The Fourth

I think this was one of my least favorite 4th of July's ever. We were invited to friends of ours for food and fireworks. The city lights off their fireworks across the street from their house. Of our core group of 3 couples(none being the host) we were probably 10 years older than most of the other folks and all of us have kids of some age from Miss Peanut Butter almost 3 to 16. While I don't believe any of them have kids. My friend and I both could feel how pissy some of the other guests were about having kids be there. Peanut Butter and my friend's three year old girl were running wild and there was no control over them. It was a constant chase and since the hosts don't have kids, they have a cream chair and sofa that PB wanted to get her grubby feet all over. Ugh it was hell. I barely had a chance to have any conversation with the people I did want to talk to.

Here's Miss PB with one of many plates she wanted and then didn't want.

PB and her partner in crime. They are deciding how far through other people's yards they want to have us chase them through.

A little after 9 people started shooting off fireworks and PB wasn't having any of it she was screaming bloody murder to "go Home." I took her to the car which was actually parked in the perfect spot for us to watch the fireworks. She cried through the first few BOOMs and then she shouted, "Yellow!" and it was all good from then on. The sound buffer of being in the car was just enough that she was able to enjoy the fireworks and when they were done she wanted more booms and fireworks. So the night wasn't all bad.

Photostory Friday: What are the Chances

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

What are the chances that Miss Peanut Butter will want to be a catcher?

J and I were both catchers in high school. I think it would be neat if she was too. I loved catching, even on the hottest of days a part of me still enjoyed it. Don't worry I won't push it, but she loves to put the mask on.

Note to Self: Things Not to Tell Peanut Butter

Do not tell a Disney Princess loving girl that her shoes are princess slippers. She will assume she has to keep losing one for her prince to find as you are trying to walk to the baseball fields to have family time.

Photostory Friday: Too Big

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Remember the face you got when Miss Peanut Butter was on the carousel?
This is the face you get when you tell Miss Peanut Butter she is not big enough for the swings that spin around really fast while on the carousel.

Peanut Butter was very upset she could not go on the swings. She kept pointing at them and we had to tell her she was not big enough. This turned in to the swings being "too big."

She was partially appeased at the Ferris Wheel ride and looked down upon the swings and muttered "too big, too big." She did enjoy the ride and we got her on this kid sized drop thing and that made her day.

She was back to her old self on the carousel.

She still had to say "too big" every time she had a glimpse of those swings. She even said it when I brought up the page to link it and she saw the picture of the swings.

And just a side story, because I couldn't choose between the two, the Field Museum in Chicago has a pirate exhibit going on right now and it is pretty neat. We ended up going through it a lot faster than I had hoped, but with a toddler, things don't always go as you hope. Anyway, PB has a thing for pirates and at one point in the exhibit there is a doctor sawing a pirates leg off and this for some reason was the coolest thing. She did not stop talking about it. She kept running back to the mannequins and yelling "Doctor, Doctor!" All day it was about the doctor, when ever we passed the museum after that, it was the doctor. You would thing that a doctor sawing a guy's leg off was scare a toddler, but not this one. I think I'm in trouble.

The Wheel and an Update

Miss Peanut Butter wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier as soon as she saw it on the bus tour we went on. "Wheel, Wheel!" she kept shouting. J and The Boy aren't big on heights, so I figured they would not go on the ride. Peanut Butter and I went on the Wheel ourselves, it was a fantastic view of the city and PB was not afraid in the least. She even crept up to the side windows and looked down. We were on at the perfect time, the sun was setting and the city was starting to light up.

It is officially 2 weeks since we went diaper free. PB has been doing very well. She still has issues with #2 and letting us know when she has to go, but #1 seems to be good to go. She has been letting us know when she has to go, the only problem is when she lets us know it means now. She was accident free the whole time we were out and about in Chicago which was a huge worry of mine. She saved the accidents for when we were in the hotel room.

Note to Self: Pack the Camera First

Thirty minutes into the drive to Chicago, I realized I forgot my camera. As much as I say I'd like a new camera, I do like mine and I don't know how ready I am to upgrade to a d-slr. J asked if he wanted me to turn around, and he pulled into a gas station, for gas. He was kidding about turning around. He said just buy some disposables. Perish the thought. I couldn't go back to not knowing if a photo turned out or not. I got up early Friday morning and went on a quest. I wish I would have known Target was 6 blocks away, since that is where I would've gone, but I found a Radio Shack and bought the 2nd cheapest camera they had, which wasn't real cheap. I should've read some of the book too, because it took me 'til the last day to somewhat get the hang of the thing. Figuring in how many photos I took, 347 which I have pared down to 234, I could not have done that with a disposable or taken a couple movies. I am probably going to sell the camera on ebay and try to get some of my money back.

So....Here are a couple we went to The Field Museum:



The Shedd Aquarium:

And Navy Pier:
Peanut Butter wasn't technically tall enough for this ride but we got her on and she had a blast. J and The Boy were surprised, they must not know the dare devil very well. It somewhat made up for the swings she definitely wasn't tall enough for.

I wasn't really happy with the photos I took, but a lot of it was user error. I missed my Cannon Powershot A630.

More to come.

Ice Pops and the Potty

Miss Peanut Butter has been doing pretty good on the potty front. We had a bad day Sunday, but since then we seem to be getting better. Today after our unfortunate accident in the check out lane at Wally World, she started asking to go to the potty. She stayed accident free the whole evening at the baseball fields and asked to go twice. She even asked twice when we got home and she went both times, one being a poop. I had heard horror stories about getting a child to poop on the potty, but she doesn't seem to mind. Daycare even sent home all her pull ups, but she has been staying dry there consistently for quite a while. We are even pull up free at night with no accidents as of yet and it has been a week. We are going to Chicago for the weekend so hopefully she will keep up the great work.
I swear by the end of the summer she will have eaten her weight in Ice Pops. I think she has 3 or 4 a night when we are down at the fields which is Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Since that seems the only way to get any Daddy time right now. She likes it though, she runs around an plays with the kids down there. The ladies who work the concession stand are pretty good with her. They sneak her a free ice pop every now and then. Green seems to be her favorite.