mid-week update

I've tried keeping us busy while we've both been at home. Sunday we got up early enough to drop Kirstin at the airport sometime around 7:15 or so. We went grocery shopping immediately thereafter, then had to burn most of an hour at home because Barnes & Noble wasn't open yet and we were going to play trains. (Background: we tried going in Wausau while Kirstin and her mom were ate TJ Maxx, but the train table there had recently been broken and removed from the store.) We stayed at B&N for somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half, then came home for lunch (which he didn't want to eat) and an early nap (which he wanted to go to right away).

(Still Sunday) He woke up early enough to go to the Prairie Farm's petting zoo. It's only open from 3-5. He alternated between having a blast and being terrified of the goats. If I were almost 3 and I saw goats trying to eat people's shoelaces and the shirts they were wearing, I'd probably be scared, too. I forgot to bring the camera, so no pics, unfortunately. We came home in time to eat dinner before Miss Deanna came over so that I could to to my tae kwon do class through the Urbana Park District.

Monday night was playdate. Leo and Mason ran around the Gentry's front yard while I actually got to talk to Ken & Jeni for the first time in what has felt like forever. (I've missed playdate for the last couple months because my class meets Sunday/Tuesday. We're talking about moving it to Monday permanently in the fall, after we each get back from the relevant vacations.)

Miss Deanna came over an sat with him again while I was at class last night. Tonight, we went to the library after dinner before reading all 7 books that we checked out. (I'll admit that the copy of Casey at the Bat was really for me, since I'd been able to look at it briefly at the bookstore and wanted a closer look.) He count for the summer is somewhere around 75 books read to him, once you account for ones that I've missed in trying to keep the log up. I'm not sure whether that's a record for the little kids or not, but I'm thinking about asking the next time we're at the library.

Although he's in bed, he insisted that I write a post tonight. He was talking about it on the way home from school, although it took me a little bit to work out what he meant.

Speaking of school -- a few changes afoot. First, tomorrow is Miss Katie's last day. (She's been the lead teacher in the toddler room since Miss Deanna left, and was an assistant there since it opened.) She's moving up to Chicago, for reasons not clearly spelled out. (The official answer in the letter home was "to pursue her career in early childhood education." Miss Deanna's stayed in touch with most of the staff, and hinted that being closed to friends/boyfriend had something to do with it.) Second, they've got so many "beginners" (his current room) that the class is about to get split, starting Monday. They're starting to transition things for the move already. Leo will stay with Miss Randi and Miss Carrie, and the younger kids in the room will go with two other teachers. The principal may also be transferring someplace to be closer to friends and family.

We've been putting Xs on the calendar every night just before bedtime to help him count down how many days until mama comes home.

Kirstin checks in

FYI, yes, we felt this quake in San Diego (where I am now for a work trip) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080729/ap_on_re_us/california_earthquake

It wasn't that bad or that long, but geez it makes my stomach queasy!

Upcoming: Just us guys, Summer 2008 edition

Kirstin leaves tomorrow morning for a week-long business trip to San Diego. As always happens when the suitcases come out, Leo has been fascinated and playing with them frequently in the last couple days.

We went shopping for a new digital camera this morning. The old one isn't going away any time real soon, but Kirstin's been complaining for a couple years that it's larger and heavier than she would really like. The winner was a Canon model. She's taking it with her, so the first public pictures from it will have to wait until she gets back. I've tried to convince Leo to use the (old) camera to take pictures of her packing; I'll look at them later tonight or tomorrow.

Kirstin says that the week I was gone was easier than she expected. I've got several busy days, and with me having class two nights, play date with Mason another, and a Tae Kwon Do dinner the night she comes home, it may be easy enough.

I'll try to post an update or two while she's gone.

Fun Up North

We spent the weekend up at my parents' house. Leo had a really good time and is not afraid of Grandpa Ervin anymore. In fact, whenever he wasn't around, Leo would ask where Grandpa was and kept saying he wanted Grandpa to play with him.


Leo with my Mom and Ervin. Leo is reaching for Ervin's hand because they were playing "got your nose" and he wanted his nose back.












On Sunday we went to the Splash Pad at Marathon Park. Leo had fun playing in the water and got to ride the train. They had the train when I was little, but the Splash Pad is new since I was a kid. It's $.50 per person and it's got about a dozen water play features. The train goes all the way around it. That part of the park also has a playground and a minigolf course.




















He got to ride a few of the fun rides too.














On the train with Papa.

Boys will be boys

Mason and Leo's standing playdate was last night, and they had a blast, especially when Leo showed Mason his new bed.












Leo thought it would be fun to sit on Mason--who didn't really seem to mind all that much.












The boys also lounged in the living room.













Tonight we went to the pool and Leo had fun trying to transfer all of the pool water out of the pool one scoop at a time.











Leo and Papa also went down the slide and around the Lazy River twice.

More pictures

Leo and his cousin Carina. Something is hilarious.












Leo












Leo's new favorite toy--the bubble lawnmower. If only it worked for real.

A few pics from last weekend

Leo meets Sue--it was love at first sight.













Leo plays in the sandbox with Grandad at Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jack's house (cousin David gets major props for spending at least an hour in there with Leo later in the day).











Leo climbing in the sculpture at the Zoo.












Leo playing in the water feature at the Zoo. Looks like he's doing a jig.












Leo conked out in the car after the Zoo, on the way to Alison, Marco, and Carina's house.












Leo playing it cool in Alison, Marco, and Carina's back yard.











We'll try to get the rest loaded into Flickr.

Whupped

This weekend: (photos to come later)

Friday: Drive to Field Museum (2 hours) to see dinosaurs et al
Explore Museum; K throws back out spectacularly and can barely walk the rest of the weekend
Lunch at Field with friends Robin and Mark
Drive to Barrington for big family get-together (dinner); enjoy as other people take over supervising my kid
Watch fireworks in Barrington
Drive to Wilmette to spend night with more family

Saturday: Drive to Lincoln Park Zoo
Lunch at Zoo
Drive to Grayslake for playing and dinner with yet more family; Leo willingly pets dogs and really likes them
Drive back to Wilmette to spend night

Sunday: Big family get-together for brunch--enjoy again as everyone else wants to supervise Leo and I don't have to.
Drive back to Urbana (2.5 hours)
Drop luggage at home and go straight to swimming pool for an hour
Get dinner, eat, J goes to tae-kwon-do class

Phew!

A switch is flipped, or And So It Begins

Last night was Leo's first swim class through the Urbana Parks District, except that to call it a class for him is really kind of a stretch. With no insult meant to the teenagers "in charge," there really wasn't anybody who seemed to have a clear idea what they were doing. To compound it, Leo spent the entire class playing by himself, because he screamed when I tried to physically haul/carry him near where the rest of the class was, and went back to doing his own thing as soon as I put him down.

Since I got home on Friday night, he's been going to bed later & later. I can't entirely blame the big boy bed, since it started before, but we'll get him in bed and 15 minutes or so later he'll be calling for us and wanting more rockings, or for one of us to snuggle with him, or something else. It's really quite exasperating, and is also making it nearly impossible to get anything done in the evenings.

The post title comes because in the last couple days, we have started getting the whys. For example, tonight while I was cooking dinner:

L: "Where broccoli come from?"
J: "We bought it at the store."
L: "Why buy it at (the) store?"
J: "Because we wanted to eat it."
L: "Why want eat it?"
K: "Because it has lots of vitamins."

It's not the only exchange like that recently, but it's the one I can reconstruct the most thoroughly.

We all hit Chicago this weekend to visit most of my father's side of the family, although I need to call my stepsister tomorrow to see whether they're free Saturday afternoon. (I was going to call after my Tae Kwon Do class tonight, but it didn't happen.)

Speaking of Tae Kwon Do, I test for yellow belt on July 12. I'll let you know how it goes.