DAY THREE 9/15 CHICAGO
Another smooth morning. Nora’s “upstairs bed” is working out great for me, especially in the mornings. Under the old system, she would be standing up in her PackNPlay the minute any of us stirred. Her height ever increasing, she would lean over the top rail and call for us. I, imagining it was just a matter of moments before she toppled the playpen over on its side from its perch on the couch, would rush to get her out. This left me virtually unable to do any other morning tasks until she was changed, dressed and buckled in her booster seat. Under the new system, there are more barriers between her and the rest of us, so she doesn’t necessarily wake up just because one of the dogs wags his tail against the wall repeatedly, or one of us gets up to use the bathroom. And even if she does wake up, I’m not worried about her being able to get out and fall, so I feel OK just talking to her and asking her how her night was and how all her stuffed animals are as I move about and take care of a few things.
This morning, David was up early. He cleaned the poop off Nora’s tennis shoe, filled up our freshwater tank and then took the dogs for a long walk. I fed Michael, got dressed and got Nora up and dressed. By the time David got back, Nora and I were both chowing down on instant oatmeal, and David’s oatmeal was hot on the stove, waiting for him. He did the dishes while I played with Nora, and then he put Nora’s bike helmet on, put her in the baby seat on his bicycle, and off they went to visit the police station and other old friends.
I am getting a little work done, and we are meeting other friends tonight for dinner.
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We went to the playground mid-morning and met a nice lady there with her grandchildren. Went back “home” for lunch and naptime. After that it was time for showers in our friends’ house and a walk to the south end of town to visit more people. We had dinner at Andrea’s, a little diner most people frequent for breakfast. It seemed like a good choice for dinner, though, since it was only 2.5 blocks away and is equipped with lots of highchairs and booster seats. Our friends Stacy and Greg met us there with their two children, ages 3 and 4 months. Their oldest and Nora were vying for the title of squirmiest. Fortunately my dinner came with a bowl of corn, and Nora LOVES corn. She also eats it one kernel at a time, so that bought us a good 25 minutes of adult conversation. We were in the largest space they had, which was a corner booth, and it required a lot of logistics to move a child or a carseat carrier around. To fit one adult in the corner seat was sort of like playing one of those handheld games where there are 15 squares and 16 spaces and you have to slide all the pieces around using the one free space. I ate sort of hunched over nursing Michael under a blanket the whole time, but it was worth it to catch up with our good friends. At the end of the meal, time ran out on their youngest. They walked back to the camper with us so Stacy could nurse him. As we were finishing up, their older son was sitting on the bed in back and fell off the side, between the bed and the wall. He wasn’t hurt but he was quite surprised and started wailing. We were all doing a terrible job of stifling our laughter. Basically the entire evening was a fun time, just reveling in the chaos of young kids. We all had a sense of humor about it, which was great because none of us were worried about the other couple thinking less of us based on the volume of our kids. It was a lot of fun and it was great to see them.
After that, we put Nora to bed and went inside to have a glass of wine with Doug and Alison before bed.
Dalice (Dog #2) sleeps well anywhere. (See above)