A Zoo Trip

During Greg's first week of being stay-at-home dad, he took the boys to the zoo for the day. . . by himself.

From what I hear, they found lots of frisky animals. Nick was quite the terror himself that day--wilder than any of the animals.

Henry was especially enamored of the fish and other sea creatures.

Nick showed the ostrich his "Lightning McQueen" car.

I think the ostrich was impressed with it. While I know they loved the zoo, this was kind of a trial by fire for Greg. He's a very hands-on dad, but he hasn't often brought both boys out by himself.

I guess their day was filled with temper tantrums and ended with Nick being carried out while kicking and screaming. Greg is just getting used to being with the boys all day. I am a stay-at-home mommy every summer, and I told Greg that it was nothing he did. Some days are just like that.



I just looked at my facebook post from this day. Here's what I said. I wish I would've taken a picture of Nick's drawing.

"Greg took the kids to the zoo today. Nick and I were drawing pictures this evening of all the animals he had seen. We drew giraffes and alligators and birds. Then Nick drew a picture that I couldn't figure out, so I asked him about it.

"No, Mommy. That's not a aminal. Daddy was dragging me out of zoo."
"Why was Daddy dragging you?"
"Because I was mad and I said, "No, No" and Daddy carried me. I kicked and I scream.
So, basically, I asked my son to draw a picture of what he did at the zoo today and he drew himself throwing a temper tantrum. Sounds like Daddy had a stellar day.

My Week With Nick (Guest Post)

This is a guest blog by Melissa's husband Greg. I have been on vacation for the past week, and I took the opportunity to have some bonding time with Nick.

On Tuesday, we went to the Brookfield Zoo together. We got there a half hour before they opened their gates, but that didn't stop Nick from doing his happy dance when he realized where we were. Nick entertained the other waiting guests by dancing around in his squeaky shoes and shouting "ANIMALS! ANIMALS!" Once we were inside, Nick especially liked the turtle at the Swamp. He and the turtle had a tender moment as they shared a kiss with ony the glass in between them.

Nick and I then moved on to the Living Coast, where we enjoyed the penquins among other creatures. Nick was fascinated by the crashing wave, which first scared him, but then drew his curiosity like a magnet.

After our adventure at the Living Coast, we visited the Rain Forest, where Nick received an up-close demonstration of how to care for a boa constrictor.

It was a really exciting day for both of us. After five hours of running around, Nick was ready for a long nap.

On Thursday, we were joined by Grandma Toni and took a trip to Chicago to see the Museum of Science & Industry. The highlights included an exhibit featuring a retrospective of Jim Henson's work. There were no pictures allowed, but Nick was able to see Bert and Ernie and Miss Piggy up-close and in puppet. Nick got to create his own story using several etch-a-sketches, and got to use his own hand puppet to put on a show with the other children there.

Nick really enjoys planes, so he was thrilled to see an Omnimax show featuring the making of the new Boeing 787, as well as an old 727 in person. Here is Nick conversing with the captain of the 727 about its various innovations:

On Friday, we spent the day relaxing at home, reading stories and watching episodes of Sesame Street. Combined with trick or treating on Halloween at Grandma Linda and Grandpa Ray's place, it was certainly an exciting week for Nick. It was a good week for me too. I look forward to my next vacation with Nick.

Wordless Wednesday

"Uh-Oh! Where Water?"

Yesterday I posted about our trip to the zoo, but today I wanted to show you the highlights of Nick at the splash area outside of The Living Coast Exhibit at Brookfield Zoo. This was part of my visit with Gardenmom and her son. Both of the boys enjoyed the cool spray after hours of walking around in the hot zoo. Making the water squirt the baby is a fun pasttime, especially since he doesn't mind.

The water may have been the best part of Nick's day. He must've said "Water!" about thirty times. Check out how his diaper keeps getting more and more full of water. Those diapers can hold a lot!

Nick was running around in the spray, enjoying himself thoroughly, when suddenly the spray shut off. We're not sure why, since the map says the water doesn't turn off until 5:30, and it was 4:48, according to our cellphones. Nick decided to be a detective and figure out the problem by wandering around and looking into all the holes where water usually comes out.

Lots of parents and families were standing around the water play area, watching their children, when the water was turned off. Nick immediately started shouting, "Uh Oh! Where water?" very loudly. It made quite a few of the adults laugh out loud. I only got the tail end of his announcements on the video above, but I think you get the picture.

Mister man made me chase him across the brick so I could change his very soggy diaper and put on some clean clothes. For some reason, he doesn't like to be dressed, and he always runs when it's time to put on clothes.

An Afternoon of Onomatopoeia at the Zoo

Tuesday, after summer school, Nick and I went with my friend Gardenmom and her son to Brookfield Zoo on a very hot and humid day. Gardenmom did a post about our visit too, if click here. Nick was having tummy trouble and nap issues, but I think he enjoyed himself anyway. The afternoon did not start out well, and Nick screamed more than he was quiet. Note his expression of toddler attitude and the binky in his mouth. He usually isn't allowed to have the bink unless it's naptime, but this week Nick was such a crab I broke the rules so he wouldn't drive us completely insane.

After a leisurely tour around the zoo on the tram, which Nick called the "Choo-Choo," (Close enough. Hey, he's only 1.) we checked out the Australia house and the camels. That's where the onomatopoeia comes in. Lately, Nick has been trying to learn the names and sounds of different animals. He has a tiny stuffed zebra he likes to carry around, and he calls it "Moo." Usually, I'd correct him, but heck, I don't know what sound a zebra makes. Predictably, Nick said "Moo," for the zebras and for these camels he was pointing at so eagerly.

Nick saw the elephants and immediately started stomping his feet. In one of his favorite books, Wacky Wild Peekaboo, by Tim Bugbird, the elephant makes a stomping noise. Nick has done that everytime he's seen a real or fake elephant since last winter. When Nick got to the giraffes, he just wasn't sure what to think. We don't know what sound a giraffe makes, but the one in his story says, "Munch, Munch, Munch," as he's eating leaves from the treetops. Nick just looked, mesmerized, at these huge animals. They were beautiful.

We went in to my favorite exhibit, The Living Coast, to see the fish and the penguins and the arctic birds. If you've never been to this exhibit, you should totally see it. There's this neat wave that goes overhead every 30 seconds, and you can feel the salt spray on your face and look straight into the glass. It makes me jump everytime. I even got some video. First, I took video standing in front of the wave area, looking up at the glass blocking the wave. Here is what the wave looks like:

I also took video of Nick's reaction to the wave. This video is from his 2nd or 3rd time seeing the wave, and he was really liking it by that point. He wanted to see it "Again! More Water!" My boy really loves the water. One of these days I'm going to have to take him to a real beach.  

Nick liked the birds flying overhead in the penguin exhibit and kept pointing up and saying, "Birdie!" and "Tweet!" At one point he looked like he might be trying to waddle like a penguin, but he might've just been dancing with excitement. He was truly stoked to see the flying birds and the penguins, too.

This penguin was a total ham and was showing off for all of us. See him in the window of the fake boat?

He was pressing himself right up against the glass and when Gardenmom's son moved his finger, this gregarious bird would move his beak back and forth. The penguin even posed for this picture. My friend said that it was like this penguin was telling his buddies, "Hey, man, look at all of these crazy people. They're coming right up to the glass." It was kind of like we were the exhibit, and the entertainment for the penguins. The animals were very active during this day, and I saw more animals up close than I usually do at Brookfield. We saw a polar bear totally hamming it up for the crowd. He was playing in the water and you could totally see his cute polar bear toes kicking around. I didn't get a picture of that, but Nick was able to easily recognize a "bear!"

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesdays

Spring Break Zoo Trip

An unseasonably warm day (80 degress plus!) brought our little family to Brookfield Zoo on Thursday. We learned that a lot of other people had the same idea during our 45 minute wait in the traffic jam leading up to the zoo. It was still a great day, though. . . Nick spent all of his time pointing. He saw and appreciated nearly all the animals, and he tried to categorize them as either fishy (if it was swimming), birdy (if it was flying), or kitty (if it walked on the ground and had fur). Not bad for 16 months. The lion, of course, was a kitty.

When I say that a lot of other people were at the zoo, I'm not kidding. We actually ended up parking on the high school fields (baseball, I think) backing up to the zoo. It was crazy busy, but luckily, we have a membership to Brookfield Zoo, so we didn't have to wait in the long ticket lines. Check out the crowd, though:

Yeah, it was a little bit crowded. It's funny how being in that large of a crowd makes me strangely okay with my body. I also feel like my child is relatively well-behaved, in comparison. There certainly were lots of people everywhere. The zoo is big enough, though, that there were plenty of parts that weren't as crowded. We did have to make full use of the baby leash, though. In the swamp, Nick and Greg took a boat ride, and Nick kept trying to crawl over the benches.

Pardon the poor quality photos. I have many skills, but photography is not one of them. It is very hard to angle pictures to get both a child and an animal in the same shot. Nick was pointing at the birdies here. He really likes birds, and he'll follow them with his finger through the sky.

I am tired now, so I will post more tomorrow. I have to say, though, it is so much more fun taking Nick to the zoo now that he is so very interested in everything around him. That is one curious guy.

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.

Wistfully Remembering Vacation

I am going to talk about the day we took my dad and stepmom to Brookfield Zoo. It was last week, back in the days of blissful summer vacation.

Here we are in front of the fountain. Nick was fascinated by the mechanical dinosaurs. Why do they have mechanical dinosaurs at the zoo? Why, to confuse little children, of course. "I want to see the elephants and the lions and the dinosaurs," one little girl exclaimed at the entrance. I'm not sure what their motivation is, but it sure gets the kids excited.

Here Nick is checking out the alligator and all of the birds in the swamp. I think he really liked seeing the different animals. It is very cool to see him respond to what he's seeing and hearing. As he gets bigger, he responds to things in different, more mature ways.






Here his grandma and grandpa are holding Nick at the butterfly gardens. The one at Brookfield Zoo was gorgeous, but I think there were more butterflies at Reiman Gardens. Nick was happy to see both. He is a first grandchild, so he gets to go lots of places with his four grandmas, three grandpas, and two great-grandmas.

I feel really lucky to have so much family wanting to spend time with Nick and cuddle him. They say that children grow up and reflect all the love that they were given; I believe Nick will have a lot of love to share.

Nick is petting, er, slapping, the goat. I'm not sure what kind of prozac they give these goats, but they sure were mellow. This poor goat even seemed to like Nick's manhandling. (Or would you call it babyhandling?)

One thing that I'm loving about being a mom is noticing how babies learn things. I know Nicholas so well that I pretty much notice as he's learning something new. Take today, for example: Nick is trying to learn how to pull up. I had him sitting in the baby cage while I made him dinner, and I was watching him pull his body up. He hadn't figured out what to do with his legs yet, so he would just hang there. But then he got an idea, and his face lit up. A lightbulb shined above his head and everything. Suddenly, he turned one leg underneath him. He tried to turn the other one, but couldn't. Still, he was able to pull pretty far on one knee and one foot.

Monday was my first day back to work, and school officially started today. I'm excited about the school year, and optimisic as well. I have a classroom with windows this year, and the sunlight coming in just makes me feel happy. I bought all these plants, so our room looks very homey. I also work with the friendliest people, so going to work is enjoyable. But boy, am I tired. I actually think I might go to bed early.

I'm trying really hard to stay on track with my healthy eating, working out, and blog posts. Nick was sick earlier this week and is still pretty crabby, but I'm very proud of how much I've still managed to accomplish. I worked out twice at the YMCA this week, did two Pilates Band workouts, and even turned down the sweets table at work yesterday. (Our PTA had a whole table of homemade goodies, and I never say no. But yesterday, I did.) Tomorrow I will try to do another Pilates workout. It has to stop hurting so bad at some point. I'm pretty sure I'll never look like the toned ladies in the video, though.