Dash's School Portraits

My little guy! His pre-school graduation is next month.

I'm a track meet parent

Rosie had her very first mini-meet for her K-1 track club last night. She was thrilled about it and such a champ. Despite gray, rainy weather that seemed to drop as low as 55 degrees, she was upbeat, goofing with her friends and ran her little heart out. (sorry about the digit in her photo!) After the meet was over (it lasted at least an hour and a half), I told her, "Rosie, you ran so fast!" Her answer was definitive: "Uh-huh!"


Rosie competed in four events, the 100-meter dash, the long jump, the shot-put (using a softball), and 4 X 100-meter relay. We won't know her standings until later. It was a great first effort!

Since I'm not one to often attend outdoor sporting events, I'll pass on these tips.

• Bring a blanket. Even if you're not cold, your butt will need cushioning on the hard, metal bleachers.
• Bring snacks, or cash if there's a concession stand.
  
• Don't forget water for your little athlete! (I did.)
  
• There's a lot of waiting around. A lot. The coach is pretty good at wrangling the kids, but it gets dull for spectators.
• If you have a younger sibling with you, hope to Bob that there are friends of his there. A little girl named Katya saved us hours of Dash's whining.
• Don't forget a flask for yourself, with enough to share!
• Invite or make friends with other parents to stay entertained.
  

Thanks to Monkeyrotica and my parents for coming out to support Rosie and her team!

***UPDATE*** The school just posted photos from the track meet! Here's my girl (#5), powering up for the 100-yard dash.

I look freaking COOL!

So you do, little Dash, in your fabulous new suit.

Dash's faux-seersucker suit and tie were on sale at a consignment store for a ridiculously small amount. I snapped them up without him around and was amazed how perfectly they fit!

We went out with Grandma Ikiko for mothers day dinner at Kushi Izakaya in downtown DC and Monkeyrotica didn't want Dash wearing his usual "hobo" clothes. He and Rosie both behaved like little gentlefolk. Cuties!

Solo Parenting Week

Starting last Saturday at 4 a.m., I began my week-without-a-spouse. Monkey has never traveled for work before, ever. Seriously. This is fresh and new. Not to worry, I still have extended family helping out, which required lots of driving, at least Saturday.

The kids spent Friday night at their Auntie's so we wouldn't need to deal with getting them up at 4 am, too! Can you imagine how *fun* that would have been? After I dropped Monkeyrotica off at the airport and came back home (20 miles) early Saturday morning, I spent my first few hours completely alone at home well... watching tv. It was too early to be functional, but I couldn't get back to bed. Then at 8 am, I made an elective, autonomous move—sky's the limit!—to get the expired safety inspection sticker on my car renewed. Hoo girl! Livin large!

So, off I trekked to my sister's to pick up the kids (30 miles). They had tons of fun as usual, didn't want to leave, but we had dance classes to think of, so off we went back home (30 miles). Rosie started complaining that her hearing in one of her ears was muffled. I made the kids some lunch—pizza for Dash, chicken for Rosie—and took Dash to dance class. Upon returning home, I checked Rosie's ears, for what I don't really know as I'm no doctor, then collapsed in the bedroom for a bit. I heard Rosie struggling with her dance tights, the grunts turning into soft sobs, and gently suggested that she ask for help if she was having trouble. I fixed the tights (which still weren't right) and found the real problem was her ear was causing her lots of pain. She didn't want to miss dance class, which was a good sign (right?). We compromised by me insisting that Rosie take some Claritin. Dropped off Rosie, picked up Dash. I took a shower and picked up a call from the dance teacher, Mrs. H., that Rosie was weeping, holding her head, and wanted to go home. I started imagining that I might be spending my first stint solo-parenting with our first visit to the emergency room.

By the time I dried off, got dressed, wrangled Dash and drove to the dance studio, Rosie was back dancing, felt much better, and wanted to stay in class. Dash and I went to the cafe next door, where I ordered an iced coffee (so groggy) and he had a cookie while we waited for class to end. While we drove home I asked Rosie about her ear an annoying amount of times, all with her assuring me she was fine. We changed and got ready for a barbecue with Kelly, Mike, and several other friends in Silver Spring (30 miles and for those of you that are adding, we are at around 120, including all the incidental trips I made around the neighborhood). I had so much fun!! So did the kids. It was a wonderful break. (Total Saturday miles: 150.)

We all collapsed that night, and Sunday was uneventful, aside from my being my first attempt in I can't remember when to cook them breakfast from scratch, and not just reheat leftovers. I know I'm pretty spoiled by Monkey's cooking prowess and willingness to handle all things food-related. I got them off to school on Monday, and sent a quick email to Rosie's teacher to mention the ear. Sure enough, she was still complaining, so I took off work later in the afternoon, grabbed her out of school (asked my mom to pick up Dash), and went to the doctor's office. 45 minutes later, we had a diagnosis: ear infection.

So, the rest of my week went like crazy, getting lunches packed, washing clothes and dishes, getting clothes out for soccer, track, bathing kids, dressing kids and medicating Rosie. AND, it was Teacher Appreciation Week FFS. I publicly apologize here: I am sorry if Rosie and Dash's teachers don't feel as appreciated as they might have been by our family. I'll try to do better and make up for it soon.

Monkeyrotica arrived home late Thursday evening, after the kids were in bed. Thank you to my mom for all her help!

Rocking My Commute

I have a 23-mile commute (46mi round-trip) everyday, primarily along the Washington DC Beltway (I-495). If you picture the Beltway as a clock, I travel from the six-o'clock (Exit 1) to 9-o'clock (Exit 10) points and back. After I dropped off Dash at daycare today, I checked the Google Maps App on my iPhone (LOVE this app! It's the reason Monkeyrotica gifted me the iPhone in the first place) and saw the Interstate was colored red (very slow traffic) right around my exit. As I approached my exit, I could see that traffic was NOT moving at all, and the ramp to the non-local exits was full of cars. I took the local route.

Here's a screengrab of what 495 looked like this morning, with my route in pink. See the red-and-black segments across the bridge in Maryland? That means traffic is stopped, not moving, you're SOL. I never got on 495, as my ramp continues as a ramp for the next exit, Telegraph Road—I took it and followed Eisenhower Avenue, which is a frontage to the Beltway for about four miles.

The next exit to merge with the Beltway is Van Dorn, and Eisenhower Ave conveniently ends right there. I ramped onto 495 at a point where there's usually heavy volumes of merging cars and there was NOTHING—only about three or four cars, including me. The rest of my commute, which typically takes 30-45 minutes? I sped through in 15. All the cars that were normally clogging the roads were stuck in Maryland or Occoquan, VA.

Woot! It's rarely this easy to navigate a bad snag. Anyway, now I'm at work. Have a great Wednesday, everyone!

Philly, Day 4: Come Again Some Other Day...

On our last day in Philadelphia, the sun came out. I swear, with the rain clouds gone, the temperature jumped 40 degrees within hours. We took the kids straightaway to a playground that was already heavily populated with all the local kids, happy to playing in the bright, lovely air.

We picked up some deli sandwiches to have for a picnic lunch at Chickie's Deli. The grass was really, thoroughly wet on the circle in front of the Academy of Natural Sciences Museum, but that wasn't stopping me from eating al fresco (Monkeyrotica ate from a comfortable, dry bench, several meters away). What a beautiful day!

















Inside the museum, we experienced a looming Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, Rosie admired the taxidermy polar bear, Dash sampled what life might be like as be an amateur archaeologist and tortoise wrangler, and we saw a butterfly habitat up close.





















Goodbye Philadelphia! You're not too far away, and we didn't really catch you at your best. We'll visit again soon.

Philly, Day 3: Damn, it's Cold!

I know, I'm really dragging these posts out with details on the only trip we've taken as a family unit EVER (all other overnight trips have been with extended family). Here we go with more photos and riveting commentary!!

So, for you, my friends, here's the obligatory shot of us with the Liberty Bell — done. See, there we are! Don't we look stiff and cold, with our hats, coats, and extra layers? We were so frigid that immediately after leaving the Bell's museum, we decided to scrap our tickets to Independence Hall (a mostly outdoor tour) and go straight to a children's clothing store to buy shivering Rosie some extra clothing and Dash a raincoat. I did pack a lot of extra clothes (Dash was wearing my 2nd scarf), but we just weren't prepared for it to be in the 30s, raining and blustery when it was practically April (it would be 70 degrees the next day). True to form, Lolli Lolli was selling bathing suits and Summery frocks, but I scrounged a few items out of the deep-discount, off-season sale rack.

From here, we had lunch at Lee How Fook's Tea House in Chinatown, where we were the only customers. Dash made friends with the waitress and ensured us some excellent service (he's such a charmer). After lunch, we went back to the hotel, had more baths and stayed warm until dinner.

We ventured out again for the HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY, Jones Restaurant! We scuttled the four blocks to Jones, hobo-umbrella flapping inside-out and back, and settled in immediately. The atmosphere was comfortable and family friendly, the waitstaff was quirkily pierced and tattooed, the music piped in was eclectic 80s and 90s tunes (I recall hearing The Cure and Love and Rockets, among other familiar bands—I was their demographic), and the menu was pure comfort food. The kids split fried chicken (Dash) and waffles (Rosie). Even better, there was a full bar offering fabulous cocktails. Here are a few photos of us really enjoying ourselves at Jones. I don't think there's anywhere quite like it in DC. I suggested to our waitress that they open a franchise in our area, to which she responded that they did have plans to start a location in Atlantic City. If I do make it to AC, I'll check it out. Going to Jones is like visiting an old friend's house—an old friend that loves to cook and has a great bar.




It's time to get these kids in bed:

Next up, Day 4: Come Again Some Other Day

Franklin Institute & Brauhaus: Okay, there were more photos

Philly, Day 2: Museums We Loved (but didn't photograph)!

On Monday, we got up bright and early to enjoy the hotel's complimentary breakfast, where we found that all the other guests were foreign (well, one couple was from Montana, does that count?). Thankfully, all the items they served were foods that both Rosie and Dash would eat. After we filled up on cereal, bagels, muffins, fruit and coffee, we bundled up in extra layers, raincoats, hats, scarves, and gloves. With umbrellas at the ready, we headed out for the one-and-a-half-mile walk to the Franklin Institute.

At the Frankin Institute, I waited in the long lines to get tickets for everyone. The basic tickets included just enough of the exhibits to engage the kids—the "Body Worlds and the Brain," IMAX theatre and all the extras would be too much. As we walked in, we were just in time to line up for the Planetarium, where they were showing a special presentation, "Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity," narrated by a particularly classy voice-over actor, Liam Neeson! Rrowr. The animation for the visualizations were spectacular. They were showing planetary phenomena that no-one has actually seen, all speculation, but it was so well-executed (and well-narrated!) that heck, I believed it! When Red Giant stars go super-nova, they implode, and the energy plus the gigantic force caused by that implosion feeds on itself, sucking everything around the star inside, causing the black hole. Then, there was a bit about Einstein's theory of relativity and some really cool grid-line simulations that I though I understood at the time, but, um, *shrug*.

Then there was a bit about big locomotives, then some fancy aerodynamics hand-on exhibits where Dash sat in the cockpit of some stinky old shabby aircraft DASH GOT TO RIDE A PLANE! Now, Monkeyrotica had been playing up the "climbing through the giant heart" that he recalled from his grade-school field trip. The kids loved it—we went through twice, when many other claustrophobic souls dropped out shrieking early on. Sure, it was some painted fiberglass that has seen better days, but it's a great teaching tool. Squeezing through the tight "ventricles" while a throbbing "lub-dub" surrounds you and simulated red and white blood cells speed past overhead was pretty exciting.

From there, we hit the gift shop and headed just a 1/2-mile away for lunch at Oh! Shea's, which served acceptably decent pub food with a nice house-brand root beer. Just three blocks away was our next destination, the Mutter Museum Of College Of Physicians Of Philadelphia. This oddity actively prohibited photographs, with burly security attentive docents ready to give you the smackdown if you attempted a cameraphone pic. If you can hunt down the Discovery Channel's special on the Mutter Museum, you'll pretty much see everything we did, jugged guts, dessicated foetal mutations, eye and skin diseases, genetic disorders. Needless to say, our kids were the only ones in there under 14.

We schlepped it back the 1.5 miles in the rain to the hotel, with one stop for me to replace my hobo-umbrella, which was turning inside-out with every other gust of wind. We stayed in for a breather, let the kids splash in a hot bath, then headed out to the Brauhaus Schmitz, an authentic German restaurant about 5 blocks away. The kids were getting kind of loopy at this point, crawling under the table, playing with our phones (photo of Dash doing exactly that!) and such. We ended our day with cookies and tea back at the hotel.

Next up, Day 3: Damn, it's cold!

Philly, Day 1: Road Trip!

After departing for Philly, handing the kids an iPhone and a gameboy micro so they could be perfectly distracted and play games while we drove, we planned a stop at Maryland's Havre De Grace vintage prefab, Bridge Diner.

Dash patiently waited for his order (a hotdog, of course) while leaning on the vintage formica tabletop. Rosie cheerfully watched all the locals playing Keno. She was unsuccessful at figuring out the game (as were we all).

I started out our trip with sunglasses on, but somewhere between DC and Philly, the sun disappeared, the shades came off, and I didn't need them until Mr. Sun reappeared about four days later. We dropped our bags at the lovely Morris House Hotel and immediately set off for somewhere to get a drink. Despite Philadelphia's Blue Laws we managed to find a bar in the Jewelry District that had its Sunday sales permit, Coco's. The kids were in a great mood, munching potato chips and watching the easiest to follow of television sports, BOWLING, playing on all the big screens.

With umbrellas in tow, we stopped back at Morris House to have tea, check in, and unpack. We really enjoyed our room, which had a master bedroom (with its own door!) and a fold-out couch for the kids in the living area. The one item that we all looked forward to at the end of a cold, wet, Philadelphia day was the bath. It was large enough to fit both kids (and a couple of friends) AND had jacuzzi jets! Heaven for itchy-fingered four-year-olds.


After changing out of our hobo-traveler duds, we walked the five city blocks to City Tavern, an 18th century tavern with too much Flash on its website. The kids tromped wistfully past darkening, moist gardens that beckoned them to scamper through, but we had reservations to make. Monkeyrotica enjoyed the historic microbrews very much, with Yards Brewing Company's General Washington's Tavern Porter as a favorite. He picked up a 6-pack of the selection before we left town. For appetizers, Monkey had fried oysters and I tried out the duck sausage. I ordered the Braised Rabbit, which was lovely (but waaay too much food for little me—I finished half), and Monkey had the Rack of Lamb, and for some reason, we ordered Dash $18 worth of sausages. Rosie picked at an item from the "Award Winning Children's Menu."

We allowed the kids to scamper through one garden that was still open as the wind picked up, and the drizzle really got annoying. We were fairly blown back across Washington Square as we headed back to Morris House and its promise of hot tea, a roaring fireplace, and freshly baked cookies in the lobby. I sipped green tea and pretended interest in W Magazine; Dash and Rosie scarfed several chocolate chip cookies before we hit that delicious bath and turned in for the night. Next episode: Day 2: Museums that we loved, but didn't photograph! (Have you noticed that for some reason, the Strings family only takes photos while we're at meals?)

"Captain Dash" Superhero!

I took Dash (& his new haircut) to a superhero-theme birthday party
this weekend.

Spring Break? Me?

Our plans for Spring Break started out with me arranging a camp to take Rosie all week, while her school was closed. I hunted down a great place to take her, pleaded for a spot, pulled the moolah out of the budget; she was enrolled! Then, I told Monkeyrotica that it was all arranged, figuring that he'd be relieved that he didn't need to worry or at the very least pleased that Rosie's days off school would be occupied without inconveniencing Grandma Sheila too much.

His answer was totally unexpected: "Why don't we go somewhere instead?"

I was flummoxed. "Wait, what? ...Who are you?" I asked. "And what did you do with Monkey? We never go on trips!" He dislikes traveling (especially with kids) and it's usually me that talks (and gets vetoed) about taking the kids places to see sights, get culturally enriched, all that good stuff. Beyond that, he and I rarely have even taken our personal vacations together before kids. This was almost entirely unprecedented.

After talking it through and determining that Monkey was serious about a Spring break trip, we narrowed locations down with these factors: driveable in less than a day, educational/fun for kids, not too cheesy or expensive. We came up with Philadelphia, just 150 miles (3 hours) away. Lots of excellent museums, parks, interesting history, SOLD!

I picked out a charming room in Philadelphia's Historic District, the Morris House Hotel, and started planning and reserving events. Monkey was in charge of picking out places to eat for lunch and dinner. We packed, we left! (more to come...)

Hello from Philly's Academy of Natural Sciences Museum!

Hello from Seger Playground, Philadelphia, PA!

Puppy dog eyes

Who's got the bigger eyes? Dash was showing me a large plush labrador
puppy he wanted me to buy him at a toy store. Instead of making an
immediate purchase, I started a "photo birthday list," where we take
photo pics of the things Dash wants so we can go through them later,
before his birthday in June. He might even forget about them by then!!

Bill Jackson, super-criminal

Here's Bill Jackson's story, as dictated by my son Dash, age 4.5 years:

"Have you heard of Bill Jackson? Bill Jackson is a very famous car thief from California. Bill Jackson lost his legs in an explosion, and replaced them with rockets. He puts bombs inside of grapes and waits until people try to eat the grapes and blows them up and then steals their cars. He flies over to the car and uses his spear and axe to operate the pedals.

Bill Jackson stole my memory integrator, so we need to catch him. Here's the PLAN! [index finger pointed UP!] We need to call the President and send the Army and the Navy to California to blow up his house. First, we have to set a trap for Bill Jackson by drawing a life-size picture of his wife [named Jackie Jackson]. While he's distracted with his wife's picture, Rosie [Dash's older sister] and me can sneak into Bill Jackson's house to get my memory integrator back before his house gets blown up.

President Obama will get a phone call from Daddy and that will let him know it's time to blow up Bill Jackson's house."

Dash drew this picture of Bill Jackson, with rockets instead of legs.

Dash Wants to Reformat Your Harddrive

Four-and-a-half year old Dash still isn’t reading. Yesterday, he drew the letter “A” all over his legs, feet, and belly (making tattoos!), but when I asked him to tell me what letter he wrote, he told me, “Um, I can’t remember.” He can sing the Alphabet Song, but can’t tell you how to spell his name. If you ask him, he’ll say, “H? S?” I’m trying to to be frustrated by this because he’s remarkably wonderful at other things, such as manipulating our computer.

Just this morning, he managed to start up my laptop (lugging it from my bedroom onto the dining table), open movie applications, and find movies to watch all while I was taking a shower. He’s also been sending emails and SMS (all gibberish, with lots of EMOJI), recording voice memos on my iPhone, and has tried to download updates to my applications. We usually catch him with the “Settings” dialog open, furiously trying to re-engage the dilithium-crystal array.

I caught two unsent emails hanging out in the Outbox on my iPhone recently, obviously his doing: one was a garbled attempt to reply to an email that landed in my spam folder (rightfully spam, as it was a type of Nigerian 419 money scam); the other was more curious. Addressed to “bnng@gsc_remborkeg” (can you believe that he knew to put an @ sign in the recipient field?!?), no subject, there was only an attachment, a voice memo that he had recorded.

I’m posting the voice memo below. I think he wanted to share it with you.

[Voice memo coming soon, having some technical difficulties. Dash probably would have got it through by now.]

Dash & his New T-Rex (made by me!)

RAWR!!!

I just finished this T-Rex doll for Dash. He named him Shaggy, after
the Scooby-doo character (a recent favorite show).

My little mountaineers

After last Friday's 3 foot snow, we dug out our driveway, creating
huge hills for Rosie & Dash to climb on. Dash asked us to dress him in
all black so he would look like a secret agent. Hard to be stealthy
surrounded by all that white!

See how our black car is cleared off? By Tuesday, it had another 8
inches piled on. What a blizzard!

Littlest Pet Shop and What?

Agent Dana Scully of the X-Files? I didn't know you were also a
veterinarian!

Today's visual non-sequitur is courtesy Rosie, my wacky, adorable
daughter, creatively combining playsets.