Good morning! And happy happy beautiful FALL! It’s another beautiful Fall day over here in Chicago with temps reaching high 60s today so, EXCUSE ME IF YOU NEED ME I’LL BE OUTSIDE.

We don’t have work today and I’m half tempted to keep Ishu home with me so we can do fun things outside. But he just loves school so darn much.

Like, for real.

Last week, I popped a cough drop in my mouth and he reached at it, asking me for one.

I said, “Mama is taking this because she is coughing; you don’t need one.”

He insisted, “I’M SICK TOO.”

“Oh yeah? You’re sick,” I asked. “So then you can’t go to school tomorrow?”

“I’M ALL BETTER,” he quickly said as he walked away.

He does not wanna miss out on hanging with his buddies. So I won’t keep that from him. Hoping they take the kiddos outdoors today though. It’d be a shame not to!

I’ve got a busy day of getting my nails done, getting a teeth cleaning, and a list of other things I haven’t done in many, many months because #toddlermom.

BUT MAN, TIMES ARE A’CHANGING.

Okay, so, before I hop off, let’s do a quick recap of our fun fall weekend, shall we?

Friday

Didn’t get many pictures from Friday. But I got my hair cut, bought a new plant, and Ankur picked Ishu up from school so I could squeeze in a late meeting for work. Here’s what happened when I picked him up on Thursday though. Sweet little boy. Always teaching us all the things. (Including patience).

Saturday

Ishu’s school had an informal “Donuts in the Park” meet-up and so we bundled up and went out for that. Once we were outside and in the sun, it felt so great. I would have stayed for a few hours, but the little guy – who had woken up at 5am – needed to get home for a nap. No sleep + 5 donut holes makes for one cranky toddler.

When he went down for a nap, I finished this book and started watching the third season of Never Have I Ever.

Sunday

Yesterday was PERFECT WEATHER. So I decided to do a dumb thing and try to drive somewhere (on the day of the Chicago Marathon).

I had grand plans to take Ishu to the FallFest at the zoo and, after about an hour of driving and detouring and road closures (to the zoo which is 2.5 miles away from our house), I realized we weren’t getting there.

So we pulled off on some random street with some random park and basketball court and hung out there for about an hour and a half.

We still got to be outside and under the sun and that’s all that mattered to me. And clearly it didn’t matter to Ishu because when Ankur was putting him down for a nap after we finally got home, he kept insisting he went to the zoo.

So, there you have it. We had a zoo day. No animals. But a zoo day nonetheless.

While he napped, I read this book and prepped some food for him. And then, when he woke up, I hurried to get him ready so we could spend the rest of the day outside.

We walked over to the Navy Pier for the end of the World Music Festival at Polk Bros Park. He had fun dancing on the empty stage for an audience of one: his mama.

Then we walked along the pier to look at all the pumpkins and skeletons. Ishu thought it was pretty dang cool that he matched the skeletons. (Cool, but he was also a little wary and wasn’t getting in too close).

So crazy to see how much he’s grown in just one year. I was scrolling back through my pictures to find the one of him next to the same pumpkin stack last year and my mind is blown at how quickly things can change in a single year. I MISS THOSE CHUNKY THIGHS OF HIS.

We finished off the evening with a gelato cone. I came home and made some ground chicken tacos while Ankur bathed the little skeleton. And I finished reading Tasha and started reading this one!

Now it’s Monday. I guess technically it’s a three-day weekend for some people. But not Ankur. And not Ishu. So this mama is going to enjoy enjoy enjoy.

Hope you have a good one!