Hello, Chicago Parents!
I’m so excited to be sharing my experiences living in Wicker Park with you! My family recently moved to the area, and we will all be exploring our new neighborhood together. So far, we have loved playing at Wicker Park, biking through the neighborhood, and walking to find interesting stores and restaurants. We hope to add a rescue dog to our team this spring!
We love to walk, bike and rollerblade together, be it in our neighborhood or on the lakefront. We all love heading to the beach, although Caleb is the only one who really enjoys the frigid waters! I also love finding great deals, so if I hear about one, I’ll be sure to pass it on to you.
As the spring approaches, I couldn’t be more excited about the return of the Wicker Park Farmer’s Market. Some of my favorite memories from the fall were of us walking to the Farmer’s Market on a Sunday afternoon, choosing some yummy fruits, veggies, and cheeses together, and then staying to play at the playground. This simplicity is a wonderful reminder that we need to remember to take time for the simplest of pleasures in the chaotic life that we lead!
This summer we look forward to the Phillies coming to town in July to play the Cubs for a daytime game. No one plans to reveal who they’ll be rooting for. Two-thirds of our family is from Philadelphia, and city loyalty has become a hot topic. And when the Bears play the Eagles? It gets ugly in our house!
Like many of you, we have been attempting to navigate the Chicago Public School system. Neighborhood? Gifted? Magnet? Charter? Testing? It seems like with so many options, there must be a good for every child. But with so many thousands of children on waiting lists for schools, I question what happens to the children who aren’t placed in their ideal school. And I question why parents find it necessary to hire tutors for their preschool children.While I have found the whole process overwhelming, especially because my son has hearing loss and requires some accomodations in his classroom, I am trying to make peace with the fact that we have “prepared” as best we could.
In addition to playing the role of Mommy/Admissions Counselor, I have a passion for health and fitness for families. What happens in the early stages of a child’s life affects him for years to come. I have made it my mission to try to help families get fit together. When Caleb was 6 months old, I founded One Fit Mama. We teach families to exercise together, eat nutritiously together and create positive healthy habits that will last a lifetime.
That’s all for now…I need to go pick up my kindergartener from his private school and think on where he might be enrolled next year.
