So far the weekend has been highly successful. Friday night we watched a little Finding Nemo with Simon and his large stuffed clown fish which he then took to bed after naming it Nemo. This morning Simon slept in almost an entire hour (dutiful son that he is) so that when he woke up, we were actually well rested and prepared to take him out and about. We walked him to "hot coffee" and then ran him and Furby in the stroller twice around the park across the street.

After evaluating our options for the day over breakfast we decided to take a trip to THE MALL. Simon's eating spree has caused him to outgrow a good percentage of his clothes over the past two weeks. In fact, we would almost swear that he is five inches taller. If we ever measured him we might actually have proof of how much he has grown but instead we care about reliable evidence - like that his new Elmo shirt (size 3) no longer reaches his waist. Now we don't like to consider ourselves "mall people" but since having a kid we have come to understand the glory of the mall experience - fountains, escalators, cheap bland food... what's not to like? So, to make ourselves feel better about spending the day at THE MALL we chose to drive to and through areas we'd never seen ending up at Oakbrook Center, the largest upscale open-air shopping center in the United States.

Simon had an amazing time until he became deliriously tired and began to say "bye bye! I love you!" while blowing kisses to imaginary people and concrete poles.

This evening Simon was reunited with his friend Amelie, her baby sister and their parents. He was so excited to see them that he couldn't eat right away (which, for him, is shocking) and he enthusiastically said "bye bye!" and waved over and over nearly forcing his parents out the door so he could spend some quality time alone with his friends.