Remote. Controlled. Helicopter.

It's pretty safe to say that the best gift I got for my fourth birthday was from Uncle Dave II. Yeah, he sent a Bears t-shirt and a fake, fake ID, but that all accompanied a little blue remote controlled helicopter. On Memorial Day, Dad made sure we headed to the Christopher Columbus School playground for the chopper's inaugural flight. After some skimming of the instructions and two trips back home- once for batteries and once for a screwdriver to put those batteries in- Dad got the thing airborne. Soon I was giving it a shot and did pretty well. The school's astroturf circle makes for the perfect flight area, as crash landings become more like crash bouncings. By our next visit- while Dad was sending the thing into trees- I was flying across the circle, at least till the batteries ran out.

My first indoor waterpark.

It had been a long cold Winter, so for my birthday Mom thought it would be a good idea to go to Chicago's version of Florida, Keylime Cove. My first indoor waterpark experience was awesome. There were at least 10 slides, a wavepool and a lazy river. A trip to Cracker Barrel fueled us for day 2 of the waterpark antics. Mom, Uncle Vino, Marcos and John couldn't keep up with me on the slides, but I think they enjoyed the poolside cabana bar.

When I Leave My Toddler Years Behind

I turned four-years-old a week or so back. It was a Tuesday, so Gigi and Papa were on hand to have dinner and sing me "Happy Birthday". This night was a just a precursor to a slightly bigger party I had Sunday at Smith Park. My cousins were there, along with some other family and a few friends. I got some great gifts and ate a couple cupcakes Dad made. However, I am beginning to think all of this was just to butter me up for what I now know turning four really means: FOUR SHOTS IN THE ARM. Yes, that's what I received from Dr. T for my birthday. Thanks a lot doc.
Oh by the way, I am 3 feet 7 inches and weigh 47 pounds.

TOC Kids' Summer Cover Model

Space Oddity

I may have hit all of Chicago's museums now, as I made my first visit to the Adler Planetarium to check out the recently opened Planet Explorers exhibit, which is 100% for kids. I docked a space shuttle to the space station, wore an astronaut jacket and pack, walked in space, and played with a bunch of other space themed contraptions. I also saw One World, One Sky - Big Bird's Adventure in the Definiti Space Theater, a kind of small OmniMax theater. The film stared Big Bird, Elmo, and Elmo's equally annoying Chinese counterpart, who helped Elmo- and the always dumbfounded Big Bird- understand that the stars in the sky are the same all over the world.

Chocolate Bunnies & Eggs

The Easter Bunny stopped by Dad's last weekend and left me a basket of goodies, but not before he drank some milk from my Easter cup and ate some of the eggs Gigi and I colored. The Bunny must be hanging with Santa because I got a couple toys as well. Those kept me entertained before we headed to Gigi & Papa's to vist with the family. I found the most eggs during this year's Easter egg hunt and probably ate the most chocolate too.

Aye Eye

Earlier this year Dad thought it was a good idea to get my eyes checked and boy am I glad he did. The ophthalmologist discovered I had a mild case of Amblyopia (ne' lazy eye). I was first instructed to get glasses to try and address the situation, so we headed to Aardvark Eyewear and picked out a cool pair of Spiderman specs. I took to them very well and wore them almost all the time. A couple months later I returned to the Dr., only discover the glasses alone did not do the trick, so I would have to wear an eye patch on my right eye. This would help my brain tell my left eye to work a bit harder, thus equaling my eye's strength. Understandably so, I was none too pleased, but also took to the patch well. I tried out three different patches and eventually stuck with a cool skull and cross bones from iPatch. My hard work and cooperation paid off, when I found out at my one-month follow-up that I only had to wear the patch half the day. Fingers crossed it goes bye bye soon.

The Boogers

I have been exposed to all kinds of music in my almost four years on earth, much of it adult oriented, but lately my favorite "kids" band is The Boogers. The Chicago based band plays Ramones-esque kids tunes ranging from classics like, "Twinkle, Twinkle", to originals like "Peanut Butter and Jelly", which is my favorite. The fast paced rock songs make it a favorite of my dad's too and he took me to their show at Schubas, where I danced a bit and kept my ears safe with some Earlove earplugs. We arrived a bit late and I missed "Peanut Butter...", but I'll be sure to make dad hustle to their next show at Schubas in September.

MSI

My January tour of Chicago's museums continued with the first of two visits to the Museum Of Science & Industry. While I said below that the Field Museum was one of my favorite museums, the MSI is my favorite, as my two subsequent February and one March visit helps to prove.
On my first excursion of 2010 I checked out the Lego architecture exhibit, the Circus, The White House- and of course- the planes and trains. On those other trips I saw The Human Body, Mysteries of Egypt and The Living Sea at Omnimax and just went to see the brand new permanent exhibit Science Storms with Gigi and Papa. I have a feeling everyone who takes me to the MSI is enjoying it as much as me.

Mummies and Dinosaurs Oh My

I consider myself an avid museum goer and one of my favorites is The Field Museum. The place is so big that the I was not able to see it all the first time there, so on my next visit I made sure to explore the giant pyramid and all it's mummies. This experience inspired daddy to wrap me in toilet paper when we got home. I also saw Dinosaurs Alive! 3D and the great dino exhibit afterwards. I have been back twice since and am heading to Member's Night in March to see the new Mammoths And Mastodons exhibit.

The Holiday With The Tree and Presents

Christmas 2009 marked my first that I really knew what it was all about. Presents. I patiently wait till Christmas morning before I tore into my gifts, which were far more abundant than I expected thanks to the generosity of Gigi, Papa, and the rest of my family.

As I had hoped Santa brought me a drum kit and everyone loved when I played. I also got some cool Playmobil sets from Mom and Dad and special thanks to Uncle Dave for the Christmas Melon.

When I needed a break from playing with my new toys, the beautiful white Christmas allowed for some sledding and- of course- snow angels. Can't wait till next year.

G-Park Con

One of my favorite places to return to time-and-time-again is the Garfield Park Conservatory, on the west side of Chicago. It's located just a block or so away from where Papa first lived when he arrived in the 1950s from Latvia. Papa joined me, daddy, Gigi, Uncle Dave, Casey and our friends the O'Conors for a quick visit just prior to the holidays. We were all in need of some green colors, warm temperatures, and room to run.

He's Back

The big guy showed up at Bullfrogs & Butterflies again this year. At first I was a bit hesitant to sit on his lap, but I broke the ice by letting Santa know that when I got home I was gonna poop. He replied, "Better at home, than on my lap." The whole store laughed at the back 'n' forth, including my Daddy, who snapped this photo of me asking people to stop laughing.

Merry Christmas!

Zoo Lights

Thousands of lights, huggable polar bears, the polar express train, a carousel AND Santa? Is it Christmas morning already? This was my first year at Lincoln Park Zoo Lights and it was breathtaking. We didn't let freezing temperatures stop us from strolling around the park enjoying the light displays. Fortunately the animal houses provided some warmth and a chance to tell Santa that I want a drumset for Christmas. Mom says I better be good or else Santa won't bring the drums, but I'm not buying that reverse psychology bit.

Yo Gabba Gabba! Live!

Honestly? The title, photos and video say more than I ever could.

Yes, that is Biz Markie.

Thanksgiving Buttery Goodness

This year we spent Thanksgiving on Bell Street with the Mazzei's. Uncle Vino, Aunt Megan, Uncle Matt and Mom started prepping the turkey 24 hours in advance. First they put it in a mop bucket with something called a brine which they put in the fridge overnight. Then they used a syringe and filled it full of my favorite food, butter and after that they roasted it for almost 5 hours. The resulting bird was oohed and ahhed over by the grownups, but I was just waiting for them to leave the table so I could have at the butter plate.

Check. 1, 2, 3.

My dad has been immersed in the opening of Lincoln Hall, the new music venue he is somewhat in charge of. While I have been there a couple of times, I finally got to attend a sound check last Friday.

The Walkmen were in town to play three shows, one at Schubas and two at LH. I got to know a couple of the guys in the band last year at a wedding in Cape Cod and saw them again at the Pitchfork festival this year, so dad thought this would be a good first sound check for me. Plus Pete- the bassist/keyboardist- had his son Otis in town, so I got to watch the sound check and play with him. And once the band was done Otis and I jumped on stage to jam. Otis took the keys and I- of course- hit the drums.

My First Visit With The Dentist

I'm told you gotta make sure the pearly whites are staying clean and coming in straight, even though they'll all be scooped up by the Tooth Fairy. Therefore, Dad took me to Pine Dental Care for my very first trip to the dentist's office.

The waiting room was well stocked with books, toys and some cool LED lights, but I soon heard my name and headed into the examination room, where the very friendly Dr. Richardson waited. Mr. Bear and I climbed into the comfy chair and were shown all the cool instruments that the Dr. was gonna use on my teeth. I wasn't scared at all and soon found myself pushing my nose to make the chair rise-up and lean back.

It was all over in a flash and the Dr. said I had beautiful, straight teeth. However, I was warned to back off the apple juice a bit and not to eat fruit snacks, but I can deal, cause cookies got a thumbs-up.