Cubbies in DC

We went to a Cubs-Nationals game at the new ballpark in DC today. A friend of mine in Chicago offered to hook us up with tics to a random Nats game of our choice through a friend of his who works for the Nationals. Being somewhat greedy, I asked if we could get tickets to a game when the Cubs were in town, although I figured that the game would be close to a sell-out since the Cubs draw pretty well when they're in town. Luckily, it wasn't anywhere near a sell-out, so we got great tickets in the lower level up the third base line.

Let's start with a review of the new Nationals stadium. It's a nice enough place. Getting there can be a bit of a hassle on the Metro when you've got a stroller and a kid in the Baby Bjorn, but if you show up at 12:00 for a 1:35 game (since you didn't convert the CST start time on the Cubs website to EST), you won't have any problems with crowded public transportation. The area around the ballpark is a wasteland - absolutely nothing worth seeing or visiting near the park. For now, at least, since there's obviously a ton of construction in the area, so I expect that whole part of the city to pick up soon. You walk from the Metro to the ballpark through a corridor of construction fences.

One "flaw" in the stadium that I've heard people complain about at the dog park is the lack of a "stunning view." The most common counterexample is Pittsburgh's new stadium where the outfield opens onto the bridges and downtown buildings across the Allegheny River. It's true that the new Nats stadium doesn't have much of a view, but that's because DC doesn't really have many stunning views. "What?" you ask. "How can the home of the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, etc. not have stunning views?" Well, it's true that DC does have stunning views in certain areas, but those areas are all taken, and there's no room for a new baseball stadium that would take advantage of them. More generally, unlike Pittsburgh which, for all of its many, many flaws, is a geographically and visually pleasant setting for a city, DC doesn't have any real unexploited vistas to use for the new stadium. So you're stuck with a stadium in an unattractive part of what isn't a very striking city, outside of the core monument area. (Georgetown and other parts of the city are very nice, but, again, you can't put a baseball stadium in the middle of Georgetown.)

The stadium itself is nice, but I wouldn't want to be in the upper deck. Due to our connection, we were sitting in the lower level, about 20 rows from the field. The stadium has a mezzanine level above the lower level that is larger than the middle level of seats at most stadiums. There are then two levels of luxury boxes. Then the upper deck and, around home base, an upper-upper deck. Those seats are way, way up, and I suspect that the view isn't too good from them. The sight lines are good enough, but there really isn't anything that interesting about the stadium - say, a great view out of the outfield or some sort of interesting gimmick in the outfield wall - that catches your eye. All of the people working at the stadium were friendly enough, although they hassled Margaret, in good humor, about her Cubs dress. And the concession line was absymally slow, the worst I have ever experienced in any ballpark.

So how did our experience work? Margaret was excited all morning: "Going to a baseball game!" she kept saying. We dressed the kids in their Cubs gear that, due to the cool weather, didn't have it's full effect as we had to bundle them up in warmer clothes. We did, however, managed to put Margaret's Cubs dress over her sweatshirt. Actually, she's outgrown it as a dress at this point, so it was more of an "empire waist" top. Lots of people, especially other Cubs fans, grinned and pointed at her as she trundled around. Since we got to the game so early, Margaret and Teddy both fell asleep around the first inning. In Margaret's case, it took some time for her to fall asleep since she was overstimulated, but completely exhausted. She fell asleep on my chest, and I watched the next four innings with her snoring away. Both of them woke up in the middle innings, and we actually managed to stay until the end of the seventh. We could've staying longer, but we wanted to beat the rush back to the Metro.

Many teams have multiple characters who run in races at some point in the game. In Pittsburgh, the race involved various flavors of pierogies. In Milwaukee, I think that it's a variety of sausages. Here, it's four presidents: Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt. We tried to get a picture of our Teddy with the big Teddy R., but ours was asleep and the big one couldn't really figure out what we were trying to do. So something to shoot for in a future trip to the Nats new digs.

After all that, here are the pics.

Does Teddy Dream of Electric Sheep?

While heading to the Cherry Blossom Parade last Saturday, we almost ran over some ducklings crossing the road by the Fed. Margaret got a good look, but probably didn't get a full appreciation of them from her position in the car. Which is a shame since one of her favorite books is "Make Way For Ducklings" in which Mrs. Mallard and her offspring make their way to the Public Garden in Boston, aided by some Boston cops. Luckily for our ducklings, they had blocked off most of the roads around the Fed in preparation for the parade (which happened to seriously hinder our attempts to park at the Fed), so they didn't face serious traffic. Although it poured before the parade, the weather ended up being ok, and Margaret had a great time watching the bands and floats pass by.

But the major topic of this post is not ducklings or parades, rather it's Teddy's sleep habits. Put briefly, Teddy has been a really crappy sleeper. To be fair to the boy, I don't remember how well his sister slept at a similar point in her life, but I do know that we used the swing to lull her to sleep and that she would sleep for hours at a time in it. In contrast, Teddy has never liked the swing. His typical sleep pattern at night involves falling asleep around 8:00 PM and then waking up sometime between midnight and 1:00 AM. Now, waking up around then is understandable for a kid who wants a midnight snack. The problem is what follows that snack. Teddy doesn't want to play in the middle of the night, but he also doesn't want to be "left alone." Instead, he wants to sleep on top of his mama, and he wakes and fusses ever hour or so when she tries to put him back in his pack-n-play. So he ends up getting up around 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, etc. or some combination of those times. It's really quite difficult, especially for Abby, since it prevents us from actually getting quality R.E.M. sleep (even for me, although I often manage to roll over and fall back asleep pretty quickly.)

For the past month or so, we have been plotting a "shock treatment" in which we let the kid cry himself to sleep when he's having problems getting to sleep and clearly has no reason to be up. Luckily for him, he slept through the night last night (for the first time ever!!!!), so he may escape that fate if he can keep it up. Otherwise, we'll toss him into his bed, put in the earplugs, and sleep like "babies." Which may sound harsh, but it's better than tossing him out the window as I often threaten to do after an especially bad night.

O bed! O bed! delicious bed!
That heaven upon earth to the weary head.
~ Thomas Hood, Miss Kilmansegg - Her Dream

And if tonight my soul may find her peace
in sleep, and sink in good oblivion,
and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower
then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created.
~ D.H. Lawrence

O sleep, O gentle sleep,
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down
And steep my sense in forgetfulness?
~ William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one.
~ Leo J. Burke

As for those of you who wonder about the odd title of this post, please see this which spawned a great movie.

Also, Teddy has recently become pretty good at sitting up on his own. I suppose that's a new skill worthy of a post, but given his sister's achievements and his sleep problems, I'm not inclined to praise the boy too much. But here are some pictures including some in which he's showing off his new skill.

Medical update

We went to Margaret's two year check-up and Teddy's six month check-up a few days ago. For fans who are keeping score, Margaret is still tall and thin as she's in the 90th percentile (35.4") for height and 75th (29 lbs) percentile for weight. Teddy is matching his sister as he's in the 95th percentile for height (29") and the 50th percentile for weight (19 lbs). Margaret is also doing well in her communication skills (full sentences!), as her verbal skills match those of a three year old, but her physical skills are somewhat lacking (she can't jump.) Teddy is basically a blob who is as proficient at being so as any 6 month old kid.

But who cares about that. Here are some pictures.

A bunch of stuff

Reflecting various exciting events in our household, we have a multimedia extravaganza for fans of the blog.

First, Teddy has started eating solid foods. We decided to test him this weekend to see if it would help him sleep better. No luck on that front, but he took to it like a champ. Ate the stuff with only minor fussing, unlike his sister who was initially intrigued, but then annoyed, by the whole solid food thing. Luckily for Teddy, he had his big sister coaching him through the experience. And trying to help her parents.





We also went to the aquarium in Baltimore on Sunday. We thought about heading there on Saturday since the weather was supposed to be bad, but the predictions of the weathermen have been so off lately that, when it was bright and sunny on Saturday morning, we spent the day wandering around the parks in our neighborhood instead. Sunday morning was gray and drizzly, so we decided to drive to Baltimore. Margaret and Teddy slept most of the way, as befits champion travelers. Once we got to Baltimore, we found a key parking spot ("Doris Day parking" as one of our Pittsburgh friends would say) which made the trip worthwhile from my point of view (as my brother-in-law notes, no one in my family likes to pay for parking.) Margaret squealed with glee and jumped around when we walked in.

The Baltimore aquarium is pretty cool. It's nothing like the aquarium here in DC which is in the basement of the Commerce Department and is so pathetic that one of my colleagues suggested that it would be better (and cheaper) to hit a Petco to see fish. We often visit Petco to buy food for Maddie, and Margaret loves it since they have birds and small rodents in addition to fish. But the Baltimore Aquarium is on a completely different level. Lots of interesting, colorful fish. Lots of fun watching scuba divers feed the fish, some of whom waved at us as they passed by. And an employee feeding a dead mouse on a stick to an alligator - excellent, at least in my opinion, although everyone around us was grossed out. It all ends with one of the coolest displays I've ever seen as you descend on from the top level to the exit through one big fish bowl. Initially, I thought that the Baltimore aquarium didn't rival the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, but the last part made me think again. Pretty cool, even if the kids (or more appropriately, the Boy) started fussing.

Here are some videos of Margaret at the aquarium.



And, to complete the whole multimedia experience, here are some photos of the weekend.

Two years old

Kid number one is now two years old. Hurray!! We have officially entered the Terrible Twos. It's odd, but I could have sworn that we'd been there for a while. Still, Margaret and I did have a nice evening uploading pictures on the web as she stayed up late for her birthday.

As befits the distinguished status of kid number one, we have experienced six days of celebration of her birthday. It all began on Saturday when Grandma Mary, Grandpa Dave and the Philly relatives (Lizzie! Andwu! Alex!) arrived. We hit the Mall for the National Kite Festival, which was quite a scene. The National Kite Festival is one of those events where the weather always seems to be nice (i.e., not raining and reasonably breezy as needed for kites) and everyone seems to be in a good mood. How do you keep your kite from getting tangled with someone else's kite? I don't know, but no worries since no one seems to get too worked up when lines do get tangled. Initially, Alex, Andrew and I tried to fly our kite with limited success (BTW, I could've gotten the kite up, but the kids didn't seem to grasp the physics behind kite flying.) We then watched a "professional" kite-flying display which was basically a battle royale with a bunch of kites up in the air banging into one another. The last one up after all sorts of intentional collisions won the round. A very odd scene, especially since you tended to watch the kites in the sky, but most of the action took place on the ground as the teams ran all over the place maneuvering for position.

Eventually, some of us got bored with that event, so we wandered off and, due to a series of serendipitous gusts of wind, managed to get our kite way up in the air. Lizzie and I flew the kite for a while until the wind dropped off. We all then wandered around the Mall for a few hours hitting all of the sights that Abby and I take for granted. "Oh yeah. That's the new World War II Memorial. Would you like to see it? The quotes in the Lincoln Memorial? They're kind of boring." Yawn. At least for us, but not, we had to remember, for everyone else.

On Sunday, we had an early birthday party for Margaret. As was the case on her first birthday, Margaret found the cake a bit disturbing, but unlike last time, she managed to get over it and ended up stuffing her face.

After the Philly relatives left, we opened presents. And boy did Margaret make out like a champ. A mini-kitchen ("It's hot," she says seriously, mimicking her Papa, as she puts something in the oven), a bunch of horses for her little barn, and a lot of books. As befits her maternal gene pool, she reveled in the whole process of opening and basking in the glow of her presents.

Margaret and the boy then spent the next three days at home with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dave. Such fun. For all parties involved. Margaret seemed to be in an unusually good mood each morning from the time she woke up. And I didn't have to scramble from work to pick them up from daycare. Sure the ladies at daycare harangued me about their absence when I stopped by to tell them where the kids were, but I have to say that the presence of grandparents, either my parents or Abby's parents on earlier visits, is a godsend for our quality of life. The kids seemed to enjoy having the grandparents around too.

Today was the OFFICIAL birthday. We had a little party at daycare with the same cupcakes (sans frosting which the caretakers love since it keeps the mess to a minimum) that we used last year. Rather than saying "Happy Birthday, Elessar" (directed to one of the kids in her class), Margaret has now started saying "Happy Birthday, Margaret." I've pointed out to her that she needs to work on her pronouns since only celebrities and eccentric people refer to themselves in the third person, but she doesn't seem to get it. In any case, we had a nice party at school. AND BEST OF ALL, Teddy, Margaret, Maddie and I are enjoying some bonding time since Mama is out of town leaving Papa to deal with the kids. Which brings back memories of previous episodes in which Mama has deserted Papa and the kids. At the end of the day, we all survive, but it's not pleasant.

Last night, for example, Teddie woke up at 1:00 AM. After giving him a bottle, he continued to fuss, so I brought him into bed with me and kept sticking a pacificer and/or bottle into his mouth whenever he woke up. Which seemed, to me, to be about every 30 minutes or so. Not fun. When I mentioned this experience at work, one of my research assistants asked "But doesn't your wife have to deal with that every night when she's home?" Harumph.

Here, then, are some pics illustrating various things that I've written about in this post. Note that in some of the pictures, Margaret has a pony tail. A new development about which I'll opine in detail at a future date.

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.