ACC Football for the Whole Family

At the beginning of October, Cat, Nathan, and I visited College Park, Maryland, for Nathan's first football game and my first ACC game.  Through the Washington-area Clemson alumni club, Cat learned of a special event for Clemson graduates in the area, including lunch and discounted seats at the game.  Since fall is the perfect time to sit out in the dwindling sunlight and enjoy a good game of football, we bought tickets, donned what little Clemson clothing we had (Nathan wore a mixture of Clemson and Furman gear), and headed to College Park on October 3rd.  Upon arriving on campus around the football stadium, we found that the Clemson alumni club had secured a rather nice room in a University of Maryland alumni event hall, a surprisingly posh location, considering that we were there to support the opposing team.  I had half expected us to be dining in the bed of a pickup truck in the parking lot.  It was to be an early game, so many of the tailgaters we passed on the way to the banquet hall were cooking scrambled eggs and sausage on their grills.  Once in the banquet hall, we availed ourselves of the delicious spread of barbecue beef sandwiches, pasta salad, and fruit while chatting with our table mates, the parents of a recent Clemson graduate who live in the area.

In between short breaks for lunch, Nathan spent much of the time during the alumni luncheon tearing around outside in the nice weather.  We took turns corralling him while the other ate, and by the time lunch was over, Nathan was quite exhausted, though the game hadn't even started.  After the obligatory singing of the Clemson alma mater and fight song and a heavily-accented speech by a man in purple and orange slacks, we headed over to the stadium.  In response to the cool morning that day, we dressed in long pants and long sleeves; however, after climbing (and climbing) up to the rarefied air of the nosebleed section to find our seats, we discovered that the cool air had been burned off by a surprisingly warm sun.  Though one shouldn't complain about nice weather in October, we soon wished that we had worn shorts.  Fortunately, the frenzy of new activity around him kept Nathan occupied, so he was quite contented to sit between us and take in the events on the field and in the stands.  We tried to get him to cheer as the Clemson team took the field, but he would have none of it.

The game started out on a positive note, with Clemson taking a 10-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, but it started to go downhill after that.  With the heat building in the stands, we took a few breaks during the second quarter to cool off under the stands and get some water.  During our breaks, we began to hear more and more cheering from the Maryland fans on the opposite side of the field, so we knew things were starting to turn.  By the end of the first half, we decided that a hot day and a tired baby did not mix, so we decided to call it a day, with Maryland leading 17-13.  We later learned that we missed an exciting 92-yard kickoff return for a Clemson touchdown in the 3rd quarter, but Clemson ended up losing 24-21.  During the walk back across campus to the parking garage, it became clear that Nathan had had quite an exciting day; he fell asleep as I was carrying him, something that is entirely unheard of.  Needless to say, the ride home was nice and quiet.

David Beckham? Not Yet.

Back in September, we had the bright idea of taking Nathan to an open house for a toddlers' soccer program in Rockville.  The informational session for the Lil' Kickers program was held at the Rockville SportsPlex, a surprisingly nice complex on the edge of Rockville's industrial area.  It was held on one of about eight or ten indoor playing surfaces, complete with miniature goals, cones, and plenty of soccer balls.  We went to the program hoping for lots of fun and many opportunities for some great action shots with Nathan.  Alas, it was not quite to be.  Instead of laughter and joy, there was plenty of screaming.  Instead of running and kicking, there was picking up and throwing.  With his predilection for scooping up incoming soccer balls and throwing them back, Nathan seems to be showing more aptitude for the position of goaltender than any other.  He spent much of the time moving from soccer ball to soccer ball to see which one was best to throw.

The program is designed for kids 18 to 24 months old, so since the open house occurred a few weeks before Nathan turned 18 months, we might have been pushing it a bit.  We ended up being the parents with the kid who ran around at the other end of the field while the other kids lined up to run or sat in a circle to stack cones.  Nathan is not yet much for structured activities, apparently.  At one point, the activity proved to be too much and I had to take him out to the car for a timeout, smiling in exasperation at the horrified mother in the lobby as Nathan screamed like a banshee.  On the upside, he had some time to play with some other kids, one of the instructors taught him how to kick the ball, and it wore him out.  We picked him up a small soccer ball at Dick's Sporting Goods after the open house and, since then, he's shown some flashes of aptitude for kicking the soccer ball around.  Maybe the next open house will be better.

The Long Project

The next major construction project has begun: the phased remodeling of the entire upstairs. Now that we have a new laptop and less clutter on our desk, the home office has been moved downstairs and the front bedroom has been mostly cleared out. The first phase in the remodeling will be to change the layout of the front bedroom, allowing us to move in. The first step in that phase is to rip up the old parquet flooring that covers the front bedroom and the entire upstairs. Though the flooring is made of fairly good quality oak and has aged rather nicely, the glue underneath has worn out, so many spots on the floor creak and pop as the parquet tiles compress and rebound under our feet. In addition to these noises, there is also an intolerable amount of creaking coming from the subfloor, where nails connecting the plywood to the floor joists underneath have come loose.  So to get things started, I spent a good part of a Monday earlier this month introducing the flooring to the business end of a floor chisel, popping the parquet tiles out like pieces of a puzzle.  Most of the bedroom floor is now an exposed spread of dried--but still slightly sticky--black floor glue.  Removing the floor tiles alone took care of many of the creaks and groans, but several of the particularly noisy spots were silenced by a few well-placed screws.  My morning routine is now considerably quieter than it was with an intact floor.

The idea with the front bedroom is to knock out the wall between the bedroom and the laundry room, an extra room constructed by the previous owner.  After that, we'll build a new wall to enclose the smaller laundry closet, a room big enough for the washer and dryer but small enough to leave the master bedroom respectably large.  A pocket door between the bedroom and the master bathroom will add a bit of privacy that is now somewhat lacking and we'll finally be able to put up the third ceiling fan upstairs.  A bit of carpet should make the floor even quieter and will make the room ready for us to move in, freeing up the back bedroom for the next phase of construction.  At least, that's the plan; it could change considerably in the future.

Let the Fun Begin

My new toy arrived recently: a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. As Nathan's velocity increases, the old point and shoot digital camera with the annoying delay when taking pictures had become intolerable. The new camera is lightning fast, perfect for catching Nathan zipping around the house or running around outside. The speed makes it easy to take tons of pictures; in less than three weeks, I've already taken over 350 pictures. Taking pictures is fun again.

Picnic on the Canal

The new album, Canal Ride, is from a day trip that Nathan and I took back in August to the C&O Canal. Silvia had taken a Friday off, so I took off work and stayed with Nathan while Cat worked. After breakfast, I loaded up the bike and we drove out to Pennyfield Lock Road in Potomac to an entry point on the C&O Canal towpath several miles upriver from Great Falls where we usually join the trail. Pennyfield Lock turned out to be a great entry point, since it was very quiet and devoid of the crowds that visit Great Falls. It had been my turnaround point during the last ride that Nathan and I took from Great Falls, so I was eager to take him back to explore further up the trail. On Friday, we ended up riding several miles up the towpath past Seneca Creek, where a foot bridge along an old aqueduct crosses the creek.

After riding a few more miles past Seneca Creek, we turned around and headed back, stopping at a picnic area we had passed at the mouth of Seneca Creek. Though there were a number of school-age kids paddling kayaks in the creek, the picnic area was deserted, so Nathan and I had the place to ourselves. We found a shaded table and opened up the Goldfish, cheese sticks, and peaches that I had brought along. While I was resting from the ride, Nathan took some time to romp around the big grassy area down by the river, stopping to check out the fire pits in the picnic area and pick up walnuts. He's very much into climbing hills and running back down now, so he spent some time climbing back up the embankment leading back to the towpath. After sufficiently exploring the area, he took a seat at the picnic table and snacked with me. Before long, though, he was climbing from the ground to the picnic table seat and onto the table itself, stopping occasionally for a bite of peach. After finishing our snacks, we walked over to check out the group of huge turkey vultures perched in a tree by the mouth of Seneca Creek, then climbed back on the bike for the ride downriver to the car. I should also note that in future visits to the picnic area, I will not attempt to pedal the bike back up the embankment to the towpath. Disaster was narrowly averted when I leapt off the bike in a panic as I felt the front wheel lift off the ground as the bike tipped backwards on the steep slope. Next time, I will definitely be pushing the bike back uphill.

A Weekend with Nana and Grandpa

It's always a busy weekend when Nana and Grandpa visit, and this past Labor Day weekend was no different. After an overnight stop at Shenandoah Crossing and several stops in Virginia on the way--including one at Montpelier--they arrived on Thursday afternoon and immediately sat down to Cat's dinner of jerk chicken and grits. On Friday, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and ventured to Mount Vernon for a late lunch at the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant, stopping along the way at Arlington Cemetery to visit Ted Kennedy's grave. With all the activity that comes along with a visit from the grandparents, Nathan was already exhausted by the time we arrived at the cemetery, so he slept in the stroller the entire time. There was enough of a cool breeze that walking along the cemetery's pathways was comfortable, even in the sun. Finding the smoothest path as possible to keep Nathan asleep, we climbed the hill to the Kennedys' gravesites, enjoying the view of the city from the hilltop. The sun always seems to get brighter as fall sets in, and the light reflecting off the white marble around JFK's grave was almost blinding. The crowds weren't too bad, so we made our way around the three graves and headed on, opting against climbing farther up the hill to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

On the way out of Arlington Cemetery, we stopped by the Women in Military Memorial outside the cemetery. The memorial building made for a nice air conditioned stop away from the increasing heat of the day, and it also has a great view across the Arlington bridge down to the Lincoln Memorial. The memorial was nearly deserted, so Cat and I received the full attention of a museum worker when Cat looked up her grandmother in the memorial's catalog of women in the military. Cat's grandmother, Opal, served in the Navy during World War II and is registered in the memorial's system. Cat was able to print out a certificate of information on her grandmother's military service along with a portrait of the memorial. On the way out of the memorial, we checked out the quilts on display, including one made by service members on the USNS Comfort, which was comprised of quilt squares representing the different medical specialties present on the ship. Another quilt was made by the members of a small town to honor those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. After leaving Arlington Cemetery, we drove the rest of the way south on the George Washington Parkway to Mount Vernon. By the time we arrived, the lunch crowds at the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant had cleared out, so we were seated immediately. Nathan was well-behaved during lunch and tried a variety of foods, including some mushrooms, some peanut and chestnut soup, some Virginia ham, and plenty of goldfish crackers (not from the menu, of course).

With plenty of time for a power nap on the way home while we sat in rush hour traffic before the holiday weekend, Nathan was once again ready to go by the time we got home. As was the case every day during their visit, Nana and Grandpa were treated to a tour of the neighborhood, thanks to Nathan. Whenever the mood struck him, Nathan would pull a pair of shoes (mismatched or otherwise) out of the hall shoe cabinet and bring them to whichever grandparent he deemed in need of a walking tour. Often, the goal of the walk was to take Spot, Nathan's new wooden toy dog handcrafted by Grandpa, out for a walk. At one point, Spot had taken so many walks that he lost a wheel and had to be repaired after a trip to Home Depot where Grandpa and I obtained sturdier axle materials. When not walking Spot, Nathan was sufficiently satisfied to traverse the stairs in the neighborhood repeatedly or push his Cozy Coupe up and down the sidewalk.

In contrast to Friday, Saturday was a day of rest and recovery. We spent the day around the house, with, of course, more walks around the neighborhood for Nathan, but also a chance for him to catch up on the sleep he missed from the previous day. At one point, he took Nana on such a long walk that the rest of us set out to find the two. We found them in the park at the end of the street, where Nathan had borrowed a basketball from two men on a neighboring court and was doing his best to score a lay up. After seeing Cat and I shoot (and mostly miss) baskets a few weeks ago, Nathan now runs around tirelessly on the basketball court, looking up and throwing the ball over his head as high as he can manage. He has a ways to go, but he could be a baller yet. Since the weather over the entire Labor Day weekend was wonderful, we rounded out the afternoon with a trip to the pool down the street. Though the sun had been deceptively warm for several days, it was clear after making first contact with the water that the cool nights had removed any lingering summer warmth from the pool. However, if the cool water bothered Nathan, he certainly didn't show it. Cat, on the other hand, was in no hurry to hop in, contented to sit by the kiddie pool and read as I watched over Nathan. Nana and Grandpa showed up at the pool after a while, bringing iced coffee drinks from Carmen's.

On Sunday, we decided that a nice outing for the day would be to make a second attempt at finding a restaurant that Cat and I had previously tried to visit. The first attempted meal at Jimmy Cantler's Riverside Inn in Annapolis was back in 2005, when Cat and I tried to find the place for my birthday dinner. Instead of finding the restaurant, which is tucked back in a residential area of Annapolis among the numerous coves and peninsulas of the Severn River, we ended up on a narrow bridge leading back into downtown Annapolis near the Naval Academy. This time, however, we were successful in finding the restaurant. True to the restaurant's review in the Washington Post, the place was already getting busy at around 11:30 in the morning. By the time we left, a crowd had formed outside the restaurant and a line of about ten cars was waiting to get into the parking lot.

Jimmy Cantler's is the classic casual Maryland seafood restaurant that Cat and I had been looking for, with paper-covered tabletops, mallets to open the steamed crabs, and plenty of paper towels to clean up the tremendous mess afterwards. The cheap beer served cold in cans with a plastic cup rounded out the environment. After getting our tray full of steamed crabs and corn on the cob, we listened to a detailed tutorial by the waitress--including guidance on how to deal with the "mustard" and a warning that the gills are not edible--and started to dig in. The crabs were generously doused in Old Bay and were a lot of work to open, but were still delicious. Nathan had a little bit of crab, but spent most of his time with the hush puppies and corn on the cob. At first, he treated the corn cob like a popsicle, sticking the whole end of the corn cob in his mouth, but he quickly got the hang of it, turn the corn cob sideways and making short work of it. The rest of us toiled at opening the stubborn crabs to retrieve our morsels of meat, all while trying to snap pictures of Nathan chomping on the corn cob without covering our cameras with butter and Old Bay. After almost two hours of work, we were left with an empty tray and a bucket full of crab detritus. Nana and Grandpa headed home the next day, so our unique meal at Jimmy Cantler's rounded out the weekend quite nicely.

Quiet Time

Sometimes I think that the hardest part about changing Nathan's bedtime routine is the effect it would have on my nighttime routine. Our current routine is for me to sit in the rocking chair with him on my lap, rocking him for a while and then moving him to the crib for him to fall asleep. Some nights are easier than others, particularly when there are grandparents around to wear him out during the day. As we sit together in the dark of his room, a CD plays on the clock radio, be it Jewel's Lullaby album, Cradle Classics, or one of a few Enya albums. While Nathan drifts off to sleep (or tosses and turns sleeplessly, depending on the night), I sit next to him in the rocking chair, enjoying the peace and quiet. I have been known to wake myself up after a short time with the sound of my own snoring, so I can attest to the fact that lullaby CDs do not work exclusively on babies. This brief moment of quiet has become part of my routine over the past seventeen months, since I have been the one to put Nathan to sleep almost every night since he was born. Altering this routine could be more disruptive to me than to Nathan. I imagine that someday in the distant future when Nathan sends me to "the home," he will give my caretakers a few Enya albums for them to play on the nights when I am particularly cranky.

Nathan Expresses His Love for Mama

Nathan has started picking up a few words, and although he doesn't appear to understand their significance, he still loves to repeat them over and over. At least, he sometimes does...

First Haircut

Before we left for our trip to Anderson last month, we decided that Nathan was overdue for a haircut. He had gradually developed a baby mullet of sorts, with scruffy curls running down to his neck and with summer heating up, those curls were starting to get a little sweaty. So on the Saturday before we left, we took him down to Cartoon Cuts in Rockville to have his hair cut for the first time. I had originally offered to review the instructional DVD that came with my Wahl hair clippers, but common sense prevailed and we decided to leave it to the professionals.

Once Nathan was seated in the salon, it was clear that the woman cutting his hair was no stranger to first haircuts. She was quite adept at dealing with Nathan's crying, turning, and squirming and managed to cut his hair without poking him in the eye with her scissors. Several times, Nathan tried to turn around to see what the strange woman behind him was doing. The Elmo video playing on the television in front of his chair caught his attention for a few brief moments, but not long enough to distract him from the fact that something odd was going on. After a while, he relaxed a little and let her do her work. By the time she was done, all but one of his curls were gone and he looked much more clean cut. Nathan received a certificate commemorating his first haircut, Cat got a small bag of his hair clippings, and I got the bill. The first haircut passed without incident and with few to no tears shed by Cat.

Broken Image Links Fixed

I edited the following older blog posts to fix broken image links that had started occurring:

• Beach Week in the Outer Banks
• First Bike Rides
  
• Nathan the Model
  
• First Football Practice
  
• Nathan's Big Day - Part Two

Enjoy!

Trip to Anderson

Boy, do I have some catching up to do. Several weeks ago now, we wrapped up another fun--and unexpectedly long--trip to Anderson to visit Grandma and Grandpa B. The start of our trip was delayed by a few hours on Thursday the 2nd due to a sick kid who needed to take a trip to the doctor's office. Nathan started running a fever on Wednesday night, waking up sounding miserable. After his hospitalization last year, we're on high alert for fevers, so we made an appointment in the morning to take him to the doctor, putting off our planned 5 AM departure. Fortunately, aside from some teething pain and a possible viral infection, the doctor gave him the all clear, saying that she prefers to be sick on vacation than sick at home, so we took off at around 3 PM. Traffic on the beltway and I-66 was a nightmare, but before long, we were out in the country headed south.

Though we had originally planned to push on through to North Carolina that night to find a hotel near Greensboro, the plan changed when we remembered that the stretch of I-81 in southern Virginia and northern North Carolina is an empty wasteland. We ended up stopping at a nice new Holiday Inn Express in Salem, Virginia, getting a room in the far reaches of the hotel for fear of waking the neighbors with a screaming, congested baby. In his first stay in a hotel, Nathan immediately switched to a vacation bedtime schedule, staying up until about 10 PM exploring the hotel room. He recently learned how to slide off the bed onto his feet, so it's now impossible to keep him in bed if he's wired. Of course, his eagerness to explore was fine with me, since the shiny new hotel room was equipped with a sizeable flat panel TV and the NFL Network. I apparently had drawn the short straw, so in our room with two queen beds, I shared a bed with Nathan and Cat had a bed to herself. She also had the luxury of not having tiny baby feet jammed in her ribs during the night.

The next morning, we stayed for the free breakfast at the hotel and then headed out for the rest of the drive to Anderson. Upon arriving, we managed to sneak in quietly while both grandparents busied themselves upstairs. Nathan immediately found the stairs and started climbing up them when Grandma came out to meet him. This trip up the stairs would be the first of many; Nathan spent much of his time during the trip climbing up one set of stairs and down the other. It took a while for Grandma and Grandpa to get over their jitters, but they eventually began resisting the urge to help him along after every misstep, letting him climb the stairs his own way. However, had we not borrowed a pair of baby gates from Betty, their next door neighbor, it likely would have been an exhausting vacation.

Much of Nathan's time during our trip was devoted to chasing Snowflake and Scooter, the two cats, around the house. Snowflake grew somewhat receptive to his approaches, but once again, Scooter would have nothing to do with him. With some guidance, Nathan gradually turned from pulling on Snowflake's tail to petting and hugging her whenever he had the chance. Aside from Nathan's enjoyment of the cats and the wide open spaces in Grandma and Grandpa's house, our trip was filled with the usual entertainment: lunches at the Pendleton Sandwich Shop and the Islander, Grandpa's smoked ribs, a few meals at Zaxby's, several trips to the pool, and an excursion to pick up peaches. On most mornings during the trip, we took Nathan down to the pool shortly after breakfast. Unlike his trip last July, Nathan was unsatisfied with being held in the water by one of us or floating in an inflatable toy. Once he found the kiddie pool, he was hooked. He loved being able to stand up in the water, splash around, and play with his blue ball and the toys that other kids had left behind. The comfortably warm water also meant that the rest of us had no objection to hanging out in the kiddie pool with him.

For our peach outing, we took a trip to Callaham's orchard. Cat and I had previously had great experiences with Callaham's blackberry jam, so we were looking forward to trying his peaches. We were supplied with an ample amount of peaches just ripe enough to survive the trip back to Maryland, and were very pleased with the purchase when we finally tried them. In addition to the great peaches, Callaham's also has quite a few diversions on the orchard grounds. Just behind the store was a large pen filled with goats. Nathan was, of course, mesmerized by the animals, particularly by the curious little goat that was just his size, that is, until it was pushed out of the way by the giant goat that was almost as tall as me. I bought a handful of feed from the vending machine next to the pen and let Nathan get up close and personal with the goats. He got a little goat drool on his hand, but how bad could that be? Continuing on into the orchard, we came across the giant enclosure occupied by deer, including a small fawn that still had its spots. Half of the pen was occupied by several wild turkeys, including a rather flamboyant male who loved showing off his tail feathers. A roast turkey sandwich was starting to sound quite tasty. Before we headed back to the car, we stopped by the pond to feed the giant catfish that the owner had told us about. Nathan watched intently as we spread a bagful of feed around to the menagerie of animals by the pond, including geese, ducks, and a pony that wandered over. The catfish, however, took over, flopping around on top of each other and snatching up every piece of food they could reach before the ducks got to it.

The highlight of our Fourth of July was a delicious lunch of Grandpa's smoked ribs and an impressive spread of side dishes. We ate our lunch on the back porch, watching the holiday golfers and enjoying a few cold beers with the meal. Nathan tried the ribs, but they weren't his favorite; as it turns out, he's not a big fan of beef right now. He tried some chicken, but filled up mostly on vegetables, his current favorite food (not that we're complaining). He even indulged in a few bites of Aunt Karen's chocolate pie after dinner. Unlike last year, there were no fireworks to be seen that evening. We came across a few fireworks remnants on the ground the next day, but the only fireworks that any of us saw that night were on television during the Capitol Fourth show on PBS. Later that evening, the sound of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture was reverberating through the house.

Unfortunately, the low point of the trip was a late night trip that I made to a 24-hour Walgreens in downtown Anderson. Nathan had been suffering from intermittently severe congestion throughout the trip, having to fall asleep sitting up so that he could continue breathing clearly. He woke up during the night on a few occasions, uncomfortable due to his clogged sinuses and difficulty breathing. The fact that he likes to sleep with a pacifier complicated things, since he frequently could only breath well through his mouth. On one night late in the trip, the congestion became so bad that he couldn't fall asleep, so I headed out to the drugstore after dark to stock up on every possible remedy. Managing not to get lost while driving along Anderson's back roads by myself, I returned with a grab bag of solutions, the most effective of which turned out to be the children's Zyrtec. The medicine cleared him up somewhat, but the side effect of drowsiness undoubtedly helped.

By Wednesday, it was time to head home. We had originally planned to leave on Tuesday, but, being in no mood to end our vacation then, we opted to stay an additional day and continue taking it easy. Looking less like gypsies that during our previous year's trip, we packed up the van on Wednesday, including our two boxes of peaches, and headed north. In no mood to reach I-95 in northern Virginia during rush hour, we procrastinated for a while by detouring through Greenville to Furman. It had been ages since I had driven down Pleasantburg to Poinsett Highway, but after the countless trips down that stretch of road while attending Furman, I drove the route mostly by muscle memory. By the time we reached Furman, it was largely vacant, even missing the usual weekend tourists. We parked near the student center and stopped by the bookstore to pick up a few T-shirts. Afterwards, we gave Nathan one last chance to stretch his legs before the long drive began, so he led us around the lake to the rose garden. Even though we prevented him from crawling into the fountain like he wanted, Nathan loved stomping around on the brick pathways in the rose garden. Before long, though, we climbed back in the car in order to reach our preferred stops in North Carolina by lunchtime. Upon reaching those stops, we discovered, somewhat to Cat's dismay but not at all to mine, that a Schlotsky's restaurant that we had marked on our map of North Carolina had since been converted to a Zaxby's. I was thus given one last opportunity to indulge in those delicious wings and chicken fingers. It was one last taste of the South before we returned home.

Bumps and Bruises

The other day, I found myself uttering a sentence that should serve me well over the next seventeen years or so:

"Nathan, you're about to have a learning moment, and it's going to hurt."

Nathan has had a few such learning moments, mostly of his own making, but some not. After mastering the art of climbing onto the ottoman and scooting off from a sitting position, landing on his feet, he has moved to a higher altitude jump. He now stands on top of the ottoman and falls towards the nearest person, assuming that one of us will catch him on the way down. His cockiness diminished somewhat after he took a backwards tumble yesterday, taking the brunt of the impact on his butt but tipping over backwards and getting a slight bump on the head. Since then, he drops to his knees before lurching towards us so as to lessen the impact in the event of another fall.

Just this evening, he learned that spinning around can be fun. He stands on the living room floor and spins in circles until becoming disoriented or falling. So far, he's had only a few minor collisions with the patio doors, but we're waiting for a harder impact. From face plants in the hallway to skinned knees on the sidewalk, the kid has proven to be pretty bulletproof thus far. His knees and shins are getting rather pockmarked with scrapes and bruises, but it doesn't seem to bother him in the least. We like to think that it helps with his confidence when, instead of showing signs of concern or fear when he falls, we chuckle and encourage him to shake it off. That's good parenting, right?

As for the learning moments not of his making, there have been a few standoffs in recent weeks, typically over inappropriate transfer of kinetic energy to food objects, but also over hitting. In spite of a few audible pops on his hand, he thinks very little of slapping his mother in the face when she leans in towards him. Or, when denied something he wants, he has taken to slapping one of us on the leg before throwing himself onto the ground in a tantrum. Perhaps it's time to select an appropriately sized wooden spoon for the application of discipline. I had originally suggested something like this, but Cat objected, so we'll have to find a happy medium.

The Raccoon Story

I saw a raccoon during my evening bike ride today and it reminded me of a story so good it deserves repeating. Back in March of 2007 when the numbskulls who run our country's legislative branch implemented their brilliant idea of changing the start date of daylight saving time, Cat and I woke up and began our morning routines, albeit on a much darker March morning. Not only had the Energy Policy Act of 2005 likely cost the country millions of dollars in lost productivity due to the computer software updates needed to address the change, it had also resulted in weeks of very dark mornings in the early spring. As Cat would soon learn, the creatures of the night were wholly unprepared for our intrusion on their waking hours when daylight saving time began early.

While I slowly woke up in the morning, Cat had come down to fix coffee and watch the morning news before work. When she came into the living room, she found one of the cats sitting in front of the back door hissing at something outside. When she looked out, she saw a raccoon on the back porch, sitting unnaturally close to the door. Needing to take the trash out, she went outside with a broom to shoo the animal away, only to pull the door closed behind her (to keep the cat from getting out) and find it locked when she tried the handle. It was at this point that the raccoon, which had initially been scared away, returned to the back porch, creeping towards Cat and making some very unusual noises. Terrified by the behavior of the animal, which, incidentally appeared to be missing its tail, Cat began to throw things at the critter. When it refused to back down, she shrieked in terror and ran past it out into the common area in the back, feeling it brush her leg as she ran past. In the chaos of escaping the fearless critter, she ran through the grass and lost a shoe on her way around the condo to the front door.

Of course, I was completely oblivious to the commotion outside, since I was leisurely taking my shower for the day. Cat stood on the front sidewalk trying to get my attention through the bedroom window, but to no avail. As she was waiting for me to emerge from the shower and let her in the front door, she saw the raccoon loping up the sidewalk towards her. Unwilling to acknowledge the advances of her furry new friend, she once again shrieked in terror and ran off, this time to a neighbor''s house, who let her take refuge inside. From there, she called our house repeatedly until I finally realized that she was not in the house and picked up the phone. Frantic from the morning's excitement, she instructed me to open the door so that she could run back over and get in the house as quickly as possible. Being the good husband that I am, I opened the door for her. However, in my sleep addled mental state, I neglected to check that the storm door was unlocked, so I soon heard panicked pounding on the door. Once inside, Cat cursed me for locking her out, caught her breath, and recounted the horror of her morning.

Later that day, I learned from our neighborhood's property manager that the grounds crew had found an injured raccoon dead in the neighborhood, so we assumed that it was the same critter that had made Cat's morning so exciting. To this day, she shivers at the thought of raccoons, which, naturally, leads me to remind her of how cute they are with their eerily hand-like paws and their beady eyes. I was on the receiving end of a very hateful glare this evening when I told her that I encountered a friend of hers on my bike ride. Good times.

Beach Week in the Outer Banks

The three of us returned on Thursday from almost a week in Duck, North Carolina, in the Outer Banks and I can't recall the last time I was this disappointed to be back home. Despite a few moments of chaos and stress, it was truly an excellent vacation. From Sunday to Thursday, we shared a seven-bedroom beachview house, the Tuscan Sun, with five other families, totaling twelve adults and five kids under the age of four. And we survived. Duck is a great small town on the northern end of the Outer Banks and is oriented towards families and those who want a quiet beach vacation. The town has no public beach access, so the only people on the beach were those who had rented houses in town, making the crowds fairly light. In addition, the entire town is criss-crossed by bike paths, so it's very easy to get around.

After what normally would have been a five-hour drive turned into a seven-hour trip with a two-hour breakfast stop at Cracker Barrel, we rolled into the Four Seasons subdivision in Duck. For some reason, Google Maps routed us through some residential back streets in Southern Shores on the way in, so we had an unexpected tour of some of the soundside and inland houses, many of which looked very comfortable and are probably reasonably priced. Upon arriving at the house, we perused the available bedrooms and picked out one on the top floor overlooking the pool with enough room to fit the crib we rented for Nathan. The room was considered a master bedroom, so it had its own bathroom with two sinks and a spacious walk-in shower, a welcome change from the cramped shower in my bathroom at home. And, of course, a king size bed is always a welcome addition.

As we unpacked, the rest of the crew continued to arrive. I had previously experienced some beach vacations with large family groups during my trips to the South Carolina coast with Nic, a good friend from high school, and his family. However, this trip would be Cat's first such experience, so at first, it was a little stressful. With the crew still arriving and the house's pantry not yet stocked, Cat and I decided to head out on our own a find a restaurant in town for dinner. In the chaos, we left with no diaper bag, no food, and no entertainment for Nathan, so upon arriving at the Sunset Grille, we were completely at the mercy of our waitress to deliver the aforementioned necessities in short order. Fortunately, she delivered bread, water, crayons, and a kids menu just in time to prevent a complete meltdown. We enjoyed some seafood and watched the sun begin to set over the Currituck Sound.

One of the nicest parts of a good vacation is getting into a simple routine. On our trip, the days became comfortably similar. Each morning started out with Nathan waking up in his crib across from our bed and playing quietly as we gradually woke up, greeting us with a smile when we finally did. After that was a group breakfast of either pancakes, omelettes, eggs and cinnamon rolls, or creamed eggs and biscuits, depending on the chef du jour. Next came the long and laborious preparations for a beach outing. There was the application of vast quantities of sunscreen, the setup of the beach shelter, the movement of beach chairs and toys, the herding of wild boys, and finally, the actual walk to the beach. With sufficient shade, plenty of beach chairs, and the absence of the afternoon's heat and intense sunshine, we had ample time to play in the sand, swim in the (cold) ocean, or simply sit back and relax. Cat and I took full advantage of my parents' eagerness to play with Nathan and spent much of our time walking on the beach, hunting for seashells, flying kites, or swimming on our own. Of course, that doesn't mean that we didn't spend any time with Nathan. He had endless fun playing in the sand and surf and really seemed to love his first trip to the beach.

Unlike the mornings, the afternoons at the beach tended to vary. After installing a bike rack on the week before our trip, I was able to strap the two bikes to the roof of the minivan, so Cat and I hit the bike trails on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, we visited a few of the limited number of stores that were open on Monday during the shoulder season. A highlight of Duck is the Scarborough Faire shopping center, with several small stores connected via an outdoor boardwalk. The stores were a short ride from the house, so we spent some time there. On Tuesday, Cat went back out on her own to revisit some of the stores she saw the previous day while I rode north to the Duck Fire/Police station. The station was about a half mile north of the house and was advertising a t-shirt sale. In contrast to Monday's pleasant and almost chilly weater, Tuesday afternoon was oppressively hot, so the ride to the station was a bit taxing. However, the visit was worthwhile, as I was able to get a unique souvenir from the trip. Incidentally, I made sure not to veer off the road when riding through the undeveloped areas along the way to the police station. The station is surrounded by Corps of Engineers land that may have formerly been a Navy testing ground, so the roadside is marked with signs warning of unexploded ordnance that could detonate if handled. I would have to be satisfied with viewing the blooming pear cacti from a distance.

Dinners at the house varied each night, with a different set of cooks for each meal. As a belated celebration of my birthday, which fell on Sunday, a night not conducive to a large group meal, we opted to handle Monday's dinner. Instead of trying to determine the correct volume of seafood to purchase for a group of seventeen, we ordered prepackaged steamer pots from a restaurant in Corolla (pronounced Ca-RAL-la, I learned), Steamers Shellfish To Go. Aside from the two pounds of spiced shrimp and the hush puppies, the meal came in two large metal bins the size of the three-flavor popcorn tubs popular around Christmastime. Inside the pots were snow crab legs, clams, mussels, corn cobs, and potatoes. The pots were steamed by adding water and placing them on the stove until steam came out of a hole in the lid for twenty minutes. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way that the wait is not in the twenty minutes; it's in the thirty minutes or more of waiting for the water inside to actually boil. As a result, it was at or beyond the kids' bedtime when the steamed seafood was ready, so dinner became an adults-only event, with shrimp and hush puppies for the kids. Even with the delay, though, the meal was outstanding, especially when accompanied by margaritas.

On the following nights, Cat and I missed out on what smelled like some very tasty dinners, opting instead to explore the area restaurants. On Tuesday, we left Nathan with his grandparents and went out on our own for a date night at a nice restaurant. The restaurant we selected, the Blue Point, served up one of the best meals I've had in a long time. I had a delicious cornmeal-breaded piece of fried catfish and Cat had one of the best-tasting pork chops either one of us can remember. And with views of the sound and a cold Mai Tai, the meal was perfect. On Wednesday, the five of us went back to the Sunset Grille for another taste. We split some shrimp and a few meals and even tried all four of the restaurant's desserts. Nathan liked the shrimp and the rolls, but he passed on the filet mignon. I think I stopped breathing for a second when I saw him knock a piece of filet onto the floor. The horror.

On Wednesday evening, we took one last walk on the beach before the next day's drive. Our walk down the beach ended with a loop back through the neighborhood, so we gawked at some of the massive houses for rent. The following day, Cat and I loaded up the minivan and hit the road. It was rather depressing having to leave the beach, especially since we arrived in DC and were welcomed by a downpour and nightmarish traffic. The following day, I was almost entirely non-productive at work, thinking about the trip most of the day. It was such a great trip that I'm already thinking about our next visit.

First Bike Rides

We took Nathan on his first two bike rides last weekend. The first ride involved an abortive attempt to get ice cream, so we took a second ride on Sunday with the express purpose of obtaining said ice cream. After completing the 30-minute installation process (yeah, right) for the bike seat and the rack on which it sits, we strapped Nathan into the contraption, buckled on his helmet, and took off. Cat rode her bike for the first time in almost two years and I climbed back on mine for about the first time this year. It takes a little getting used to riding a bike with an extra 30 to 35 pounds hanging off the back, but once I got rolling, it was manageable.

Our little peloton headed through the neighborhoods around our house and towards downtown Rockville, a goal that might have been a bit ambitious considering the hills along the route. By the time we reached our destination, we were both a little wobbly from the uphill pedaling. We weren't in the mood for any of our usual restaurants--Lebanese Taverna, Five Guys, or Noodles and Company--so we tried one of the new restaurants, Oro Pomodoro. Since it was an early dinner, we had the restaurant all to ourselves, which was a good thing, considering that we didn't smell too fresh after the long bike ride in the heat. The three of us split a delicious white pizza, some spaghetti, and a salad and left just before the rain started, missing our chance for ice cream at Gifford's. However, since ice cream was the primary objective of the trip, we allocated some time the next day for a return trip. Nothing helps one recover from a tough bike ride like a scoop of 72% Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream, even if a baby takes a third of it. Since the newness had worn off somewhat after the first bike ride, Nathan settled in during the ride home and let the breeze and the rocking motion of my pedaling put him to sleep. Halfway through the ride, I felt a little helmet leaning against my back as he fell asleep. He was out all the way home, even on the turns and during my dismount after we got home. Come to think of it, I was actually somewhat envious of him.

Nathan the Model

Last Monday, Cat and I had an opportunity to see the results of a very interesting experience. On the Tuesday after our NFL Draft weekend, Cat and I had taken the day off and paid a visit to downtown Rockville for lunch. After lunch, we walked down to Visarts, a new building housing a gift store of pieces created by local artists and a combination exhibit area, learning center, and art studio. Much like the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Visarts houses small studios for several artists. While we browsed the art exhibits and studios, a woman emerged from the large classroom at the end of the hall, having heard Nathan's noises, and asked if we'd be willing to allow a class of photographers take pictures of him. After overcoming our initial reservations, we decided it sounded intriguing, so we brought Nathan in to the classroom.

Although the models preparing for another photo shoot and the crowd of photographers with pricey cameras and lenses gave us our initial confirmation that this was a serious class, it was only after the fact that we learned that each student had paid $1,000 to attend a three-day course led by photographer Clay Blackmore. In spite of Nathan's unkempt hair and his mediocre outfit, he took some good pictures. After a few starter pictures on a stool, it was time for a few nudes. On a green velvet sofa in front of a large window overlooking downtown Rockville, Nathan had a great time showing off for the photographers. Every now and then, when he struck a particularly artful pose, the photographer would say, "that's the shot of a lifetime," and dozens of camera shutters clicked frantically with the sound of hundreds of pictures being taken. Nathan didn't need much encouragement, but the woman who introduced us to the class occasionally tickled Nathan with a feather to get him to smile, a treat that he loved. After fifteen minutes or so, the students had had a chance to experience a photo session with a baby and Nathan had thankfully left the nice sofa puddle-free.

On Monday, we visited Clay's Rockville office to see the finished product. Out of over 140 pictures taken by one photographer in the class, Clay and his staff had picked out the best pictures, many of which are spectacular. The setting combined with the sunlight streaming through the large windows in front of Nathan made for some great scenes. The visit to Clay's office also gave us a chance to see some of his work from other events. The walls of his office were covered with great photographs from weddings, bar mitzvahs, and private photo sessions, including one particularly impressive painting. An artist had painted a scene based on two photographs that Clay had taken. In the painting, a one-year-old girl is standing in front of a mirror, in which is shown an image of her as a three-year-old. The painting was very creative. Clay took some time to browse the photos he had taken, selecting the best images, particularly from the nude scenes, and began to think of some creative ways to arrange the best pictures. He sent us home with a collection of pictures, but we're looking forward to seeing what finished product he has in mind.

Off to the Races

It's a good thing that Cat registered for the Marine Corps Marathon; she'll need the endurance training now that Nathan is walking.  Now I just need to determine what I'm going to do to keep this kid from wearing me out.  He took his first steps the weekend before last--taking four steps to walk from Cat to me and back as we stood in the kitchen--and is improving daily.  When the mood strikes him, he can now walk the length of the hallway, teetering only slightly along the way.  As a coworker warned me, I suspect that Nathan's legs will soon be covered with bruises as he wobbles, tumbles, and bumps his way along.  So far, there have been a few face plants, but nothing serious.  At this point, he's kind of funny to watch; while walking, he holds his hands up in the air, probably a remnant of his early steps taken with one hand firmly gripping Cat's or mine.  I suggested to Cat that if we can train him to rotate his arms down 90-degrees, he can go trick-or-treating as a zombie this Halloween.

The ugly side of this capability, however, is that we're seeing the first appearances of the temper tantrum.  With this newfound mobility comes the desire to use it in many situations, some appropriate and some not.  Today, while looking at pictures from our most recent photo session at Celebrity Kids, Nathan toddled around the store's waiting area, pushing a kid-size wooden chair all over the store on the carpet.  This was cute for a while, but when it was time to go, I picked him and the chair up and put him in the stroller to leave.  In no time, he was arching his back and whining until he had almost slid out of the seat, under the stroller's "dashboard," so to speak, and on to the floor.  It took both of us wrenching him into position and holding him down--with him grunting in physical exertion the whole time--before we could get him strapped in and ready to go.  This boy is strong.  Of course, the upside to these tantrums is that it wears him out, so bedtime went quite smoothly this evening.  Maybe these tantrums will work to our advantage!

First Football Practice

Last weekend was a busy one for all of this. Cat registered for this year's Marine Corps Marathon, so we're getting back in the swing of things with weekend runs at the C&O Canal, albeit with an additional participant this time. Since my back isn't yet conditioned enough to carry Nathan in the baby backpack, there will be no hiking just yet, so he and I will be walking the towpath. While Cat worked on her distance running with a five or six mile run down the canal towpath, dodging tourists along the way, I pushed Nathan up the towpath. With Nathan's heritage of fair, sunburn-prone skin, it's always a struggle to keep him sufficiently protected, especially since the leaves haven't quite come out on the trees, making the sun that much brighter. Fortunately, the gravel path along the canal tends to lull Nathan to sleep, so he doesn't kick off the blanket that protects him from the sun. He and I walked a mile or two up the canal and turned around, with a stop at the riverside to watch the water leisurely flowing over the dam north of Great Falls.

Later that afternoon, we took advantage of the Redskins' annual free Draft Day party at FedEx Field. Every year on the first day of the NFL Draft, the Redskins open their stadium to fans, offering lockerroom tours, player autographs, and the rare chance to go down on the field. Anticipating drunken fans and a tired baby, since the draft started unusually late this year, we left late enough to reach FedEx Field just in time for the Redskins' first round pick, the 13th overall. To get in the spirit of things, we listened to Redskins radio on the way down, catching the first few draft picks and hoping that the Redskins wouldn't do anything stupid like draft an unnecessary quarterback.

After a few minutes in the stands, letting Nathan take in the sights and sounds of the field, we walked down on the field and eventually found a spot safe from the fans recklessly throwing footballs in the midst of the crowds. As soon as we found an open spot, Nathan immediately demonstrated his potential as a tight end, darting off towards the end of the field as quickly as he could. As a matter of fact, it was rather difficult to keep him contained on the field. When we weren't turning him around as he cruised along the fenceline at the end of the field, we were chasing him towards the end zone as he crawled away at full speed. Nathan probably could have spent several more hours playing in the grass on an NFL playing field, but after a few more draft picks, it was time to go. Thankfully, the Redskins managed to avoid any boneheaded moves and drafted a promising defensive end, Brian Arakpo, so our drive home was relatively free of grumbling.

The following day would be no less busy. With the arrival of spring, we figured it was time to fill in some gaps in the front flowerbed, so we took a trip to Good Earth to pick up some new plants. Since the neighborhood association's landscaping crews have done us the dubious favor of extending our flowerbed each year with their haphazard edging, we now have a few more sunny spots in the front. This is a welcome change from the almost total shade that we had when we moved in, what with the shorter flowerbed and the large crabapple tree in the front. After coming home with a clematis, zinnias, gerbera daisies, and some more columbine, we spent the afternoon planting. Judging by the comments that we hear about our flowerbed, it looks like Cat's gardening strategy has worked out quite nicely.

The Tiny Omnivore

Cat and I may have to check back with the hospital; there's a distinct possibility that they were doing some weird genetic experimentation before Nathan was born, because we seem to have a strange human-beaver hybrid on our hands.  Even though he hasn't cut a tooth in months, Nathan has been chewing on just about everything in sight.  The end table beside our sofa now has an entire edge covered with teeth marks, as does the rail on Nathan's crib.  Silvia even took to wrapping washcloths over the corners of the head and footboards, since he has shredded them as well.  We occasionally find him standing up in the crib with drool covering his face and tiny flecks of white paint mixed in with the drool.

The trend of eating wood is not surprising, given that we've found that he will pretty much eat anything.  Nathan rarely refuses food.  The extent of his negative reaction to any food thus far has been a mild grimace.  After the grimace passes, though, he continues to eat the food and continue to ask for more.  And on the advice of his pediatrician, we are now feeding him more and more adult food, passing him morsels of our meal as we eat.  A partial inventory of Nathan's recent meals is quite varied:

• Papa John's breadstick
• Cucumber and avocado from sushi
• Salad lettuce
• Guacamole
• Tomato from pico de gallo
• Yellow Mexican rice
• Tortilla and cheese from a quesadilla
• Fruit - strawberry, grape, pineapple, honeydew melon, and canteloupe
• Chicken with melted cheese
• Sliced turkey
• Pasta salad
• Goldfish crackers
• Hommos

The list goes on and on, and it doesn't stop at food.  He took a sizeable chunk out of a foam football he received as a birthday gift, and seems to get some of his fiber from cardboard.  While browsing the Easter candy aisle in the grocery store recently, we noticed that Nathan's whining had mysteriously stopped.  Cat turned around to find that he had chewed a gaping hole in the top of the Cheerios box.  Needless to say, the checkout clerk was initially a little concerned about the quality of product on the store's shelves.  Unless it's mom's homemade fruit concoction or a piece of tomato with an errant flake of cilantro (he hated that), this boy will eat anything.

Nathan's Big Day - Part Two

With a few exceptions, the guests at Nathan's birthday party consisted mostly of the neighbors in our area who have watched Nathan grow up for the past year. Rose & John, our frequent catsitters, stopped by for cupcakes, as did Jean, our next door neighbor. Loren and Christina also dropped by, bringing along their 3-year-old daughter, Eliana, who was the life of the party. Rounding out the list of attendees were Nana, Grandpa, and Silvia, Nathan's babysitter. After Nathan had a few minutes to meet the guests and show off his train and his birthday balloon, we sat him in his highchair, tied on his birthday bib, and cordoned off a safe zone sufficient to Cat's satisfaction. There was still much handwringing, though, as Nathan would soon be handling purple icing over her prized dining room rug with only a bedsheet that I had haphazardly arranged under the drop zone for protection.

With these minimal protections in place, Nathan seated, and the guests in the dining room, Cat brought out a one-shaped Winnie the Pooh paper plate with a cupcake and a single candle as everyone began singing Happy Birthday to Nathan. Still befuddled by the strange concentration of neighbors in his house, Nathan was paying little attention to this unusual ritual occurring before him, since the day's events had already been odd enough. However, recognizing food when presented, he wasted no time in grabbing the paper plate as soon as it touched the tray of his high chair. Amidst shrieks from his mother, who foresaw leaping flames as the tiny birthday candle ignited his birthday bib in a plastic-fueled inferno, Nathan's rush to the cupcake was quickly halted when the cupcake and candle tumbled towards him off the tilted plate. With Cat's panic subsided and the plate and cupcake back to a level position, we relit the candle and tried the song again, this time with a tight grip on the plate. Since waiting for Nathan to make his wish (endless sidewalk for train rides) and blow out the candle probably would have been futile, I made my wish (a full college scholarship) and blew out the candle myself. With all flames safely extinguished, it was time to eat.

I must admit that I made no effort to restrict Nathan to the neater, icing-free portions of the cupcake. Quite the opposite. In breaking off pieces of the cupcake to feed to Nathan, my objective was maximum mess and optimal purple icing distribution on his face. This objective was accomplished quite well, I must say. In very little time, Nathan's face was smeared with purple icing and he began to develop the look of someone who has eaten too much sugar. To avoid any digestive unpleasantries, I was more than happy to help him finish his cupcake. With a combination of coconut-topped cupcakes and cream cheese frosted cupcakes, Cat's baking was top notch.


After cupcakes, Nathan took a moment to burn off the calories with some crawling around the house to play with toys and meet the guests. He made a long stop in the kitchen, where Nana, Grandpa, and he played with one of his new toys, the Fridge Barnyard. Like many of his toys, this one is fascinating. It comes with a set of magnetic animals (horse, sheep, etc.), each of which is divided in half. He can put the animals on the refrigerator or on a special surface of the toy, where it then announces the type of animal and starts to sing. It even recognizes chimeras of sorts, announcing when he has created an animal such as a "sheep-horse" by combining, say, a sheeps head with a horse's backside. Toys are quite inventive nowadays. After the stop in the kitchen, he moved to the living room to watch Iliana's dance moves. We had started playing the "100 Silly Songs" album, at which point, Eliana took off dancing, making up her moves as she went along. Between her dancing and the bouncing on and off the ottoman, I don't know how Loren and Christina keep up with a three-year-old. This gave Cat and me a glimpse of what we have to look forward to, and we were tired just watching her! Finally, Nathan wrapped up his day with a lap around the parking lot in his Cozy Coupe and a birthday photo with Silvia. Although he won't remember a moment of the party, it turned out quite well.

Nathan's Big Day - Part One

What a week.  Nathan's birthday weekend started out with the arrival of my parents on Friday, who made it in early enough before bedtime to give Nathan some quality playtime.  That is, as soon as he got over his apprehension about these unfamiliar faces.  Some of his shyness is starting to emerge as he gets a little bit older, so it takes him some time to get used to new people before he's ready to show off.  It wasn't too long, though, before he was back to the train, running people down in the hallway.

On Saturday, it didn't take long for the birthday presents to come out.  Nathan was barely awake before Nana and Grandpa presented him with the first of many gifts, a knitted ball to go along with his knitted stegosaurus from the book of toy patterns that Nana has been using.  Not to be outdone, Cat and I broke out one our recent Toys R Us purchases, the Little Tikes lawn mower.  Since the mower lacks the walking support that Nathan's train provides, it found better use as a riding mower, in spite of the fact that it wasn't designed as such.  The gift opening continued unabated, with a variety of gifts, from a pail of sidewalk chalk to some foam water toys (which he promptly began to shred with his teeth) to the best present of all--wrapping paper!  He seemed to spend just as much time ripping the wrapping paper to pieces as he did exploring his new toys.

After breakfast and more gift opening, it was time to select a touristy activity for the day.  And with Cat opting to stay home for the day cleaning and cooking in preparation for Sunday's birthday party, I was on my own, free to explore all of the activities that Cat would find unspeakably boring.  Would it be the Lincoln Cottage?  The Udvar-Hazy Museum?  The Botanic Gardens?  With so many choices, we opted to brave the dicier parts of town and head for the National Arboretum, an oasis of nature in the middle of an urban desert of abandoned lots, rail yards, liquor stores and hotels with hourly rates.  The arboretum is a park recommended by the Washington Post as a place to visit to see cherry blossoms without having to endure the madhouse that is the Mall in April.  Judging by the lack of crowds at the arboretum, the tourists must not hear this recommendation, which is just as well, considering that they would get there by driving through parts of town where, when lost, one does not ask for directions but drives fast and stops for nothing.  With Nathan conked out in the stroller, we took our time exploring the arboretum, including a long leisurely walk through the bonsai gardens.

On Sunday, the real fun began.  I spent part of the morning gaining a better understanding of three of a father's most feared words: some assembly required.  Through almost thirty steps spread out over two double-sided pages of instructions, I assembled Nathan's new Cozy Coupe, complete with horn, a feature on which his mother will train him.  As my dad and I hammered, screwed, and muscled the pieces of the toy car into place, Cat baked, preparing batch after batch of cupcakes for Nathan's afternoon birthday party.  Shortly after his morning nap ended, Nathan's first birthday guest arrived; Wesley stopped by for an early visit, though he couldn't stay for the party since he was sick.  James, Liz, and Wesley also brought along two more gifts for Nathan, a Redskins jersey and a buggy to ride in.  Soon after Wesley headed home (with cupcakes), the party guests arrived.

Train Arriving - Please Step Back

A few pinched toes and bumped heels help one learn quickly.  Cat and I now step aside as quickly as possible when we see Nathan rolling his train down the hallway, because that train does not stop.  A few weeks ago, he was more like a San Francisco cable car; traveling in one direction and stopping at the end of the hallway, at which point, we turned the train around and sent him off in the other direction.  Now, he is more like a dune buggy, zipping around at full tilt, taking corners on two wheels, backing up and turning around in a flash.  He's a reckless driver!  If only he had a horn and more precise control over his middle finger, he'd be just like Mommy!

A Birthday Right Around the Corner

Nathan's first birthday is fast approaching, and there seems to be a race to see how many milestones we can squeeze in before then.  He's very close to walking at this point; every day this week, I have held his hands and walked with him up and down the hallway in the evenings.  On some days, he's confident enough to take off with only a tenuous hold on one of my fingers.  On other nights, he holds on to both hands and stops periodically to make sure I'm right behind him.  There have been a few instances when he can just about balance on his own when I first stand him up and several times when he nearly falls over but finds his balance again.  Nana and Grandpa are visiting for his birthday, so he may very well have a new trick to show them by then.

He'll have to keep his seat this weekend, though, when he takes his first ride on Metro.  Cat and I are running (or walking) the Scope It Out 5k on Sunday, so since it will occur at the same time as the Cherry Blossom Festival, our hopes for parking downtown are slim.  Cat has steeled herself for a morning of looking like a tourist as we snap pictures of Nathan on the train, in the station, or wherever else our shameless excitement dictates.  Maybe he can enjoy other unique DC experiences, such as babbling away with the crazy homeless people in Lafayette Square or cruising along Pennsylvania Avenue between chemical warfare sensors and jersey walls.  If this year's race is like the ones of years past, it may also be his first walk through a giant inflatable colon.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate so that he can take in the sites around the Capitol from the comfort of his stroller.

Perhaps most of all, Cat and I are looking forward to the one year mark for the way it will simplify some things.  Cat is planning to buy our first carton of whole milk next week, so Nathan's first birthday could mark the end of formula mixing and nightly vitamin D doses.  The day could also mark the end of the increasingly awkward car seat dump, when Nathan is unceremoniously dropped into his car seat as I try to find a comfortable position from which to strap him in.  In accordance with the car seat's guidelines, we will finally be able to turn him around to face forwards, so no more frustrated crying in the evenings when he has nothing to look at and no more giant blind spot from the mirror that we use to see his face from the front seats.  Of course, the downside of that change of orientation is that movies such as Casino Royale or Saving Private Ryan will no longer be acceptable choices for the minivan DVD player.  We could be stuck with Finding Nemo and The Lion King for the foreseeable future.  Before long, our weekend drives could be accompanied by the sound of Elmo and Cookie Monster.

Big Changes

Cat and I have started noticing something recently; Nathan has been losing his baby face and is starting to look more and more like a little boy. As his face becomes more expressive and he smiles more often (or pouts when he hears the word "no") it's lost a lot of the pudginess from his younger months. He's also slimming down in the stomach, which is understandable, since he spends most of the day zipping around the house on all fours. And although he still has the "thunder thighs," his legs have a lot less padding than they used to, albeit still enough to insulate the callouses that he is developing on his knees from all the crawling.

Most of all, his social skills seem to be changing dramatically.  He now watches us more intently, gauging our reactions as he does certain things.  For example, when he swings the baby gate at full speed towards the refrigerator, causing a loud bang upon impact, he looks up at us to see what reaction we will produce.  Will we cringe at the loud noise?  Fuss at him for making such noise?  Play along and laugh at his antics?  We're just such mysteries.  On the other hand, if we take away his toy by latching the baby gate after entering the kitchen to wash dishes or prepare dinner, he becomes upset when he realizes that he is locked out the room where Mommy and Daddy are.  That usually results in much crankiness and violent rattling of the gate.  He's very curious and rambunctious kid, and doesn't take too kindly to boundaries.  What fun.

A Walk in the Sun

We took advantage of the great weather this weekend--a stark contrast to last weekend's four inches of snow--and took Nathan outside to test drive his toy train on the sidewalk. He loves pushing his train up and down the hallway, so it seemed logical that he would enjoy a longer track, especially one with some sunlight. He liked being outside so much that he made three trips up the sidewalk. Uphill was the only route that really worked; the train tended to get away from him on the downhill, so we had a few derailments. But even though today was also his first time in shoes, he took off with almost no trouble at all.

It's Almost Like Being There

Nathan is now into the babbling stage.  He loves to hear his own voice now, so on some days, he uses every breath to repeat his favorite sound of the day.  Recently, the oft repeated syllables have been "da," "ma," and "na," much to the delight of two parents and one grandparent.  Or for the parents, just for a little while.

In celebration of this new milestone, this blog introduces a new feature, the "Living with Nathan" virtual reality simulator.  Picture the scene; you're sitting in the living room, reading the paper or watching television.  Nathan is quietly surveying the neighborhood, looking out on the parking lot on a sunny day.  Suddenly, the toys in the living room beckon him and he starts crawling towards the living room.  This is what you hear:

da da da da DA DA DA DA da da da da DA DA DA DA da da da da DA DA DA DA da da da da DA DA DA DA da da da da DA DA DA DA

Finding his toy car in the living room, he turns back around and heads back to the door.

DA DA DA DA da da da da DA DA DA DA da da da da DA DA DA DA da da da da DA DA DA DA da da da da DA DA DA DA da da da da

Amazing, isn't it?