Children's Museum and other Frivolities...

This week Maggie attended her first major league baseball game. And promptly left after about three innings. Note to all those baseball fan parents out there - don't take a toddler to a major league baseball game. It's just a bad idea. It's dirty, it's cramped, it's loud, and it's boring. AND your kid may end up with a stomach flu 24 hours later, inexplicably, unless you blame the fact that she insisted on sitting on the concrete floor of your box seats, with the peanut shells and other grime. Ugh.

Any-hoo... in addition to first baseball game this week, Maggie got to experience her first ride on public transportation (the "L") and her first visit to the Children's Museum at Navy Pier.

I love that Children's Museum, they do a really good job of making the exhibits interactive for kids of all ages. I had to drag Maggie away from many exhibits (a few pictures follow, natch) HOWEVER, next time I go to the museum I will call first and ask how many school groups they are expecting because DAMN! Other people's kids are sooooo obnoxious! I mean, you know something is out of whack when the care-givers lack the self confidence to stand up to a four year old. On this particular day a whole army of pre-schoolers in purple t-shirts ran rough-shod all over that place and twice I had to tell a purple marauder to get the hell away from my kid. What did their "teacher" do? Nada. Thanks for the help lady.

So this experience got me wondering about the affect of the group on the individual, because I have to hope that most of these kids do not behave like this with their parents, and if they do they must get disciplined in some way, right? So does coming together as a herd and dressing alike, with the promise of "field trip!" looming before you, suddenly turn kids into creepy little brats worthy of a Stephen King novel? It's the only explanation. I really hope I'm raising a thoughtful, helpful, and respectful child, and I really hope she doesn't mind having the mom that volunteers to chaperon ALL the field trips.

Michigan Pictures

A few of the best pics from this past weekend. We all had a wonderful visit! Thanks for having us Gigi and Grandpa!

The Car is Hell

This past weekend we took a trip to visit the Michigan grandparents - a five hour drive one way. Maggie is 17 months old. And I have approximately 17 reasons why taking a toddler on a five hour car ride is a bad idea.

1. 17 month olds wear diapers. While crazy lady astronuts in Texas may enjoy sitting in their own pee-pee for a nice long ride across state lines, not a good decision for anyone that wants to keep their toddlers tush from turning the color of a strawberry.

2. 17 month olds get bored quickly. Hey Maggie, look at this book, then look at this see-and-say, then look at this dolly, then look at this plastic-do-hickey, then look at the owners manual of the car, then look at this bag of ketchup from the drive thru, then look at mamas cell phone, etc, etc, etc.

3. 17 month olds cry. And now they are old enough to know what they are crying about, so they can make it especially distracting and life-threateningly loud.

4. 17 month olds get hungry. Often. Goldfish, sippy cup, pretzels, chicken nuggets, banana, don't be surprised if you get in my car two months from now and say, "What is that smell", and I pull out a half eaten cup of Dora the Explorer yogurt from beneath your seat.

5. Post trip baby diarrhea. Ew.

6. "Uh oh!" I dropped my binky! "Uh oh!" I dropped my binky again! "Uh oh!" Again! Uh oh! (you get the picture)

7. When you have a toddler in the back seat trying to figure out how to undo her car seat straps, hitting traffic in the last hour of the trip feels like your dog just died.

8. Hour one.

9. Hour two.

10. Hour three.

11. Hour four.

12. Hour five.

13. Can my kid catch many diseases from dirty Wendy's highchairs? How many, and are they curable?

14. Please GOD no detours!

15. Please GOD no more verses of "Wheels on the Bus"

16. What kind of moron puts a deadline on a car trip with a child? THIS moron, that's who! (pick up the dogs from the kennel by 5pm or it will cost you an extra fifty bucks)

17. 3 hours of peek-a-boo in the back seat. The game that never gets old... to a toddler.

We will never, ever again... yeah right, we're doing it again Labor Day weekend.

(we love you Grandparents, can't you move closer?) :)

In need of a little extra comfort...

Maggie put on her 'jammies early tonight and got to come back downstairs to hang out for a while. BUT she would not leave her room unless all of her comfort items came with her. Can you count how many lovies you see here? One, two, three... plus one blankie, one pacifier (a second on the floor out of frame), one cup of milk, and two of her best stuffed animals (coincidentally both of these dolls are Grandpa related - one from Grandpa J and the other Grandpa G). I guess someone just needed a little extra comfort tonight.

Her Favorite Sweater

Maggie has shown us her many favorites lately. Her favorite marker, her favorite food, her favorite toy, her favorite dolly. She even has a favorite sweater. Many of these items were gifts given at one event or another (baby shower, birthday, etc.) and subsequently many of them I have a difficult time attributing to a specific gift giver. However, I'm pretty sure I remember this sweater correctly, and I thought it might be nice to let the gift giver know how AWESOME we think it is! If I'm remembering correctly, it's homemade, which makes it unique just like my girl, and was given to Maggie by my best friend and her mother Linda (the maker). Becky, is that correct?
Maggie absolutely adores this sweater and it often has to be wrestled away from her - I'm sorry sweetie, but it's 95 degrees out and too hot for a wool sweater! She gets complements all the time about how cute she looks in this cute sweater ("where did you get that sweater? It's so nice!").

Thanks Becky and Linda! And if by some chance I got this one wrong and the real maker of the awesome sweater is reading... thank you instead!