SAHD

So that is the unfortunate acronym for my current occupation. It sounds depressing but it is anything but! I am diggin' staying home with the kids. Granted it is exhausting and testing but it is worth every moment. The biggest challenge so far is getting out of the house. It is easy to cloister ourselves and never leave the safe zone but we get a little stir crazy. It helps now that Ian is comfortable using other bathrooms and will stay dry all day.

We have been going on adventures this week. Last Thursday we went to the Modern Wing of the Art Institute to visit the Ryan Education Center. This turned out to be just a big romper room. They had Caldecott honored artwork on the wall, floor puzzles depicting major works of art, a big bookshelf, and lots of blocks. They had a monitor running a program that morphed from one painted face to another and half a dozen computers. The consoles were nice with flat screen monitors, and a roller ball and a big round button built into the table acting for the mouse (no keyboard). They had a mask making game and a 'match the right bust to the right classical painting' game. These were definitely geared towards older kids.

After we had our fill there we went out to millennium park and walked the gardens and the sculpture park. We went over the Nichols Bridgeway that connected the gardens to the sculpture terrace on the roof of the Modern Wing. Ian thought it was grand! It crosses over Monroe with great views of the lake and downtown. When I figure out how to download photos from my phone I'll post the pics.
For Ian's birthday we went to the Shedd Aquarium. Ian's favorites were the small sharks and the turtles (he knows the difference between turtles and tortoises and will tell you about it). After we had our fill of aquafriends we took a walk along the lake and through Grant Park down to E's office where we had hot cocoa and then went out for pizza!

p.s. One of the frustrating things is Ian's refusal to pull up his pants after he uses the bathroom. He knows how but he'll shuffle about until he falls or his pants come off rather than appease me. Where does this stubbornness come from?