I found it!

I am happy to report that I have returned victorious. I am back from Chicago two days ahead of schedule, having found a wonderful rental house on Day One of my search. My mother and I - with the assistance of a very helpful rental agent named Ed - looked at a whole lot of dumps before coming across this lovely house at 1711 W. Fletcher St. (It is the blue house shown in the photos. The photo of the row of houses is across the street from us...the whole block looks like this!) Not only is it a 2-story unit (a house "with an upstairs and a downstairs" - Baxter's dream!), but there are two decks and a nice little yard out back, three bedrooms and two full baths, a laundry room on the 1st floor, central heat and A/C, a garage, and a real kitchen with a dishwasher! (If you've been to our apartment, you'll understand why this last one is a thrill.)

Amazingly, the house is about 1 1/2 blocks from Baxter's new school - we can see the playground from the front porch. Also from the front porch we can see house after house after house full of children. I went last night around 6pm and walked around, and everyone was coming home for the evening - kids of all ages were everywhere!! I could see from the back of our new house that all of the yards within view contained little trikes, scooters, and wading pools. And I didn't even mention the racial diversity! These houses are NOT all occupied by white folks! It was clear, from my little walk last night, that the area is very diverse.

We'll be 4 blocks from the El stop, 2 blocks from the library, around the corner from a large grocery store (similar to Safeway) and just a few blocks from a big Whole Foods. We all seem to be equally excited about the ice cream shop a block away. (I had trouble getting that song "Ain't that America..." out of my head while I was strolling around last night.)

The YMCA is also just 4 blocks away and I actually signed us up today in order to get the kids spaces in a couple of summer classes. Yes, Baxter will get to take the "Super Hero Training" class he has been longing for ("learn to leap from tall buildings" - in a gym, of course! - "capes optional"). There was also a tumbling class that acoommodated both boys. So we already have a couple of classes each week that we'll be doing - a good way to give our days a little structure and meet some other kids (and moms!).

People were very friendly, seeking out eye contact and saying hello no matter where in the city we were. I loved the comfortable feeling of this neighborhood - pretty little houses on these tree-lined streets but just around the block it felt very urban.

I love it, and I think we're going to be very happy there.