And by "Spring" I mean that it rains constantly except for short periods when it stops raining and all of Chicago goes outside to comment to each other for ten minutes about how it's finally gotten nice out and then it starts raining again and we all go back inside to think about how we should really live somewhere else where the weather doesn't make you want to die so much. Then summer comes and it's 95 degrees with 80% humidty. I think that part's about two weeks off.One positive outcome from all of this rain is that it forced us to purchase what may be one of Calder's favorite things ever, his smiley-faced rain boots, or wellies if you will.
Calder wears these badboys constantly and it's not just because all of the coddamn rain we have. Sure, the ability to splash in puddles to his heart's content is a big gold star for the boots in his mind but being able to put them on without parental intervention is decidedly the most attractive thing the boots have going for them. Hence, he wears them around the house a lot. The clumpity stomping noise they make is no doubt just icing on th smiley-boot cake.
The second positive to the brief bouts of not-hateful weather is that we can enjoy our neighborhood in all its glory. The best part about where we live is the two miles or so of green space along the river that is just across the park from us. The river trail is good for walks, runs, biking or wagon rides. Yes, we have a wagon now. The best part is that, I swear, about every 50 yards is another playlot. Seriously, we'll be all, "Do you want to take him to the play ground?" "Which one? The pirate ship one or the train one?" "How about the one with all the animals?" It could go one forever. Plus, if there are too many kids at one slide, we can just meander on down to the next one. so if Calder wants to play, baby can play. PLUS Plus, it tires the shit out of him which is good for every one.
The swings, while enjoyable are not really his thing. When he swings back towards you, Calder grabs on and won't swing back. Concept grasp, I do not haz it.
The modern day post & platform jungle gyms (Do people say jungle gym anymore? Is that racist or something?) Are by far calder's favorite. He likes climbing the stairs and bouncing on the swinging bridges. When your motor skills still aren't the shapest, it's easy to find climbing stairs pleasurable. Unlike me who will bitch if the escalator is broken and I have to walk a half a flight of stairs down to the cafeteria in my office.
The best part of the playground is by far the slide. Calder could slide all friggin' day. He is not very good at it yet, hence the busted lip a few weeks back. That did not happen under my watch, FYI.
I'd say Calder is getting there w/r/t his sliding and all the static from the plastic slide to awesome things to his duck fluff hair. Bruce keeps threatening to get him a hair cut but I can't bring myself to do it until Calder grows some hair in the front first. I predict that in a few months my child will fully come into his Canadian ancestry by rocking a full on mullet.
Calder is my little nature boy. He likes to pick dandelions and violets and tell us what colors they are. "Lello" and "Burble" respectively. He also love, LOVES insects and has started saying "bug!" whenever he sees one. Ants are ok but the flying ones are where it's at. He'd chase them around for hours trying to catch them if he could. I have a strong feeling we will find out whether Calder is allergic to bee stings fairly quickly.
My favorite part about the nice weather and where we live is our proximity to the river. Obviously, the river is not useful for swimming or boating or anything because Chicago River=licking a pile of dirty needles that you found in a couch in the alley behind a whorehouse. BUT, despite the river's apparent noxiousness (seriously, it has its own smell) it somehow manages to support a host of wildlife, mainly water fowl. We have geese and ducks and geese and night herons and grey herons and geese and little brown water birdies that I do not know the name of and geese Ok, really what I mean is that there is a shit ton of geese and, like, five other birds. BUT! Geese means baby geese. In springs past we have counted over 20 goslings at one time. Last time we checked there was only three but there weren't that many geese around since there was a giant fucking barge in the river pulling out couches and dead bodies and whatever else managed to accure in the water over the winter months.
Fortunately for us, Calder found the barge to be twice as entertaining as a bunch of dumb birds but I feel he is going to be a mite disappointed when he never sees it again since the dead hooker sweep seemingly only happens once ever solar eclipse. Ahh, springtime in Chicago. Lovely, isn't it?
