Where do tree hugging, vegetarian liberals belong in north Chicago? (Evanston: mortgage, environment)

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Anthera

OMG - I remember Wiggleworms! It was my introduction to mom/tot classes where I was the only real mom. I met so many nice nannies there. I think the classes were on armitage back then.

Now they have night and weekend classes, so more "real moms" can show up. What's really sad is when some of those Lincoln Park moms have nannies even though they stay at home. I used to see that quite a bit when I lived near Armitage and Halsted. I guess you could call that "Detachment Parenting". Dr. Sears would be appalled.

Speaking of that, when I lived in that neighborhood Dr. Spock's son was our neighbor across the street. I've always heard that he had some pretty screwed up kids, but his son was a very nice guy with a beautiful old home. Other neighbors included a big wig at Crate and Barrel, a financial analyst who was often on CNN, a partner at Arthur Anderson (gulp!), and a guy who bought old hospitals and liquidated them. "The LP" can be a strange place indeed. Probably not the most "tree-hugger" friendly neighborhood in the city...

[Anthera]

Oh, most of the kids in the classes we took didn't have working moms. Some did, but the majority were nonworking with nanny. The nannies were nice though.



ETA - The Gold Coast was pretty interesting too. You'd meet all sorts at The Third Coast coffeeshop. One day it would be Saul Bellow, the next some former soap opera actress. Lots and lots of nice ordinary people and an interesting assortment of third wives.

[jaynetarzana]

We found a preschool today after touring several. So yet another thing checked off the list! We're just plugging along here. Thanks again everyone.

[Calidreemer]

So glad you found one. Keep us updated - after all this thread is AKA "THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE"

[SloopyJ]

I agree! As a relatively new Evanston resident with young kids, I'd be curious to hear what your reactions were to the various preschools you visited.

[Nysee53]

Childtime near St. Francis is great and if you want high-end or upscale try Roycemore School pre-k, very expensive. You could go for the public Warren Cherry Pre-School, considered to be very good. My friend in Evanston, who grew up in Kenilworth is about to have her oldest finish at the French School and then they will go to Lincoln Elementary School.

[Calidreemer]

Jay I think you are doing great having only been here for a couple of weeks.

Nysee did you see that Jay already found a preschool? I also don't get the feeling she is as concerned about "upscale" as she is quality which is why I imagine she toured several schools.

[jaynetarzana]

Thanks Calidreemer, I am feeling pretty good about the progress we've made so far. It wouldn't have been possible without all of the help I've gotten from this forum.

[Calidreemer]

I am glad things are going well - you must be very busy trying to get ready for yet another move!

I agree everyone on this forum has been very helpful and provided a lot of information for you and your family to consider.

[jaynetarzana]

We went to look at a few houses in Evanston today. I really liked one of them, but it needs too much work and it as the very top of our price range. My husband is feeling like we should wait quite a while before we buy. The media keeps hammering away at the stories about how the real estate market is going to continue it's downward spiral for awhile. It is certainly a scary proposition for us especially since we just lost everything in the sale of our house.

This article is a good example of news that is very unsettling to us: Housing market slump may stretch further - Mortgage Mess - MSNBC.com

Chicago was on a list of cities where it makes more sense to pay a landlord than a lender citing that prices still have a lot of room to fall and would leave new homeowners with negative equity were they to sell in four years: 34 cities where it's still better to rent - Rentals - MSN Real Estate

I'd love to talk more about everyone's opinions regarding the question on so many minds right now "To buy or to rent?". Financially, renting makes more sense for us all day long, but there is nothing like owning you own home. We have always been homeowners so renting long term seems so strange to us. We feel like we should have our own home to raise our girls in.