An evening out

Abby and I went to the symphony at the Kennedy Center tonight. A few impressions of the show. First, it was a tough program to enjoy as it was all 20th century music. Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Stravinsky. Not my favs, although the Prokofiev piece was a piano concerto that allowed the soloist to really show off a lot. Even if it wasn't that enjoyable in musical terms, it was amazing to see the guy bang on the keyboard. Second, boy oh boy, the audience was seriously old. Afterwards, I speculated that the median age of the audience was at least 60. And when I mentioned the composers on the program to our babysitter (and the one on the next show that we'll attend - Aaron Copland - who I claimed is much more appealing to a mass audience), I got a blank stare. Doesn't bode well for the future of classical music in the U.S.

Regarding our babysitter, she's incredibly overqualified. Harvard grad, intern with a Senator, future law student at U. Mich, etc. Only in DC can you find a babysitter like her. Margaret was screaming when we left, but reportedly calmed down shortly after our departure. Makes sense. After all, what's the point of screaming when there's no one to manipulate. Last time we left Teddy with her to see a movie ("No Country For Old Men" - a great flick - brutal, but incredibly tense and atmospheric), he cried most of the time. Apparently, he was better this time.

The real fun happened on our way home. While walking down a dark block in our neighborhood, we passed two gentlemen. After they walked by us, I asked Abby, "Did you recognize that guy?" Apparently not, but it was Ralph Nader. I pondered whether it would be inappropriate to heckle him. To combine my opinion of him with Abby's, I could have yelled something like, "Hey you commie (profanity), you cost Gore the election!" In the end, I didn't yell anything, but I did expound on his hypocrisy at length as we continued home. How dare a populist like Nader hang out in my preppy, affluent neighborhood! He better not live around here!

If I had yelled something at him, I figure that one of two things would have happened. Either the scruffy fellow with him, possibly his security guard, would've wrestled me to the ground. Or Ralph would've looked at me, dressed in my "professorial" tweed jacket and khakis that I happened to wear for the symphony, and dismissed me as one of "those people." He might be right, but I still think that he's a (profanity.)

Easter eggs

My NCAA bracket is in disarray. The only hope that I have rests with Georgetown getting to the final. An unlikely event, and it won't win me our pool anyway since someone near the top of the standings has G'town winning it all. But at least it would get me out of my current 29th position (out of 32.) Abby, on the other hand, having lost both Pitt and Connecticut from her Final Four and currently sitting in the 30th place behind me, is battling for the booby prize that gives the low scorer back his/her entry fee.

Rather than focus on our pathetic NCAA pools, I'll post some pics of our trip to Tudor Place, a local historic home, where we took part in various Easter related events. The initial task involved a "Easter egg hunt" in which eggs were spread (not hidden) on the lawn, and kids were sent to retrive them. The lawn was spilt into sections for different age groups. We took part in the "under four" section which was interesting since many of the kids had no idea what they were supposed to do. Even still, the "under fours" were the most heavily represented demographic group (unlike the "over nines" who were relatively rare, but knew exactly what they were doing), so the end result was complete pandemonium with parent trying to direct their toddlers to the candy eggs that were strewn across the lawn. Margaret seemed to get the basic idea and picked up three eggs, although she had (and has) no idea what was in them.

Here are some photos from that insane event (I have no idea who would grant an army of toddlers access to the manicured grounds of a historic house) and some pics of Margaret and Teddy hanging out afterwards.

Maddie, back home again

Maddie is now home. The CT grandparents brought her back on Thursday night. A bit lighter (likely due to her decreased exposure to kiddie scraps), but none the worse for wear.

Maddie and I didn't end up hiking in the mountains since it was supposed to rain all weekend. Turns out that Friday and Saturday were sunny and beautiful, except for Saturday night which we could've handled without any problems. And Sunday had lots of big, towering clouds and sun with gusting wind that was amenable to flying a kite on the Mall.

Anticipating rain, Maddie and I wimped out on the backpacking, and we were (or at least I was) a bit bitter about missing out on some great backpacking weather all weekend. When I told the guy at the Patagonia store about how we'd missed out on a trip to the mountains, he said, "Well, there will be more opportunities in the near future, no?" Even though I had Teddy at the time (Margaret was at the Air and Space Museum with the grandparents), I didn't want to point out that kids seriously affect one's independence. At the end of the day, I didn't want to dissuade an impressionable youth from having kids - it's a lot of fun and very rewarding, but the prospect of backpacking trips should be heavily discounted.

How is Maddie doing? Well, she isn't shaking uncontrollably whenever she sees Margaret at this point. So that's good news. There is some evidence that she still gets upset when Margaret fusses since she'll leave the room, but it's not as bad as it was. Hopefully, we can keep it that way. And it's great to play ball with Maddie again. Margaret also appears to enjoy playing ball with the dog, so maybe Maddie will realize that Margaret is really a potential source of fun.

Here are some pics from the past weekend including our trip to the Mall to fly a kite and Teddy in the "command post" for the first time (here's a video of Margaret in the command post around the same age.)

And here's a video of Margaret teaching Teddy how to play in the command post including some self-congratulation on her part ("Yeah, Margaret!")

Maddie's coming home

Maddie will be home tomorrow night. The CT grandparents are bringing her back from her R&R before they head off to a vacation in Africa. I'm excited to see her, but I'm also apprehensive since I know that Margaret hasn't become less fussy during Maddie's absence. To temper the adjustment shock, Maddie and I may head to the mountains of West Va. for the weekend, as long as it's not too cold. I'll post an update once we've all gotten back together.

Another Philly trip

We went to Philly again this weekend since our washing machine still has back-ordered parts. Three weeks of laundry necessitates dramatic action, and our response was a visit to the Philly relatives to abuse their washing machine for two continuous days of laundry. But we got photos! Including Margaret, Andrew and Lizzie playing in a torrential early spring downpour.

On other matters, Teddy is not a good sleeper at this point. I don't recall how well Margaret slept at the same age, but I do know that we could plop her in the swing, and she'd sleep for a few hours at a time. Not so with the Tedster. He seems to prefer sleeping in bed with us, and it's getting pretty annoying. Almost every morning, I give him a pleasant greeting and tell him how lucky he is that we don't toss him out the window. Or at least put him in a room by himself and close the door.

A nuk-nuk update. Despite my recent complaints about Margaret's dependence on her "comfort device," she has recently started to use it less frequently. When she wakes up, she has started handing us the nuk-nuk and saying "Away." She also doesn't use it anymore on the way home from daycare. Instead, she'll occasionally request it, but will spend the trip home blabbing and singing after I tell her that the nuk is "for bed" or "for babies." Teddy, on the other hand, has started using it more and more often. Since it helps him sleep, I'm willing to make that trade-off, but he's not very good with it. Unlike Margaret who suctioned onto the nuk from an early date, Teddy often spits it out after it's inserted in his mouth even though it's clear that he wants it. Just more evidence that number 2 isn't as bright as number 1.

Speaking of Margaret's intelligence, we'll be heading to her 2 year check-up pretty soon. One of the questions is how many words she knows. At her last check-up, I said "Ummm, a lot?" Apparently, border collies like Maddie know around 300 words which is typically more than a 2 year old. Now Margaret's vocabulary probably rivals, if not beats, that of Maddie. But how does she compare to other future applicants to Harvard? (Hah!) A friend of mine whose kid was non-verbal until he turned 2.5 years old (at which point he started talking in complete sentences) said that the baseline level of verbal communication at two years is amazingly low. Six words, or something like that. So needless to say, we're feeling pretty good about Margaret. Nevertheless, to avoid giving a response of "Umm, I dunno" when asked about her vocabulary at the next check-up, I'm going to subject my dedicated readers to a list of her words (that I can remember.) In the process, I'll only include words that she can pronounce with some accuracy and use in a roughly correct way.

• "Papa" and "mama" or "mommie" - Obvious
• "Margaret helps" - Usually when she doesn't
• "Margaret's turn" - When she wants something
• "Share" - Accompanies Margaret's turn
• "Papa's turn" - When Papa has to do something
  
• "Happy birthday _____" - Intended for Peter or Steve, but never articulated at the appropriate time until the target has hung up
• "Love you" - Said to anyone and everyone
  
• "More books" - Constantly at night
• "Again" - A request to repeat anything such as books at night
• "Sam I am" - A Dr. Seuss reference. "Hop on pop" and "pup in cup" are other similar phrases.
  
• "Sal" - Her favorite book character from the McCloskey books like Blueberries for Sal
  
• Other names include: Teddy, Rodah, Maddie, Peter, Nancy, Eleanor, Mary, Dave, Will, Mickey, Tommy, Sean, Kip, Lucas, Ben and, most importantly, Lizzie and Andrew
  
• "Potty" - What we do before a bath (without success in general)
• "Pee-pee" - What we do in the potty
• "B.M." - An affront that we attribute to Teddy
• "Stinky" - Something that we always deny
  
• "Bum" - What we wash at night
• "Bath" - When we wash the bum
• "Bum juice" - The diaper creme that we put on a clean bum
• "Diaper" - What we put on after the bum juice
• "P.J.'s" - What we put on after the diaper
• "Bed" - Where we head in our P.J.'s
  
• "No!" - Can't be any more clear
  
• "Yes!"- A more recent development
• "Breakfast" - Food!
• Other foods include: kix, raisins, pasta, beans, tomatoes, cookies, yogurt, apples
• "More" - A request that typically accompanies food
• Clothes: socks, shirt, shoes, pants
• Colors: yellow, blue, red
• Shapes: circle, square
• Flower: flower, daffodil

In any case, I figure we've about caught up to Maddie at this point. I'll see if I can come up with more interesting phrases before Margaret's next check-up. At some point (perhaps now), this exercise will become too difficult to be worthwhile.

As for Teddy, he's giggling a lot. "Heeeeeee," he says, in his odd way of inhaling when he laughs. (We'll get this on tape someday.)

A pic fix

Since I haven't posted much lately, I've got a bunch for photos for fans of the blog. And some videos too. Most of the photos come from this weekend since it appears that it's easier for us to find and use the camera on the weekends. And a subset of those photos come depict Margaret helping me cook ratatouille. We tried to cook it tonight since I figured that we should try it (I don't think that I've ever had ratatouille), and one of the crucial ingredients, eggplant, is one of those vegetables that I've never been able to enjoy. Like mushrooms. In the end, Abby and I thought that it was pretty good, although we're still not big fans of eggplant. Notably, however, although Margaret "helped" - one of her current favorite words which often does not reflect her actual contribution - during the preparation, she didn't eat any of it and instead focused on the bread.

Here's a video of Teddy doing his thing. Which, admittedly, isn't much at this point.

As for Margaret, here's a video of her doing her Maddie shitck. As loyal readers know, Maddie is currently experiencing some R&R with the CT grandparents to give her a break from the kid. As an aside, she'll be returning in mid-March. I'm happy that she'll be back, but I'm also concerned since Margaret's fussiness hasn't really diminished, so Maddie may still experience some stress. This has led to the following exchange between Margaret and me:

Me: What's your puppy dog's name?
Margaret: Maddie.
Me: Where is Maddie?
Margaret: With Peter. (Sometimes Nancy gets a reference.)
Me: Why is Maddie with Peter?
Margaret: She's sad.
Me: Why is Maddie sad?
Margaret: Margaret fusses.

I am absolutely certain that none of this has sunk in with Margaret. Even still, Abby warns me that Margaret will find herself in therapy someday due to this type of exchange.

A momentous day redux

Apparently, Margaret reproduced her accomplishment from last night at school today. So we may be on the downslope leading to the point where Papa stops paying attention to the sales circulars on diaper prices. At least for one of the kids.

A momentous day

As my lack of recent posts suggests, things have been pretty mellow over the last week. Margaret's vocabulary has been expanding by the day, and Teddy continues to work on the things that infants work on - rolling over, grinning, putting things in his mouth, etc.

But today, we had a whopper of a development. It happened when I took Margaret up for a bath. She and Abby had been watching the Oscars' red carpet show on E! and, after eating a messy dinner, we decided that she needed a bath. Rather than pull Abby away from her show, I whisked Margaret up for a bath. As we got prepped for the bath, Margaret asked to sit on the potty. We've got a little potty on which Margaret will sit on occasion, but her interest is sporadic and her sitting on it doesn't seem to lead to much. Sitting on the potty is just a way to pass the time, it would appear. And her request to sit on the potty tonight wasn't different from her previous, unproductive requests.

When I picked her up to plop her in the tub, I noticed some liquid in the potty. "Where did that come from," I thought. And then "Whoo-hooo, Margaret used the potty!" At least, I have to think that she did since I can't imagine what else happened. I called Abby and we spent five minutes or so praising Margaret in the tub for being such a big girl. Margaret just grinned. I suspect that she has only a vague idea of what she did, but this is one of those breakthrough moments when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel - no more diapers!

Now I naturally didn't take any pictures of the soiled potty, so I apologize to the photo fans out there. And some of you may wonder whether it's worth reading about Maggie's bathroom habits. But this is a big deal. At least in my book it is.

Another trip to Philly

We went to Philadelphia this weekend so that Margaret and Teddy could visit their cousins. Upon encountering a household comprised of a 4, 6 and 9 year old, Margaret's mouth literally dropped open in awe. She ended up yelling "Ann-dweh" or "Izzie" depending on who she was following at a particular point in time. We had a lot of fun, and Margaret was so sad when we left. Even after she woke up later in our return to DC - both of the kids were troopers, again, and slept most of the way there and back - she teared up a bit when we "talked" about Lizzie and Andrew.

Nuk nuk redux

As I'm sure I've mentioned at some earlier point, Margaret loves her "nuk nuk." That is, her "binky", her "paci", or, for those not accustomed to toddler lingo, her pacifier. The use of the name nuk-nuk reflects both her preferred brand of pacifier (Nuk) and the sound that she makes when using it (think Maggie Simpson.) Margaret has become pretty skilled in her ability to manipulate the nuk-nuk as she spins it in her mouth without touching it. And N-U-K is probably one of the first words that she learned to "spell" since when I ask Abby, "Where's Margaret's N-U-K?," Margaret immediately says "nuk nuk?" We have since switched to calling it her "comfort device." An open question is how long it will take her to catch on.

She used it in the infant room at daycare, but left it behind when she moved to the toddler room. In fact, the teachers in the toddler room were stunned when I told them that she still used it. But the moment we walk out of daycare, Margaret plaintively cries "Nuk, nuk?" (Incidentally, the teachers at daycare also don't think that Margaret fusses very much - hah! Such a scam this kid has going!) At this point, I don't resist - as long as she's going in the stroller. I figure the nuk nuk is a fair trade-off to avoid a meltdown when I'm trying to belt her in. Especially when I've got Teddy in the lower level of the stroller and he's fussing too. Getting double-teamed by fussy kids isn't pleasant, so I'm not going to put up a struggle just to make a point. Margaret does know that the nuk-nuk isn't a good habit to have. "For babies" she'll occasionally say, after pulling it out of her mouth. But right back it goes.

Until recently, Teddy showed little interest in the nuk-nuk. We tried to give it to him early on to calm him down, but unlike Margaret who was such an enthusiastic sucker that it stayed put, he always quickly spit it out. Recently, however, he's started to use it a bit. When he's napping, the best way to get him back to sleep is to stick something in his mouth for him to suck on. Now that works ok if it's me and have a bottle on hand, but it's less convenient when it's 3:00 AM. So Teddy is slowly, but surely, becoming a convert to the nuk-nuk. He's been using it when we walk home from daycare, and it keeps him blissfully quiet. As it did during our drive to and from Pittsburgh over the weekend.

Do I want another nuk-nuk addict in the family? I ponder this question (briefly) everytime I stick it in his mouth. But if nothing else, I've learned that parenting involves trade-offs. The need to pick your battles. Recognizing that there aren't many battles that you win. So, I suppose, I'm ok with Teddy and the nuk-nuk. If only I could keep his nuk-nuks separate from Maggie's.

By the way, Teddy went to his 4 month check-up today. The doctor said that his sleep patterns weren't ideal since an infant of his age should only be getting up once a night. Tell me something I don't know! And how do we fix this? The pediatrician suggested that I (Papa) should get up and help him get back to sleep. Yeah, like that's a good solution.

But for those of you keeping score, Teddy is tall (90th percentile in height) and moderately chunky (75th percentile in weight.) She also unequivocally and emphatically said that he was clearly, undoubtedly the smartest, most talented baby that she'd ever seen at his age. But of course! (As you might naturally suspect, this particular pediatrician had never examined Margaret.) Apparently, he was also constipated and had a massive blow-out when Abby got him home (for Teddy, we started to refer to it as a pooplosion.) Luckily, Papa didn't attend this visit to the doctor. If he had, he certainly would've had something to say about her "expert" advice on how to deal with his nighttime sleep issues.

Potomac Primary

Teddy and I voted in the Potomac Primary today. Neither of us were registered, so we were hoping for some dispensation that would allow us to register and vote on the same day. The poor woman behind the table, faced with a long line and a fussy Teddy in the Baby Bjorn, stuttered and said "Well, sure. You can submit a provisional ballot. Would you like to register as a Democrat or a Republican?"

Now, as a first factoid, the DC primary is closed so that you can only vote in the primary of your declared party. Next, DC is so heavily Democratic that there's absolutely no point in voting any other way in a general election (the ultimate example of throwing your vote away is voting for a Republican in DC.) The result being that the only meaningful election for any race in DC is the Democratic primary.

My political adversaries out there (and you know who you are) will be pleased to know that Margaret and Teddy's papa is now a registered Democrat. As a longtime independent, I hesitated for a moment and then blurted out "Democrat, I suppose" in response to the pollworker's query. However, in my "defense", any other affiliation in DC is a waste of time as I noted earlier. And for those of you who know my political positions (again, you know who you are), it's not clear where someone with my odd political positions should reside (in a recent online test, I matched up best with Ron Paul - who ironically wants to fire me.)

Teddy and I got two special envelopes, filled out our ballot, and dropped it in the special box. The gentleman who monitored our vote gave us a heartfelt "Thank you" which, if nothing else, made me feel good for exercising my civic duty (something that I tend to be very cynical about.) For whom did we vote? I won't say except to note that in anything other than an extraordinary election, I wouldn't have voted (again, I'm typically a cynic.) Teddy voiced minor complaints the whole time (a cynic in training - or perhaps he objected to my choice), but people in line grinned at us as we left the polling site.

Ironically, our vote may not have counted anyway since when filling out the provisional form, I signed it with a date of 2/13/08. What the heck? Am I a moron? Perhaps since that's the type of thing that would get a ballot disallowed when the vote counters go through them. So much for introducing Teddy to representative democracy. But we did get an "I voted" sticker that he wore on his way to daycare. He seemed to drool on it a lot.

Here, then, are some photos from the last week. Including some from our weekend trip to Pittsburgh. Where it was cloudy and cold (as befits a trip to Pittsburgh - amazing how the weather changes as soon as we pass Breezewood, PA where we get on the turnpike) and Teddy met a puppy named Bailey who seemed to really take a shine to him.