summertime...FINALLY!

...i hear we’re gonna have a sizzler this weekend, and i ain’t refering to the red meat variety. after a pretty mild, sometimes-cold june we’re finally getting hit with summer weather chicago-style this weekend. i’ve already asked ted to turn on the a/c this morning, as i had trouble sleeping last night in the mugginess.

i think i’ll take cadence to indian boundary park this weekend, where they have a very lovely sprinkler for kids to cool off in. i just need to convince teddy that it really will be a good idea and totally worth it to leave the comfortable confines of our centrally air-conditioned walls to stand around in the hot, sticky miserable oppressing sunshine just so we can witness our wee one dance with glee through the wetness. i might even take the big fancy camera for that one...

"so two toddlers walk into a park..."

...here's something cadence likes to do. she'll rapidly blurt out a long narrative of gibberish with a totally straight face like she's telling a story that makes perfect sense.

...then after a pause for dramatic effect, with perfect comedic timing, she busts out laughing 'AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!' as if she's laughing at her own punch line. she'll repeat this several times, like she's doing a stand up comedy routine. it's really hilarious. we need to get it on video one of these days.

well, i'm happy to report that cadence didn't get sick on sunday after all. i don't know what that fever was about. i think she may have had a tummy bug or something because she had about the worst blowout diaper ever on monday. that would explain why she wouldn't eat on sunday.

ted's show w/ tim lowly and gang went well on sunday, i hear. i got to eat dinner w/ ted and matt ganong, the keyboardist/pianist, before the show. we like matt. he's really nice. he and ted talked a lot about beers and homebrewing, ted's favorite topic.

the group that played after tim was called ash in pensacola. it turns out that their singer, mindi, is ethan's girlfriend. that would be ethan d'ercole, guitarist for watchers (ted's former band) and the mannequin men. he's also a great dj. i have fond memories of hanging out with ted late saturday nights at the get me high lounge on the bucktown/wicker park border listening to ethan spin. it's hard to believe we used to stick around past last call. good god. i can't even imagine being out that late any more. anyhoo, ted and ethan always loved making music together, and i hope they resume contact...

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.

conversational cadence

...a new side of cadence is emerging in our household. i guess you could call it 'conversational cadence.' she is stringing more words together and actually making sense.

...for example, this evening, as i attempted to extricate her from her beloved playground, i placated her by asking her if she wanted to take a bath when she got home. she immediately calmed down and asked, 'with a duckie?' 'yes, with a duckie,' i replied. 'with a froggie?' cadence asked. 'yes, with a froggie,' i confirmed. then she couldn't get home fast enough so she could partake in her favorite activity (besides watching blues clues)--being naked in warm water with a tub full of foam letters and various rubber animals that shoot water out of their orifices.

okay, actually, what she said was 'wadsa gockie?' and 'wadsa f*ckie?' but since i did carry her around in my innermost being for 37 weeks, i knew exactly what she was talking about and am able to translate for you all who have not yet been initiated into the intricacies of the cadencean language.

...and that's not all. i was sitting by the tub reading my big fat biography on truman capote (such a big volume for such a little man...anyhoo...) which ted got me for my bday. that's when i overheard the following conversation between cadence and her froggie:

cadence: more?
froggie (played by cadence): otay (trans.: okay)
cadence: here you go (as she pours froggie a cup of water)
froggie: tang cue! (trans.: thank you!)

...and here is a picture of her at the park yesterday, pointing up at the sky saying, 'it's a mooooooon!' and sure enough, there was a white half-moon sitting high in the sky. i love how she says moon.

come to think of it, i love how she says just about anything...

now we enter chicago's other season...

...that being SUMMER! yes, it's true. chicago only has two seasons, of which the chillier one lasts for about 9 months out of the year. it seems that the weather is finally thawing out for the summer season.

...one good thing about the hot weather is that i don't have to dress cadence so warmly any more. and she's just so darn cute in a sundress!

...the weekend was definitely a scorcher. we had a potluck dinner at our pastor's house on sunday, and folks pretty much took refuge in the central A/C. the only ones who ventured out were the kids, who don't seem to care about the heat, and pastor sherrie who was womannning the grill, and some of the dads who HAD to watch their kids because their wives were conducting a meeting on children's church (whew! so glad i had an excuse!).

on monday, my mom and my brother came over for my birthday lunch. my mom brought a ton of food for a korean BBQ which was absolutely yummy. unfortunately, i had a migraine AND an allergy attack, so i was feeling pretty much miserable most of the day. i didn't even have the gumption to go out and see my bro's new motorcycle. oh well. the thought of my brother on such a machine is kinda scary to me, so it's probably a good thing i didn't go look cuz i probably would've gotten even more nauseous. ted said it was a cool bike though, and i'll take his word for it...