure’ for Shawn, the trolley saved us money, too - $4 for two adults (Shawn was free) versus $25 to park the van in the Gardens’ parking lot.  (Though, we didn’t actually know that until we were already there.  We just got lucky!)
As we walked through the Visitor Center, I found a free Bingo Board to play with as we explored the grounds.  Shawn had a lot of fun placing the provided stickers on the pictures when he’d find the various objects.  When he found the very last item, just before we were leaving, he ran over to show me his completed Bingo Board and asked for a “Surprise Fruit Snack!”  How could I resist rewarding all that hard work?  (Though, I’m not sure how much of a surprise it was then…)

We sat at the edge of a pond and admired a water fountain, a rainbow in its mist, and very large fish that were inches away from our toes.  We dabbled our fingers in another water fountain for a little while before finding our friends, Shrenik, Heena, and Veer.  Then we made our way over to the Model Railroad Garden exhibit – the real reason we were there in the first place!

The Chicago Botanic Garden has a temporary exhibit (May – October) that has returned for the past few years called the Model Railroad Garden:  Landmarks of America.  The website’s description was:

The 7,500-square-foot Model Railroad Garden features 17 garden-scale (G-scale) trains on 1,600 feet of track. The garden-scale trains are 1/29th the size of life-sized trains. Train and garden enthusiasts, young and old, return year after year for the delightful sights and sounds of the miniature trains traversing high and low through tunnels, across bridges, and around buildings — all intricately handcrafted with natural materials, including twigs, bark, leaves, acorns, and pebbles. More than 5,000 tiny trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and flowering plants of close to 300 varieties re-create the topographical landscape of America. Vignettes of tiny people and animals give the exhibit a storybook feel, while sound effects and a working geyser capture visitors’ imaginations.

It also had two very cool videos about it:




It was a lot of fun. The train exhibit was a little smaller than Raj and I expected, but they packed a lot into the space. The attention to detail was amazing. There were landmarks from all over the country represented. (Shawn can now indentify the Statue of Liberty and when we saw the Liberty Bell from Pennsylvania, he pointed out that's where Oma and Opa live!)

(A video might be coming... if I can edit it better!)

By the end of our ‘adventure,’ my pedometer had recorded that we walked for a total of 2 hours 27 minutes 44 seconds, covering 4.247 miles, had taken 8961 steps, and burned 242.5 KCAL.  (Unfortunately, it’s a cheap pedometer and it doesn’t always register all of my steps correctly, but it at least gives us an idea of how far we walked.)  Here’s a map of the gardens to show just how big a place it is – we did a pretty good job covering most of it, too!

While we were waiting for the trolley to take us back to our car, Raj entertained Veer and Shawn.  While they sat in an empty tram that had been parked for the evening, Shawn surprised him by pointing out, “There are two bicycles on the right, Dadda!”  Raj was impressed that in fact there were two and in fact they were on the right side of them!

What a great day to spend at the Chicago Botanic Gardens with great friends!  The creativity and handiwork behind the Model Railroad Garden alone was well worth the trip, but I'm so glad we saw the other gardens and made a whole day of it.  Not many more days left like this in Chicago this year!  But, this was had another 80°F day (and 30° swing from the low to the high).  I don’t think we saw a cloud the whole day.

Back at the car, Raj drove quickly to grab dinner before Shawn fell asleep.  (He didn’t get a nap and had only snacked all day, so I didn’t want him to fall asleep before having an actual meal.)  Raj got us to Bucca di Beppo in Wheeling just in time.  I was able to hold Shawn’s interest on the way there by giving him a portable fire truck & station toy that he doesn’t get to play with very often.

For dinner, we had cheesy bread Florentine, baked rigatoni with spicy sausage, chicken stuffed with prosciutto, all served family style (and had plenty to take home when we were done).  While we ate, we tested Shawn to see if he really did know if right from his left.  He correctly identified his left and right hands, ears, eyes, and cheeks.  Just to see if he was paying attention, I asked him where his ‘left mouth’ was – he giggled, said, “Nooooooo!” but pointed to his mouth anyway.  Not bad for a two year old!

On the way home, he started off a bit wired, sang songs, and made lots of goofy noises, but when I put the toy away and out of sight, he fell asleep almost immediately.  I wasn’t able to transfer him to his bed as smoothly as I had hoped, but after just a few moments of very tired and frustrated crying, he settled down, gave me a goodnight kiss, and fell back to sleep.  The best part – it was only 8:00 pm!

After spending a gorgeous day outside, it’s an early to bed night for all of us.


Sweet dreams.

An Aquatic Break Through

Shawn woke up at 7 am!  Happy as can be.  Give me a few more minutes to sleep in, buddy!  I went into his room and laid down with him, hoping he’d go back to sleep.  Instead, he sat on my hip and announced, “I’m riding a bicycle!” and when I tipped him off to the side, he giggled, “I fell of the bicycle!”  Ok.  I get it.  It’s time to play.  I’m up.

Shawn had a total BREAK THROUGH at swimming class this morning! Miss Becca gave him a floaty belt, which he’s worn once before, but this time she also gave him a floaty that looked like a long bar-bell. He loved it!  He actually reached out for it and smiled.  The combination of his belt around his chest and the bar-bell he was holding onto, I could actually let go of him (though cautiously).  I could pull him by the bar-bell and he’d giggle and smile and ask for more.  I even got him to let go of the bar-bell with one hand and splash a little with the other!  (This isn’t an issue during bath time, but he’s never really moved his arms around much during swimming lessons.)  I still couldn’t get him to kick (even when I’d tickle his feet or move his legs for him), but at least he was having fun.  About half-way through class, Miss Becca traded the bar-bell for a kick board.  It was a lot harder to hold on to, but once Shawn figured it out, he smiled and giggled on it, too.  I towed him around in circles and up and down the pool a few times.  Miss Becca pointed out that maybe he doesn’t understand what to do when we say, “Kick,” since it feels different from kicking a ball when you’re standing on the ground.  So, I’d lay on my back and kick a few splashes behind him.  It worked!  He laughed hard and started to kick!!!!  (With all the splashing, kicking, and whatnot that Shawn did today, his teeth didn’t chatter and his lips did turn as blue nearly as much as they usually do.)  Thank you, Miss Becca!

Next week is our last class, for now anyway.  In addition to getting our report cards (!), it’s “Boat Safety Day.”  Apparently, we’re going to practice putting on life vests and getting in and out of a boat.  Interesting…  I’m not really sure why this is a part of this particular class, but okay.

Now that it actually feels like a swimming lesson and not just play time in the pool (though we still sang songs and played with toys, too), I’m more willing to sign up for the next class.  I asked her about the next session of classes and if she’d be teaching it or if our original teacher would be back.  (If our first teacher is signed up for it, I think we’d pass!  Miss Becca actually looks at the skills individual kids are learning, offers the parents suggestions, and - what a concept - knows the kids’ names!  What a difference a change in the teacher has made.)  It turns out that she will be teaching the next session and there’s only a week or two break between the end of this session and the start of the next one.  I was thinking that we’d just go to the Roselle pool and do our own thing, but now maybe we will get one more session of lessons in before the outdoor pool season starts.

Today was a GORGEOUS day (60 F).  Abby came over to ask Shawn to play outside when he woke up from his nap.  Of course, they pulled out the toy lawn mower/bubble blower.  When Abby and Bill went in for dinner, Raj, Shawn, Baron, and I went for a walk to the park.  Raj showed Shawn how to climb a structure that looks similar to the rungs of a curving ladder.  I think I held my breath each time Shawn went near it.  I’d like to say that it was too difficult for his little toddler legs, shaky balance, and unsure footing, but, to my dismay, he proved he could navigate it with little more than a watchful eye and an encouraging word.  I will admit that it was exciting to watch him conquer the difficult equipment, but it’s still not exactly my favorite part of the playground for him to play on!

 

Chicks, Ducks, and Wheels on the Bus!

It was week four of the library’s Drop-In Story time.  Ms. Nancy’s theme this time was “Chicks and Ducks.”  We read:

The Chick and the Duckling by Mirra Ginsburg
“A chick and a duckling hatch at the same time.  The chick can imitate the duckling except when the duckling goes swimming.”

Just Ducky by Kathy Mallat
“A lonely little duckling looks into the pond and sees its reflection.  The duckling thinks that it has found a new friend.”

Peep! by Kevin Luthardt
“A duckling follows a boy home.  The boy is sad when the duckling is ready to be reunited with other birds of the wild.”

Wee Little Chick by Lauren Thompson
“Other farm animals comment on the tiny size of the little chick.  Little chick is proud of everything that it can do.”

We sang and danced to:

FiveLittle Ducks from Raffi in Concert with the Riseand Shine Band

  And, we recited a few poems:

Baby Duckling
One baby duckling, he’s brand new.
Here comes another.  That makes two.
Wait, here’s another.  That makes three.
Three baby ducklings waddling across the floor.
They meet a little friend, and that makes four.
Four baby ducklings, watch how they dive.
At last they see their mother.  That makes five.

When a Yellow Duck
When a yellow duck walks down the street (hold up hand)
Quack! goes his bill (open and close thumb and fingers)
Waddle! go his feet (waddle hands back and forth)
He comes to a puddle and with a bound (pretend to jump into a puddle)
In goes the yellow duck and he swims around. (pretend to swim)

The Little Chick
This little chick heard a loud horn (hold up index finger)
This little chick ate all the corn (hold up middle finger)
This little chick saw a big ball (hold up ring finger)
This little chick said, “Please don’t fall!” (hold up little finger)
But this little chick said, “Peep, peep, peep!” (hold up thumb and wiggle it)
Please be quiet, I’m trying to sleep!” (wiggle thumb)

Each time we saw a picture or read about a chick, Shawn and I would whisper, “Just like the chicks at Oma and Opa’s house!”  Maybe next time we visit they’ll have some chicks for Shawn to see up close.  (He and Abby got very good at quacking and cheeping and peeping during story time today!)

At the end of naptime, I could hear Abby chatting to herself for a little while.  At one point, I think she was trying to sing Ring Around the Rosie! I also heard her say, “Abby awake!”  Before I went to get her out of bed, there were strange rustling noises in Shawn’s room.  Here is what happened when I went to check them out:

In case you need an interpreter, Shawn’s phrases included:

“Momma, go see Abby?”

“It’s really bright.”

“Let’s go find out!”

“Ready? Watch!”

“Shawn opened the door.”

“I have a good nap, Abby.”

I guess it’s time to go play some more!

After Abby went home, Shawn and I took Baron for a walk.  (Or did Baron and I take Shawn to the park?)  Shawn loves climbing on the playground equipment, but he prefers one particular corner…

Never knew that playground equipment could double as a performance stage, eh?

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.

Kiddie Klub Lane and NO COATS!

Shawn called out for Oma and Opa’s dog, Gambol, last night/early this morning.  Normally, it seems like Buddy is his favorite of their two Brittany Spaniels, but, for whatever reason, Gambol was on his mind this time!  Must be time to visit again…

Mothers & More had a Mom & Tot outing to Kiddie Klub Lane in Lombard this morning.  I planned that we would stay for about an hour and then go to music class Gymboree just down the street... but it turned out that we stayed all day!  The center was set up like a small village with cottages lining the walls.  Each cottage had a different theme: bait shop, diner, fire department, gas station, grocery store, vet’s office, etc. and each was had a variety of themed toys that went along with it.  There was even a small area with toys for less mobile infants.  There were also a few tables so the adults to sit and relax while the kids played freely.  In the back was a party room, which was also were Mothers & More provided snacks for any of our little ones who was interested.  It was definitely a family owned place, but I was impressed with the creativity behind its design.  I only wished it had an outdoor area, so we could enjoy the gorgeous weather today!  It was 59 F outside, so it was a shame we spent so many hours inside… though it was a lot of fun.

When Shawn woke up from his nap, we went for a walk.  I just couldn’t let this beautiful day pass by without taking advantage!  It was the first day of the year that we went out without a coat.  We played at park, watched trains, gazed at and heard geese at the pond, and watched dogs playing at the dog park.  By the time we got home, we had spent 2 hours on our wonderful walk enjoying being outside again.

We could have spent all day outside! (could’ve, should’ve, would’ve…)