A night at the park

Mom and Levynn attended a neat ballgame last night, and you'll hear all about it just as soon as Mom gets a chance to tell all about it. Dad just couldn't do it justice.

OK, Mom's story:

Minor league game at Wrigley ... we had to be there. Especially since it was Ryne Sandberg's team. We took the train (a great adventure) and had great seats and Lev was patient through the whole game, waiting for her chance to run the bases with 10,000 other kids after the game.

Top of the 8th, they called the kids to the concourse to wait in line. it was hot and very crowded down there, but we were going to hang with it. Then, text from Nathan: storm coming. That's OK, mom said, we'll be dry under here. But the field wouldn't. A downpour came and they called the game, tied in the bottom of the 9th. no running the bases.

and so then we had to leave in the rain. mom grabbed Lev, told her to hang on and mom dashed through puddles over her flipflops to the train station. Lev screached, I'm getting wet! No kidding.

we were soaked, but Dad greeted us with towels once we got home near midnight.

they rescheduled the running of the bases, but it was for the Sunday we were to travel to Louisville for the state fair. Oh well. Have to wait til she makes it to the majors!

Brave, then confident

Both kids made great, bold strides today.

Mom and Lincoln went to their Monday yoga class at the YMCA as usual, but this time Dad and Levynn accompanied them to go swimming.

Levynn had been paddling upright with her back float during our previous three swims this month, and she started like that again today. But there was a family of five kids, all older than Levynn, getting a serious lesson from their dad, and Levynn stopped to watch them intently from time to time. All of a sudden, without any prompting, she pushed off the wall and leaned forward into a legitimate dog paddle. And within a few feet, she was almost completely horizontal. At one point she even got her feet out of the water while kicking. She didn't go upright again.

"I'm proud of myself," she said.

We're proud of her, too!

As for Lincoln, well, this video tells it all:



This was the first time he took more than two steps, and it's obvious that he just needed a little more gumption. His body's been ready, but his head just hadn't been in it. It is now. Watch out!

Levynn's Shape Capers

Inspired by the last page of a picture book we recently borrowed from the library, Levynn and Mom recreated it in their own fashion today. Bravo!

One step at a time

Are you ready for some football?

The local boys, Da Bears, started training camp, and Dad's boys, the Patriots, start theirs tomorrow.

Levynn's ready!

Empty nest

Look at our nest now. Mama must have raised them well.


The babies, only three of which apparently survived, grew so quickly. A week ago, we noticed that they were sitting around the nest rather than in it while Mama hunted for food. Then, on Friday, we saw two of them sitting in the nest...


... and one in the yard!



And by Saturday, they all were gone.

Bye bye, birdies.

Late night at the movies

Talk about a community experience.

The Chicago Outdoor Film Festival made its 2008 debut last night with a 9 p.m. showing of "All About Eve" in Grant Park, and we were there. No, not just Mom and Dad. We all were there.

We forgot our cameras, even the one that Mom is supposed to keep in her purse, so we can't share any photos of the scene. You'll just have to trust us: it was neat.

Seated (and sprawled) on blankets in the grass, we stayed through the end of the classic Bette Davis film with the thousands of other (mostly respectful) people in attendance. Dad watched all of it, Mom watched most of it, Levynn slept through much of it, and Lincoln slept until the last 20 minutes or so. And we were all OK in the morning.

Maybe we'll do it again!

Welcome to Levynn A. Chambers Library

Levynn finally has a library to call her own. Considering how many books she has aquired, her interest in them, and her brother's interest in them(!), it's about time, right?


We rearranged some things in the apartment over the weekend to make the right ones accessible to the right kids, particularly within their own bedrooms. So Levynn has a library, for instance.

Lincoln now has a tall shelf full of toys in his room, but he has the most fun with what switched places with Levynn's library: the kitchen set.

A market correction (so to speak)

The kids visited their pediatrician today for two milestone checkups - Levynn's four-year and Lincoln's one-year - and all went well.

One surprise did emerge, though: Lincoln gained only 6 ounces in three months! He weighed just 21 pounds, 8 ounces (although Dad's back says otherwise), but he had grown more than an inch to 31. Of course, that just means he's thinning out like the rest of us!

Levynn remains on the same petite curve. She weighed 33 pounds - 5 more than a year ago - and had grown 3 inches to 39 1/4.

The pediatrician gave us the official OK to start weaning Lincoln from the bottle. He already had been drinking water from a cup. So we just need to get him on milk.

More summer in the city

This must be the reason we pay such high taxes in Chicago and swallow it. In how many other cities in the world can you get what we got downtown today - and for nothing more than the cost of our lunch?

Closely following the Tribune's arts coverage as always, Dad noticed last week that today was the only day that two particular events in the summer-long Millenium Park Family Fun Festival both were happening: a locally-produced puppet play and an Australian performing arts show. And, for good measure, the newspaper-sponsored Magnificent Mile Art Festival was finishing its three-day run in the courtyard next to Tribune Tower.

So throw in a (purchased) picnic lunch and treats from Baskin Robbins, and we had a day.

It started with A Rabbit's Tale, featuring Fast Fish Puppet Theater's Bunraku-style creations, in Jay Pritzker Pavilion - that cool outdoor concert venue some of you have seen.



Then we tried to get seated at Park Grill for lunch. But Millenium Park was hopping (because Dad obviously was not the only person in Chicago paying attention), and after 25 minutes or so of waiting we realized that the picnic offerings in the restaurant's next-door cafe were a better option if we expected to see the next event. So we found a shady spot within obstructed view of Cloud Gate and ate.


Now check out these folks, who call themselves Australia's Strange Fruit.


Yes, they're perched on poles, right in front of Cloud Gate. They were a sight to see.




We stopped at The Crown Fountain before we left, and Mom and Levynn stepped into the water.


Then we bought ice cream at Baskin Robbins on the way to the Tribune's art festival, where Levynn handed three bucks to an artist for a magnet that had a reproduction of one of his paintings. He likes kids, apparently, and he made a friend of one because he gave Levynn a little sketch pad on the house. She loves notebooks!


We arrived home five hours after we left, hot and tired but fulfilled.

The view from the planetarium

We returned to Adler Planetarium today, and we snapped a few shots outside the facility. It offers quite a view.

Tears to cheers in the pool

At long last, we took advantage of the YMCA's open swim hours today and jumped back in the pool with the kids for the first time since swim lessons ended.

You should have seen it! (Alas, our hands were full, so you won't even now.)

After getting used to the water temperature, Lincoln repeatedly chased a ball, first on Dad's arm and then on Mom's arm. He even started kicking like a frog.

Levynn needed more time to find her comfort zone, but it was worth the wait. She saw another little girl wearing a back float and wanted to use one, too, so she could swim "all by myself." But the back float wasn't the cure-all that she expected it to be, and she cried, cried, cried.

Then, out of the blue, Mom let her go one more time and she just went. And went and went and went. Moving through the water with a sort of vertical dog paddle, she worked harder than she ever had worked before, and she loved it. The look of desperation, joy and pride on her face - like, "Holy cow, I'm really doing this, I really am!" - was priceless, absolutely priceless.

We'll be going back soon.

All I want for my birthday

... are my two front teeth.

Actually, Lincoln has three new teeth, in varying stages of development. One is all the way through, one is mostly through, and one is poking through. They're all on the top.

He's showing you two of them here, in between bites from a slice of watermelon.


Yes, directly from a slice.

Chicago's-eye view of birds

Mama bird laid two more eggs since we first wrote about her, bringing the total to four, and Mom had the extraordinarily good fortune to see the babies just moments after hatching today.



No less extraordinary, Mom also filmed mama bird feeding them. But it's not in focus and would be almost impossible to see through the Viddler player's diminished resolution. But we'll try again, you can be sure.

Bird's-eye view of Chicago

Mom and Levynn rode on the ferris wheel at the Taste of Chicago on Friday. It was Levynn's first such experience.

The day before the big day...

... Lincoln received a special delivery.

Lincoln is 1 - and America is 232!

L is for Lincoln, who awoke early but unusually happy this morning. Coincidence?


We had big plans - more Taste of Chicago, perhaps starting a tradition for this special day - so we got right to it.

Lincoln now has a matching friend...


... and a somewhat matching mode of transportation. (Radio Flyer calls it a Scoot About, but he already did scoot about, did he not?)




He also really likes this new book ("Go Cubs!" cheer the girls), and he even knows what to call it.




At the festival, Lincoln, poor boy, ate another packed lunch. But he was still happy.


And he did taste treats, including this birthday apple pie (on the Fourth of July? Now there's a tradition!).



Too bad he didn't like it. Maybe next year, kiddo.

Happy birthday, Linc!

Watching some kids

.
The first cartoon Lev ever watched had actual kids, instead of bears or cars or whatever. So she started calling it watching her kids. So here's some more kids for you to watch.






Oh! and Lev got a hair cut! Doesn't she have a cute neck?!?!?!!

He stands - on his own!

Not walking and chewing gum, but...