Starting to get Sad

It struck me today, that we are leaving Tallahassee- and it's not all rainbows and butterflies.

I was talking to Nico tonight on the phone and we were talking about how we are going to be moving in a few days.  The conversation turned to Graham, and Nico insisted that Graham is coming with us.  I guess when they have talked about it school that has been the conversation: that Nico and his family are moving to Chicago and Graham is going to come with us.  And I just got really sad for Nico.  I don't question the decision we made.  In the long run, this is going to end up being amazing for him.  He doesn't realize it, but things are going to change for him this weekend.  His two best friends (Graham and Ovid) are still going to be in Tallahassee and he will be in Chicago.  We are going to try to see them one final time this week, but it's difficult, because none of them will realize that it's probably the last time (at least for a while) that they will see each other.  

This spring, I read "Nurture Shock" by Po Bronson.  It's basically about what the latest science says about children and how they develop.  One of the most intriguing chapters of the book was about the psycho-social development of kids and the degree to which they learn sharing, compassion, and empathy from the relationships that they have with siblings.  Turns out that the better predictor of their abilities to express compassion, empathy, and to share come from the relationships that they have with their friends.  Since Graham has a little sister, he's always had to share.  And he is awesome with her.  He is very matter of fact about her abilities and the fact that she is little.  But he doesn't ever seem to view her presence as a drag (bringing down the fun that Nico and he were going to have).  His way and what he wants aren't the only thing that matter.  So when he interacts with Nico, they have a really fun way of playing, where they go from activity to activity to activity, both playing together.  Bossing each other and pushing back against the bossing, but never abandoning each other.  Never getting pissed at each other and deciding to do something different.  Which I think is awesome.  I hope that someday, when Nico is an older brother, he is half the brother Graham is to his little sis.  

In any case, we'll try to do google hangout and facetime and all of that.  I am in the process of assembling a mail kit for Nico, so that he can send letters and post cards to Graham and Ovid.  I'm also going to have a photobook printed of his friends and the house on Atapha and the hospital and the house on Apakin.  And the parks.  I hope it will help.

Swimming and May Day!

So, Nico had a pretty terrific weekend.  It started with a going away party at Joe and Kari Follick's house on Saturday.  And guess what?  There was swimming!!

He has suggested that it is time for him to start learning how to swim.  Which I am completely okay with.  I think we might need to look into swimming lessons up here.  He seems like he's old enough now where he can go and listen to the teacher and I can lounge nearby in the sun.  Just as it should be.  

His school also did their May Day celebration.  

In this event, there was singing and a party.  When someone (whose name rhymes with Rave) finally uploads the video, I will post a link to some of the performances.  Apparently, Nico knows that after doing a performance and people clap, you should bow.  He was the only kid who bowed.  Which is awesome.  

There were also horse rides, which is fantastic.  Nico has been on a horse more in the last three years than I have been in the last 20.  And I lived on a horse ranch.  Go figure.  

I fly home tomorrow to scoop up my boys and bring them to Chicago.  Don't know what next week will look like, so I probably won't post much.  Once we get to Chicago, there will be all the unpacking.  Can I share with you how much I am looking forward to having all my kitchen stuff?  Mixing bowls?  Pans?  A microwave??   Thank god.  If I have to eat another shitty spinach smoothie for breakfast, I was going to have a fit.  Surprisingly, sugar-free andes mints added to the blender, a delicious breakfast smoothie don't make. 

Singy McSingerson

Nico's school is having a big May Day celebration this year.  We've noticed that Nico has been singing songs that we haven't taught him.  He's kinda shy about it, so Dave had to record this surreptitiously:



I think they might be doing this song too at May Day, because Nico knows the words:


Also during bath time, Dave has been teaching Nico all the words to yellow submarine.  Which is awesome

Plants and the Cubs!

Last night, when I got home, I got the chance to put my herbs into plants and hang them.  Plus, I started some tomatoes.  Don't they look cute?

Also, Dave's boss is coming to town in June, and we want to take him and his daughter to a Cubs game.  So I bought tickets.  It's going to be fun!! Of course, I am a bit spoiled.  The first game I ever went to at Wrigley, we were in the 12th row of box seats.  So, I am a bit spoiled.  

Weekend with my boys!

I flew home on Friday, for Mother's Day weekend.  I had a bit of a debacle leaving Chicago though.  Apparently, there was going to be some bad weather, so Delta delayed my flight out of O'Hare, but I would have missed my connection in Atlanta.  And not get into Atlanta until 1145 pm.  And Mama don't play that.  So, after consulting with some coworkers, they suggested, I get in a cab and then get on the phone with Delta when I couldn't get the Delta website to work for rebooking my departure.  I did and was able to get Delta to reroute me through Midway, leaving an hour earlier.  This put me into Tallahassee at 830 pm to see my squish and Dave!

Saturday, Nico and I started with a trip to the park with Ovid.  There is a new spinner thing that they just did not get tired of.  It was pretty much amazing.  

Saturday night, we stayed in and tried to watch Finding Nemo.  Nico was still not entirely interested in watching a movie all the way through (even though I thought he'd be all over Finding Nemo).  Oh well.  

Sunday morning, Dave and Nico took me to a special Mother's Day brunch at the Hotel Duval, which is kind of a swanky place in downtown Tallahassee.  The brunch was very nice.  We had to get dressed up. I am not sure, but I think Nico might be modeling here.  

The brunch was delicious... there were mimosas, floats, quiches, etc.  It was awesome.  The brunch was held at the Level 8 lounge (which is the bar/lounge of the Hotel Duval).  It has a fantastic view of the skyline of Tallahassee.  

Sunday afternoon, we scooped up Graham (Nico's best friend) and Graham's sister Lydia, to take them to the soccer field.  I wanted Dave to be able to play soccer, so I kept the kids.  Nico and Graham had a grand time... they played nicely for two hours, with the occasion break for snacks.  Including watermelon.

  

Then, this morning, we took off for the airport.  Nico and Dave dropped me and I flew back to O'hare and headed to the office.  In all, it was a great weekend.  Nico's been a peach- but I am definitely looking forward to getting the boys up here.  

Walking with History

I am becoming a massive fan of Yelp.  I love being able to open the app on my phone and search nearby for "Cheap Dinner" or "Burgers" or "Brunch".  On Wednesday night, I had a massive headache (which I think was brought on by either hunger or dehydration) so I went looking for a place to eat something quick before the event I went to.  

I ended up at a place around the corner called "Lincoln Station".  Had dinner, it was okay.  But then today, when I went to review it on Yelp, I found out that it is across the street from The Biograph Theatre, which is where John Dillinger was killed by the FBI.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biograph_Theater

That is crazy. 

And that is what I love about Chicago and all old cities.  That you can walk though the streets and literally be walking where history has walked.  LOVE IT.  

In other news, I am headed home today... I say "home" because home is wherever Dave and Nico are.  I cant wait to get them up here. 

Green Thumbs Unite!!

Not much going on here.  Last night I went to an event that was hosted by the DePaul Social Science Research Center.  One of the organizations that we work with was having a launch party, and my boss was supposed to speak.  So, I went.  It was ok.  I am looking forward to doing cool stuff like that.  Last month, DePaul hosted Sister Prejean and Tim Robbins (Sister Prejean was the sister the story of Dead Man Walking was based on).  Why Tim Robbins, I dont know, except that he might be a Death Penalty Advocate.  Other things that are awesome about Chicago: The Counting Crows and the Wallflowers are playing Chicago.  Together.  (Counting Crows being one of my favorite bands).  And other such cool things. I am pretty sure Springsteen plays Chicago whenever he's one tour.  And Jimmy Buffet.  So that will definitely be cool... getting at least have the opportunity to see great acts.

This week, I went to Home Depot to get the garden started.  There are three not so great things about our house:
1.  The kitchen. Its small.  And not impressive.  But all electrical outlets work.  And I havent blown a fuse yet... so that's cool.
2.  In the summer, there are rats in the alley (we have an alley that runs behind our house- where the garbage cans are).  WHAT. THE. ACTUAL.F? Seriously?  Supposedly, its because we live so close to a park (I dont know what that correlation is).  I was talking to a neighbor when she told me about it.  My thought is that there are clearly not enough predatory snakes in our neighborhood.  Cuz you know, Florida snakes don't get down like that.  I am considering what it would take to have an outdoor cat... could we get an outdoor cat to handle that?  Build her a little house or something?
3.  The yard is tiny.  And gets a lot of shade.

So, in terms of the yard situation, I think I might try to funnel most of the gardening efforts into container gardening- which is great, since we have so many containers.  So, I headed to Home Depot, where I spent the better part of an hour wandering around the garden section.  Guess what else they have in Chicago?  Seasons.  Like, where you can grow things besides cotton, peppers, and tomatoes.

Look what I found:

Based on what was on sale at Home Depot, this is very popular: large bowls of color annuals.  I guess, since so many people have decks, terraces, and balconies instead of yards.  I really wanted it- but I could not justify the $90 for it.

So I settled on some containers for herbs that can hang on the steps going out to the back porch.  And some peat pots for mai seeds.  When Nico gets up here, we are going to have to hit the ground running getting some seeds going.

Settling into Chicago

Not much new going on here in Chicago.  I am flying back to Tallahassee on Friday for Mother's Day Weekend.  I am definitely looking forward to seeing my boys.  Especially squish.  I call Nico lots of names: Squish, Meatball, Nicholas Michael Royse, the Boy, Lil Man, etc.  I started calling him Squish because Ms. Sue (his teacher at his old school), would ask, "Jessi, why is he so squishy? (huggable)".  And he is.  You just have to snuggle my boy!!  

Here is a picture of the place where I wait to catch the bus.  I dont know what that kind of tree is called, but it was in bloom last week and the blossoms hadn't fallen completely off- so it was beautiful.  I don't mind waiting for a bus when I get to wait here.  

Last month I bought a groupon for OnRamp Crossfit classes.  Crossfit is... I guess its a bit like a cult.  It meets most of the sociological definitions of a cult.  But it's mostly based on functional movements and strength.  Every year, they have Crossfit games- which are kind of like the Olympics.  The winner is the "Fittest Man/Woman on Earth."  The workouts combine running, rowing, gymnastics, power lifting, olympic lifting, etc.  In any case, I went to the first class yesterday.  It was 1.2 miles from the office, so I walked over there (knowing full well, I might have difficulty getting myself back to the office on my own volition).  

It wasn't too bad.  I thought that my left knee was going to be a big problem, but we worked on technique for squats.  If I do squats "right", then my left knee is not a problem.  I did a 6 set tabata (which is 20 seconds of action followed by 10 seconds of rest).  Squats/situps/lunges.  So I did squats (as many as I could in 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest). Six times.  Same with situps.  Same with lunges.  I bailed on the last 5 seconds of the 5th set of lunges (mostly because my legs were shaking so bad).  In all, it wasn't too bad.  And I walked my own self back to the office.  

Bonus: I got a pic of the bridge.  I have this goal of running/walking over all the bridges in Chicago.  I already have a bunch done.  It's nice to unexpectedly add one to the list.  

Other than that, not much is going on.  I rode my bike to campus on Saturday, just to see if I could.  It wasnt too bad.  Bike lanes or bike paths almost the entire way.  But then I got lost heading back to North Park.  Per usual.  

I went up to Evanston on Saturday night to Robyn and Jordan's house.  Robyn was the one who sent me the job post for the DePaul job.  I basically fell in love with their street.  I think that when the time comes, we are definitely going to have to consider Evanston (when its time to buy a house).  We had deep dish pizza with Kevin (who I also know from FSU) and his girl Jen, and another couple (Cheryl and Andy).  It was pretty fun.  

Sunday, I went for a run and hit up whole foods (yay!), even if it was like Mad Max Beyond Thunder Dome.    I am trying to eat a lot more fruits and vegetables lately.  I make kale or spinach smoothies for breakfast, have salad for lunch and some type of protein for dinner.  I thought I would try this Odwalla juice because there was sale on it at the grocery across the street from my work (yeah, that is pretty much awesome).  The only problem with this juice is that it tastes like carrots.  

I dont know what I was expecting- maybe something that didnt taste so much like the carrots?

Invalid

Here is a picture of Nico in a bowler hat.  Your argument is invalid.

Missing my boys.

So this period that I am in Chicago is the longest that I have ever been apart from Nico.  It's so weird.  17 days.  As of today, it's ten more days till I see him in Tallahassee (for Mother's Day).

Luckily Grandma and Grandpa are in town this week, so I hope they are a good distraction for him.  I guess when you're getting to go to Chuck E. Cheese and to the park all the time, I bet it's not hard.

It's crazy how grown his face looks.. He's really losing the toddler/three year old look and is starting to look like a big kid.  It's been hard with him- I was hoping that he would be more interested in video chatting and talking on the phone, but he isn't.  I think he might be a little mad/annoyed at me.  I hope he isn't but, I would be pretty pissed too if I were him.  I am trying to send him postcards and care packages and notes and such.  But I don't think he "gets" it.  

My only hope is that he doesn't remember this month.  At all. I know, that in the end, he will have so much more opportunity than if we had stayed in Florida on all fronts: sports, academics, culture, etc.  I can rest assured that if he goes to do ODP when he is a sophomore or a junior in highschool, he will do so having a really good idea where he stands because he will have played with all those guys.  He has the chance to attend schools that rank in the top 50. IN THE COUNTRY.  He might have a choice of judo clubs to fight in.  I hope someday he realizes this...