Weekend

I haven't had much to post lately but this weekend we made up for some boring, rainy days.
We had rain Saturday and Sunday, but after church and a nap on Sunday we decided that was it, we were going to get the heck out of the house and do something. We ended up in our old neighborhood, they opened up a play place for kids. It was tons of fun.
Monday, the sun finally came out and so did the 90 degree weather. It was GREAT!! We talked about going downtown for a while with D and we decided today was the perfect day.
As the streets by our home lined up for a Memorial Day parade we got on the train. D enjoyed the ride, occasionally saying "it's OK mommy", that's his famous line when he's really trying to say "you better have my back when this thing gets off tracks". He's like that, cautious, always needs a little push. I know just how much I can push before respecting his wishes, because I don't want him to grow up giving in to kids trying to make him do something he doesn't want to do. Yes, I go deep sometimes, I think about what I say now and how it may impact him later. I hope he has a strong personality to say NO, like he does to us all the time.

We arrived downtown. We went in line to the Sears (Willis, whatever) tower ready to go UP, until we found out it was a 2 hour wait. So, we decided showing D some of the other cultural things in the city was just as good.
My college.
Fine arts
Architecture
First stop was lunch.
These butter burgers were INSANELY good!
We headed over to get cooled off by the "fountain".
After the first outfit change we made our way to the bean
We needed to cool off with some ice cream. We are rookie parents and God only knows why I bought him his own cone. CHOCOLATE too!
We put our blanket down and it started great,

until....
That picture is priceless. Praying that chocolate comes off the blanket and his new shirt from grandma. If not, I'll treasure that picture even more. We went back to the fountain to wash him off. I made sure to say "chocolate ice cream" loud because it could have been confused with something much more gross.
It was a good day, full of new memories and maybe even our new tradition.
Outfit change number 3 brought much needed zzzzz's for this little guy.
That's the only nap he took before he spent another 2 hours in the back yard horsing around as Ry and I cleaned/repaired our grill. We're ready for our first bbq.

and then he was a big boy

Today, I cried, not because my allergies have been kicking my butt all day long and my face is swollen from blowing my nose. I cried as we laid my peanut to bed in his big boy bed.
He was super excited to see us put it together. There was a lot of jumping before the sheets went on. He kept saying "my big boy bed almost ready". After it was done we went for ice cream to celebrate.
Later, we went through our nightly routine and then he laid down, counted his cars and didn't make a sound. (hope I don't jinx that). He was ready. I wasn't, but that's how it goes.
goodnight stars, goodnight air

goodnight noises everywhere.

In a blink

It seems like over night our Daniel is turning into a big boy. The things he says, make us look at each other and smile and tear up.
The other night he sang the entire Twinkle, Twinkle little star song, says "that's amazing mommy" when he's impressed with something, asked me "whatcha ya got there mommy?" when he saw something in my hand and didn't know what it was.
Some things are subtle and some things just take us by surprise. I have delayed switching D into a big boy bed for quite some time but have recently realized that I need to cut the cord. Also, the fact that lifting 40lbs of pure love is killer on our backs.
We purchased a mattress for D and we will be putting his full size big boy bed together sometime this week. (Sniff).
To prepare myself for the transition I needed to tackle the one other thing that made him a baby. His changing table. I still use it but mostly we get him dressed in his bathroom or our bedroom. I saw this neat frame project on another blog and had to do it.
I used an old mirror. I took the mirror out. Spray painted the frame. Distressed it a little bit. Installed chicken wire and hung up some pictures using small clothes pins.
The whole thing cost me $6.
No more changing table.
I ordered a book shelf for him as well.

I'm ready, I really am. I will tear up and take a bunch of pictures of him in his new bed and that will make me feel better.