So I haven't been great. I've been meaning to post my letters to katie but haven't, so here are some highlights from those emails.
We went to a fall festival and George got to touch a bunny, a horse, a pig, a goat, chickens and a hedgehog (part of a petting zoo).
We are planning to move to Utah when our lease is up (June). (We are still applying for jobs all over the country, but if nothing full time pulls through, then we're moving to Utah next). We'll stay the summer and then take care of the house while Jon's parents serve a mission (free rent! ) and then hopefully we can make enough connections out west to stay.
We had talked about a trip to Chicago in honor of our anniversary, but it's on a Wednesday and his best weekend was in October sometime. We realized last minute that one weekend was his best, so we planned the trip in like 2 days. We came up Friday after Jon's classes he teaches. We got in late so we didn't do anything. We bought a 2 day pass deal that allows you to do as many attractions of 25 in 2 days. So Saturday we went to the field museum (they have the largest, complete, best preserved t Rex). Then we went on a bus tour (we all fell asleep). The coolest thing to me was their baseball field. ... Some of their bleachers are on surrounding apartment buildings, built on to the roof. So like there's a street in between, but you're still "at the game". Then we walked part of their Riverwalk (but I guess not the nice part of it) and we took an architectural boat cruise- my favorite of the day. We had Chicago pizza for lunch (rated #1 in 2014 by Chicago magazine) and panda for dinner. Then we took a bus through the magnificent mile (a mile long shopping strip). Then we went to the John Hancock observatory- one of 2 skyscrapers with an observation deck to see the whole city. George kept making friends (we met three people from India at a bus stop, saw them again in the John Hancock building, and again, right before heading back to the hotel- they loved George). Sunday we went to church, then a tour of Frank Lloyd wright's home and office (a famous architect). We tried making it to another tour but didn't make it with bus times. Then we went to the Art Museum and saw Paul and Romy Snyder. There was a lot of renaissance art and stuff that Jon and I like as well as some other stuff (renaissance jewelery and an armor section, Indian, Japanese and Chinese sections. .. too much to see) Then back to the hotel. (It took us about an hour and a half. ..) parking in the city is expensive and hard to come by. We would've stayed in the city but there was a marathon that weekend and the reasonable priced places (in safe areas) didn't last long.
On Monday in Chicago- we slept in and then packed up and drove to a metro parking station. We took a train towards town and got off close to a hot dog place that has the #1 Chicago dog according to trip advisor. It was called George's hot dogs. Then we biked to a chocolate store (rated #2 in the world according to national geographic) and got two chocolate bars after sampling some different ones (including some with bacon in it or Indian curry and coconut). Then we biked to the lake and down a lakefront trail to Millenium park, where they have a famous fountain and the "bean"- the mirrored thing- it's called Cloud Gate. Then we rode the train back out of town and left.
Then jon and i were in a concert. It was Friday and Saturday with a dress rehearsal on Monday. So George played with some other kids (the director's kids) with a babysitter while we were gone. And I sang in church on Sunday. When I picked him up from the babysitter on Friday, the babysitter had put all the other kids to bed and George was starting to get restless, so when I got there he was so happy and went for his nursing cover, like I'm ready mom! So I have a picture of that.
This week George was invited to his first party- a Halloween party! He loved it. :-) and at our ward trunk or treat he loved a maze they had and sat down on the ground to try to make friends with other kids (definitely a social little baby).
This last week was a lot of cleaning. George makes lots of messes. He knows how to dump out drawers and likes dumping out two that have some of his toys in them, and he actually pulled the whole drawer thing down, and I'm sure it must've hit him on the way down. (I was worried about that when he first started pulling out the drawers so I was in the process of rearranging things and one drawer was completely empty and another was mostly empty). George is starting to copy pitches, like in songs. So far he only tried to imitate the "dun dun dun dun" from I think the movie intro for fox or mgm with the lion, he's pretty close with it. And then Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, he tries to do the sunbeam part so I'll throw him up in the air. He also says "ta da"! He's going through a picky eating phase (hopefully a short one) and it's been hard to get him to eat enough. He likes bringing me books (I love that he already has favorites and favorite toys). He knows how to close doors and is close to accidentally locking himself in his room. .. :-/ one of the times he was babysat, a friend was watching him who has a son a year older than George. .. she said George taught him some new tricks (like how to climb onto the back of the couch) and at the other house he climbed onto a small chair to a small desk, to a big chair to the big desk to get to the keyboard. :-) he does a chomping motion with his hand for an alligator, pounds his chest like a Gorilla for gorillas and monkeys, and almost has a good oo oo ah ah. (One of the reasons we decided to go with curious George for Halloween). His newest thing is leading me around- he'll grab my pant leg and pull it in the direction he wants me to move my leg or push me from behind (like I'm being herded). :-) but at least he's trying to show me what he wants. And he gets the nursing cover when he wants to nurse. :-) I love my little boy!
