A weekend in Chi-town

You know how the girl with curly hair always wants straight hair and the girl with straight hair wants waves?  I've discovered the same concept applies when raising kids.  Not that you want a different kid than you have (ok, I can't speak for all parents on that subject), but there is sometimes a tension between what you think you want and enjoying it when it comes.  It's not hard to imagine many moms at work who sit at their desks wishing they could be with their children while the moms at home yearn to put on non-elastic pants and have a conversation with someone who has more than 2 teeth.

Some days I stare at the clock as it slowly inches forward, eagerly anticipating 8 pm when Brady will fall peacefully asleep and I can feel like the day is finally complete.  Yet the days go by too fast.  I love spending time with Brady, but cherish that moment when he goes down for his nap.  I feel the disconnect at being so excited for Brady to walk/talk/grow but feeling like I want to push him down so he'll stay little forever.  I've been so frustrated with him for throwing his entire lunch on the floor and putting bananas in his hair, but love him so much more than I ever thought possible.  I've wanted, needed, some time away from him, but have found myself yearning to be with him when I finally slip away.

Brady and I went to Chicago last weekend for my friend, Molly's bachelorette party.  We stayed with my brother and my parents drove up from Iowa to stay there as well.  It was an almost perfect situation - I got some good family time and I also got some great time away with my girlfriends (with free babysitting built in).  Almost perfect in that the babysitting did not extend to the early morning hours (although my dad did let me sleep in a little on Saturday morning after Brady's 5:30 wake-up).  It was so fun I hardly thought about Brady.  Ok, that's a total lie, I thought about him a lot, but I didn't talk about him a lot.

Brady loved hanging with his cousins, Leo and Hudson and their two big dogs.  Brady's 2nd word is officially "woof."  After 3 months of "ball" all day long, his vocabulary has officially doubled.  Leo, who's almost 2, usually enjoyed hanging out with Brady and they were a good match because when Leo was not in a sharing mood, Brady was oblivious and didn't mind if a toy got snatched back from him.  Also Leo's a car guy, while Brady's a ball guy. To illustrate their compatibility, Brady found the dogs' kennels in the basement of their house and crawled in excitedly.  Leo, equally excited, shut the kennel door while Brady was in it.  Both had big grins on their faces.

Brady has a thing where he gets tired and lays down.  Sounds normal, right?  Yes, unless its in the middle of a park in the middle of the day.

Can you find him?  Or can you find the mom looking at me with her judging eyes?  I mean, obviously I'm going to pick him when he wakes up from his nap.