A trip to the zoo for my little monkey. . .

Last Sunday we took Nick to Brookfield Zoo. It's the third time he's been, and he does seem to like it. Especially the Children's Play Zoo, which is designed for the little ones and is extremely interactive.

In this picture you can see Nick pretending to be a bird and hanging out in a nest with an egg. Thankfully, he didn't mind the costume, and he rather seemed to like hanging out in the nests. There's a turtle over in the enclosure to the right, and he watched that little guy poke his head in and out of his shell.

I don't remember there being baby exhibits at the zoo when I was a kid. I think this is pretty awesome, and I know Nick liked it. Next year he'll most likely love to see the animals, but for this year he really like the parts where he could crawl around and explore. It's the age he is at.

Nick got to fingerpaint in the art area. Not sure what it had to do with animals, but he got a kick out of the messy paint. Greg is an artist, so perhaps a little of that is rubbing off on Nick. He seemed to like squishing the paint around in his fingers, anyway. It was worth the mess. :)

I'll show the rest of my zoo pictures in this post. I think they speak for themselves.

I have to say that last weekend was absolutely exhausting. I had a great time with my friend and her kids, but it was kind of like not having a weekend at all. We were running around from Saturday morning until Sunday evening with no break.

This weekend has been more low-key, thank goodness. I had two of my friends from work come over and we worked on our presentation for parent night. I am incredibly lucky to work with some great gals, and even though we spent all day brainstorming and writing a powerpoint, it didn't feel like work.

Nick crawled around and enjoyed the company during much of the time, and my friends took turns holding him and playing with him while we worked.

We did manage to eat a bunch of yummy, naughty food and finish up a pot of coffee and then a bottle of wine while we worked. (I didn't even know they made blueberry wine. They do, and I shall be hunting for some to buy now.) Plus, I know I'll go to work Monday feeling like I accomplished a lot.

I guess some people would be bothered by the work that I have to do at home. Sometimes I feel that way, but honestly I usually feel pretty lucky to do what I do. During the school day I generally enjoy my job, hectic though it may be. The work I do at home is usually stimulating and interesting, and it allows me to use my strengths. Plus, I feel good knowing that I'm making a difference for my kids.

This year I'm working on response journals with my 2nd graders. That means they write me a letter each day, and then I respond back to them with a letter of my own. I have to make sure my letter is written at their independent reading level, and that I monitor the student writing so that they're working on one goal at a time.

For example, one student is working on putting spaces between words, so I might point out where she did it correctly and talk about using a "finger space" between words. But the most interesting part of response journals is the relationships they build with the students. I've done them before, and they really give you insight into a child's world. I get to learn about their families, their hopes, their dreams, and their wants (usually video game related, unfortunately). They also ask about me, and it's nice when a kid is generally interested in how my son is doing, or where I went to eat over the weekend. We compare rides that we like at amusement parks, and stories that we love. Response journals are a lot of work, but I think they're working for my students, and I enjoy them. Even if I have six letters to write every night.

A Museum for Babies?

Last Saturday, as part of our fun but exhausting trip to the city, we took Nick to the Chicago Children's Museum. I have to say it was amazing. I had been there once before, when I was teaching third grade about four years ago. But when you're supervising 27 kids and trying to ensure that none of them get lost or fight, it's hard to pay much attention to detail. This time I only had to watch one baby, and that was much easier.

I didn't even know that they had exhibits geared towards babies. The newest exhibit is for fort building. I used to do this as a kid, using sheets and overturned chairs. The whole exhibit has furniture with hooks and sheets to hang up. The kids can crawl around underneath and find a cozy spot. Nick enjoyed crawling around under the sheets and playing peek-a-boo.

This particular exhibit was exclusively for non-walkers. For Nick, it was baby heaven. He was so excited, and this area was very well designed. It had textured carpeting in one section, a baby obstacle course, and lots of things to touch and fondle. Nick loved the squishy blocks. I need to find him some of those; he was fascinated with them.

Just to make the area even more interesting, there were lighted panels and ballet barres placed at a perfect baby height. The squishy gym mats on parts of the floor were at different heights, so Nicholas could practice climbing up without bonking his head. Don't get me wrong, he does this kind of climbing at home, he just hits his head on the hardwood instead of the soft cushy gym mats.


I think this area confused Nick a little bit. The object was to dig dinosaur bones out of the little plastic thingies that were meant to look like dirt. Nick,

I think this area confused Nick a little bit. The object was to dig dinosaur bones up from the "dirt," which was just little rubber pellets. Kids could use gloves, cool vests with pockets, and brushes for excavating the dino bones. Nick liked banging the brush, and he kept trying to eat the little rubber things. He liked it, though.

The baby pond was probably Nick's favorite. Between this little tube of joy that he got to shake, and the squishy walls that he used to stand up, Nick was completely enthralled. He crawled all around exploring.




Here is Nick sitting on the wavy gym mat squishy stuff and staring at that baby in the mirror. Everytime I'm holding Nick and I bring him by a mirror, he gets all excited. He seems to "get" that he is the baby in the mirror, and he always grins at himself. So here he is, checking himself out in the mirror. All guys get that same look when they check themselves out. He'll be doing the same thing in about fifteen years, as he goops on the hair gel and spritzes the teen cologne.

Cruising

Yes, my baby is cruising. He started this yesterday, and I got it on video. Nick seemed rather surprised that he was moving. This week has been crazy busy, but Nick had enough time to cause trouble. :)

A Baby on a Train, and a Bus, and a Boat

It was another exciting, exhausting weekend. Navy Pier was our destination of choice this Saturday. A friend of mine brought her two kids to visit us, and they wanted to take the train into the city. (Actually, this particular friend was my college roommate nearly twelve years ago. Wow, it doesn't seem like that long. I suddenly feel old. . .)

We decided on Navy Pier, because there is plenty to do in one area that is suitable for kids. Believe me, travelling with a nine-year-old, an almost-three-year-old, and a ten-month-old is challenging, to say the least. In order to get there, we drove two cars to Aurora, then took the Metra train to Union Station, and finally took the bus to Navy Pier.


The weather couldn't have been better; It was in the 70s and sunny all day. The kids wanted to take a boat trip, so we decided on a trip designed for kids on a Tall Sailing Ship. The program included games and songs for the kids. It lasted an hour and the ship truly sailed the old-fashioned way. Once we got past the pier, the engines were turned off and the sails raised. Very cool.

There was also information about what it was like to be a sailor on the Great Lakes in the 1800s. The kids even got to help with the rigging and the sails, which was very cool. I liked this ship better than other boat tours I've been on in the last few years; it was more interactive and the boat was beautiful.

Nick really seemed to like being on the ship; he didn't get seasick at all. I believe he wanted to crawl around, however, which wasn't possible. He'll enjoy trips like this a lot more when he's a little older.

After our tour on the sailing ship, we went to the Chicago Children's Museum, which was awesome and the highlight of Nick's day. I'll talk about that another day.

Probably the only rough part of the day happened in the evening. We missed the 8:40 BNSF train back to Aurora, and had to sit and wait for the 10:40 train.

Yes, that's 10:40 p.m. Nearly two hours in a train station. With three children. Nothing was open. Well after their bedtimes. Plus, there was an announcement set to loop again and again through the waiting area where we were sitting. It said simply, "Track 6. . . Track 8. . . Track 6. . . Track 8," over and over again until it was time to get back on the train. It was like one of those reality show challenges: "How much stress can you handle while under sleep deprivation?" Finally, we got on our train. Then a little over an hour back to the train station and a 45 minute drive home.

I believe we got back to the house around 1:30 a.m. I also had to be up at 6:30 Sunday morning for tutoring. But I would still say that all of the trouble was worth it. The ship was really a unique experience, and visiting Chicago always feels good. However, I ate way too much naughty food, so I'm trying to do better this week. In fact, I think I'm going to go and do a Pilates DVD workout right now. . .

Wisconsin Weekend

I don't suppose I ever finished blogging about our weekend in Gleason, Wisconsin. It's kind of a tradition that we go up there the weekend after Labor Day for Greg's Grandma Marie's Birthday. This was her 95th, so it was extra special.

Nick seemed thrilled to see her, as well as his grandma and grandpa. He also had fun trying to destroy everything in her house: Magazines, antique doorstops, picture frames, books. Nick had his sights on all of them. He especially liked harrassing his great-grandma's cats. They learned quickly to stay away from the baby.

Here is Nick with his great-grandma. We went out to a nice restaurant, and I dined on scallops, while Greg had shrimp and steak. Nick's favorite seemed to be my french onion soup. He kept opening his mouth for more. He also loved the croutons, which he chewed on for awhile and then threw on the floor. They brought Nick's Great-Grandma some carrot cake and we all sang happy birthday.




,
The part of the weekend where we weren't in the car was lovely. The weather was absolutely amazing. Usually when we go up to this part of Wisconsin, it is freezing and drizzly. This year it was sunny and in the 70s. I wish we would've had more chance to go walking. The air smells so fresh up there. Greg had us walk outside and turn all the lights off so that we could see the stars. That far from civilization, you can see a ton of stars, and it was awesome looking up at them.

Here is Nick with his Grandpa Jay, who isn't very comfortable with babies. I've been trying since Nicholas was born to get a picture where the two of them don't look uncomfortable. This one isn't too bad. The trees behind them are beautiful, as well.

I had to include this picture, because I think it is hilarious. We stopped in Madison at a restaurant specializing in South American food, and Nick was thrilled when I brought out his duckie toy.

I've been very busy this week; next week I start teaching, so it's been a mad rush to get lesson plans ready and find classroom resources. I just spent the last hour searching for a free download of a Brahms piano/violin sonata. My students will be reading a story where one of the main characters has to play such a sonata, and I wanted them to hear what it was like. I finally found a link to one, and I just hope it'll work on my school computer.

We have very sensitive filters there, and sometimes perfectly legitimate stuff won't work. For example, I kept trying to access this site with pictures of baby armadillos (for another story). I got the big "STOP" and the notice "provocative attire." I jumped and clicked out of the internet, and a funny picture appeared in my head of what kind of provocative attire armadillos might be wearing. Perhaps they had low cut blouses or daisy dukes?

Now, I looked up this site later, when I got home, and the only pictures on this site are of armadillos. Mind you, they're not wearing any clothes, but then again, armadillos aren't supposed to wear clothing. The site is a children's informational site about animals. Sigh.

Relaxing Places, a Baby with a Squash, and a Walk on the Farm

I really do believe that you can tell a lot from one, badly balanced, poorly shot photo. This is my screened-in porch, and one of my all time favorite places. It is one of Molly's favorite places, too. She loves the view of the bird feeders, which I finally refilled. It's free kitty TV for her to sit out there and watch the feeders, which are now covered with finches and all manner of little birdies. Unfortunately, as soon as I try to photograph them, they fly away.

I just bought myself the cup you see on the table. It was half off at Starbucks on the clearance rack. I've wanted that cup for months now, but refused to pay the exhorbitant regular price. Now it sits happily on my patio table, filled with cafe con leche, with 4 splendas, whipped cream and sprinkles on top. (Hey, a gal's gotta enjoy life.) This is one of my favorite spaces, because I can enjoy the view of the pond and the birds and listen to the sound of the outdoors. I'm pretty decent at making myself relax, and this is my favorite place to do it; I put my feet up, sip my coffee, and just breathe.

The book is Steven Pinker's "The Stuff of Thought," which is a complicated but fascinating treastise on linguistics and the evolution of language. So far I'm loving it, but I'm reading it in small parts, perhaps a chapter a day or so. Now that I'm back to work, my reading has slowed a bit.

Entertaining Nick has become an interesting challenge lately. He quickly becomes bored in the baby cage, so I've been trying to find new things that he can play with. Today it was a pot, a spoon, and a yellow squash from my garden. Not sure why he liked the squash so much, but hey, whatever works.

His latest trick has been to squirt his bottle all over the place. Today he squished it all over the rug and the comforter I have under the baby cage. Then he soaked his onesie. Thus the reason he is nearly naked.

This last place is a very peaceful, quiet wooded setting. It was taken on Saturday, up by Greg's Grandma's farm in Gleason, Wisconsin. The ruins in the back are of the Estonian Church, and Greg told me he thought it was haunted when he was a child. It sure looks spooky.

The property in Gleason is beautiful, and the weather was just lovely. Usually it's pretty cold when we go in September. I wish we would have had more time to enjoy it; we arrived after 2:30 on Saturday and had to leave around 10 a.m. Sunday.

You can see the farmhouse behind the trees. It is small and very quaint, especially compared to the property, which is expansive and wooded. The air smells fresh and clean, and it really is lovely, except for the mosquitoes. They are why we ended up only having a short walk. After one trip up the driveway and back, a few of them started swarming Greg. One was flying around Nick, so he rushed the stroller back towards the house and safety. (Greg is afraid of West Nile Virus. Not that I like mosquitoes much myself.)

Happy Gardening Surprises and Too Much Time in the Car

Nick is getting better about eating finger foods. His Grandma bought him this nice bib with a pocket to catch all of the food that he drops. That has made feeding him less messy, although I'm sure waitresses curse us after we leave. It sure wastes less food, because we can just dump the pocket back onto the table when he's done, and there are his seconds. I believe here he was eating mushrooms, carrots, dumplings, hamburger, and french fries. His favorites were the mushrooms and fries.

This is how poor Nick spent most of his weekend; I believe it was something like 16 hours in the car from Friday through to tonight. We were in Gleason, Wisconsin, for Greg's Grandma's 95th Birthday. I'll talk more about my trip later this week. All I can say now is that it feels wonderful to be out of the car! Nick thinks so too. When we got home, he played happily (and gratefully) in the baby cage. I'm afraid he's going to flip out tomorrow when we put him back in the car seat.

I was surprised this week at what my garden actually managed to produce. Despite all of the Japanese beetles and the lack of attention I gave my garden, I still reaped at least a few rewards. I've got baby yellow squashies!

I think they're very cute, and I want to slice them up with olive oil and garlic later this week. I have to make sure I catch them before they get too big. It sure took long enough for them to start producing.

I was also impressed with the size of this monster zucchini. I needed something to use for scale, and, well, my foot was already there.

I am hoping that I can spend more time next year gardening. I want to double the size of my raised bed garden, and keep better track of the weeds.

I killed about twenty Japanese Beetles today; I hate those little suckers. They decimated my raspberry bush. I guess I'll have to add another task to my evening rituals: killing bugs.