A birthday party and other random activities

How cool is it that Andy's grandma, Marcella, and I share the same birthday! This year to celebrate, Marcella had Cheri (AJ's grandma ), Shirley (Cheri's Aunt), and our neighbors Emily, Kaya and baby Ash, along with AJ and I up for lunch. Cheri brought in toys for the kids, and AJ thought the best toy was the cart she used to bring it all in! He likes to push out similar cart through the house, so he wasn't shy about pushing hers. It's the perfect thing for him to practice walking. Lunch was delicious and Cheri made a gorgeous cake. what a nice party.

On Friday last week, AJ heard my sister say the word lamb in a conversation across the room, and said, "baa, baa"! The sheep sound is by far his favorite thing to say, and other things he says so far include "baby", "dada", "mama", "pa" (grandpa O's name), and "Beaaa" for his bear. His little voice is so cute, but AJ has been seeming to understand more and more every day. Here is what he did when I told him to put his socks on!

Recently we also took a trip to the Garfield Park Conservatory, where the new Sugar From the Sun greenhouse just opened after extensive work and restoration. It was pretty cool, and much more up-to-date than the rest of the conservatory. It has more "artsy" signs, nature-inspired pathways, "nature noises" (think crickets and birds), and a great waterfall. AJ liked it and this is another place that will be better for him to explore once he is on 2 feet.

Since we had some really nice weather lately, I was able to take AJ to the park where he joined his friends Zola and Kaya on the swings. When I first put him in the swing, he was scared because I guess he didn't remember them from last summer. But after a minute he was fine and loving it again. Today was not warm enough for the park, but we did get out for a nice walk in the stroller. I can't wait for more park days, and then the POOL!!

Shedd Aquaruim

Here are some pictures of our trip to the aquarium.
Since I got the Museum Pass from the library and Erin is a member, we were a large group that day. 5 moms and 9 kids (I was the only one with only one kid), including Kim, Karly and Kyra! Karly enjoyed seeing a turtle up close and while the divers swam around with nets, we saw some cool fish in the big tank. We spotted this big fish, as well as an eel!

We were lucky to have caught the Dolphin show (where Kyra seemed a little more interested in climbing the steps and Karly said the show was too short). hahaha! We liked seeing the dolphins from below too. AJ and I liked the penguins, especially since we had been reading a book about penguins just that week! They were very active and were diving, swimming and sliding. One seemed to be leading a game of tag underwater and another was diving in and shooting out, reminding me of how as kids we would do the same thing...dive in, pop out and dive in again! AJ and Kyra had a snack together on the carpet in front of the penguin habitat and I took this picture of the cousins sitting together. Aren't they cute!


In the Amazon Rising exhibit, we saw this huge lizard lounging on a branch. He was about 4.5 ft long! We also saw HUGE, fat snakes and decided Brandon would have been squirming...kind of like Indiana Jones? AJ seemed to like the trip and dealt pretty well with popping in and out of the stroller. Not many places to let him out to crawl. He might be happier once walking is his main transportation mode, though he'd be harder for me to keep in line!! Careful what you wish for, right?
I love that Kim and the girls were able to come in for the museum adventure this time!

A Regular Day...

Every so often, we just have a "regular" day...no special outings, playdates, or places to go. Recently we got the camera out to capture a few of the normal moments around our place these days. There's AJ and Andy roughhousing in the living room, something most kids probably do with their dads more than their moms. AJ loves it!

Luckily, he's still a good eater and is pretty much eating what we do these days. If he can't have what we are eating, I give him some of the ingredients deconstructed instead of in the recipe. Last night he loved the chicken mushroom chowder I made and he got another taste of it as leftovers today for lunch! some of his favorite foods are still yogurt, frozen fruits, cheese and crackers. :) We have noticed that after eating, AJ's tummy sticks out like the distended stomach of a starving child (nothing is further from the truth!), or a man with a big beer belly! Andy has started referring to the after-meal belly as "the rat"...as in the one the boa constrictor swallowed.

The Crowne Family Play Lab

Yesterday (Leap Day, for anyone interested!) AJ and I went to the Filed Museum with our friends, the Payne's (see link to their blog at right) and visited the new Crown Family Play Lab. It was great! We had a blast and will definitely head back whenever we can get the free museum pass from the library. It has 4 or 5 different play "zones" and AJ liked exploring them all. Here he is crawling through a log tunnel at the forest zone...suspiciously similar to the top shot in our Gymboree blog! In this zone he also felt tree bark, found a chipmunk and a bullfrog and pushed buttons that made them light up and make sounds.


Then we went into the sound-proof music room. Very cool! Inside were instruments from around the world...several types and shapes of drums and other interesting percussion instruments. One instrument was an mbira, also called a "thumb piano". It is a Zimbabwean instrument consisting of a wooden board to which staggered metal keys have been attached. We have one at home, but the one at the Play Lab sounded much prettier!! Everything is set up so that kids AJ's size can reach it all, and he had a great time banging and clanging.

The next area we visited was the Pueblo home. AJ and his friend Jack loved filling a basket with pretend corn and then emptying it into a coil cooking pot and then doing it over again. It was so cute to watch them "cook" together! Jack's sister Violet is wearing the purple dress in the background and she was very busy climbing around the Pueblo while the boy worked in the kitchen, a refreshing role reversal! They loved looking into the cooking pot, and Jack's feet looked like they were getting pretty warm on those glowing red coals...

After the museum, we went to lunch near home at a place called Vella Cafe. It's right under the train stop where Andy rides to work each day. The kids all behaved very well considering they were nearing naptime by then. I think AJ swiped a big chunk of Jack's sandwich, but they were very cute sitting next to each other in their high chairs. It was a fun outing and AJ crashed hard when we got home. I should have taken a nap myself, but I think I posted the previous blog instead...hmmm! Where are my priorities??