Now that we've established that, let's move on to other more important things that have happened this month.
In order to celebrate my birthday/Valentine's Day/President's Day (because we're all about honoring those guys), Brian, Ethan, my folks and I decided at kind of the last minute to go to Chicago for a weekend in mid-February. I have to say, it was a pretty great time. First of all, we took the train. I was a little worried that being held captive on our chosen transportation would lead to a restless Ethan. But the beauty of it was that Ethan, while definitely restless, could go anywhere he wanted to. He bopped from me to Brian to my parents to the club car to me again...no being strapped down. It was great. The trip flew by.
Then, having my parents there was wonderful. We arranged to be on the same hotel floor as them, which meant that Ethan could pretty much run down the hall to them and then back to us. No, we didn't just send him out in the hotel alone. (Of course, what kind of parents do you think we are?!) But Embassy Suites was arranged in a square, with the courtyard in the middle, so we could almost stand at the door to our room, have my parents stand at their door, and watch Ethan the whole way. He had an amazing time running the halls of the hotel, going up and down the elevator a million times, and paddling around the hotel pool.
We are all the types to take advantage of a fun city while still leaving time to relax. I personally don't enjoy rushing around to things and being too exhausted to enjoy them, so we all made sure to get naps when we could. Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen?
But in between naps, we did as much stuff as we could. The aquarium was my favorite as a kid, so we spent several hours there one day. Besides a huge meltdown right by the otters (I wouldn't buy him a cookie), he was a champ the whole time, and really loved a lot of what he saw. It's so funny - he wasn't as in love with the things I thought he would be - the penguins, the otters, etc. But the little area for toddlers where they could act like penguins (crawl, slide, etc.) was a huge hit. And the dolphins cheered him up after his temper tantrum. :) So did the area where he could pretend that he was in a submarine.
Gears, dials, buttons...happy, happy, boy. If I had a little girl, I would totally have pushed her in there, because there was nothing but boys in that area - very active, loud, and happy boys, but just boys!
The next day we all split up - my mom went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, my dad headed to the Apple Store, and Ethan, Brian, and I went to the Hancock Building. Another huge favorite of Ethan's - elevators. So he was again a pretty happy boy. And not at all bothered by the heights. We joined my dad at the Apple Store after a little while, where Ethan busied himself with a Dora game loaded on an iPad. We could have left him there for hours and he would never have noticed. (But again, what kind of parents do you think we are?)
Trip = GREAT. Recovering from the trip = AWFUL. I woke up Monday with a cold, had a terrible reaction to a booster shot that sent me to the ER, and then the cold turned into a sinus infection. I pretty much abstained from working more than four hours at a time, took as much medication as any human is allowed to take, and spent my week sweating in bed and on the couch. Very attractive and romantic for the week of Valentine's Day. Ethan came down with a cold, too, but seemed to recover after only a few days. Oh, to be young again. :)
