Urban wildlife

In Kentucky, we never encountered anything more than a possum. And then tonight, in Chicago, word came via the Tribune that a cougar had been shot about five blocks north of this house.

A story in today's paper was about sightings in the way north suburbs. That's scary enough, but tonight's news was way too close for comfort. (Note the sidebar with the story about what to do if you encounter a cougar; No. 1: Pick up children immediately. No kidding!)

Here's the map that shows our house and the location of the shooting tonight (A is us and B is the site). This is along our route to and from the YMCA, library, grocery stores, parks, etc.



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Levynn came to swim today

... swim today, swim today. Levynn came to swim today. What's your name?

That's a snippet from the introductory ditty that we sing at the beginning of each swimming class. Levynn's last class was this morning, and we finally have photos and videos (of lesser quality than usual, unfortunately) to share. Enjoy!

Now he really stands!

Lincoln did this for the first time today when he tried to reach Levynn's books on the couch. So we replaced her books with his books and filmed him doing it again.

What's next?

A Pulitzer Prize and what we can learn

Levynn and the block, May 2005

The Chicago Tribune won a Pulitzer Prize today for investigative reporting in its series, "Hidden Hazards."

"An initial story by the Tribune about toy magnets and failings at the Consumer Product Safety Commission widened in scope and impact until it brought about dramatic change on store shelves and in the halls of Congress. Among those changes were a nationwide recall of lead-tainted toys sold with Thomas the Tank and Curious George logos and the pulling of a dozen varieties of toys from Illinois store shelves because of unsafe lead content," the story on chicagotribune.com reads.

The New York Times also won for investigative reporting with it's series on toxic ingredients in medicine and other products imported from China.

Pretty exciting to win the Prize, but the dangers the stories brought to light also deserve serious attention in our extended family.

We'd been watchful of the series, which started right before Mom got her first call from the Tribune last May. We watched the news and kept our eyes peeled for recalls related to toys in our house. We found one item on a list, but ours was bought outside the timeframe that was posted about it. We thought we were in the clear.

Then today, in reading the Tribune's coverage, we noticed a picture of a toy that we have. When we clicked on it, we learned that it has an amount of lead obscenely over what is allowed. It's made in China. It's from a brand, Baby Einstein, that we know and thought we could trust. The blocks are among some of the first toys Mom and Dad bought for Levynn in 2004. Both our kids have chewed on them. Levynn's been clear so far in lead tests at the pediatrician's but Linc isn't yet old enough for his first test. He'll be tested soon, though. It's scary to think about.

So we wanted to bring it to everyone's attention that toys made in China can often be extremely dangerous. We know that other things have risk, too, but this is the main one we're concerned about right now and can do something about: No more toys from China. Believe us, we know it's hard to find them but we think our effort will be worthwhile.

Otherwise, related to the Pulizter, The Washington Post also won a Prize for public service for it's expose on the mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed. It certainly hits home for Mom, and the series had far reaching effects that landed on her desk at Fort Knox.

Oh, and Mom did edit one story in the Tribune's follow-ups on it's Hidden Hazards series. But she was off today and missed the big celebration in the newsroom, much as she missed the champagne at The Courier-Journal when editorial cartoonist Nick Anderson won in 2005.

He stands! He crawls!

He leaps tall buildings in a single bound!

Well, you'll get the picture. He "stood" on Saturday and "crawled" on Sunday. Maybe he'll leap like that another day.

More words of wisdom

Levynn has never seen Dad eat a granola bar. So when he insists that he doesn't like granola bars, she refuses to believe it.

"It's important that all people try new things they've never tried before," Levynn said tonight as she munched on one after dinner.

School, school, school

We just realized this week that we had not mentioned here, except in passing, that Levynn has been attending Lakeview YMCA's Kiddie Kollege - a preschool program - two days a week. She loves it, and Mom and Dad are relieved that we were able to find such an opportunity after pulling her out of Thomas Jefferson Preschool in Louisville.

While we're at it, Levynn and Lincoln also have been taking swimming lessons at the YMCA, which is within walking distance of our house. We hadn't mentioned that intentionally because we were waiting to be able to post swimming photos, which we won't be allowed to take until the last class (for privacy reasons).

Levynn already has been registered for the next session of Kiddie Kollege, and she also will take a ballet class. She actually was given a choice between ballet and several sports, and she picked the former. She should be a seasoned pro now!

The most important item on the agenda, however, is finding a school for Levynn to attend in September. We were late to the game - yes, the game - which became clear when we learned the facts of the preschool system in Chicago. We figured private schools would be out of reach, but then we learned that Chicago Public Schools will charge more than $9,000 for full-day, five-days-a-week preschool during the 2008-09 year. CPS also offers so-called Preschool For All, a free, half-day, five-days-a-week program. But competition for spots is fierce - after all, how many people are willing to pay that kind of money? - and parents were encouraged to apply in December. We discovered that in February.

Fortunately, just this week, Levynn was guaranteed a spot at a school in Lakeview. It's called Louis J. Agassiz Elementary School Fine and Performing Arts Center. It's not our "neighborhood school," so it's not within walking distance, but it's not far from here. We had to accept the spot within 24 hours or lose it, however, and we had yet to see the school. But Dad went on a tour on Friday and was very impressed. The preschool kids were happy and engaged, their classrooms were bursting with activity centers and artwork (it is an arts magnet school, after all), and the school as a whole looked safe. Mom and Levynn still have to see it, of course, but Dad would send his little girl there in a heartbeat.

What do you get

... when you give a biscuit to a child with a runny nose?

This:

Another day, another book

Levynn has a little Weebles (wobble but they don't fall down) airplane, and Lincoln has an even smaller stuffed bunny named Sprout. Dad spied them near each other tonight and was reminded of one of Levynn's books, in which a rabbit crashes a plane into a tree and causes other problems for his mouse friend (and which we haven't read in many months).

So Dad sat Sprout in the Weebles plane, flew it around and asked Levynn if it reminded her of anything.

"My Friend Rabbit!" she yelled.

Correctamundo!

Car

This actually was filmed several days ago. Since then, he has convinced us that he really understands what he's saying. We'll ask him, "What goes vroom vroom?" And he says "car." He's learning!