the good and the bad

...so our weekend started on a pretty good note. i met up w/ my old friend michelle and her son benjamin (who's a month older than cadence) at the skokie exploratorium, which is like a big indoor playground with numrous hands-on exploratory activities, like water fountains, dress-up costumes/stage area, climbing tubes and tunnels, building blocks galore, arts and crafts area, etc.

...i highly recommend it for a rainy day. it's even great for infants. lots of things to explore and touch and crawl around on, and it's pretty clean compared to some other kids' activity centers i've been to. i only had to pay for myself ($4 for non-skokie resident adults) and cadence was free cuz she's under 2. it's not so huge that you have to worry about your kid running off into oblivion, but there's enough space and stuff to keep even the most active kid (i.e. cadence) occupied for a good amount of time.

...sunday, on the other hand, was not such a good day. cadence woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and by the time we got home from church, she was sporting a lowgrade fever and coughing occasionally. she was so wiped out that one minute, she was crying in my arms (after hitting her head on the dining table) and the next minute, she was already drifting off to sleep. she slept until about 2, but then she was so tired that she fell asleep again in my arms at around 3:30 and slept until 5. i gave her some tylenol, and that seemed to make her feel better (well, at least her fever went away), but there seemed to be no antidote for the crankiness.

...ted was playing a show tonight w/ tim at the heartland cafe, and we had to be there at 7. i was skeptical as to how the night would go because cadence was so cranky. sure enough, as soon as we got there, cadence just wanted to wander the neighborhood. she had absolutely no desire to sit down with us for dinner, which meant someone (e.g., me) had to chase her around so that she wasn't a menace to the other customers.

...by the time ted and tim and the gang got up to play around 9, cadence was virtually unmanageable. even though the photo above was taken on saturday, it pretty much sums up her attitude the whole evening. i gave up and took her home after the first song. there was more drama when we got home because she didn't want to wash her hands, but now she's finally sleeping, and the only sound in our home is that of my typing. i am pretty spent...

i'm kinda bummed i had to leave early cuz so many people from church showed up, as well as our dear friend john from montana and uncle dave and aunt becki. but i know i wouldn't have been able to enjoy myself anyway, with such a cranky cadence crying and screaming in my arms. well, since i've self-medicated with some chocolate chip cookies, i think i'm ready to collapse into bed.