fun | Nicole M. VandeBoom

Being a mom is one of the most adventurous things I have ever done. I have traveled. I have gone all over. I have had adventures close to home. I have seen some crazy things living when living in downtown Chicago. But I will say being a mom is still the most adventurous thing I have done. Every day is something new. The moment you feel like you have everything figured out, things change. That doesn’t mean in a bad way either. Life is just always evolving when you have kids. Your kids are always evolving, growing, learning, and changing.

I LOVE to have adventures. I love doing things with Jackson and soon with Alexander as well. I do not think there is a week that goes by where Jack and I don’t leave the house and do something, anything, just enjoy the world. We stay busy on a regular basis. Last week alone we made a trip to the park, Navy Pier in downtown Chicago, a local fest, and a Chicago White Sox baseball game. Spending time with him is truly one of my favorite things to do. I miss him if I go to the grocery store by myself. He loves to help me and is a fantastic helper. I know I see a lot of sarcastic things out there saying something along the lines “you know you are a mom when going to the grocery store is a vacation” I don’t really follow that motto deep in my heart. Sure, there are moments where I need a breather, but give me 20 minutes by myself. Even quietly sitting on my couch, and I am usually able to reset.

We have had so many adventures together in the 3 and 1/2 years he has been my little partner in crime. I had so much fun downtown this week. He is getting to the age to finally understand the city. He was so observant. I have taken him down there before, all over. In fact, he has been to Navy Pier many times already. This time though, he had a million questions!

We went to the Dinosaur exhibit. It was a temporary thing going on. It was not our favorite part of the day. I don’t think it will be something we jump at going to next year if it comes back, but we made the best of it. Then moved on to other cool things at the Pier.

As you can see in the top photo, he was not impressed! Ha! Mostly he didn’t want to stop for a quick photo. We really didn’t spend much time here. It wasn’t as cool as the commercial made it seem.

We went and ate our lunch. I was the only crazy (smart?) parent who packed her own lunch. There are so many restaurants to choose from that people usually eat at those places. We love our picnics though. I even offered to skip our packed lunch after he saw all the places to eat, and as always, he picked my lunch! Then we made our way to get some ice cream for Jackson. In a waffle cone! It was messy and delightful for him. I don’t eat ice cream, but I enjoy watching him eat that special treat once in a while. He loves it so much and the delight on a child’s face when the eat a big ice cream cone is something you can easily get lost in.

We made our way to the carousel and HUGE ferris wheel. That ferris wheel is so big! I was proud of him for being brave enough to want to try it. He was so excited. We talked about how we could see all the different things over the city. He was pointing out different boats he saw zipping around Lake Michigan. I had to keep prepping him for the exit, because you have to get off while it was still moving. That was a little tricky for him but mostly because he was in his own world still wanting to observe everything. Ha!

Our plan was to next head to Build A Bear to make a Ninja Turtle. They recently started carrying them to promote the new movie. We saw the display when we arrived that morning. We made our way behind all the action and ended up walking through the Crystal Gardens. It was nearly empty and very quiet in there compared to the rest of the Pier and to the rest of our day! Jackson was enamored with what he called “the jungle!” He wanted to see the plants and wanted to see all the cool different water fountains they had. We were in there for quite a while. I know where we will eat lunch next time. They even had tables and chairs for meals set up and they were nearly all empty. He sat watching this one fountain for quite sometime. I asked if he wanted to take a photo with the cool fountain and he said yes. Then instructed me he wanted it like this:

He is such an old soul. I had a hard time getting him out of there. He probably could have spent an hour in there. Next time, I know we will hang out in there a bit longer.

Eventually we made our way to Build A Bear and he made his Turtle. Raphael. He hasn’t slept without him since that night last week. He thinks it is the coolest thing ever. He has made animals there before, but again, something about 3 and 1/2 makes a difference. He gets it now. He is excited. He is inquisitive. He remembers.

Our plan that day had been to just go to the Dinosaur adventure. I figured on a lunch break, then we would head back inside and keep doing fun Dinosaur things. My plan didn’t include many actual Navy Pier attractions. But, life is an adventure! I was so happy that we just went with the flow and ended up having a blast all day long. Doing all the cool things we wanted to do, even if the initial thing wasn’t as cool as we hoped.

I have been getting out and about with him since before he was a month old. I started mommy and me classes when he was 7 weeks old. I love keeping active and busy. I know things won’t change once Alexander comes along. We might get out the door a little slower at first, but I know we will still be getting out the door on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, Alexander will be born smack dab in the middle of Jackson’s fall soccer time!

What does this week hold for us? I am not sure yet. We might go to the park today. Possibly go see Planes tonight. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays are usually our adventure days. But today I have a Dr appointment and tomorrow night we have a Natural Childbirth class (I hope to write about that!) So Thursday will have to be our big day out, but what shall we do? All I know is, I will be spending time with that little man. Holding his hand and being adventurous together.

First thing is first. I love having a 13 month old during warmer weather! Love it. Last year at this time Jack was barely a month old, not doing much, and it was still pretty awful outside. Everyone was exhausted and overall, it wasn’t fun like it is now. Let’s face it, having a newborn in winter weather isn’t exactly fun. You are pretty much stuck inside.

Yesterday we went outside 3 different times. We went to the store, I made Jack walk holding my hands, through the parking lot. When we got home we played in our back yard.

He loved walking around outside

making his way through the grass

I truly believe you haven't had a full childhood until you have pressed your face to a screen. He did this all on his own 🙂 Clearly my child

We had a blast. It was still morning time. We had a long and warmer day ahead of us. Nap time came after this trip outside. I have to say I found nap time particularly boring yesterday. I just kept hoping he would wake up soon so we could head to the park. It just looked too pretty outside to be stuck inside!

After he rested he agreed, a trip to the park was definitely needed.

This boy loves nothing more in life than being on a swing

Yay for Spring!

We had a blast. He played with some of his toys. Another boy came up and snatched one of his toys without asking. His face was priceless. He definitely does not like it when people act unfairly. He was not happy. He did something similar at the Children’s Museum last weekend when a 5 or 6 year old started shouting at him and messing with him and what he was playing with. He smacked the kid’s hand and stared him down. Yesterday he just gave the kid a dirty look because that kid’s mom intervened. I don’t want him hitting, however, at the Museum this kid that messed with him was in the wrong and Jack was only standing up for himself. We were in a baby/toddler area and this kid did not belong there. His mom actually picked him up and PUT him in the baby/toddler area! She was in the wrong and so I let my child handle himself. I was proud. We were right there if we needed to step in. I definitely want him to know that it is ok to stand up for yourself if someone is treating you wrong. Once he has more of a vocabulary we will work on using his words. For now the only way he could express those feelings was to swat the kids hand away from him.

On to the afternoon. We came home and had some down time and a snack. We watched some Toy Story 2 together. I had apples and peanut butter. Jack had his favorite movie snack, cheerios! We both started to get antsy before the movie was even over so back outside is where we went. We even walked down to the beach behind our house. I made him walk all the way there, holding my hands. He was interested in walking very close to the water. He loves swimming, but I explained to him that it was still way too cold for that. I know this summer we will be in this lake a lot. He was already itching to check it out. My little fishy!

He was interested in what was on his hand. He likes sand more than grass though

We spent a nice amount of time just playing in the grass. He was filling his buckets with toys, dumping them out, and filling them back up. Wait until he realizes you can do this with sand and dirt! I will admit, I was anxious over how dirty he was getting. Crawling on the ground and his new shoes were filthy (as you can see above) but I let it go. I have to get used to that, he is a little boy after all. I remember how filthy I got playing outside as a child and I am a girl! Granted I have two brothers, so my playmates were boys. I still have to get past my current “no don’t touch that” instinct. I think I did well yesterday. I didn’t stop him from doing anything that wasn’t dangerous! Phewf, I survived! He had a blast. And it felt good to get out of the stuffy indoor scene.

Today is supposed to be even warmer. We have swim in a little while. But I expect we will spend a good amount of time outside again. Maybe we will go to the other park that is a little farther of walk but smaller and more geared towards the littler ones.

Happy Spring!

Adventure Always Awaits

Beach in March? You betcha!

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