We do the tourist thing.

Thanks to the Chicago Pubic Library's generosity, we've been able to visit a few places in Chicago free of charge. (At least our 10.25% sales tax pays for something, right?) Last week, I packed the boys and a lunch for a morning at the Chicago Children's Museum. The museum itself was a wee bit underwhelming, though this probably had something to do with my urge to keep moving and see everything in order to extract every last bit of fun from our excursion. (Thrifty Dutch blood dies hard.) The museum did afford the opportunity for the boys to sit down to a lively game of checkers. It lasted about 10 seconds. The museum did also afford me the opportunity to observe firsthand one of Manny's fears, which I would loosely describe as a phobia concerning lifesize or larger objects that should be real but aren't. This fear manifested itself earlier this summer when the boys spent a week with my parents and Manny screamed in fear when he was set down near a man in a dog costume. When I traveled to Boston a couple weeks ago, Manny was also scared of totem poles on display at the Field Museum, to the point that he refused to walk by them on his own power. At the Children's Museum, Manny was duly terrified of a man-shaped bench. I think that he may have even said the word "scared," which would be a first for him. Poor kid. Anyway, this whole paragraph is a digression, but I find these fears to be fascinating, and, in their own way, funny. Jonah's first fear was a city street sweeper truck, which is funny considering that Jonah loves trucks.

The real magic of the day, though was our ride on the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier. This summer I read the book "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larsen, which follows the planning, building and spectacle of the 1893 World's Fair here in Chicago (as well as detailing the work of a Chicago serial killer). I could barely put the book down and found the description of the Ferris Wheel to be fascinating. Though I've always avoided Navy Pier, I've also always harbored the desire to take a trip on the magical wheel there. It was worth it.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. It's nice when Jonah doesn't avoid and actually smiles for the camera!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day.

Another favorite. I love it when they're quiet and together. (Unless they're scheming. I don't love that.)
Jonah's learning to be Mama's helper. Now, if I can just get him to raise Manny while I concentrate on the third child...

A magical ride on the Ferris Wheel must necessarily be followed by a special treat. These rainbow-colored unicorn horn suckers provoke a certain feeling of nostalgia in me, and I couldn't deny the boys. The larger purpose in buying them, though, is to keep the boys awake and distracted on the long ride home. Suckers have become my latest go-to for this purpose.

A few trips have ended this way, with Manny's chin on his chest. Still clutching that sucker, though.

Ham

This child knows when the camera is on him.

Three years, three wheels

You'd never guess from the picture above that Jonah is actually very excited to be on his tricycle. He didn't even really mind wearing the knee- and wrist-guards. I had, however, put them on a little too tight (sorry, buddy), and I think that his enthusiasm for the Thomas the Tank Engine-themed safety gear had reached its end. Photos like this make me want to throw in the towel on all this safety stuff. I'm sure that I never wore so much as a helmet before I was an adolescent, and I made it thru my childhood years with nary a broken bone and a fairly reasonable number of stitches. A couple things do keep my disdain of the virtual bubble wrap in check, though: One is the ever-present "what if?" question, accompanied by the memory of my husband's bad (when it could've been truly terrible) bike accident a couple years ago; the other is the disapproving stares (real or imagined, I'm never sure) from other parents that would come my way if I were to risk my child's well-being. The first consideration certainly reigns more strongly than the second, and for that reason, we may never see Jonah without a helmet. Really, though, I'm thinking that the other gear may be a bit much.

This video is about a month old. Jonah's really improved since then, despite the fact that his trike-riding is largely limited to the brief minutes he spends on it in the basement when he heads down to switch the laundry with me. Jonah knows how to make good use of his time, it seems.

A boy's boy

Can you spot the goose-egg on Manny's head? The child stumbled (or was pushed -- we'll never know!) into the edge of our wooden toy chest -- ouch. The photos, of course, don't do it justice. The bump swelled so quickly that it split and started to ooze a little blood. Jonah did the same thing when he was about 14 months old; I guess that every child needs a bump like this during the toddler years. Right? It was probably the most traumatic thing that Manny's ever been through, but, considering that the tears and screams stopped with the application of popsicles, it was relatively non-traumatic after all. This happened five weeks ago now, and Manny still bears a visible mark and has a palpable bump on his head. Neither interfere with play and general rough-housing. Nor with book reading, as shown in Exhibit B.

We put Manny in a baseball cap awhile ago, and upon seeing him in it, Jonah exclaimed, "It's Baseball Pig!" (Pig being an endearing though potentially unflattering nickname.) Clever Jonah. Manny tries to live up to the name. (The photos and video are a month old now. Manny has vastly improved his swing and hit ability since.)

1) Pick up ball.

2) Decide that this is a job for two hands, after all.

3) Line it up.

4) Thwack!