So, going back to the last time I wrote, Cassidy had just taken her first steps at about 15 months old. Things have really progressed since then! She is very stable on her feet these days and loves to walk anywhere and everywhere. She takes laps around the house, roaming from room to room, loving all the freedom. She used to be so content in her stroller, but now she'd much rather push the (empty) stroller than ride in it! She's also expanding her little vocabulary at a rapid pace - every day she seems to surprise us with a new word. Her favorites to say are, "baby, car, hi!, bye-bye!, water, cup, more, and ball. She knows animal names too, but she never actually says the animal, she just makes the sound of whatever animal is mentioned. The new one this morning was when I asked her "What sound does an owl make?" She followed with an adorable little "wooohh wooohh!" We've also made a transition from 2 naps per day down to 1 - and I find the days are easier! I know lots of parents dread losing a nap, since those naptimes are the only breaks of the day - but I've found that having one longer nap allows me to get SO much more done than I ever could with 2 short naps. Anyway, Cassie made a great transition - it only took about a week for her to adjust and now she sleeps for 2-3 hours every day right after lunch. Sometimes mommy takes a little nap then, too!
So, as I mentioned, we've been very busy over the past few weeks - with all sorts of fun activities! I can't bear to skip over things, since this blog is really my main way of documenting our daily life (wrecks my whole sense of order or something, chalk it up to a Reder trait), so I'll have to break the past few weeks into a couple different entries. Going back to October...
We had a great outing to the Lincoln Park Zoo with our friends Holly & little Owen! The highlight was definitely the sea lions, where you can walk underground and come face-to-face with the sea lions in their enormous pool. Cassie and Owen stood with their noses an inch away
from the glass, just mesmerized and squealing every time one would twirl on by. Also, October brought about football season, and the annual sense of hope for Da Bears. Grammy and Grandpa Brown gave Cassidy an adorable Bears cheerleading outfit, so we decided to head to a neighborhood park a few hours before gametime on a particularly sunny Sunday, with Cassie trying out her new super-fan clothes. This park happens to be across the street from 
Carlos Zambrano's house (Cubs ace pitcher for those non-baseball fans out there!), so of course we had to ever-so-casually make our way along the sidewalk to take a peek at big Z's place. We saw his black SUV parked out front, with the license plate "TORO 38" - a dead giveaway, considering toro means bull in Spanish and 38 is his jersey number. He also had a sign in his window 
stating "It's gonna happen..." - of course this was before the Cubs went on to blow the whole thing and leave us waiting, yet again, for next year. Even so, Cassie had a great time cheering on the Cubs this past season, clenching her balloon very tight and clapping when the audience clapped! In our house, I guess she is destined to be a tortured sports fan, waiting year after year for those Cubbies and reciting the super bowl shuffle as she and her Daddy look back to the '85 Bears...We also spent some time rooting on the Illini in October! We headed down to Champaign for Homecoming weekend and had an absolute blast reuniting with our college friends and their little ones. Cassidy, Ella, Madeline and Kainoa kept the 8 of us very busy - we all stayed in 1 house together - 8 adults, 4 babies, and 1 boisterous, lovable dog, Jag - it was hilarious and so, so much fun. We managed a great tailgate (Cassie's Bears outfit made a repeat appearance - we needed some blue and orange!) and we stayed for nearly half the game before heading back to the house to accomodate much-needed naptimes. We also took some great trips down memory lane - Tara, Jamie, Meg and I made our way over to the DG house and had pumpkin pie with our lovely house mom, Teresa - we walked the halls and laughed as memories rushed back. Such fun! We also stopped in the bookstore, walked the quad, and posed for a photo with the alma mater. We also made our way over to Acacia for their alumni BBQ - saw lots of old faces and I know Erik really enjoyed chatting with his great frat buddies. The best part of this annual weekend is always catching up with great friends, and we had plenty of time for that - it was a wonderful trip.
(Baby #2 on the way for all 3 of us - fun fun fun!!!)Well, nap time is over, so that means this entry must end as well. Lots more to write about, and hopefully soon!
