The cardboard box...elevated

You know the old saying "the cardboard box makes the best toy." Well, I suppose after you have kids, you realize that this is too true. Then, you realize that because you are married to an architect it takes on a whole new meaning...

I ordered a console table for our dining room and it arrived on Saturday in a pretty big, but pretty flat box. It doesn't take much to get Lillie's little mind going, probably because she KNOWS Dad will take on the challenge. "Dad, let's make a house out of the box." Now I'm thinking "that's gonna be a tough one, the box is pretty flat." Ha! What do I know? Apparently nothing when it comes to constructing houses out of boxes (and it's packing content). Below you will see the house that has been established in our living room. I really don't see how I'm going to get rid of this. I guess (maybe) when we give the girls their new inflatable playhouse for Christmas. Oh well, what can you do. At least the girls "play nice" most of the time together in it.

You will notice the portable DVD player inside. This was Pat's addition to the home on Sunday. Yes, Sunday. I'll let you figure out why he might have put that in there.

One more thing. Yes, you do see a pink Christmas tree in the house. Lillie purchased this tree at Target with a gift card she got for her birthday (Thanks, Becky!). I never realized what joy a pink, lighted tree could bring to a 4 year old little girl. (BTW, Lillie insisted that Charlotte HAD to have a purple one just like it. That one is upstairs in the hallway.) Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, how lovely are thy pink branches!

A very creepy...no...croupy Halloween

We have had our share of colds these last few weeks... tis the season! I'm pretty sure if I could I would detach my head and hose it out.

I took Charlotte to the doctor last Friday when it sounded as if she had turned into a seal. Cough, cough, bark, bark. Turns out my little girl had croup. A quick steroid shot to reduce the inflammation in her throat and that's it. Saturday she was miserable. Nothing could make her happy which is quite odd for Charlotte. And she wasn't eating too much... bad sign. She would not even entertain the notion of putting on a costume. She hung out with me to pass out candy while Lillie, Pat, and our neighbors (Carter, Declan, Dad, Uncle, and Aunt) went trick-or-treating. I felt Pat and Lillie were in safe hands as you will see in the photos below.

Lillie and Carter had a blast from what I hear. Taking turns knocking on doors, screaming "TRICK OR TREAT!!" as loud as they could. It is amazing how things change in a year. Last Halloween Lillie was too scared to go up to any one's door, much less whisper "trick or treat".

Here are some pictures of Lillie and Carter and my little candy thief (sick or not, she knows the good stuff!)

A Spider Story

Today Lillie celebrated Halloween with her friends at school. She brought home a story that I just have to share. The class learned about spiders this week (for obvious reasons) and to bring it full circle the class wrote "A Spider Story". Lillie and her 12 other friends each contributed a line or two and here is the result:

Once upon a time there was a spider. He was making a web. The spider built a bridge and then it started crawling on the floor. He went to sleep. He built a bed in a tree and when he woke up he didn't have his mommy. She had been to the store. She had a really giant pumpkin and it was tall. Then they went to the grocery store and got milk; they had a cup of milk. They climbed up on the table to drink it. Then spider and his mommy went out and played and they were hanging on the end of a string. They played and then they took a nap.
The End

Happy Halloween everyone!

Happy Birthday... now here's your shots!

Last Wednesday, October 7 Lillie turned the big #4. Since then we have successfully ditched the pacifiers for bed and taken down the safety railing on her bed. Yea! Really, both were done without any tantrums or anything. Kind of weird, but I'll take it!

We celebrated Lillie's birthday on the big day with friends, pizza, strawberry cake (it's pink, you know!), and some general craziness which is bound to happen with 13 little people running around. It was great! Here are some pictures to capture the day...

Lillie practiced blowing out the candles once-oops.

Lillie's friends...



The day after Lillie's birthday we took a trip to the doctor. We picked up Lillie from preschool and took her directly there. She was fine in the waiting room...until they called her name. We got her in the doctor's office, she screamed at the nurse who really just wanted to measure and weigh her, poor nurse. She settled down, read the eye chart like a pro and let the doctor check ears, eyes, etc. etc. Then the dreaded question - "we can go home now, right?" Well, no, not quite yet.
The nurse came in with 3 shots: 2 boosters and the flu shot. All I can say is that I am SURE that Lillie scared the jeepers out of every kid still in that waiting room. And somehow I ended up being the one hold her arms while the nurse gave her the shots. Thanks, Pat. I was so drained after that trip I really needed a drink...but off to tennis I went. I guess we're done with that for another year.

Our little Charlotte is doing great. She has now figured out how to climb the stairs--great. She is a pretty good listener and won't really take off by herself... too much. When she is not chasing big sis around the house, she still likes to just roll around on the floor. Especially the kitchen floor. Here she is just having a ball.

Learning to sit

This week marks the second week of Lillie starting preschool in the 4 year old class. Monday through Thursday Mom gets a little break... really a BIG break because Charlotte naps during this time, too. So glad I kept Lillie in the afternoon class. For a while I had her on a waiting list for the AM session. It seems I make several "not so good" decisions as a Mom, but I nailed this one!
Charlotte is really becoming her own little person and pretty much a complete opposite of Lillie at this age. Fearless and pretty competitive for a 16 month old. This past week she mastered the task of sitting. Whether it is on a step, on a stool at the park, on a curb, on the heater covers in the house... you get the idea. As I watched her at the park last week I thought how wonderful it was that she was totally happy and amazed at her new-found ability to bend the knees, back up until her bum touched the stool and then sit. Get up, walk about 4 steps and repeat.
Here are some recent pictures of the two lovelies - first day of school, at the park, at Celtic Fest in Grant Park, and at home. Happy Fall everyone!

Logic

Lillie, Charlotte and I ventured to Lincoln Park Zoo yesterday. Another perfectly gorgeous day to be out and about. I thought for sure Lillie would get tuckered out and take a nap (she got up very early for her, around 6:45am). Nope.
They had a great time at the zoo. This was Charlotte's first time this year. She loved it, but screamed her head off every time I told her she could not get in and swim with the fish, the seals, the polar bear... She can't get enough of the water and apparently it doesn't matter who (or what) is swimming in it.
So no nap for Lillie means a "touchy" afternoon and evening. Generally she gets goofy, runs around the house, has a great time until you tell her she can't do something.
Here's how it went:
Lillie: (at 5:45pm)"Mom, let's go outside."
Mom: "We can't right now. I have to make your dinner. Do you still want turkey and cheese sandwich and soup?"
Lillie: "Yes, but can we PLEASE go outside?"
Mom: "Not now."
Lillie: "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" (and runs upstairs to her room)
5 minutes later...
Lillie: "Mom, I changed my mind. I want a hotdog for dinner. Can you grill it outside for me?"
Mom:"A hotdog? Grilled outside?"
Lillie: "Yes. And since you can't leave us in the house, we'll just come out with you until the hotdogs are done. That a good idea?"

I mean, what do you say to that except "Hotdogs it is! Let's go!"

A different kind of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

This summer in Chicago has been a little goofy in terms of weather. Not super hot, kind of a lot of rain, not like any other summer in Chicago that I remember. So, it seems that these last couple of weeks before preschool starts again I feel under some sort of pressure to do some more fun "summer" stuff.
Yesterday, we ventured down to Millennium Park to the Family Fun tent with our neighbors (you know him as Flash from the previous post). The gist of the Family Fun tent is this: 10am concert for the kids: Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle, ABC's, the usual kid songs sung by ONE person playing A guitar. After that, just fun stuff for kids to do- color, build with blocks, hula hoop, etc.
Lillie had a rough start. She wanted to just "go play". I told her we should sit and listen to the music (which, generally, she LOVES music) and then we'd go play. Nope. Crying, crying, more crying. Then plugs her ears and says that music is too loud. We go outside, make it through and eventually go play. Here is Lillie and Charlotte having fun with Flash at "the bean" and the fountains.



Lillie has always been very sensitive to loud sounds: public toilets flushing, those ridiculous "xcelerator" hand blowers, sirens, fireworks, etc. So, you can imagine my surprise when we walk to grab some hotdogs for lunch by the bandshell... the music playing was LOUD. The music is described as Experimental/Indie/Rock. My neighbor said, "is Lillie going to be OK with this?" I said "hmmm... I don't know..." then to my surprise I look at her sitting in the stroller and she is "banging" her head to the beat, totally in a zone. Then she said "I feel like dancing." Oh, Lillie. If you really want to hear it, check it out http://www.myspace.com/algernonmusic then you have to imagine it live and much, much louder.
Maybe the Charlie Brown Christmas CD in her room is a total cover up. I'd better check under her bed... or in her drawers... for her real stash of music.