Monkey man!

Just like his Mom - born to climb.

Check out Andrew's new obsession - getting to the 2nd floor so that he can get into more forbidden stuff....

Such a big boy!

-alan

Quick videos before the weekend is over

We have cupboard issues.  Andrew has mastered the art of making a mad dash towards any drawer or door when unsupervised, and taking out every item inside.  We seemed to successfully train him to avoid the open bookshelf in the dining room, but the kitchen is just too tempting for him.  We bought some child locks, but they are not quite the right kind / I avoided installing them.  Time to work more on that....

In addition he surprised us both today with his climbing skills - in church, he climbed onto a child's seat and sat with the "big kids" for snack....then at home, he was able to climb stairs on his own.  Wow!

Andrew has a new crawling style - reminiscent of Gollum in Lord of the Rings.  The video does not quite do it justice, but believe me, it looks awkward.

The best part of having a baby around is being able to share in his joy for the simple pleasures of life.  Like beads.

Last week I shared some pics from the Shedd Aquarium.  Rachel also took some video that day, so I uploaded a couple of clips.

Andrew at the Otter exhibit:

Andrew playing in the "hands-on" kids area.  It made Rachel start thinking about taking him swimming, now that summer is around the corner.

Around the 'hood, we have made some Rear Window-esque observations.  First, People's Energy (the local gas company) has a facility nearby.  And on a regular basis, their techs will drive up and park on the street.  They sit there.  And wait.  If the weather is nice, they get out and chat.  And wait.  No work, just waiting.  Methinks they are cheating time before going back to the facility.

Also, there have been lots 'o teenagers climbing up on the tracks.  On Friday, a pair of lovebirds set up shop during the afternoon rush.  I think the train engineers blasted their horns more than usual, seeing kids up on the viaduct.  There is also some spray paint on a tree across the street.  Coincidence?  Unlikely. 

Spring break is coming.  It feels like summer already.  I am getting antsy.

-alan

Fish!

On Thursday last week, I led my AP Biology class on a trip to Shedd Aquarium for the day.  And by lead, I mean I played all day with Rachel and Andrew while one of my students acted as docent for the class.  It was a pretty sweet deal....this student is actual a volunteer at the aquarium, and bugged me all year to plan a trip.  As it turned out, it was the easiest trip ever to plan and execute, because he did all the heavy lifting!

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Andrew loved looking at all the fish tanks - he would point and make random sounds, as Rachel tried to teach him the sign and the word for "fish."  Meanwhile, I would point out the things in the water that were not actually fish - whales, dolphins, jellyfish, etc.  He might as well learn correctly from the beginning, right?

 

In one area, Andrew was able to splash in a little pool filled with barnacle look-alikes.  Thankfully he was not too soaked from that - because when we first arrived he got a little overexcited and peed through his clothes.  So there were no backups if he got wet again!

 He really liked the Caribbean reef tank!  Plus they played music there!

When the exploring was complete, Rachel took the sleepy boy home on a beautiful late-winter afternoon in Chicago.  The second he got snuggly in the carrier, he was out cold most of the way on the el.

In all, a very successful field trip.  If I did not have to beg and plead with other teachers to watch my classes when I was gone, I would plan more trips so I can hang out in Chicago with the family!


Basement update!

Spring is in the air.  Daylight savings is back, and the weather was wonderful today.  All the neighbors were outside this afternoon, so it seems that the winter hibernation is officially over.  I am thinking ahead towards spring break, but honestly, I also have summer in my sights.  While there is no project as large and obtrusive as the kitchen to look forward to, we have been making master plans for what we want to do on the house.  We got a nice refund check from our taxes, so that will definitely be invested back into the local economy when it comes time for building supplies...

Meanwhile, my basement project saw some encouraging progress this weekend.  Because the brick wall was in bad shape, we had to do some repair work before I could install the pegboard.  That corner of the basement saw some damage last spring, because the drainage system from the gutter on the exterior wall was blocked and saturating the foundation.  The water has since been diverted, but repairs were needed.

On Friday, we chiseled and brushed the loose mortar and brick from the wall.  I then added new mortar to fill in various gaps between the brick.  Nothing big, but big enough for some bugs - we found some remains...

Then on Saturday we painted with some heavy-duty waterproof masonry paint.

Today we added a second coat of paint.  Looking sufficiently waterproofed, we hung the pegboard and the structure of the workshop is mostly complete. 

I ordered some fancy pegboard hooks last week, so to get Rachel excited I added a few tools to show what it will be like once all is organized.

With most of the dirty work done, I now need to clean and organize the rest of the tools.  With everything put away, the basement will go a long way towards looking like a respectable storage area.

-alan

Basement organization begins

With the end to the week, the weekend warrior in me comes out.  It started on Friday night, after the baby went to bed - left in a tired stupor, Rachel asked me what I wanted to do.  Too tired to play a game, I responded that I would be willing to watch TV......or work in the basement.  While I was feeling like going to bed, I had recently gone to Home Depot and had some new projects that would be fun to work on.  Decision made, we suited up and headed downstairs for a hot date with some pegboard.

Cabinets installed (but not cleaned) we worked to install outlets that will supply power to the shop.  We roughed in the boxes, ran new wiring, and installed the receptacles.  Success! 

In the morning, we cut and hung pegboard on one wall.  More board will go on the other wall, but I need to decide if any electrical wires need to be moved before I hide them behind the board. 

Finally I put all my electrical supplies in one of the small cabinets - finally, something is put away!

In other neighborhood news, I was disappointed to hear that our friends, Eric and Liz, had their contract cancelled on the house they wanted to buy up the street from us.  They will still likely move into the area, but the likelihood of finding another house in walking distance is almost nil.  Oh well - soon enough I will have a friend nearby to share tools and home improvement projects with.

-alan