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.