Laowai

recent posts

  • FRIDAY FIELD TRIP

    I had intended to visit lots of museums this winter, but here we are into spring and we haven’t done some of the big museums yet. So Bea and I went for a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. I visited the museum as a kid and remember being absolutely terrified of the mine exhibit. I had deja vu in some of the other exhibit areas but most of it seemed new to me. I think this museum will be great for Bea when she is a few years older. It didn’t help that the area specifically designed for little ones was closed for renovations. I was super disappointed – it was supposed to re-open today but they were delayed for some reason.

    The museum was surprisingly loud. It’s a huge cavernous space with lots of exhibit noises and big groups of kids talking over each other. Bea was, understandably, a bit scared and she ended up riding on my shoulders most of the time. Oooh, mommy needs a shoulder rub.

    We really enjoyed the train exhibit – a huge area of model trains in a landscape of mini-Chicago and farmland and mountains. We also liked the baby chick hatchery. Cheep, cheep

  • A WEDNESDAY WALK

    We had a great walk this morning. I never know if Bea will be up for walking or if she will insist on being carried. This morning she walked and walked and walked – all the way down to the lake and through some neighborhoods. I think it helped that she had a new bucket and we were looking for rocks. I entertained myself by looking at the beautiful old houses and little signs of spring.





     



  • A WEEKEND WITH BAXTER

    Finally feeling better. We enjoyed some time with grandma and grandpa J this weekend.




    Oh and she had so much fun hanging out with Baxter she’s still talking about it.




  • DANCING WITH DADDY

    She loves to ask Brian to play music and dance.

  • TOUGH TIME

    We are having a tough time because Bea has been sick for the past few days. I thought she was getting better yesterday but then she had a really bad night last night. She’s been feverish and just so very uncomfortable. She slept next to me last night and kept waking up coughing and crying all night long. She would sob “my mommy” over and over in a pitiful tone. It breaks my heart and it wears on my nerves. Right now she is finally getting a good sleep on the couch. All this closeness reminds me of two years ago when she was colicky and I spent so much time holding her pacing the floors and feeling on the verge of tears myself. I guess we survived that and we’ll surely survive this too. 

    It’s sunny in my bedroom and I’m soothing myself with some thin mints. Here are a few photo of a smiley Bea.






  • HAPPY COLORS

    Ooooh – this is lots of fun and bit addictive. 




  • NO-WAN-TO

    Bea’s favorite saying whenever there is something she doesn’t want to do is No-wan-to. For example when I tell her it’s time to go change her diaper she replies “no-wan-to”. Brian suggested that it sounds like a Survivor tribe name. So whenever Bea charms daddy into giving her a cookie I put my arms up in the air and shout “No-wan-to wins reward”. Or when she’s standing there whining and I refuse to give her a cookie I say “No-wan-to I’ve got nothin’ for you, head back to camp”. 

    Here’s the look she has on her face when she says “No-wan-to”

  • ICE CREAM TRUCKS AND POPSICLES

    We are trying to ignore the 17 degrees outside. We prefer to dream about ice cream trucks, ice cream cones and popsicles.





  • LINCOLN PARK CONSERVATORY

    We visited the Lincoln Park Conservatory last weekend. It’s free, it’s warm, it smells good, it has goldfish and it has lots of beautiful, lush, colorful plants. Just what we needed when we were all suffering from cabin fever. 







    Oh and, as promised, I made a little painting inspired by Geninne. Seems like if I say I’m going to do something on my blog I tend to do it. That and feeling guilty for spending $$$ to refresh my watercolor palette. I have always loved watercolors – for two reasons mainly: I just love the look of overlapping blocks of transparent colors and also I like that watercolors are so mess free. I used to hate that my acrylics would dry out between painting sessions and then washing acrylic or oil paints out of your brushes takes so much time. But watercolors are easy to pick up and put down. So I guess I should make sure I pick them up now and then. 

    Here’s my little bird with some daffodils. I like Geninne’s technique of using white ink to add linear details. My painting has nowhere near the charm that Geninne’s do, but I found it really relaxing and fun to make!


  • COLOR ME GARBAGE TRUCK

    Bea is having a little love affair with garbage trucks lately. Isn’t it funny what kids latch onto. I never realized how many garbage trucks we pass as we walk around town doing our business. She cleverly points them all out before I can spy them. Sometimes we hear the garbage truck outside our building and we rush outside and stand there watching it. I got a book from the library – all about garbage trucks. Now Brian and I have a sort of inside joke where we repeat lines from the book because it seems so ridiculous. The other night Brian made a garbage truck sound and moved his arms like he was lifting garbage. Then I think I said “is daddy a garbage truck?” So that became her joke (maybe her first). She kept repeating “Daddy garbage truck” over and over. Since she has also been doing a lot of coloring lately, I decided to make a Garbage Truck Coloring Page . Please share it with any garbage truck loving toddlers you know (click on the link to download).