Best Shot(s) Monday--ACTION!

Anyone who knows Cadence in real life (or virtually) knows that she is little ball of TREMENDOUS energy. It's probably why I'm so tired all the time.

As you can imagine, we start suffering from cabin fever right around this time of year. A 2 bedroom condo is not the best place to unleash the power of the force that is Cadence, so I signed her up for a few classes with the park district, including basketball. Hence the new kicks.

She's only had one class so far, and there was only one other boy her age, and I hear she was more interested in pushing some cart and something about a monkey than in actual basketball, but as you can see, she's a natural.

Now if only I could convince her that our couch is not a trampoline...

See other folks' Best Shots on Tracey's Mother May I.

Best Shot(s) Monday--Proof that Cadence is Hipper Than Moi

Proof #1--Crazy bedhead hair. I could NEVER get MY hair to do that.

Proof #2--Totally cool flamin' hat.

Proof #3--Notice the flannel snap button shirt beneath her Threadless Tee. And that look of bershon. While holding a balloon.

Proof #4--She always travels with an entourage.

Ok. So all this really has nothing to do w/ hipness. But in my estimation, Cadence has mastered the hip and cool like I never could as a kid. I hope she masters the way of love and compassion and justice as well.

See other folks' Best Shots on Tracey's Mother May I.

Let It Snow

When my family moved to the U.S. from Seoul back in 1978, we couldn't have had a harsher winter to initiate us into life in Chicago than that first one we experienced, which just happened to include the infamous blizzard of '79 that fell in January. This was the snow storm that booted the incumbent mayor out of office due to the transportation nightmare that ensued. I remember loving the snow as a kid. I guess all kids do, huh? My friend Ruthy and I must have spent hours playing in it. I don't know how we stood the cold.

I haven't played in the snow in a while, but it's kind of unavoidable if you a) have a kid and b) live in Chicago. This is the first winter that Cadence hasn't been scared of the white stuff, and now she really loves it. She even helped me shovel when it was our unit's turn to be on snow duty for our building. She is happy to just sit at our window and watch the snow come down, down, down, but what she REALLY loves is playing in it. It's one of the few times she is cooperative getting all her clothes on--socks, babylegs, undershirt, sweater, snowpants, scarf, coat, hat, mittens, and boots.

I have to say that seeing her rosy-cheeked, beaming face is totally worth freezing my butt off. Really, joy doesn't get any purer than this. I suppose some day Cadence will be old enough to go out and play in the snow by herself. But I hope I'll be the kind of mom who'll go out and make snow angels or build a snowman or snowfort right alongside her.

Happy Boxing Day/First Day of Kwanzaa!!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday however it was celebrated (or not). We've been busy, but we also enjoyed our time with our families.

I think this was the first time Cadence actually enjoyed the act of opening presents. Since we wanted to keep things simple and not so focused on presents, we only gave her one small gift to unwrap on Christmas morning at home. It was a wooden crocodile that I had bought at the Seeds of Change marketplace earlier in the month. Cadence had wanted it then, but I had bought her a giraffe already, so I bought it when she wasn't looking and saved it for her. And she totally remembered that it was the crocodile from church and immediately reunited it with her giraffe.

We stopped at my uncle's in the burbs on the way to Ted's parents' house. My mom was spending Christmas with them, so we got to see her too. My cousins Sherline and Debbie were there too, and it's always nice to spend time with them. I think they enjoy having a little kid's voice in the house, especially for the holidays.

It turned out to be a good thing that we only gave her the one gift in the morning since there were definitely a lot of presents with her name on it under Grandma and Grandpa's tree. See that big box with the snowflakes? That's from Great Grandma Carol, and there were no less than half a dozen entire outfits in there.

Ted's mom and his Aunt Martha made Christmas dinner, which was as lovely as it was delicious. Cadence was excited to sit down at the beautiful place setting, but when it actually came time to eat, she decided against it.

After a couple bites of pasta, she decided it was time for dessert but settled for an apple she found in the fruit bowl. Finally, someone left a tupperware full of Grandma's yummy cookies out unsupervised on the kitchen table, and Cadence was in heaven.

At least four cookies later, we were served Auntie Martha's homemade eggnog ice cream, and Cadence absolutely loved it. In fact, she traded one of the cookies she had in her fist to me for my last spoonful of ice cream. I think she must have had 10 cookies at least during the course of the evening. And about 20 minutes before we left, she found the bowl of gumdrops.

Cadence probably had a week's worth of sugar in a span of 3 hours. And this is the kid who when she opened up her present from Yia Yia and found a bag of M&Ms said, "Look! Snack!" and put the bag down uninterested. Had we told her it was chocolate, she would've made us open it up on the spot.

It was a nice time with the family, although we were missing Uncle Charles and Auntie Ali in Seattle, as well as Uncle Dave and Aunt Becki and Uncle Douglas and Auntie Lauren who were vacationing in Athens for Christmas.

Alright. I'm pooped. I've been back at work as of today, but at least it's a short week. We're still super busy trying to clean up the tornado that apparently blew through our condo during the holidays. We've got people coming over on Sunday so we don't have much of a choice. The good thing is that I remembered that there is a new Salvation Army Family Store that just opened up in our neighborhood, so we can give away a lot of our stuff and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, in 2008 we'll get a system of organization down. I guess I'd have to believe in miracles for that one to come true.

I Went to a Kid Party At Chucky Cheese and Lived to Tell About It

Our little friend Caely turned 4 this week, and we partook of the festivities at Chucky Cheese. I admit I was scared to go, but Cadence would never have forgiven me if she knew I kept her home from an opportunity to eat CAKE.

When we first got to the party, Cadence was scared of the giant robotic animals on stage, and she begged to go back home. Once those robotic furry creatures started dancing and performing, however, she decided they were harmless, and before the night was over she got pretty chummy with Chucky himself.

There were a lot of kids there that we didn't know, but Cadence's friends Rudden and Baby Jack and Zane were there, as were my friends, their moms, so it was fun to hang out amidst the chaos of singing robotic stuffed animals, video arcades, rides and a vast array of little toys and prizes.

My favorite activity, though, had to be the Sketch Booth. It was kinda like a photobooth, except that Chucky Cheese (a computerized version, and just his hand at that) himself would sketch a picture of you from a snapshot taken in the booth. Amy and I had a hard time getting the kids' heads in the camera frame, which resulted in this funny series. I think that's Zane's hand in the middle photo.

The kids are all growing up so fast...Baby Jack was just about to be conceived when Ted and Cadence and I started attending Berry Church where we met these families. Now he's toddling around everywhere. Cadence wasn't even walking at the time...I'm just glad she's got some friends who really feel like family to her, and I look forward to many more birthday parties to come. Even ones at Chucky Cheese.