Chicago Children's Museum

Despite the rain, sleet and snow, we ventured out to Navy Pier to explore the Children's Museum this morning.  I have heard that it is a pretty cool place, but I was much more impressed than I thought I would be.  Jesse was absolutely in heaven, so if we stay in Chicago next year, I think we will definitely have to consider a membership here.

The first area we visited was 'Treehouse Trails' and it had a log cabin, a garden, a river for fishing and canoeing, a tent, and a big treehouse complete with a slide and a ball drop.  Our nature boy loved it.  He literally squealed/danced with delight when he saw the tent and the cabin.

Jesse loves getting out our dominoes at home, so of course he loved this huge set of dominoes, especially getting to knock them over.

Next we visited Kid Town where kids could hop aboard a CTA bus, drive a car, go shopping, do some cooking, etc.

We visited the Tinkering Lab, where there were all kinds of odds and ends to explore.  Jesse loved pulling this bell to make it ding.

We uncovered some dinosaur bones in the Dinosaur Expedition.

We played with water and got a little bit wet in WaterWays.

And last but not least, we visited the fire truck, where Jesse got to dress up like a fireman.  He was so excited to put on the suit and the boots.  One of Jesse's favorite books is about firemen, and I think he thought it was really cool to see all the hoses and axes and other equipment in "real life".

The thing that he has been most obsessed with in his firefighter book is the pole.  You can see that he was really in awe.  He continues to talk about it.  He got to go down with a little help from Nana.

Music Class with Nana

This morning we went to music, and I was so excited that my Mom was able to get some pictures of class.  I love that this class is so low-pressure for the kids.  It is all about having fun and seeing grown-ups enjoy making music, too.

Here are Jesse and his friends Lilah and Hannah, waiting for their Mommies to put away the strollers and take them upstairs.  Lilah and Hannah both live in our building, and we walk with them each week to and from class.

Singing 'The Snail and the Mouse' and Jesse touching his belly button, of course.

Jesse loves admiring himself in the big mirror.  What a cheesy dude.  I think he was about to take a peek at his belly button.

Making music for the 'Playing in the Kitchen' song:

 
Jesse loves to help his teacher Miss Irene put away all the tubs of instruments.

Nana's Visit

My Mom came this week, and so we have been doing lots of fun things around here.  We spent this morning at the Shedd Aquarium and spent the afternoon hanging out around the apartment.  The last time we went to the Shedd was either in late November or early December, but Jesse could not stop talking about going to the aquarium this morning and was so excited when we got there.  He was more interested than before in actually seeing the fish, and would run around from tank to tank looking for them.  Of course, he doesn't like to stop for very long at any particular tank, but he did seem more fascinated than he has in the past.

One of his favorite areas is "Camp Shedd" where kids can ride on a canoe, play in a tent, and cook breakfast over the campfire.

Back in the fall, Jesse very eagerly touched one of the live starfish, but he was kind of freaked out by it this time.

His favorite thing this time was probably playing in the pretend tide pools, probably because he got to splash around in the water.



Jesse always likes all the buttons, knobs and wheels inside the submarine.

And there are lots of opportunities for rock climbing.

This afternoon after Jesse's nap we asked Jesse if he wanted to go play in the snow, but he very firmly said "no" twice, so we did some fun indoor activities instead.  Here are Nana and Jesse having fun with some games on Nana's iPad.

And painting with some water colors...

Playing in the Snow

Finally, at the beginning of February, we got our first decent snowfall.  As it turns out, Jesse is a big fan of the snow.  We have gotten several dustings a few times in the past couple weeks, and everytime we walk to the car Jesse has demanded to walk on the snow, which means finding any patch of snow he can and going out of his way to walk on it.  He thinks it is great fun, especially now that he has lots of snow to walk on.