Wowie, four days in a row of this waking up before the house business and I’m lovin’ it.

I’d like to say the ONLY reason I can do this is because I put myself to bed when the baby goes to bed.

He’s still waking frequently in the night and the only way I can get a solid amount of sleep in is to have an early bedtime myself. “Bedtime” is a funny way to put it because it makes it seem like a conscious decision when the reality is I just pass out right after he does (sometimes even before, I think).

We skipped his last nap of the day in favor of going out to Northmans on the Riverwalk as a final farewell for all of Ankur’s co-residents. June 28th is technically their last day, but several of them took next week off in order to move. (Ankur took next week off as well. We will not be moving, but we will be hangin’ out with the family in CA!).

On the walk over there, Ishu was beyond thrilled to do something outside. We took the Michigan Ave. bridge to the other side of the river and, at one point, he pointed over to the Wrigley Building with SUCH EXCITEMENT and said, “Look! LOOK OVER THERE!” The way he expressed his excitement made me think he saw Santa. Or a unicorn.

And then he continued, “LOOK OVER THERE! AN AMERICAN FLAG. AND NEXT TO IT IS A CHICAGO FLAG. Those are some of my favorite flags.”

Oh, Ishu.

Once we got on the Riverwalk, he was really finding joy in seeing all the little steel bowls on the ground, located near the bars. He kept saying, “And that’s water for a dog. And THAT’S water for a dog. And ANOTHER WATER FOR A DOG.”

Sweet kid.

Well, in hindsight, it’s sweet.

In the moment, I found myself tugging him along so he wasn’t a casualty in a stampede of riverwalk runners.

It felt like I was the Dad in that Pixar short film, “Float,” where the little boy is so excited about all the things and I’m pulling him away from it all because we’ve got places to be and people to dodge.

Maybe that doesn’t make sense. But in my head, sometimes, I feel like Ishu really wants to take his time to stop and do all the things and I’m always like, ‘hurry, hurry, hurry.” Or “pay attention” or “get out of the middle of the sidewalk” or “LOOK AROUND, THERE ARE PEOPLE YOU ARE RUNNING INTO.”

When Ishu was younger and we first moved here, we went on a lot of Ishu-led walks where he’d waddle around and I’d just tail after him, letting him explore everything. I loved it so much. And he loved it too. He never wants to go straight from Point A to Point B. He wants to stop to smell C, analyze D, run around E, go back to D.

You get what I’m saying?

To him, he’s ALWAYS IN whatever moment he’s in.

I think most 4-year olds are.

And when we don’t have somewhere to be at a specific time, we do let him linger and take his time. But we also live in a city that gets incredibly crowded in the summers so we don’t have the capacity to sit and look at every dog bowl, y’know?

He’s also FOUR. So, he’s not really aware that he’s in everyone’s way when he stops on a narrow sidewalk to study the bug on the ground. There are just so many unwritten rules you gotta teach a kid. Especially when they live in a city and the streets are busy and safety is a concern.

Anyway, we are very much looking forward to a week in suburban California where Ishu can squat down and study a rolly-pollie at length. Ha. (I mean, he does that here too. But, depending on where we are, I will occasionally have to interrupt him to tell him his butt is in the way).

Oh, parenting.

Okay, time for some coffee and breakfast.

Happy FRIDAY!