It was a busy weekend, sorry for the lack of posts...
Shopping for the new baby--aka Jelly Bean--included a place for her to sleep (to start at least) and some new bottles that will hopefully mean I don't have to do any dishwashing while I'm home with them during the week. With Cole, we had 4-5 and just kept them in rotation so that you had to make sure there was always at least one "on call."
Saturday included the first time this year I've been able to go to the Farmer's Market and pick up our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box.
We had paid and registered quite awhile ago for the Intelligentsia Coffee tour of their Chicago Roasting Works. Which ended up being amazing and also annoying. Kelly pins it 100% on us for not doing more research and/or calling ahead. We saw on the reservation that kids were free--which to us equals "welcome." Another family with small children called and at least knew they could bring their stroller...despite a small part of the tour going uptairs to a cupping room. We'd simply loaded Cole in the carrier with his usual diaper bag of snack/milk thinking it couldn't possibly last longer than an hour. But by hour two, Kelly had gone to the car to get the stroller, taken him to the back of the room, and pretty much dropped out of the tour from the dirty looks and constant complaints of Cole. It was less a breezy "and over there is where we burn the beans" and more a mini-seminar.
Great for me, I am a coffee snob/lover/geek (depending on viewpoint). It was my birthday gift, but I felt a little bad leaving Kelly out in the rain, so to speak. She got to inch in for the big show of actual demo, but I'm guessing she would have other ideas about how to spend a beautiful Saturday other than standing in a warehouse full of 152 pound bags of green coffee beans talking about coffee mills and processing in Guatemala. Not her cup of tea. We got free samples that made some of the best coffee I've ever tasted this morning. And I learned a few things. Cole was great considering he's 13 months and wants to be running around the room.
Which brings us to today.
I worked. Summer's over so the museum was dead. Came home and had enough energy (and Kelly had enough to get done) that I suggested I pack up Cole for a playground trip.
She said he was in serious need of some toddler time.
The first place we went was a new-to-us tot lot dominated by sand and crowded with the children accompanying very young moms. Cole was in love with the place at first, but his anxiety grew. The sandbox that the other kids were enjoying was a new experience and he was cautious. It had bells--instant winner-- and a great slide just his size, but the sand had migrated from the "sand area" to the "equipment area" to the point where he refused to go up the steps because his hands would get sandy.
He eventually made his way over to the actual sand pit and I put him in without crying. But it wasn't great excitement either. He mostly was squealing wanting to play with the other kids but sad that it required getting dirty. Yep, he's my kid. I've never been a big fan of getting muddy.
So it was back to the old favorite playground then. And what a difference a weekend makes!
It was just as packed as the other one. This time with mom/dad/kid combos. Older kids throwing shoes from high places. Nobody really interested in the social interaction you get on a weekday. Which perhaps makes me want to take back all that crazy "nannies aren't good enough" stuff. At least they try! I don't begrudge people their family time. It's limited, I know. But Cole's gotten so used to having the place to himself that he was in aw of all the screaming and action. It was a whole new world and he mostly just stood there waiting to see things.
I eventually took him over to swing and go up the steps and down the slide on a piece of equipment with nobody on it. Which he loved. But by this point he was getting crabby.
Came home. Ate some watermelon. He surprised us both that I accomplished my mission so well...he was out by 7:00pm.
Shopping for the new baby--aka Jelly Bean--included a place for her to sleep (to start at least) and some new bottles that will hopefully mean I don't have to do any dishwashing while I'm home with them during the week. With Cole, we had 4-5 and just kept them in rotation so that you had to make sure there was always at least one "on call."
We had paid and registered quite awhile ago for the Intelligentsia Coffee tour of their Chicago Roasting Works. Which ended up being amazing and also annoying. Kelly pins it 100% on us for not doing more research and/or calling ahead. We saw on the reservation that kids were free--which to us equals "welcome." Another family with small children called and at least knew they could bring their stroller...despite a small part of the tour going uptairs to a cupping room. We'd simply loaded Cole in the carrier with his usual diaper bag of snack/milk thinking it couldn't possibly last longer than an hour. But by hour two, Kelly had gone to the car to get the stroller, taken him to the back of the room, and pretty much dropped out of the tour from the dirty looks and constant complaints of Cole. It was less a breezy "and over there is where we burn the beans" and more a mini-seminar.
Great for me, I am a coffee snob/lover/geek (depending on viewpoint). It was my birthday gift, but I felt a little bad leaving Kelly out in the rain, so to speak. She got to inch in for the big show of actual demo, but I'm guessing she would have other ideas about how to spend a beautiful Saturday other than standing in a warehouse full of 152 pound bags of green coffee beans talking about coffee mills and processing in Guatemala. Not her cup of tea. We got free samples that made some of the best coffee I've ever tasted this morning. And I learned a few things. Cole was great considering he's 13 months and wants to be running around the room.
Which brings us to today.
I worked. Summer's over so the museum was dead. Came home and had enough energy (and Kelly had enough to get done) that I suggested I pack up Cole for a playground trip.
She said he was in serious need of some toddler time.
The first place we went was a new-to-us tot lot dominated by sand and crowded with the children accompanying very young moms. Cole was in love with the place at first, but his anxiety grew. The sandbox that the other kids were enjoying was a new experience and he was cautious. It had bells--instant winner-- and a great slide just his size, but the sand had migrated from the "sand area" to the "equipment area" to the point where he refused to go up the steps because his hands would get sandy.
He eventually made his way over to the actual sand pit and I put him in without crying. But it wasn't great excitement either. He mostly was squealing wanting to play with the other kids but sad that it required getting dirty. Yep, he's my kid. I've never been a big fan of getting muddy.
So it was back to the old favorite playground then. And what a difference a weekend makes!
It was just as packed as the other one. This time with mom/dad/kid combos. Older kids throwing shoes from high places. Nobody really interested in the social interaction you get on a weekday. Which perhaps makes me want to take back all that crazy "nannies aren't good enough" stuff. At least they try! I don't begrudge people their family time. It's limited, I know. But Cole's gotten so used to having the place to himself that he was in aw of all the screaming and action. It was a whole new world and he mostly just stood there waiting to see things.
I eventually took him over to swing and go up the steps and down the slide on a piece of equipment with nobody on it. Which he loved. But by this point he was getting crabby.
Came home. Ate some watermelon. He surprised us both that I accomplished my mission so well...he was out by 7:00pm.