Reid hung out with Aunt Karin and Shea while I was at the [1] BlogHer07 conference that brought us to Chicago. Reid decided to stay in the hotel room while Aunt Karin took me to the train. She is totally addicted to [2] Nickelodeon and the [3] Disney channel. Once we left, though, Shea said that Reid started to wail and say she wanted me. Being a quick-thinking fellow, Shea asked if Reid wanted to hold the remote. She said, “yes,” and stopped crying immediately. Good thinking, eh?

The details of what happened during the day are vague to me. Aunt Karin and Shea were pretty tired when we met up about 8:00 and Reid was modifying all nouns with “poopy”. I do know that they went to the [4] Shedd Aquarium. I’d thought Reid would love it since she’d really [5] enjoyed the Birch Aquarium at Scripp’s when we went to San Diego. The admission prices were pretty high, though, and so Aunt Karin insisted that they stay a bit. Shea told me that it wasn’t as bad as he’d expected. I thinking that might be damning with faint praise.

The highlight for Shea seemed to be taking a taxi to get to the aquarium. He’d never ridden in a taxi before. I’m tempted to say, “or at least not that he remembers,” but I bet he is accurate in his comment. The family I come from is one that drives on vacation.  And everywhere else, actually. Have I ever mentioned that my dad built, and my brother still builds, vehicles for [6] Chryslers? Drive domestic and drive a lot is the motto.

The [7] Hollister store was high on Shea’s list of places to go and they went to the [8] Apple store to use a computer to find out the location. I’m wanting to go to the Apple store for its own offerings (oops, I’ve made Ken cringe, I’m sure). I brazenly asked to touch a woman’s iPhone at the conference yesterday and so I won’t need to touch one at the Apple store. They did make it to the Hollister store. Shea got some things there but Reid came away empty handed.

I called to see where they were when my cocktail party ended. They had just left [9] Navy Pier, where I was, and so they waited for me at the trolley stop and I caught the next one. It was 8:00 and neither Aunt Karin nor I had eaten. We found a [10] Starbucks/Bread Company combination restaurant just up the street. We shared a salad and sandwich while Reid literally ran in circles. She sang a bit, counted to 10 several times - getting all the numbers in the right place, and kept up a running commentary while she ran. There were few people in the restaurant but those that were there were smiling and so I didn’t have to be the heavy.

Shea told me that many people had commented on how cute Reid was. She was wearing a dress that she got from Sari, Melissa and Melissa’s men and she was a happy girl. Reid is at her cutest when she is happy. Having a kid with you in a strange city is a great ice-breaker. People talk to you or just smile as you walk by. As long as they don’t touch the kid, it’s all good. Whenever we look like we’re not sure where to go, someone stops to help us. They’re looking out for Reid, I think, since I don’t have people volunteering to help me when I’m alone.

Finally, we got onto the train to go back to the hotel. Reid told me that she was tired. I resisted the urge to say, “That’s why I’ve been telling you to lay down.” And instead I said, “Mama will watch over you.” Reid closed her eyes and cuddled with CareB and was asleep in seconds. She stayed asleep when I put her into the car and then when I took her out and carried her to the room. That’s a tired girl!