Ringing Like A Bell

I knew Caroline was under the weather when she came downstairs on Sunday morning only to get a pillow from my room and make herself a new bed on the couch. I asked if she felt ok and she rested a hand against her brow and whispered, "No."

I was so moved by the pathos of her Little Eva that I went to get the camera and she obliged by re-enacting her original pose. I am considering buying her a fainting couch for Christmas.

She really did feel crummy - melodrama notwithstanding - and she punctuated this fact by waking up that night and vomiting all over her bed and the carpet and her pajamas and the pillow and the lamp and East St Louis. Good Lord. Steve was down at the Ffarm (he spent five days there; annoying the squirrels, mainly) and I missed him at that moment more than I ever had in my life: his gentle smile, his sturdy commonsense, his ability to scour surfaces with Clorox... but we managed without him and I eventually got her back to sleep. I stayed with her for an hour or two and then stumbled back to my own bed where I slept for another hour or two until Edward woke me up by crying Mommy mommy mommy. I went back upstairs dreading a new hazmat situation but found Edward sitting up and smiling at me.

"Edward," I said, "It's three in the morning. What do you want?"

He said, "Should you cuddle in the race car bed?"

I said, "No. I love you. No. Good night" and started to walk out the door when he extended his two fat hands imploringly and said, "But I missed you Mommy."

Clearly I am besotted with him (I know I have said it before but Edward is just so... pretty. and chunky. and soft) and thus I did, indeed, agree to cuddle in the race car bed. Actually I fell asleep in there and woke up in the morning to find Edward lovingly patting my face and suggesting that I needed to go downstairs and make waffles. It took me a minute to figure out where I was, two more to realize it was a school day and half a second to determine that we were running really really late. I did not make waffles.  

Caroline and Edward stayed home from school on Tuesday - because not only am I a courteous user of parking lots, I am also thoughtful when it comes to not exposing other children to stomach viruses; although I admit: I WAS TEMPTED

... quick parking lot story:

the day after I wrote that last post I was about to pull into a parking space at Target when a man pulled into it from the other side. I mean he was in the next aisle over and pulled through a space in order to take the one I was about to use. When he saw me he immeditely gestured to show that he was willing to pull out and I waved him on because I just wanted to be near the shopping cart corrall with the jumbo two-child seat carts and there were plenty of other spaces. So I drove on and parked and got the cart and got Caroline and Edward strapped into it and when I finally moved toward the store the guy was waiting for me at the door so he could apologize for cutting me off. It was completely unnecessary but I was very touched and it was all I could do not to tell him that on my crazy perseverators list of parking lot offenders he had barely made the 2010 Top 100.

What a nice man.

Anyway.

Steve was gone and Caroline was sick but Steve came back and Caroline got better but the twins did not go to school and I was running on 150% children for days and days. We read a lot.

I had a realization recently that even if we had never had the twins it would have been fine. Really. Not that I don't... good grief... ADORE them and feel utterly and completely grateful that I have not one, not two but three perfect lumps of perfection... just that it would have been ok. I would have been ok. At the time we were leaping through flaming hoops to get a pregnancy to work I could not see that possibility. I wanted to have another child so much - and I really do get a tremendous amount of pleasure from kids; mine, yours, that one over there - and the miscarriages made me so unhappy that I was convinced that I would be miserable for the rest of my life but I don't think I would have been. It would have been disappointing and it would have taken an adjustment for me to accept the life I had versus the life I thought I would have but I think - I hope - that I would have gotten over it. I would have been lucky to just have Patrick and Patrick would have been superb as an only child.

That said 

watching the three of them interact slays me.

Edward plays hard to get

But eventually relents

Patrick explains tension and wind speed

Caroline says, right, got it, thanks

And then there were bubbles (if you enlarge this one her expression is worth the trouble)

I have a friend, a very old friend, a very very very old friend who is getting married in Chicago on Saturday. Steve said, GO! For gods' sake, GO! Take the weekend. Have fun. We'll be fine.

And I thought well ok. I will. I will go. I will take the weekend. And I will have fun.

Then I thought about it some more and realized that I would have even more fun if I brought Patrick with me. And we stopped at the Dells and went to a waterpark on Friday night. And then we painted Chicago, Patrick-style.

So that is what we are going to do. Tomorrow I am getting Patrick early from school and we're going to drive to Wilderness in the Dells (they're running a great special - $99 including waterpark passes and my choice of a queen suite or a queen with wet bar; I laughed.) Saturday we will be attending my friend's afternoon wedding and that night Patrick is going to stay with my friend's 7 year old son and my friend's friend's 7 year old daughter and some as-yet-unspecified caregiver and I will go to the bar they've rented out and dance. Well... "dance."

For the first time ever priceline completely let me down as I was forced to pay a truly ridiculous amount of money for a hotel Saturday night. All week I kept creeping up my priceline offer thinking surely I would get an acceptance but no. Eventually I googled something like "what the hell Chicago hotel prices 11/13 insane" and got three words and a number: american, medical, association, 22000. As in, twenty-two thousand people will be attending the AMA conference in Chicago. Plus the Bears are playing the Vikings at home.  We were screwed.

Oh well. I reached a point where it began to feel like I was bidding with goblin gold and said to hell with it and got us a room that will make Patrick swoon. Although I prefer to be thrifty and this was anything but thrifty it will be the urban evening Patrick craves and fifty years from now who'll know the difference?

As I drove to school today Patrick planned our itinerary for Sunday. He wants to go up the Sears Tower and he wants to ride the El and he wants to go to the Art Institute and sketch (this surprised me quite a lot but it is dawning on me that in his own way Patrick is something of a serious artist - he just doesn't work in any form I recognize as such; how nice for Patrick that my bourgeois limitations will provide such a sturdy foundation from which he can launch himself) and he wants to walk around on sidewalks.

He said, "I just want to become PART of the city you know? Also, I'll need lunch."

On the drive home I worried about how we were going to do all this immersion in the three hours we had before we would need to leave and I mentioned my concern to Steve when I got home. Steve suggested we take another day and just keep Patrick out of school on Monday.

Caroline is shocked.

So that is what we are going to do. I am so excited and not to beat the dead pharmaceutical rep but I cannot help but feel my new tra-la-la-la-la attitude is due in large part to the Celexa. I haven't felt this breezy in years. I even bought red shoes. Red! Oh and I met my new Someone and I liked her and she's having me read a book on Buddhist meditation techniques that I promise I will get to just the second I finish... fiction.

Any other thoughts on what Patrick might like in Chicago? Although I lived there for... three years? Five?... the only thing I remember is that last call doesn't happen until breakfast.

PS Patrick has started a new sideline from Letter Comix: State Comix! I thought this one was pleasantly odd.

Comments

[Deborah]

There is a fabulous aquarium on the waterfront. That is all I have to offer.
Have fun!

[Christine]

What a great weekend you guys have planned out! And do give me (us!) the name of the Buddhist meditation book. My husband suffers with some anxiety, and even though he is resistant to the idea of therapy right now, it wouldn't hurt to have it in the house...maybe with a place of honor in the bathroom. You know, to give him the hint.

[Julie]

Patrick might enjoy the Museum of Science and Industry. It has all kinds of cool things to explore (walk through the human heart) and is not far from the Art Institute, if I remember correctly.

[Steph]

I'm with Patrick and the lunch thing. I like Webers (good burgers good steak).

The lego store???
The Navy Pier. (My favorite.)

[Jenn]

The museum of science and industry and/or the aquarium

Chicago-style deep dish pizza?

[Jan]

If you can get to the main campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, designed by Mies Van der Rohe (it's in the city), visit the McCormick Campus Center. (Good for a lunch!) Patrick will flip -- it is one wild building. Glass walls in the entrance are frosted with all of international sign symbols. The ceilings get high and low like Alice in Wonderland. Also, outside of it they encased the El in this big structure to mask the vibrations and noise.
http://www.iit.edu/giving/mies/master_plan/mccormick_tribune_capmus_center.shtml
So um, why no details about Patrick's school Halloween party? What did you end up doing? Please tell!

[Mama Fuss]

I liked the views of the John Hancock building better than the Sears Tower - just a thought.

LOVE the pics of Caroline w/ the bubbles. So cute.

I am so happy that you are doing this - getting away, having some fun, and including Patrick in it. I long for the day when my kid/s is/are old enough to do something like that with. (pardon the grammatical errors there. head pounding.) My mom and I have lots of memories of doing little things like this together and I hope that I, too, can do things like that, individually with my children. (I was an only child, so for mom it was no biggie)

[Auntie G]

The lego store IS fun but in the 'burbs, so you'll need to allow driving time...I'd think a solid 40 minutes minimum from downtown and maybe worse going home depending on when that Bears game is. The Museum of Science and Industry is loads of fun but 1)will be a difficult drive on game day, so maybe go on Monday? and 2) do not pony up the extra money for the Jim Henson exhibit unless Patrick is a HUGE fan. The Shedd Aquarium is free on Monday as well. The Art Institute has a new modern wing which may not have existed when you lived here, and their children's area, though most of it is skewed a bit young for Patrick, is always free. Enjoy your visit!

[Carolina]

He will love the Museum of Science and Industry for sure, but it is not at all near the Art Institute but rather down in Hyde Park. Take Lake Shore Drive south from downtown.

I would not do Navy Pier unless he is just crazy into ferris wheels, because the place has gotten more and more commercialized and corporately sponsored as time has gone on and now it is sort of like wandering around a mall but more expensive. Yuck.

Consider going to the main branch of the Chicago Public Library. It is like a temple to learning and literacy and has a million fascinating corners and things to discover and explore. The size alone (nine floors of books!) is awe-inspiring but it also has a very pleasing aesthetic. It feels like a feast. Oh, if he likes used bookstores I recently discovered a great one called Open Books.

If the yet-to-be-specified caregiver is yet-to-be-specified because you and/or your friends are looking for someone still, I am a highly qualified professional nanny and well-loved neighborhood sitter who is looking for evening and weekend work and who just had a cancellation for Saturday. I live in Chicago and I have a car.I'm just sayin'. Drop me an email.

[AR]

The Lincoln Park Zoo and the Children's Museum are conveniently located near each other, along with the rest of Lincoln Park (the actual park, not the neighborhood), and I think that is where I would take a kid in the city. I think I would also feed said kid at RJ Grunts, which is tasty-ish pub grub right near the zoo.

[lisap]

There is a Lego store in the North Bridge shops on Michigan Ave. Probably smaller than the one at Woodfield but still fun. Don't even consider going to the Shedd or Field Museum or Adler on Sunday--they share parking with Soldier Field and when there's a Bears game you are so not going to be happy...

[Portia]

Sounds like a terrific weekend! Have a great time. Just don't forget that many museums are closed on Mondays, so you might want to hit those on Sunday.

Also, your kids are adorable, as always.

[Heather]

Grant park, straight to the water from Congress and just see how much of the museum campus / Navy Pier you can identify from that one spot - oh - but they may have turned off the fountain already.

Oh, and the next time you want to spend an absurd amount of money on a hotel room, that Hilton (just south of Congress, on Michigan) with a lakeside room will leave you GIDDY with the view.

[jennamom2boys]

See, I was one of the many to extol the properties of lovely citalopram! So glad you're feeling better. Sounds like a fabulous weekend, I hope you and Patrick have a ball in the big city! Can't wait to read all about it.

[jen]

Oh you could spend the entire day at the Art Institute alone I think, especially if he wants to stop and sketch or whathaveyou. The day my husband and I went we only blocked off the morning for it and as we left for lunch, I was sad to go. Love that place. Patrick is after my own heart wanting to ride the El. Good grief I LOVE the El. We did the aquarium also when we were there and it was nice, nothing particularly spectacular but nice nonetheless. Hmm...mostly we go to Cubs games when we go so I can't think of anything else in particular that we've done other than wander the city, which is my most favorite thing after the El.

[Heather]

OH OH OH!!!

If the weather is nice go and walk around the Wrigley building and see all the chunks of other cool places imbedded in the outside stonework!

[Beth]

"Also, I'll need lunch." That child is too too much, but I LOVE IT!

The only thing I might recommend would be Ed Debevic's. OK diner food, but the thought of Patrick harassing and being harassed by waitstaff brings me just a little too much joy!

[Maria]

Millenium Park is always fun, the Lego store might be a good Monday thing (esp. if you can buy something small-ish for him to build on the way home. I'm always a fan of the museums he mentioned but, yes, advise staying away from the Shedd on a game Sunday.

IIT is a neat idea but go online to see if Patrick would really love the architecture. If so, take the El--the green line allows you to go through the tube on top of the new student center.

I remember Patrick as a pickier eater. If not, Chinatown would be a fun place to walk around and have lunch. If he is, even though it's old hat to us, would he like a diner like Ed Debevics (which I am misspelling and too lazy to look up)? Saucy waitresses on roller skates and milk shakes as big as your head. If not, there are lots of places in Water Tower and cool glass elevators to ride.

[SarahB]

Well..."dance."

You slay me. Have so much fun in Chicago! I'm remembering both good times in that city and good times just me and my mom. Good, good call.

The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry was a classic field trip when I was Patrick's age.

On a side note, did Caroline get a hair cut? She looks so very cute!

[Heather]

You must check out the new Millennium Park if you haven't been yet: the bean sculpture, and gardens, and probably ice skating this time of year. And your future architect may like the Chicago Architecture Foundation tours. You cam do walking tours, bus, or boat tours. Have a great weekend!

[SarahB]

Oh, and, of course, I suggest Chicago deep-dish pizza and, for yourself, a nice Goose Island IPA.

[Sheila]

I am only slightly ashamed that I briefly considered driving to the Wilderness on Friday night, donning a swimsuit and "accidentally" bumping into you and Patrick there.

My pro tip: Klondike Kavern, despite the spelling, is the more enjoyable of the two big waterparks, unless you enjoy relentless screaming, fighting strangers for chairs and tables, and throbbingly loud music violating your eardrums - then the Wild West Waterpark is a perfect fit for you.

But maybe I should be the one on Celexa.

[Lisak]

Patrick would love the Cloud Gate (aka The Bean) at Millennium Park. Museum of Science and Industry. Science Museum. John Hancock Tower. My boys have loved these sites. Navy Pier? no great shakes. Skip it.

[Kimberley]

Go to Sears Tower--oops, Willis Tower or something now. The Hancock definitely has better views, but the Sears has these plexiglass(?) skyboxes that you can walk out on. It's all clear, even the floor, so you feel like you are stepping off the building. Most insanely creepy thing ever. But I am not 8.
I grew up in Chicago and still love it despite not living there. Science and Industry was awesome but--and this is a little random--I always had a soft spot for the Chicago Historical Society. Fires and Abe Lincoln were to me what I guess letters and numbers are to your son. Also the Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum (still love the mummies).
I'd skip the Lego Store since you probably have one at Mall of America.

[Jan]

p.s. Missed the state comic page. Must say this is brilliant. He needs to assert a copyright; seriously, possibly the next Gary Larson.

[Jan]

Hi Marla, I didn't mean the Mies van der Rohe architecture, but the student center designed by Rem Koolhass. I think it is like something Patrick would build! (Was there a few years ago.)

[Ruth]

The Museum of Science and Industry is, as Carolina notes, in Hyde Park, south of downtown. It would be a half day trip at least, but always worth it.

The Museum Campus would be good for Monday. Lookingglass Theatre is doing "Peter Pan" that weekend (http://lookingglasstheatre.org/content/box_office/peter_pan) ... they have shows Friday and Sunday night and twice on Saturday. (You can find reviews of the production via the link.)

Maybe Patrick would like a Loop tour given by a docent from the Chicago Architecture Foundation (http://caf.architecture.org/Page.aspx?pid=600)?

[tree town gal]

Yes, book title please. No more to offer on Chicago but if you are planning a Monday event, make sure it's open. Field museum is a blast. I can't imagine it's a blast on a gameday, though. Shedd's may still be under construction... do check. I'm sure your Chicago fanbase will enlighten.

Edward does have an identical twin, it seems, in older brother Patrick. And maybe I am behind the times but my heavens LOVE Miss Caroline's haircut. Gorgeous. Have a fabulous trip!

[Daisy]

Lego store (as many others suggested) and if is any way enthralled by fancy buildings for drawing inspiration I'd suggest walking through the Bloomingdales Home building - it used to be a temple and it is just amazing inside (onion domes, stained glass, etc). It is across the street from Uno's Pizza, so it is a fun thing to do while you wait for a table.

[janet]

The Planetarium and Navy Pier for the win! We, too did a whirlwind Chicago trip in three days last summer. Would very much like to go back, but even then hotel prices were steep. But not as steep as parking prices.

Have a blast.

[Laura]

We spend a long weekend in Chicago every spring with our kids, now 6 and 9. MSI is one of their all time favorites. I think they could spend all day looking at the U505 (German U-boat) that is actually in the museum. You can catch a metra from millenium station that will drop you about a block from the musuem. As others have said, you should avoid it on game day.

Our kids also love the Field Museum.

If you have a membership to your local science museum, you may get reciprocal privileges at both of these museums, at least general admission. The membership to our local museum pretty much pays for itself with one trip to Chicago.

[sarah]

since you used to live in chicago, you may remember the museum of sci & industry as feeling hopelessly old and out-of-date.... but it has had *huge* revamping in the last few years and is totally awesome now (i was just there a couple weeks ago and was really impressed). the ticket line on a rainy weekend was INSANE but a monday might be better (or maybe you can buy tix ahead? dunno, since i was there on a friend's family pass).

then if you're in hyde park anyway for the MSI, maybe check out Robie house, a Frank Lloyd Wright place. I thought the tour of the inside was interesting, dunno if Patrick would be as captivated. But it is maybe at least worth a look from the outside since it has a bunch of classic FLW elements, plus across the street is UofC's business school which was built ~5 yrs ago with some intentional reflection of Robie house lines -- some people hate it, some people think it was well done, but either way it makes for interesting thinking about architecture.

[Molly W.]

The Art Institute is awesome -- do not miss, on the basement level (IIRC), the miniature rooms. They are very awesome, made by a Society Lady, and I had the impression the curators thought they were terribly ... bourgeois or something and stuck them in the basement only because SL (or her husband) gave them large funds and so they can't simply be hidden away. (This could be -- indeed, likely is -- complete fiction, seeing as how I invented it in my brain, but anyhow I LOVE the miniature rooms and suspect without ever having met him suspect Patrick might as well.)

Also, Lou Mitchell's is a diner. On ... Jackson, I think? Or maybe Franklin? It is the platonic ideal of a diner. Irrelevantly, sometimes Tyra Banks can be spotted eating there. Visiting from DC (which is sadly bereft of diners) we ALWAYS go to Lou Mitchell's (sometimes twice in one trip); if your life is replete with diners, then it might not hold as much charm for you.

[Tine]

The State Comix is awesome! Love it.

Chi-town with kid? Let's see (lived near Chicago for 5 yrs.).... In addition to the places already on your agenda, how about:

Shedd Aquarium
Navy Pier
Museum of Science and Industry
Giordano's Pizza

[Catherine]

Ditto the Millennium Park suggestions. Big "meh" to Navy Pier, but if he sees the Ferris wheel and wants to go there is a children's museum there too. If Patrick likes the EL, you could ride it around the loop (past rush hour, between about 10a-2p it shouldn't be crowded. The brown/purple line routes have nice views of buildings. Sounds boring, but my 6 year old nephew had a blast! Have a blast! I've lived in Chicago for 12 years...if you want any recs for restaurants, etc, near the hotel just drop me an email.

[Sharon]

all the museums are great. The Adler Planetarim, Shedd Aquarium and Soldier field do share a parking lot, so if you go there, take public transportation. The art institute is nice, and patrick will love the museum of science and industry. Anyone know if they still hatch eggs there? that was always my favorite exhibit.

Ed Debevics is a must. Hamburgers and insults.

The library is in the loop, so if you are taking the el, you could stop there easily.

[Beth]

Riverboat architectural tour.

[Clarity]

Oh dear, I hate to break it to you but the supercalifragalistic-omfg-theworldisawonderfulplace feeling is a side effect aptly called euphoria. It's really common with Celexa and is SO nice, but I thought I'd let you know that it only lasts about 6-8 weeks. I only tell you so you can enjoy the heck out of every second of it!

(aaaahhh I miss Celexa. It loved me and I loved it until one day out of the clear blue it stopped loving me. Sob.)

[victoria]

Ooooh, tell me which book Someone recommended?

[Hawkeye]

How lovely! You sound so happy and content and reflecting.

Patrick will remember this one-on-one time with you forever. If there's anything I wish my mother had done, it would to have been a little less... fair? And taken us girls out individually to things. I would have felt so special.

Also, since you briefly mentioned literature, I would like to state that I would LOVE it if you signed back onto Goodreads... I would like to hear how you are finding your reads and glean more books from your list as well!

[llcsis]

Too darned bad the Lego exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry is over, that would have been the ultimate two-fer for Patrick. Still, the MSI and Millenium park/Bean are musts.

Personally I like the MCA (museum of contemporary art) far more than the Art Institute - each to his own.

It's worth it to google for coupons, the prices for everything are insane.

[Clarabella]

You're right. Enlarging that picture of Caroline WAS worth it.
Have fun in Chicago! That sounds just LOVELY!
ALSO, I DO hope we get to see pictures of you in the red shoes (hint, hint).

[Abby Spice]

Wait. I don't get the comic.

Also, so glad Celexa is working. I hear people say things along the lines of "all those different antidepressants are just to make money for Big PHARMA blaaaaaaah" but really? Celexa had no effect on me and Paxil was very successful but had side effects that were not so great (sleeping not being one of them) and Cymbalta, which Dooce just had a terrible response to, is my lifesaver and what I'm saying is PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT AND THAT'S WHY WE ALL NEED DIFFERENT MEDICATIONS AND I JUST NEEDED TO GET THAT RANT OUT AND YOUR BLOG IS SO RANT-FRIENDLY THANK YOU.

Also totally jealous of the Chicago trip. Before my brother was born (I was almost 8) I did those sorts of things with my mom and he will absolutely remember it and cherish it forever. You will be posting pictures of the hotel, yes?

[Anne]

Maybe take a moment to walk the shore--to see that you can't see clear across, even though it is "just" a lake--and it has real waves, just like the ocean.

[bad penguin]

I love that Partick just wants to become PART of the city. Hope you guys have an awesome trip!

I have the opposite parking lot story. I pulled into a space at the grocery store today and the woman in the space facing mine glared at me and yelled something because apparently she wanted to pull forward out of the space rather than backing out of it. Never mind that my space was a space and not a lane. And that her car wasn't even turned on, so I'd have to be a psychic to have known what she wanted to do. I was so thrown off that I forgot to close my window and then the car door wouldn't lock, so I had to go back, open the door, turn on the engine and close the window. Getting glared at all the while.

[Jessica]

Yes to whomever mentioned the miniature rooms display at the Art Institute. I was just in Chicago this past weekend and the miniature rooms were my favorite part.

[Michelle]

Take him to the University of Chicago campus in hyde park, tell him that is where fun goes to die, and see if he might be interested in putting it on his potential colleges list. I went there and its true - no fun in sight.

Patrick's new sideline is very amusing.

[Cris]

I love that you'll be in our city this weekend. Have a lovely time with Patrick - it sounds like a wonderful idea.

I've been talking through our inability to have a third with my Someone and the conclusion that it is past time to stop. I am doing my very best to embrace the idea that it will be okay. That it is okay. The idea of doing trips like the one you are taking is one of the compensations. As my husband said, "Katie needs a sane mother, not siblings that share a crazy mother."

FWIW - I would just park the car at the hotel and cab it anywhere you want to go. Ultimately I think it will be both saner and cheaper.

[alison]

Holy crap that comic is fantastic.

[Megan]

The line at the Sears Tower has been ridiculous when I've gone. Figure an hour just to wait and decide if it's worth it.

Another high-up alternative is brunch in the Hancock Building. Check the math:

Go to Sears Tower and spend $16 for you and $11 for him to get up to the 103rd floor. Start the wait. If you're impatient, pay an extra $30 each to go to the front of the line (it's an option, honest). Now you're spending $87.

Or go to brunch. You're on the 95th floor of the Hancock building. You pay $45 for you, $25 for him. Make a reservation and there is no wait. There are a zillion delicious things to eat and it's a buffet style so if you hate what you got, you go back for something else. A view and a meal for $70.

I think it's a good option.