Swimming

Like most of the weekends that we have been having around here, this past one was great. It really started Thursday night when we went to Movies in the park.  This is apparently something that a Chicago bank does every Thursday night, at parks around Chicago.  This Thursday it was The Lorax at Hollywood Park, which is the park that is literally, steps away from our house.  Nico was a gem, but didnt want to stay for the whole thing.  This was after Nico's school went to Shedd Aqaurium during the day.  I can totally tell that Nico is an only child- he has no perception of the idea of sharing.  Still.  I will post pictures from Shed later.

Friday night we met one of his school mates at a jump place in Niles.  This proved to be very fun and they proved to be good people.  Apparently, he is part of the old swedish mafia of North Park (it was originally settled by swedes).  They have a boat and have promised to take us out sometime.  Which is awesome, because I was just thinking that I needed to figure out a way to swing having a boat.  But it seems a bit unrealistic when the cost to park a boat in Lake Michigan is probably more than our rent. 

Saturday we headed to the YMCA for Nico's swimming lessons.

He was not too keen on sticking his face in the water, since he did it last week.  Which makes sense, I guess.  But then this happened:

(Sorry that Nico is selling so much crack... those trunks were a bit big).  

Here he is with Ms. Erin swimming.  No big deal.

Saturday afternoon I went up to Michigan to see Uncle Scott and JJ (who just moved to Kalamazoo from Rochester, NY).  We hung out at the house and watched Old School (apparently Rock had never seen it before).  

Sunday, I met Dave and Nico at the soccer field and we played two games (we won one and lost one).  Then we headed home and got to bed early.  Arent you worn out from reading all of that?  This coming week, we are going to try some vintage transportation vehicles museum/festival in Rockford- which Dave found.  The general consensus is that Nico is going to love it.  

Today I had a skin doctor appointment.  For the last year, I have been a bit nervous about skin cancer- mostly because I am terrible at remembering sunscreen.  And when I do wear it, it never seems to keep me from getting burned.  In particular, I was nervous about a couple of spots on my arms and a spot my nose.  Turns out my doctor just froze off some "likely precancerous" spots off my left forearm.  Which is so much better than I thought it might have been.  

Ramping up Festivities

We're  a couple of weeks away from Nico's birthday and we are starting to ramp up the preparations.  For one, there are there:

I ordered the Emergency shirt from CafePress a couple of weeks ago.  And the Chicago Police and Chicago Fire Department Shirts from the Kids Museum at Navy Pier.  Aren't they awesome?  We're also thinking about getting Nico, his first big kid bike (with the training wheels, of course).

Also, we are going to try a play date with a kid from Nico's school.  This kid's mom clued me into this: http://www.olearysfiretours.com/

I know right?  Can you imagine?  Not sure we are going to do this, but OMG, it looks like so much fun!!

Swimming Lessons

So this week has been a bit exciting.  Dave went to Florida last week for work and Nico and I hung out in Chicago.  He's not super excited about going to school yet- I think it's mostly because he doesn't have any really good friends there.  But I am working at it.

On Thursday night, we made homemade ice cream.  We did it with heavy whipping cream, so it was sort of gross... mostly because it was so greasy.  But Nico thought it was fantastic!!

Know what is really great about living 1.2 miles away from his school?  Being able to walk to pick him up from school.  Even cooler, is that the walk home took us through North Park's campus village and Peterson Park.  And we saw this girl.  Just hanging out.  

Saturday, Nico started swimming lessons at the YMCA.  He was a champ.  I was worried that he wouldnt want to do it... since he was a bit reluctant on Saturday morning when we woke up.  But he jumped in the pool and listened to his teacher and everything.  It was great.  After, we headed out to Franklin Park (near O'Hare) and had Sonic for lunch.  Then we scooped up Dad from the airport.   

Sunday, Dave and I had a game at the Foster Turf fields.  And one of Nico's sitters came and hung out with him.  I got to play in goal (I have been playing in the field).  And we won.  Does anyone else wonder how it is that the two games where I wasn't in goal are two games that we lost?  Coincidence?  I think not.  Okay, don't tell any of my teammates I said that.  :)

School choice

With Nico starting his new school, I have been thinking a lot about how we are going to do school in Chicago.  I know, right?  Just what I need, something new to obsess about, right?  Given that we are thinking about having another kid in the next year or so.  And given that not all of Chicago's schools are that great.  And given that we're not opposed to moving up to Evanston, Skokie or any of the other nicer suburbs on the northwest side of the city... it's a lot to think about.

One thing that gives me pause is that CPS doesn't allow for redshirting.  I understand why, intellectually.  It creates an unfair situation where the kids of affluent parents (who can afford another year of preschool) are at a natural advantage because they are older, bigger, smarter, etc.  when they start.  And therefore will be for the rest of their lives.  As an October baby, I believe that I had a distinct advantage over a lot of my peers because I was much older than most of them... because I turned 5 right after the cut off, I had to wait till I was almost 6 to start kindergarten.  Nico's case is even more extreme because he will turn 5 about two weeks before he would start kindergarten.  CPS deals with this by putting a kid into the age-approrpriate grade.  So even if one did redshirt their own kid (but letting them do another year of preschool/junior kindergarten), CPS would fix that by booting that kid to 1st grade when he started (not kindergarten).  Most people I have heard of have never regretted holding their kid back a year, but most have regretted not holding them back.  And this seems to be the case with boys... since they are so immature anyways.  Of course, this is all part of a crazy conversation about parenting, one that I have no interest in conducting here.

While we have a couple of years to think about it and make that decision, I am looking into our options.  We could enter him into the lottery for a magnet schools.  Chicago actually offers STEM, Language and the Humanities magnet schools... although I am not sure that is a great idea... to start fostering a love of the humanities at such an early age.  I mean, I'd like for him to be employable at some point.  The unemployed humanities major that decides to get a PhD in humanities and still cant find a job is sort of an inside joke in Academia.  

The other options are regular school,  private schools, charter schools, and selective enrollment schools (Chicago really is the wild west in terms of education).  The good news is, that two of the best schools in the city are close to us (Edison Regional Gifted and Northside Prep).  The downside is that they are both selective enrollment schools, which means that he would have to test into them.  BTW, I have no idea how one would test into a kindergarten.  I mean, seriously.... what the hell?  However, that said, I am kind of  in love with North Side.  Choice of languages one can learn: mandarin, chinese, japanese, latin, french, and spanish.  And seriously, you can't swing a dead cat at the course offerings without hitting an AP class.  

Of course, this is all assuming that Nico is going to be interested in being all academic.  It's possible that he's not able to do the work.  Or that he won't want to.  I mean, I was burned out of school by my junior year at Ft. Myers.  And if he wants to be a soccer player or a judoka?  I am not trying to have Nico staying up to 3 AM doing school work and trying to be an athlete.  

Then there are the private schools... not unless one of us gets super rich.  Charter schools?  Actually, it's funny you mention charter schools.  But someone at my work is working on a project where he compares the test results for charter schools and traditional schools?  Yeah, charters aren't really that great.  They just tend to look better because the "cream of the crop" of students (the ones with educated/engaged/interested/concern parents).  Coincidentally, those are also the kids who have regular bed times, eat breakfast, and don't live in shitty neighborhoods (all things that can influence academic outcomes).

So it's a lot to think about.  In the mean time, we are going to start "academic enrichment night" at the Bishop-Royse house.  Instead of going to the park and the gym and such, we're going to do academic things after work and school.  Like science experiments, reading, writing, etc.  It will all be fun and games and low-key.  At least till we get a sense of which direction we want to go.  

New School

Things are going well.  Nico has started his new school.  And loves it.  The first day, he was clingy and didn't want to be there- but since, he's been excited to go every day.  It's a Montessori school- so it's good in the sense that he has quite a bit of freedom.  And apparently it's fun.  So that is great.

I'm hoping to go up to Michigan this week.  Apparently South Haven has a blueberry farm... so Nico and I might head up there and then swing by to see Uncle Scott.  Which could be fun.

The house is coming along.  We have it mostly unpacked.  I got the girl cave squared away.  Dave's parents are coming up next month- so next up is getting the rest of the basement good to go.

Having extraordinary adventures

You know, it has to be hard being you guys and not being us.  I am almost at the place where I am like, "look at your life, now look at mine.  sadly, you don't have this life..." but I figure that would make me even more insufferable than I already am.

We are having a blast.  Seriously.  We are loving living in a city of decent size, with decent weather.  I am also loving working at a place where securing the next R01 isn't that big of a priority.  I take days off.  Isn't that crazy?  Last week, Nico and I drove out to Earlville to pick strawberries.  It was a bit of a drive, but worth it in my book.

And since we had so many strawberries, we made strawberry pie this weekend.  I mean, what else would you have done.  I brought one in yesterday and was declared queen of the pies at work.  

Friday had an MRI on Friday (guess what? He has a torn rotator cuff.  It's a good thing he lives with a doctor.  Because I diagnosed that mess a year ago).  This necessitated me staying home with Nico on Friday.  Which started with us going to breakfast at a freaking Swedish restaurant.  In our neighborhood.  It is called Tre Kronor and is our go-to place to go when family and friends are in town.  Look what Nico had:

Doesn't that look heavenly?  After said breakfast, Nico and I went to the library.  The library stresses me out a bit because they don't have many firetruck or police car books.  But we'll find them, I think.  

Saturday night, we headed down to Navy Pier.  We had dinner and walked around.  Nico took us to the Children's Museum store and we picked up a couple of t-shirts for his birthday (Chicago Police and Chicago Fire Department).  Which is very awesome.  Do you see them wearing sweatshirts?  Awesometown!!  I remember this time last year playing a game of soccer in Tallahassee where I had sweat dripping off my eyebrows.  And I was standing in goal.  Seriously.    

Sunday we played soccer.  We joined an 8 v 8 league on a team that already has a goalkeeper.  You know what that means?  Me playing in the field.  Which you know is never good for business.  The bad news is that we ended up losing someone to a red card and then proceeded to lose the game.  The good news is that it wasn't me.  So I have that going for me.  

This week I have Thursday and Friday off... so we're probably going to have some more adventures.