Making Music on the Street

After my massage Ben, Dex, and I went out for lunch. On the way, Dex found a piano on the sidewalk.

For once, Mommy and Dex were the ones making music on the street and Daddy got to be the audience.

Annual Riverwalk

Once I year I get a massage; Ben and Dex take a long riverwalk in town while I get my rub down. Fountains are always fun!

 This year, a family of ducks took to Dex and started following him around.

We have a similar picture of Dexy from last year.

 Crossing the covered bridge is always a hit.

Along the banks, Dex found a huge turtle and a snake.

City Fountains, Buildings, Music, and Trains

Ben took Dexy into the city for an outdoor free evening Richard Thompson concert. They parked the car and took the CTA in. They had plenty of time to wander through Millenium Park. Dex waded in the fountains (first time with socks, second time without socks)

 and wandered through city parks.

They had great seats for the music and Dex sat captivated the whole time.

 Time for a post-show stroll.

 And more fountain fun.

Waiting for the CTA with wet pants.

Inspired by the El

I had a morning meeting in Chicago last week so Dex and Ben and I decided to all take the train into the city together. Ben and Dexy rode the El while I was in my meeting and then we grabbed lunch in Union Station and ate our hot dogs on the train ride home (the woman sitting behind us laughed out loud when Dex asked me if we had any utensils).

Dex's "cities" now include elevated CTA tracks above the Metra tracks and city streets. I explained that some people help design cities as a job and maybe someday Dex would want to be an urban planner. He thought for a second and then said, "Maybe as my second job because I still want to drive a dump truck."

Father's Day Daddy Surprise

About a half hour before Ben was scheduled to get home from his church gig, Dex and I developed our surprise plan. Dex would get into the tent, I would grab the presents and cake from my office and place it in the tent with Dex, I would zip up the tent and Dex would wait for Daddy to "notice" the big tent in the living room and shout "Happy Father's Day!" when Ben opened the tent flap. During our test run, Dex decided that he wanted to stay in the tent until Daddy got home so I gave him an activity book, put the presents and cake in there with him, and zipped him in. The only sound coming from that tent for a full half hour was the whispering sound of Dex's marker on the activity book.

When Ben got home, he saw the tent immediately and Dex shouted, "Surprise!" when Ben opened the tent. Daddy sure was surprised. Dex and I were pretty pleased with our ability to plan and execute a surprise.




Mommy's big surprise was that Daddy and Dex actually fit in that thing!

Father's Day Dexter Surprise

Before Daddy got home for his big Father's Day surprise, Dex got a big surprise when his friend Tabitha rang our doorbell to see if Dex wanted to take a ride with her in her new vehicle.

Dex and Tabitha decided that Tabitha would control the steering and Dex would control the pedals.

Not sure that was the best idea but they had a blast and made it around the block safely under the watchful eye of Tabitha's little sister Libby.

Father's Day Surprise #3: Tent in the Living Room

Dex and I decided to get Daddy a tent for Father's Day this year. Dexy wants to camp out in the backyard with Daddy but we set it up in the living room as a surprise for Ben when he got home from his church gig. Neither Dex nor I had ever set up a tent before but we managed to get the job done!

Father's Day Surprise #2: Message on the Walkway

Dexy wanted to write "Happy Father's Day" on the walkway from the garage to the house so that Daddy would see it when he got home from his church gig on Father's Day. 

I made dotted outlines of the letters, Dexy drew the solid lines, and My Bologna supervised (as usual).

Father's Day Surprise #1: Dexy-Designed Cake

Dex had a vision for a green frosted cake with pink letters for Daddy so we made that vision come to fruition.

Dex enjoyed using every single nozzle on the frosting can. He made flowers, vines, ribbons, and roads.







I tried to get all the green frosting off of Dex but couldn't get a smidge off of his shirt. I told Dex that if Daddy noticed it not to tell him about our surprise cake. Sure enough, Ben asked Dex about the green on his shirt when he was helping Dex get ready for bed. "What's that?" Ben asked. "I don't know," Dex replied. "Were you using green paint with Mommy today?" Ben asked. "No," Dex said. "Well, what is it?" Ben persisted. "I don't know," said Dex, "but it's not a surprise."

Moody Tiger

Dexy and I went to a picnic for one of the organizations that I am studying and I painted his face as a tiger. He got a little cranky on the way home.
Hungry tiger = sad tiger.

Fed tiger = happy tiger.

Grandfathers' Father's Day Puzzler

Dexy made pictures to enclose with father's day cards for Gunker and Grampy. We decided that it might be a fun thing to turn them into puzzles so Dex cut them up with scissors. 

We heard back from both grandfathers that they really enjoyed putting together their "Dexter puzzles"! Both had a common theme - car engines.

In the Driver's Seat

The other day Ben was changing the city sticker on his car but when I pulled into the garage, all I saw was Dexy in the driver's seat of the Honda.

End of Coursework!

I just sent in my final paper for my final class for my PhD program - still plenty of work ahead but I am officially done with coursework! When I think back to starting this thing, I remember wondering how in the world we were going to do it - Ben changing his teaching schedule to accommodate my classes, Dexter having to entertain himself while I studied or wrote papers, an almost 2 hour drive each way to Northwestern. Somehow, we did it!  Many thanks to my wonderful husband and child and to all of our family and friends who supported us along the way.

Ba-Dum-Bump-Tchhh

As soon as Dex started this schtick (ON HIS OWN) while hanging out in the basement today, Ben ran to get the video camera.

When I got home from working on my final paper, Ben said, "Check out the videos on the camera." I'm still laughing. Better than Ben Vereen at the Catskills.

Coloring Inside the Lines

For most of his young life Dexter has not been interested in coloring inside the lines. We have hundreds of his coloring creations that are simply a monochromatic wash of a single color across the whole page.

However, in the past few months Dex has really gotten into coloring what he calls "beautiful" pictures - that is, using multiple colors and trying to stay within the lines. He gets very focused when he's coloring now.

3D Bedtime Reading?

I was surprised when I walked by Dex's bedroom and saw him wearing his 3D glasses to read books before bed. Ben had chosen the 3D animal book.

I would not have selected such an exciting activity immediately before bed but Ben was in charge of getting Dexy down that night so I didn't worry about it. The two of them were having a grand old time jumping back from lunging wild animals.

My Bologna's Paparazzo

When I got home from school the other night, Ben told me to look at the pictures on the camera. As I leafed through about 20 shots of My Bologna Ben explained that he woke up that morning to the sound of Dexter giggling softly and the camera clicking furiously. Ben said he thought that Dex was taking pictures of him in bed but he never opened his eyes to see.

Apparently Dexter was inspired by another subject that morning. It looks like Dex crept up on My Bologna while he was sitting on the couch looking out the window on a sunny summer morning

and followed him when he tried to leave,

stalking him into the bedroom and around the bed,

 back out of the bedroom (I love that Dexy got his own foot in this shot),

and eventually into the bathroom where My Bologna gave up. There are about a dozen shots of My Bologna lying on the bathroom floor looking exasperated and resigned.

Party Crashing

The only way I could attend the end of the year party for my PhD program was if I brought Dexter along. He had a great time at a gorgeous Frank Lloyd Wright home overlooking Lake Michigan. Almost immediately, he noticed a bunny rabbit in the back yard and Tom Cook, noted social scientist, went out with him to see if they could touch the bunny. Despite their tippy-toe efforts, the bunny ran away. Tom suggested that if they closed their eyes and put their arms out and turned around in circles repeating, "Come back little bunny," that the bunny would return. They did just that and...

the bunny came back into the yard!  Tom Cook (famous for research designed to make causal inference!) just taught my son that turning in circles will make bunnies appear. He left it to me to explain the nature of spurious relationships to my poor child.

Every time the doorbell rang, Dexy ran after Tom or Fay to greet the party guests. I overheard him at one point enthusiastically saying, "Come on in all you girls and guys!" Fay (wisely) got Dex some legos to play with.

He hung out with my classmates and professors making lego vehicles on the glass coffee table right next to priceless artifacts. Thank God nothing got broken!