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We went to the 22nd Greatest Ferret Show on Earth a few weeks ago. Tom thought Joey would like seeing ferrets – I think he just wanted to tempt me into getting ferrets again. Or maybe it was a little of both. However, I think our side trip to the Choo Choo Restaurant out in Des Plaines outshone the ferret fun.

It was a good thing we got there when we did – 30 minutes later the place was packed. The food delivery train only served the people at the counter, so families who had to take the booths often had to perch their kids at an empty counter seat – temporarily – just to get in on the excitement of the train going by. No wonder there was a big sign saying asking patrons not to switch tables…

Joey loved it, of course.

And then there’s a video I captured because I was highly amused:

His vocabulary expands every day – and it’s wonderful to watch.

August was a busy month – a road trip to Ghost Ranch, New Mexico with a stop for a wonderful visit with Shell and her family (pics here), a visit to the Shedd Aquarium (pics here) and then off to the Renaissance Faire (pics here) a week later!

We recently found a Geek Parents Network meet-up group (there’s all kinds of meet-up groups) and – well – met up with some other parents with common interests in geeky things like gaming, sci-fi/fantasy, anime… and were introduced to a place nearby called Pickles’ Playroom in Lincoln Square. It features a play area, cafeteria and a kids’ salon – and we decided to let a professional take care of Joey’s hair for a change. Here’s the result:

I kind of mourned the loss of his mop on top of his head but at least everything was cut mostly straight and more-or-less even in length – and it’ll grow out pretty fast anyway. The lady was impressive – she sat him on this toy car barber chair, handed him two toys, let us pick out a dvd and popped it in the player, and before he knew what was going on she was combing and snipping at his hair. I should’ve taken a video but I wasn’t fast enough! I did manage to grab a shot of her at work though:

That was a few weeks back.

We’ve since been to a picnic at the park with the Geek Parents and also had our first grill-out at Kevin and April’s newly re-done backyard.

Here’s Finn checking out Joey’s Thomas (which of course came along – the miracle is that he let Finn play with it).

And a happy Finn with the grill in the background:

Meanwhile Joey’s checking out Finn’s Legos:

His hair is thankfully growing out already… Oh and this is a shot we had Kevin take for us for a history book that Farmer City is putting out:

We got a phone call Sunday night – and it turned out to be our daycare lady.

“Hi, I have a surprise for you tomorrow!

“Oh? What is it?”

“You will have to bring Joey to our new place!”

“Oh! When did you buy a new house?”

“Oh about eleven months ago – I didn’t tell you?”

“No!”

Turns out she thought she had told us about it. “I guess I am getting old!” So we brought Joey to her new place Monday morning – a much bigger, nicer, newer place just two minutes from the old one. While the old basement was functional, this one was bright and airy, and the backyard comparable.

Joey was a little hesitant but the ladies were distraction experts and he was caught up with something to play with immediately.

Meanwhile he appears to have developed a habit of having to go to bed with at least Thomas in hand, preferably Toby too. He must have dropped Thomas sometime earlier in the evening as he started calling for Thomas in his sleep around 11 p.m last night. I tried putting Neville in his hand – his eyes were still shut, mind you – and even that didn’t work. I eventually found him sitting up in the crib calling for Thomas, and ended up grabbing a flash light and finding Thomas for him behind his crib. All was well after that.

Tom’s pondering getting him a plush Thomas. I’m not sure about the idea. He already has four “guardian” plushies in each corner of his crib! Two bolsters, three baby blankets and a baby quilt make his crib a total nest – I’m not sure it can take a plushie Thomas… and how does that help with his attachment?

Hm.

Aside from that, we appear to have found a meet-up group made up of geek parents. We met them for the first time last week and everyone enjoyed being able to talk shop while our kids played in this great place that has a cafe, huge play area (complete with a huge Thomas table), and a little kids’ salon.

We’ll be trying a picnic in the park with them next week if the weather cooperates. And if all goes well and all my stuff arrives in time, I will bring my new camera (yes, a birthday present to myself) and put it through its paces! Can’t wait!

We celebrated two birthdays this weekend 🙂 One for Finnegan, who turned one and for whom I don’t have a picture yet, and one for Joey who turned two. There were two sets of tired parents at the end of Sunday. The kids had a nice haul of presents though 🙂

This is Joey’s favorite:

He was also very tired:

And earlier in the weekend I managed to catch him singing, which is harder these days as now he keeps wanting to check himself out in the camera…: