Driving up Lake Michigan - Twice

I really stay sequestered in Hyde Park most of the time, but when I get in the car and drive up Lakeshore Drive, I'm always struck by how beautiful the lake is with the Chicago skyline straight ahead. I forget how fun it is to head north, and but on the flip side, dealing with traffic is probably the reason I leave our little neighborhood so rarely by car. Saturday, I took the trip twice - once with family, once without.

We took Nourit for an observation/playdate at the Lycee early in the morning. It seems like there are so many people applying for preschool. I never imagined having my 3 year old 'interviewed' for a spot at school. I figured that would at least wait until college. The teachers seem wonderful, though, and we're still hoping it will somehow, someway, be possible for her to attend in the fall. Following the observation, we headed up to Argyle to La Patisserie P for THE best croissants in Chicago. We had met the chef/owner, Peter, at a breadbake a year ago at the Experimental Station, and yesterday was the third time we'd been back to his bakery for his award winning pastry.

After dropping the girls back at home with Jessica, and dropping Mike at Istria to write, I headed north again to do some "quick" shopping in Lincoln Park. (By shopping I mean groceries - not designer shoes.) It took me 3 hours to just pick up a few things, and then, after circling the parking lot at Whole Foods a few too many times, left for the other WF on Roosevelt. Crazy Saturday shoppers!

So, Lake Michigan, I'd like to see you again soon, but maybe on foot next time, for a leisurely stroll along the Point, or a fast speed walk along the water with the stroller.

Post Christmas Post

Life seemed to get in the way of blogging during the weeks leading up to Christmas, so here is the quick and dirty version. Mike popped his knee out (OUCH!), he spent 8 hours in ER without seeing a doctor, we bought some crutches for him, he visited the doctor and is scheduled for surgery on January 5th. We said goodbye to all of our babysitters for the holiday, and spent alot of time inside while the weather got colder, our car got snowed/iced in, and Mike's knee and work kept him from venturing out too much. I did not send Christmas cards this year and fully regret it, although I'm not sure where I would have fit that in without going completely insane. I'm ready to begin working on them for next year, though. (That will probably be in my New Year's Resolution list.) Despite all this, we did fit a few fun things in.

Here's me with a potent cup of Gluhwein in my hand at Christkindlemarkt. Finally, a year where I'm not pregnant or breastfeeding and I can imbibe. Oh, wait. I guess I'm still breastfeeding...well, Avi enjoyed it, too.


Going to visit Santa at the market was priceless. Nourit was talking the talk for days before. "I'm gonna go see Santa. I'm gonna sit on his lap, and give him a kiss, and tell him I want a bell for Christmas. I looooove Santa." The moment she walked in and saw him, she froze, turned to me, and buried her head in my legs. Granted, the Santa was no more than 25 years old and a little creepy. Avi definitely didn't care for the Santa experience, either. But, Nourit was happy to eat the free candy cane!
Amazingly, with Mike on crutches and me pushing two little ones in the big stroller, we took a bus downtown in the middle of all the slush and snow, braved the cold and ice, and ate sausage and sauerkraut, potato pancakes, and candied nuts and Stollen. Yum, yum!
One of Nourit's favorite poses these days.

The snow has been wonderful this December, except when we need to drive in it. But we have done our best to take advantage and play. One day, after a heavy snow, I put Avi in the Moby wrap and pulled Nourit on the sled to run errands on campus. The stroller never would have made it through the snow, so it worked out perfectly. And I got a work out, too! I can't count how many people asked for a ride!
Christmas Eve, our church was closed, so we went the the 4pm service at Holy Trinity. It was a welcome change from all the work and headaches of the past quarter to focus on Christ's birth and God's gift of love to us. We sang carols, lit candles, and recalibrated ourselves for an hour. Then, we braved the cold (okay, I wasn't so brave, and despite the recalibration, was swearing under my breath at the cold) and went to Chinatown for dinner, in the tradition of the Jews and the Lews.
The girls are definitely getting more and more interested in each other. Of course, there is still sibling rivalry, but I'm getting glimpses of better days ahead!
Christmas morning!! Although Nourit was ready to start the day at 3:30 am, we began opening our stockings at around 8:30. She could hardly contain her excitement over the organic fruit leather and the new toothbrushes. We could have stopped there and she would have been perfectly content. In 10 years, though, I'm guessing it won't be so easy!
Avi, of course, just wanted to eat the wrapping paper.

This gift from Auntie Michelle was the hit of the day.
Crazy Forts has taken over our home.
Easy to please, Avi has a great time with mama's pajamas. No fancy gifts for her!
So the festivities are over (for a day, at least.) Nourit's birthday has passed, the snow is gone, and Mike is back to working on his piece. Today, with the weather almost up to 60 degrees, I took the girls out for a walk in the rain. Avi stayed snug and dry in the stroller, while Nourit splashed happily through every single puddle on the Midway. If she gets sick, I'll feel terrible. But she was really very happy just walking in the rain, splashing as much as she could.

Election Night, 2008

We just experienced a pivotal moment in history last night. Now that I’ve cried, cheered, and celebrated with my friends and neighbors, I want to write a little about where we were, where my baby girls were, November 4, 2008, to share with my future, grown-up girls.

Nourit and Avi were both sound asleep when ABC announced that California had gone to Barack Obama, and he was, at that point, the President Elect. A feeling of relief and emotion made tears well up in my eyes. We watched scenes from Grant Park where thousands of people, including many of our friends, had gathered to watch the results and celebrate. I was so proud of my city – everyone was responsible and orderly, and the look of thankfulness and pure relief on the faces said it all. Even the gunshots outside our apartment, a few blocks away, sounded more joyful than menacing. (I still would prefer NOT to hear gunshots so close to my child’s window, though.)

My girls slept while history was being made. They will grow up never knowing a United States that didn’t have a black president. They will grow up accepting that a foreign sounding name is absolutely normal.

Never once in this election did race make an impact on my decision to vote for Obama. Obviously, I didn’t dismiss him as a candidate because he didn’t have the same skin color as I do, but I also didn’t cast my vote for him to change history by electing a black president. I simply voted for him because I thought he was the better person for the (incredibly difficult) job of getting our country back on track. After they announced his election, though, and after listening to numerous stories about how far we’ve come from just a generation ago by electing a black president, I stand amazed at how monumental this decision really is. It’s shocking to me how racist and divided our country has been, even recently. I can’t fathom bearing the same prejudices that were in place not even 100 years ago. I’m not completely naïve. I know that racism still accounts for so much injustice. The fact that it’s 2008, though, and that electing a president without white skin is this extraordinary – well, that’s amazes me. Thank God that my children will be even farther removed from useless prejudice.

I found John McCain’s concession to be wonderfully expressed. Where was this John McCain over the past few months? I found Barack Obama’s speech to be, as always, even and graceful, but sober, as well. He handed the victory back to us, and challenged us about the difficult days ahead. I feel like I do when there is house cleaning to be done: I just want to start immediately get the hard part over with. I’m sure it won’t be as simple as that. By the time my girls are old enough to read this and place it within their life experience, I hope, pray and believe that we will have become a better America. For them.

There's a New Deli in Town

We've been in Hyde Park awhile now, starting on our 6th year, amazingly enough. During that time we've been excited to welcome the expansion of Hyde Park Produce on 53rd Street, the backstory cafe on 61st Street, and Istria Cafe, under the traintracks on 57th Street and in the Hyde Park Art Center. These are our favorite places to frequent, and now, from the owners of Istria, comes Zaleski & Horvath MarketCafe, on 47th Street.

Yesterday, we drove over after church (it's a little far for a walk with the stroller for us) and stopped in to drink some coffee and look around. Both of the owners were there and gave us such a warm welcome, explaining their coffee making process (with a Clover coffee machine, brewing coffee, not just espresso, 1 cup at a time), slicing samples of their wide variety of cheeses for us to try, and writing down our suggestions for market items. (I suggested dried egg whites, because I can never seem to find them for the cookie icing I want to try.)

Although the $8/bag of King Arthur flour** is a bit too expensive for us, we'll definitely go back for the deli. We took home two cheeses that we had with a baguette for dinner last night - delicious! And their selection of sandwiches looks amazing. I hope (and will suggest) they expand their baked good selection to include something chocolate-y and some flaky croissant. (If they put a little nib of chocolate on Mike's espresso plate, he would be very happy, too.)

The store is decorated with great old family pictures, most prominently the patriarchs of the Zaleski and Horvath families. Already, a week or two after opening, there were quite a few people in the store, drinking coffee, and milling around. One of the owners (the tall, blonde one) said the opening of the store happened just around the time his first baby was born, so he is looking forward to raising two "children", I guess!

One of the things that draws us to a place is the people. I love the small-town feel of knowing from whom I'm buying. I love to support store owners who are trying to provide the best quality item and good service to our neighborhood. The Z & H Market isn't perfect yet, but I'll be drawn back to watch it grow because of the personal welcome we received from the moment we arrived to the moment we left (squirrelly children notwithstanding!)

**Since posting this, the owners said they repriced the flour. They really, truly are interested in their clients needs/wishes! All the more reason to go back! (in addition to the cheese and coffee...)

And Now it Begins

The quest for the right school. Preschool, that is. I have been dreading this day ever since I learned from my neighbor what a crazy city this is for getting your child into school. And it's not just once. It's finding the right preschool, and then making sure your name is on the list a year ahead just to be considered for a lottery; it's then making sure you can get into a good Kindergarten/Elementary school, which in turn doesn't guarantee you an automatic feed into a junior high and high school. Oh, no. You have to apply for each of those, as well.

Then, there are the choices. Because where we live, there is no way I'm sending my child to the school down the block. It's not a matter of elitism. It's a matter of her safety (and frankly, a desire for a nurturing and academically challenging atmosphere.) But we're not at academics quite yet. We're still at preschool. And there are alot of them, both private and public, in Hyde Park and downtown Chicago. I think at this point, we're leaning away from homeschooling because we'd have to hire someone else to do that for us!

So today we dove in and visited our dream school for Nourit - the Lycee Francais. We were quite surprised at what a warm and welcoming place it was. I guess we imagined an austere staff, and children who didn't smile. We felt quite the opposite, and are ready to apply before the December deadline. (Yes, that is for admission for Fall 2009. Welcome to Chicago, folks.) The idea of having Nourit immersed in French while she's at the best age for learning another language is our main reason for looking at this school. If she remained there throughout her entire school career, she would graduate with an excellent education under her belt, a year beyond most other schools academically. And growing up bilingual would help her learn other languages more easily, and give her a leg up for in our ever-shrinking global community. The pricetag, however, is (gulp) $13,100/year. For preschool. So obviously, we cannot send our child here unless we get an amazing (and it would have to be almost 100% amazing) discount. We'll still apply, though, because those little kids speaking French were so darn happy.

Stealing Summer in October

The last 4 days have been amazing. After a cold and rainy spell, the weather turned warm again - I guess that's our Indian Summer? There was something inside of me (and many other people I ran into at the beach!) that wanted to just soak it all in, banking up sunshine for those cold and gray days that are heading our way very soon.

Nourit at the 57th Street Beach baking a sand pie.

Thursday, we left the house with our wool sweaters, and returned in short sleeves. We kicked off the first day of our ecumenical mom's bible study, held at Hyde Park Alliance Church. 14 moms, 22 kids, and 5 caregivers arrived at 10am, and soon the church was filled with the excitement of the children having Sunday School on Thursday. The diverse group of moms met upstairs in the sanctuary, thankful for an hour and 45 minutes sans children to pray and talk together. We decided to study the Psalms, and will meet again every other Thursday. Nourit, who never admits to having a good time, said she really liked 'going to school.'

Peter playing on the beach.

Friday morning, we caravaned with Amber/Kyla/Cole and headed to the 57th Street beach. Not 10 minutes after we arrived, our friends Joanna/Joshua/Peter (the initiator of our mom's study) and new friends Leslie/Eli/Micah, surprised us by coming to the beach, too. The kids splashed in the cold water and built sandcastles for a couple hours, while we tried to make sure noone ran into the water or the road, and all babies were happily fed and rocked. 4 moms, 8 kids. Not your average teenage trip to beach, but wonderful to be in the sun, nonetheless.

Amber, Kyla and Cole (all bundled up!)

Saturday was market day. Mike set up some recording equipment to tape Baba Eli singing and playing. He'll use it for a project he's working on this quarter. Nourit, Avi and I visited the garden, listened to Baba Eli, went to a cheese tasting, and just chitchatted with neighbors. I was excited to learn the market will stay open through December, moving inside the Experimental Station in November.

Avi contemplating the nutritive value of dirt.

When we got home, Nourit and I decided to get creative with the apples we picked last week. Nourit was too excited to nap and leave the baking to me, so she stayed up and we made our first yummy apple pie together. It really is easy! Alas, for two days in a row, little miss no-napper was so horrible by early evening that she went to bed more than 2 hours ahead of schedule.

Another Hyde Park Weekend (With One Foray Downtown)

The weather has been superb and it's been another exhausting weekend. Too many fun things to do! Friday was my full day off and the girls and I headed to Music Together, where Nourit danced but "didn't sing." (That's what Shy Girl told me afterward.) We played at Bixler, headed home, and played in the backyard some more. I didn't want to go inside.

Jessica came about 5 and Mike and I went out ON A DATE! We tried out Bin 36 downtown, and spent a few hours creating our own pairings of wine with cheese. We even made it through an entire evening without mentioning the word 'poop' once. (Not only that, but I wore high heels for the first time in, oh, two years, I think.) It was a real date. Then we came home and watched the follow up news on the debate. Not the most romantic way to end an evening, but oh well.

Saturday morning we ate apricot crepes and headed to the garden. I picked 4 good sized eggplant, herbs, and a few varieties of tomatoes. We walked through the market and talked to some friends and neighbors - besides Moshe and Danielle, we never know who we'll see there. We listened to a group of kids drumming then headed home for Nourit's nap. Boy, did she nap! Avi, on the other hand, remained in the Moby wrap for the entire afternoon, helping me clean.

When Nourit woke up, we headed to the Midway for the Latin Jazz group who was playing as part of the 2nd Annual Hyde Park Jazz Festival. Who should run up but Anissa (who we met exactly a year ago in the same spot) and Felix. It was good to visit with their moms again while the kids danced and ran around. The music was good, too.

Today, Nourit had another chance to dance all around Hyde Park when we walked by the 57th Street Children's Bookfair on our way home from church. She made a paper crown, snagged a blue balloon, and found the parade. Headed up by a group of drummers and consisting of 6 or 7 costumed cartoon characters and a group of ballerinas, the parade marched back and forth on a two block stretch about 3 or 4 times. Nourit decided she was part of the parade and smiled, danced and ran right in the middle of the entire group. By 2:30, after watching a dance exposition, singing with Marsha's Music Together, and purchasing a few books, we headed home hungry, tired and happy.

Now we're resting up for the last shindig of the weekend - our neighbor BBQ in the backyard. We didn't get to the store to pick up any lamb, so it just might be lots of grilled veggies for us!

We Like Coffee!

And we love our new local backstory cafe, so much so that they put us on their website. Check us out! For some reason, it looks like we have no children with us and are deep in conversation about something, well, deep. I imagine Nourit was under the table at that point, and we were discussing when the last time was that she pooped.

My Up-and-Down Day

Today was representative of the entire week. The weather in my brain changed almost as much as outside. I crawled out of bed way too early, but enjoyed some time alone once I resigned myself to being awake at 5:30am. By 8:30, I had to take a leave of absence for a half-hour after Nourit refused to sit on the potty. Really, it's no big deal in and of itself. But some huge, ugly monster just awoke inside of me and I had to leave the girls with Mike so I could regain my composure. An hour after that, we were having a wonderful time with friends at Music Together. The highlight was when we were dancing with our scarves and Nourit yells out, "Toot toot! I tooted!" The song, of course, was aptly named 'My Lady Wind.'

I was the recipient of a blessedly wonderful nap this afternoon (see Naptime for Mama) and even stole a few minutes to go out and grab a hot chocolate while I ran a couple errands with Avi while Nourit napped.

Tonight, we decided that nothing is better on a rainy Friday night than gelato. So we got in our 2 month old car and headed for Cafe Gelato. We got bumped. Not hard enough to deploy the airbags, but enough to get the other guy's insurance info. Fortunately, we were all fine, and Avi barely opened her eyes from her motion induced nap. And hopefully Nourit won't remember the idiot who drove by and screamed the F- word about 25 times just to let us know we were holding up traffic. Lovely.

Our gelato was still yummy, though.

Come Visit Me in Chicago!

Or if that's too far, just stay at your computer and click on the Chicago Mom's Blog, where I have just added my voice to a wide variety of other mothers from Chicago, writing about their parenting adventures and mishaps in the Second City. (My children may despise me for this when they are older!)

The Garden

This is one of my favorite things about Hyde Park (Well, Woodlawn, technically.) It's our plot in the Community Garden on 61st Street.
This year we're growing lots of herbs, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and strawberries.

Block Party

Today is my 11th wedding anniversary and my husband is far away in France, so I accepted my friend's invitation to her block party. She lives up near O'Hare airport, and although she makes the trek to Hyde Park every day during the week for work, to me it's like driving to another country to go all the way up there. I really hate driving. But I knew once we got there, I'd enjoy spending the day with my friend and her family, and I was right. She has the kind of family that just feels like your own after you've spent a few hours together, and I know a good part of that is because of our shared faith and values.

Every year, the people on their block remove their cars, block the street with police barricades, and pull their kitchen tables out to the street. They set up snow cone machines and bean bag tosses and a raffle. They even rented those blow up castles that you can jump in. Later in the day, they had a dj and loud music from the 80's, and who knows what happened after the sun went down. (We had to leave before Nourit imploded...around 6:30.) Growing up in the country, and then spending the rest of my life in city apartments, I've never witnessed this complete, unabashed attempt at neighborly-ness in quite the same way.

Although I didn't get to know my friend's neighbors, I loved spending the day outside with my friend, losing track of my 2.5 year old in the sea of little kids playing, and seeing how independent she's become. Her constant refrain of "I'm gonna do it ALL BY MYSELF" gets a little trying sometimes, but I really love watching her enjoy herself without me from time to time. When we arrived, she immediately attached herself to 3 year old Jacob and played for hours without doing anything out of jealousy or possessiveness. When we walked down to the castle, she scrambled right in with all the bigger kids without even a look back at me. When I did catch her eye, she beamed and said, "This is fun!" I even went in to jump with her, and while she enjoyed having me there for a few minutes, she finally ordered me out of her domain with a "You go out now, mama!"

Today was a day for firsts - her first popsicle, her first ice-cream cone (she happily ate all the ice-cream off the top and then told me we had to take the rest home in it's cup holder. So I showed her how to take a bite out of it, and now she'll know what to do with ice-cream cones for the rest of her life. Can't say I didn't teach her anything!)

She was asleep by the time we returned home, slack faced and grimy, and even her efforts to do things "all by herself" were muted. As I put her to bed, she told me she loved me, Daddy, and Baby Avi. And now I imagine she is having sugar-induced dreams about jumping in castles, riding bicycles and being surrounded with people who love her.

~~~~

I just noticed Avi is quiet. Can she really be asleep by herself in her crib???

Things I Love about Hyde Park

Now that we've lived in Hyde Park for 5 years, it's really beginning to grow on me. I guess it took awhile because I was so in love with Boston - from the minute we moved there. We only lived there for two short years, but my feelings about it were confirmed when we went back to visit last summer. I digress. Back to Hyde Park, Chicago. I'm finally realizing how much I like our life here, and I think it has so much to do with having kids and being part of a community. The following are the things that I love (or like alot) about Hyde Park:

-Our community garden on 61st Street
-The new market on 61st Street
-The new backstory cafe at the Experimental Station
-Istria coffee shop under the traintracks on 57th
-Marsha's Music Together at Joan's Studio
-The nun's croissants and tarts at Hyde Park Produce
-Hyde Park Produce
-57th Street Bookstore and the Seminary Co-op Bookstore
-Hyde Park Alliance Church
-Our neighbors
-Our backyard
-The friendly people in our housing office
-My walk to work through the winter garden on the Midway right off of 59th street
-The Japanese pond in the middle of campus with the turtles and big orange fish
-Bixler Playlot and the great parents I've met there
-The Family Resource Center
-The Music Teachers of Hyde Park

I'm sure more things will occur to me, and I'll have to add to my list. So many of these things became important to me only after having children. So many center around the connection I feel to this community. And I suppose that connection has helped me through the transition to being a parent during the times I've needed it most.