No cavities

Friday I kicked off my "day off" by rolling out of bed and leaving the house at 5:25am to round at the hospital before David's dentist appointment. Nothing more enjoyable on your day off than working followed by the dentist. We were a little apprehensive about the dentist because their office (recommended to us by David's plastic surgeon) doesn't allow parents to go back with the kids for their appointments. We weren't sure how this would go, but he did great. He cried at first when they took him back, but a few minutes later they came to get me so that I could peek in on him, and he was calm and cooperating with his cleaning. His teeth got a clean bill of health: no cavities and, much to our surprise, the tooth at his cleft is finally coming in. After surviving the dentist and ridiculous traffic there and back (I can thank the stimulus package and "shovel ready" roadwork projects for that--who knew bolstering the economy would mean I would never get to drive more than 8 mph for the entire summer?), we took the el downtown and took Millennium Park by storm.

Yesterday I worked in the morning while David and Kevin went to the farmer's market. He was not as enthusiastic about his donut as he was last year, but I'm sure with practice he'll return to his old form. We went downtown in the afternoon to check out the newly renovated oceanarium at the Shedd Aquarium. David spent 90 seconds watching the animals, 5 minutes enjoying the hand wash stations at the interactive exhibit and the rest of his timing runing up and down and up and down the 1284 stairs at the oceanarium. Afterwards, we had dinner by Buckingham fountain before taking the choo choo back home.

David helping with dinner and enjoying Buckingham fountain

Today we made it to the early church service. David managed to keep it together through most of the sermon and then began chanting "outside outside outside!" which is where he and I spent most of the remainder of the service. We came home and packed a picnic lunch and headed for Starved Rock state park in lovely Utica, IL (population 1000). It is about an hour and a half drive. The park is on the Illinois River. We enjoyed our lunch and did some hiking. The climb up Starved Rock is very short and paved. It was amusing to hear all the people huffing and puffing about how hard it was to walk up. Then on our way down we passed a woman on crutches and an elderly couple pulling an oxygen tank behind them, neither of whom seemed to be having any trouble with the climb. Before we left, we enjoyed some soft serve ice cream at the visitor's center, which David was not very amenable to sharing. He was sound asleep about 5 minutes into the drive home. Overall, a very nice weekend.

Pictures from atop Starved Rock

Pictures from our hike in French Canyon. David eating most of my ice cream.

The opposite of good sleep hygeine

When I recommend to parents that they have a good bed time routine and wind things down during the half an hour to hour leading up to bed time, I mean the opposite of this, which is what David did over and over and over right before we put him to bed tonight.

Congratulations, Sarah and Kevin!

Before we skipped town for a long weekend, David beat me and Kevin to the new modern wing of the Art Institute. Alma took him downtown on the el. He thoroughly enjoyed both the train ride and the new family center in the modern wing. It apparently has fun furniture to climb on and lots of art projects for kids of all ages.

Thursday night we flew to South Carolina to stay with my parents, who are now known as Nahnee and 'Mama...until David starts calling them something else next week. We had a really nice weekend that included multiple trips to Chick-fil-A, the zoo, David feeding Bette and Ezra an endless supply of milkbones and a wedding. We also got to see lots of family and friends.

Next time David is getting his own milkshake. At the zoo with Haley Starnes.

David gorging himself on strawberry jelly and "driving" (his new obsession) Nahnee's truck. We will be buying Nahnee washer fluid for Father's Day.

My sister's high school friend Sarah got married on Sunday. It was a beautiful wedding, and the food was delicious. You can't beat a wedding reception with a grits bar. We were happy we could make it down for the big event and wish Sarah and Kevin all the best, even if they are Maryland fans.

The family minus Adams. David made a friend at the reception who enjoys run-run-running as much as he does.

Looking handsome in his Chinese duds. With Aunt Leslie.

We flew home last night, and the pups came home this evening. David was happy to see them again and said, "Beebee home yay! Beezus home yay!" (Beebee is Petie...not sure how Beezus = Snoopy, but that's his name for her) as he was telling them goodnight.

David stuffing his face at the Charlotte airport

Quick post

Here are some pictures from this week. David went to the Garfield Park Conservatory with Alma, Sabrina plus Jackson, Olivia, their nanny Rose and Rose's daughter Ashley. The kids had a great time and got to play in the dirt.

Saturday while I worked, David, Kevin and Lil went to White Sox family day. David loves every thing sports and has taken quite a shine to his baseball glove recently. (He slept with his ball and glove last night, and when I came in to get him this morning he had the glove on his left hand and the ball in his right ready to go.) He got to play catch with Kevin, run like a maniac and see the dugouts. He is going to be very disappointed the next time we go to a game and can't leave the stands. They also had the opportunity to see the clubhouse, but after a few minutes in line, David demanded that they return to the field to play some more. Afterwards, they found Great Grandpa Max's special brick (see below).

My Mother's Day trip to Kinkos

This post might disappoint as it has minimal David content. I have OCD when it comes to pictures. I like them labelled and organized and displayed in various forms for people to enjoy. For Mother's Day weekend, I gave myself the gift of ignoring the filthy house and indulging my OCD. I reassembled the photo boxes that Snoopy destroyed during some of her romps on the mantle. (Honestly, I don't know what you're supposed to do with a dog who can get onto the mantle.) I framed a few more David pictures and took a big risk by putting them (and the photo boxes) back on the mantle and built in shelves in our living room. We'll see how long it is until Snoopy takes an interest in them. I also took a few pictures from back when cameras all used film to Kinkos to scan. Now that I know how quick and relatively inexpensive it is, there will no doubt be more. Here, for your enjoyment, are a few random highlights from the first batch.

One year later, and here it is finally: our travel group photo.

Front row: Mika, Vicki and Cora Tsang (David Tsang was visiting with family the day we took this picture); me and David; Marsha and Jackson Heath; Mary Anne, Daniel, Catie and Josh Klenske

Back row: Christa, Barry, Lucy and Abaigeal Breakwell; Kevin; Rebekah, Emily and Paul Heath; two sisters from Glenview, IL who adopted from another province and who joined our group in Guangzhou...I can't remember their names, but their mother (who was travelling with them) informed us that there was nothing to do in Hong Kong other than shop. Really?

Schwartz-Heller reunion (Kevin's mom's family), Maui 2004: Do you know which twin is Lil and which is Lori?

The future Great Grandma Lil with my brother's pet snake, June 2002

Me and Kevin at Pawley's, July 1996 My Krzyzewskiville tentmates from 1996

My girlfriends from elementary school, winter 1995

Cinderella and Off White (me and Leslie) all dressed up for Halloween (1983ish?)

Cute cousins: Allison, Mara and Julie LaBorde Baby me with my great grandmother

My dad covered in chocolate milk. My grandfather posing with a skull. I am told he also used to bring home pieces of skin from the gross anatomy lab to torment his sisters. Nice.

Happy Mother's Day

I'll pick up where I left off: Gotcha Day. I think David had a really good day. He woke up in a good mood with his traditional shouting: "Mama! Out! Dada! 'Mon!" It didn't take him long to spot his present, a toy guitar, which he has definitely enjoyed. He helped me ice the cupcakes for his party before I went to work. And by help, I mean he ate the frosting off of one while I worked.
Alma told us that the party was a hit and that David was a very good host. He ushered his friends from room to room and made sure no one was left behind. He shared his toys and my piano, which is saying something, because he usually doesn't even let me play the piano. He also put on a show at lunch. He has learned that people think it's funny if he fake laughs. I guess this is his new fake sneeze. He scrunches up his face, grins and then either claps his hands or slaps his hand on the table. It's hilarious.
We had a yummy dinner that night at Szechuan Beijing. David charmed our waitress and had an excellent view of the trains going to and from the Harlem Ave. green line stop.
David with his guitar

Ashley, Fiona and Jackson on the piano. The group enjoying lunch. David fake laughing.

We're going to have to work on his chopsticks technique. Enjoying cupcake #3 of the day.

I would like to mention here that we went to Oberweis for our semi-monthly ice cream fix on Friday. David got his free sundae courtesy of Uncle Adams, and I tried one of their new waffle bowl sundaes. I highly recommend the chocolate peanut butter waffle bowl sundae. If you finish it, you will have a stomach ache, but it's totally worth it. A big thanks once again to my brother for giving us an excuse to go out for ice cream twice a month. We haven't missed a sundae yet.

Chilly weather returned Saturday, so we did the logical thing. We went to a night game at Sox park. It was 46 degrees at game time. Brilliant idea. David had a good time, though. He only made it until about the 6th inning this time before we had to leave our seats. We got some more food and then asked him if he wanted to watch more baseball. He said no, and I was delighted to have an excuse to get out of the cold early, so we left during the 7th inning.

We celebrated Mother's Day today in style. We took Grandma Maas and Great Grandma Lil to brunch at the Signature Room, which is on the 95th floor of the Hancock building. David loved the views (we could see the brown line trains from our seat) and the never ending supply of food. We also let him drink juice, which he almost never gets. He guzzled down a very large glass of oj in no time and is probably going to be very sad when he doesn't get more tomorrow. This afternoon we packed up to go to the zoo when David announced that we were going on a walk instead. So we walked around the neighborhood and played at the park. It was a really lovely day.

David admiring the view, chugging his juice, giving me the stink eye.

The group at our table. The group (minus Kevin) outside the Hancock building.