We got to Chicago without incident (Lilah being very laid back on the drive with only the occasional escape attempt) and met Ann, Larry, and Max on the seminary campus. Ann met us first on the sidewalk and, after greeting Lilah, walked to the car to help Dano get some things in the apartment. After having been promised her Grannie all day long, Lilah watched her walk away a mere 2 minutes after getting to hold her and laid face-down on the sidewalk to cry. She was in hysterics, so I picked her up to carry her the insurmountable 1/2 block to the courtyard where Larry was scooping ice cream for the students. She was red and puffy of face when she heard Grandpa's voice and realized that she wasn't being totally robbed of grandparents. I put her down and she ran to him. It was very sweet. She was rewarded with rainbow sherbet in a cone. She was pleased.
Grannie Annie made it back to her and took her inside to wash her hands and face. They stopped off for a quick baptism in the font (after which Lilah apparently turned to the woman nearest her, threw her fist in the air, and shouted, "Baptized!"). She had been baptized before, but with as much demon as that child has in her sometimes, I figure it's like a DTaP vaccine and she needs a booster every couple of years for it to be effective.
We had Chinese food and a night in with coffee and whiskey. With much coaxing several hours after her regular bedtime (with a time change to boot), Lilah went down for bed in the pack-and-play. Kazyz, the black boxer-dog, was suffering from an allergic reaction to life itself and had lost much hair. Some patches were raw and bleeding from him scratching, which he proceeded to do most of the night, as well as gag on spit or food or something. This made sleeping difficult. Ann and Larry took him in their room near 5AM. Shortly thereafter, Dano shook me awake. Right before I got annoyed with him, I heard a cheerful chirp from the darkness. "Mamaaaa!" followed by a thunk, a rustle, and a small body crawling up on the air mattress because she "just wanna be cozy, Mama." The three of us snuggled until morning.
Friday was "hot as the devil's"...well, you get the idea if you've ever lived in the South. It was well over 90 degrees and humid. We got around in the morning and walked to Starbucks. I indulged in a guilty pleasure - an absolutely giant double shot pumpkin spice latte. The Starbucks had an odd little courtyard and backyard with grass and a little tree swing and slide. Lilah attempted to play nicely with two beautiful French toddlers with blond curly hair. She ended up perched at the top of the slide while they shouted angrily up at her in French and their mother laughed.
From there we walked the god-forsaken halfmile to the train station. I was so hot by the time we got there. The train ride was short, and Lilah loved it. We had gotten her a ticket, unsure of the age limits. Larry told the conductor, and he smiled down at her. "Princesses don't need tickets." She beamed. I swear, so did Larry.
We walked the short distance to Shedd Aquarium. I was hungry and hot, and seriously dismayed to see the line down the front steps of the building. An amazing employee soaked with sweat from being out in the sun pointed us around the corner to a wheelchair entrance and let us take Lilah in. I was so thankful to be in the cool air again. We paid for the general tickets ($8), rather than the super deluxe amazing handjob tickets (paraphrasing, $29). The man behind the counter said we wouldn't get to see otters, jellyfish, whales, dolphins, penguins, sea lions, or sharks. We shrugged. We ate in the food court. Lilah was thrilled to death with her apple sauce, hot dog, and teddy grahams. I cheerfully ate my fish sliders and hoped it wasn't some poor old fish from the aquarium who had gone belly up.
We mostly let Lilah lead the way, herding her on to the next exhibit if she lingered overly long at one animal. She had an amazing time. Unknowingly, we ended up seeing otters, jellyfish, whales, dolphins, penguins, and sea lions (the sharks were well-guarded), since our tour guide was a 30 month old who ran merrily from one enclosure to the next and the employees were lax about checking for wristbands for entry to see the special animals. When we got to the Amazon exhibit, we had seen everything humanly possible to see without decking an employee and sneaking into sharks. Lilah fell asleep in her stroller and woke up in the gift shop very confused and upset. Grandpa bought her a ball that made it better. We rode home on the train and had leftover Chinese for dinner.
Saturday we took the L into the city to do some thrift shopping. We met Bill Palm, an old family friend, for lunch at M Henry's. Anyone with kids can appreciate the waitress almost immediately bringing Lilah a small dish of sliced bananas, strawberries, and cranberries. It kept her entertained and certainly bought the waitress a sizable tip. After we finished, we went thrift shopping in a downpour and visited a Swedish Bakery. We took the L home again and were accosted by a handful of very drunken Cubs fans after the game. One of the women took to stroking Max's very bright hair and told him she hoped it would grow out brown. Another took to Lilah like bees on honey. She peppered cooing over Lilah Rose with pole dancing around the L car (trust me, more charming on Rent) and cursing her other friends. As much as I love having the F-word spewed liberally around my 2 1/2 year old
Back at the apartment and drenched, I grabbed my pajamas and went into the bathroom to change while Lilah tore around the house with Grandpa. I heard a thud, followed by silence, then a piercing scream. I rolled my eyes. She'd probably hit her head. We were always telling her to watch her head. Then Dano yelled for me. "Sweetheart, she's bleeding." I yanked the door open and saw her cradled in his arms, screaming, blood streaming from her right eye. I panicked and took her, shaking. I took her and grabbed a rag to wipe the blood away, praying to God that it wasn't her eye. I saw the source of the blood - a cut about 1/4 inch from her eye. They told me she ran into the corner of the marble entryway table. At the last minute, Larry called her name and she turned her head. If she hadn't, it could have been her eye. The marble got the bone, not the eye itself. Ann asked me if we needed to go to the ER. I told her it wasn't Lilah's eye and sat down in a chair to soothe my child. She wouldn't stop screaming, and I went back and forth between thanking God for protecting my baby and near-hysterics at the could-have-beens.
She calmed down enough to eat a fruit tart. I went to the kitchen to make dinner. I needed to do something or I'd break down and cry. I had to keep blinking rapidly to keep the tears at bay. I snuggled her the rest of the night. We all watched Rango. She had a bruise for eye shadow, but otherwise was none the worse for wear. Her tears kept flushing salt into the cut, so she naturally cleansed her wound.
Sunday we went to a family lunch at a Mediterranean place. Ann suggested we bring a bottle of wine, with the stipulation we had to finish it there. I accepted the challenge. The lamb schwarma was wonderful, and so was the merlot. We walked off our (ample) buzz by touring Hyde Park and walking to Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House. I took a thousand pictures of everything, my nose included, and broke away from the group to go rock hunting, sure I'd spotted a petoskey stone (I hadn't, but found some cool rocks nonetheless). Dano had a very chatty, silly passenger for most of the ride home.
All in all the trip to Chicago was wonderful and I can't wait to go back.
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