A Cerney Periodical

We have been meaning to check out the Chicago Children's museum for a while now, but it just didn't happen over the busy winter. Perhaps we were distracted by the nature museum or our own climate despair, hard to know. We ended up with a membership and a parking pass. Super fun and an unleashed sensory explosion for boops.  Here is a small person forest area. We did not take pics of him in the firefighter zone, but beware that he seems to be a pyro in the making. Happily a pyro who is very aware of what "hot" means.  Brock is entranced by the inertia-magic of balls. We spent a LONG time here.  Brock has a very reliable friend. His name is Brock. He is cute too. Doing some reps in the camping practice room... we can't wait for this summer! Brock knows what a fort is, and puts tent in the same genre. They had a whole little person town as well. Brock was very interested in the mailbox.  As mentioned, Brock is a bit of a d

Just like his daddy. Brock is obsessed with the cougar pups. But not to the point of loving babysitters I'm sad to say. Madeline might have been the catalyst. Anyhow, he is a creepy little guy. Wiggling up to the 3-6 year olds and just smiling ear to ear about 2 inches away from their faces. This is Alma. She is my friend Jane's daughter and she generally comes along when Jane and I meet for Friday coffee. As Brock has gain mobility, interactions are more engaged and Alma is great with him. Here she helps Brock pick his souvenir out from a luscious pile.

Chicago has been in the works of making some upgrades to its public spaces, an initiative under our newly elected second term mayor Rahm. Named in honor of the previous "first lady" of Chicago, Maggie Daley, her namesake park is nearly finished and super awesome. We had heard a lot about the place and our expectations were met I'm happy to say!  Each area describes its target age audience. We paid no heed of course, but it was good to know. The boys on the bridge. We made the trek downtown at 8am, which was PERFECT. There was no one there. Rumors had it that the place got crazy in the late morning, and we saw its transformation as we were getting ready to head out. Also, Brock is in love with the bus and train so a morning in person ride tickled his toddler buttons. The designers did not scrimp on danger. Matt and Brock are on the safer route pictured here. You can also see some of the landscaping is still in the works.  This slide made Matt an

Title is to the point. I have been battling with Brock's luscious locks for quite some time now.  I had tried some cartoons on the big TV, but they were just not distracting enough to deter squigging from my hap-hazard snips. Since his love affair with his fuzzy red Elmo chair (thank you GP's Cerneys) he has been instantly infatuated with the red critter. I don't know how, he's never seen him on cartoons or otherwise, his cousins didn't speak too much about Elmo, but something mysterious is alive in Elmo that tractor beams in all life forms age 3 and under. Brock was hardly impervious. Elmo lives on some of his pjs and they are a hit. I found him an Elmo shirt at the salvation army and it is the only shirt he welcomes (except for his coat, "eyesballs"). So, after he got called "she" at the playground 2 days running my genderside took effect. Huzzah. I'm not saying it was a good haircut, but it was a completed haircut.  haircut from the b

Brock discovered the next rage to hit frat houses round the nation!

Brock has turned into quite the little linguist. He's a big fan of easy-to-recognize patterns such as, "how are you, today, Brock?" "Good," he will always reply. We're not sure he knows what it means, but he knows it's the right thing to say. He's a big fan of saying thank you, but he always says it, "coo-coo mama!" Even when I'm bringing him what he wants, mom gets all the thanks. My favorite Brock sayings, however, come from when we aren't really talking, and Brock blurts out whatever he is thinking. Yesterday after a block of silence while walking back from the store, Brock blurted out, "no eat dice!!" I replied, "correct Brock, we don't eat dice." "No eat mama!" "That's right Brock, we don't eat mama either." Thinking a few moments, "eat woof!" "No Brock, we don't eat dogs." Brock apparently spends a lot of time thinking about what he can eat.