Whales go SPLASH!

Freeman and I suspect that, at some point, somebody is going to tell Hamilton and Veronica that it is not typical of most childhoods to spend several days a month at an aquarium or museum. But, seriously, it would be hard not to take advantage of the free days, library passes and memberships since the Museum Campus is about 2 miles from our front door. Even us car-less city people can pull that off!


Usually, when we plan to visit the aquarium, we head out in the morning and get there just as the fish are being fed and the tanks are being cleaned. There is usually almost no one there on a weekday at 9 am, which makes taking a toddler and an infant there much easier.

But the other day, it wasn't 9 am...it wasn't even noon...but 2 pm and we needed to get OUT, so we packed up and jumped on the 146 and were at the Shedd right before their last whale/dolphin show of the day. We got to the amphitheater with 5 minutes remaining and were able to sit in the third row!

Here's Hamilton waiting for the show to start. You can't tell from this photo, but he's several feet away from me. He wanted to "sit by myself, mom."

Veronica, on the other hand, was happy to sit on my lap and enjoy the show (well, really, enjoy the audience enjoying the show).

Hamilton's summary of the show: "Whales go SPLASH!"

After the show, we headed down to the Polar Play Zone. Unfortunately, it's not very well-lit and flash isn't allowed, so I have yet to get any pictures that really show what a great area it is for little ones.

Veronica's learning about the climates of different species of penguins' habitats.

Hamilton and Veronica both very intrigued by the boy dressed as a penguin coming out the of "cave."

Usually Hamilton refuses to go through the cave tunnel...you can't see the end and it makes him a little nervous. This time, though, he worked up the courage to follow this penguin boy in on his next round. Maybe it was the penguin costume that helped him get through to the other side (or maybe it was the fact that someone else entered the tunnel after him and he had no choice). In either case, he was pretty pleased with himself.

Veronica, on the other hand, was quite happy to adventure on through the tunnel several times.

After touching the starfish, driving the submarine, sliding down the iceberg, and saying hello to countless sea creatures, it was time to head home.

As we walked to the bus, Hamilton let me know that next time he'd like to go to the dinosaur museum (Field).

Where is Thumbkin?

We love, love, love our Thursday library class. Hamilton's been enrolled in most sessions since he was 6 months-old so all of the librarians (and the security guard) know him by name. Veronica's actually got him beat, though. She's been sitting in on his sessions since shortly after she was born. The librarians are so great to include her (and other siblings) in the activities, and she is happy to clap and shake away with everyone else.

The librarians rotate the responsibility of leading each 6-week session, and each of them brings their own flavor to the class. Miss Katie is leading this session, and she is great! This round, she is bringing back some of the classics, including "Where is Thumbkin?" Hamilton was a little thrown at first that so many people knew this song that he had never heard of (Gasp! It's true--I didn't include this one in our repertoire at home.)

Well, we took care of that at Veronica's next nap. And Hamilton's been belting this out ever since.

And She's Off!

Veronica is a super-mobile little girl. I suspect this is because of how highly she regards her brother. Anywhere he is, she wants to be (sometimes to his dismay, but often to his delight).

Hamilton has a lot of energy--big surprise for a 2 1/2 year-old boy--so Veronica's crawling was not cutting it...

This second video is actually from a couple of weeks ago (pre-walking days) showcasing two of Veronica's favorite things to do: 1) putting things in her mouth and 2) climbing onto the dishwasher door. For the record, neither of these are "allowed" but for these 30 seconds, I just focused on capturing the moment.

I've got....

... TEETH!

(they actually popped through around Christmas, but I hadn't been able to catch a photo of them)

Where else would they live?

Freeman spotted a container of farm animals on clearance at Target the other day and picked it up thinking of our would-be-farmer-living-in-the-city. It was a huge hit, including the clear plastic cone that was included in the packaging. Hamilton pulled it out and quickly announced that is was a 'cano (volcano) and off he went to play. A little later...

Me: Hamilton, do you like playing with those animals?

Hamilton: Yes.

Me: Do all of those animals live on a farm?

Hamilton: No!!!! They live in the 'cano.

Sure enough, he was packing as many of the animals into his little volcano as he could.

Sidetracked

I was just sitting down to try (again) to write about how much fun we had with Freeman last week when I noticed something that completely sidetracked me. Hamilton and Veronica playing a game of peek-a-boo. I quickly tried to maneuver the webcam without being too noticeable. Unfortunately, I didn't catch the peek-a-boo, but I did capture the fun that ensued.

Please notice that although Hamilton isn't particularly gentle with his sister, she repeatedly only crawls a few steps away and turns back towards him to get his attention. As sweet as she is, she's a tough cookie (and she loves her big brother)!

Apologies for the views of my jeans and the chair legs. Remember this was a covert video taping. The fun actually continued for several minutes and evolved into a game of Monkey in the Middle (Veronica was in the middle and Hamilton was throwing to...himself). Then they both realized I wasn't paying attention to them.

I gotta say, I absolutely love seeing the beginning of this brother/sister relationship develop.