Once again it's been a while since I last wrote, so I have a few things to write about. For Grandpa's birthday a few weeks ago, mom and I met him at the Baltimore aquarium! I got to go to mom's office first and got to meet all of her really nice colleagues. My school was closed for a Professional Development Day, so mom took a day off and we met grandpa there. What a fun day :) We got to see lots of fish, but my absolute favorite thing was watching the scuba divers. One of them fed the giant sea turtle right in front of us. Did you know that sea turtles like lettuce? The turtle at the Baltimore aquarium only had three fins because it got too cold in the wild and had the turtle equivalent of frostbite. So the turtle will never be able to be re-released to the wild.
After the scuba divers, we went to see a 4-D Dora and Diego movie! Mom thought I would really enjoy it because I'm pretty much obsessed with Diego these days. Most days I don't watch TV at all, so it's a pretty big treat for me to be able to watch an episode of Diego. So when mom saw what the movie was, she certainly got us tickets. Well, the 4-D movie adds scents and feeling senses to the movie in addition to the 3-D glasses. So when Dora and Diego splashed in the water, we actually got splashed with water too! It REALLY scared me!!! I freaked out and ended up hugging mommy and crying nearly the whole time :( Maybe next time we go I'll be more prepared and will enjoy it more.
When we left the movie, we went to see the Dolphin show. I was SO tired by then and started to lose focus, but we made it through the show and I got to see all the dolphins swimming and splashing with their tails. They swam so fast and were able to jump pretty high too! Mom says that she and daddy swam with dolphins on their honeymoon and said it was a blast. Maybe I'll get to try it some day too.
We left there and went up to the Rain Forest to try to see the sloths and monkeys. The monkey's weren't out because they're not fully acclimated to the exhibit and no one had been able to see the sloths that day. So the Rain Forest was a bust - lots of birds which mom didn't like and a few lizards which were pretty cool. We stopped at the gift shop on the way out and Grandpa got me a really cool octopus and mommy got me a stuffed turtle. I was about done at that point, so we left to get some lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I don't think I ate more than two bites of my lunch, but I sure liked Grandpa's Fish and Chips! Since I had been so good all day and since it was Grandpa's birthday, mom and I split a piece of Mango Key Lime Cheesecake (did I tell you that I'm *loving* being able to have dairy now???) It was delicious, though I think I ate more whipped cream than cheesecake. Mom said that's ok - more for her!
Here are some pictures from the day. None of them turned out well because it's so dark in the aquarium and mom doesn't really know how to use her camera...
Me and Grandpa.
Looking at some fishies...
Crazy looking fish next to where the scuba divers were.
Turtle waiting to be fed.
Nom, nom, nom...
This fish is almost as big as me!
Dolphins!
Hi :)
The following week, mom had to take her first overnight business trip. She got to take the train to New York and I kept telling she and daddy that I wanted to take a train ride sometime! Mom was super sad to leave me for two days (she left before I got up on Tuesday and got back after I was in bed on Wednesday), but it gave me and dad lots of good times together :) I even got to ride in daddy's fast car to and from school both days! Mommy only got a few minutes to call on Tuesday night (it was a very packed agenda for those two days) and I had a tantrum mid-call, so that was short lived. But daddy and I made a video and emailed it to her, so she got to see me say good night. She says that totally made her day. Mom bought me an apron set to "surprise" me while she was gone, but I wanted nothing to do with it, so she gave it to me when she got home :)
The Saturday before last (4/2), mom and I went to pick up her race packet for the Parkway 5K which was this past Sunday, the 10th. While we were there, dad went to pick up his packet for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, which was on the 3rd. On Sunday morning, we all got up at the crack of dawn and headed down to the Metro. I got to take a train ride! This wasn't my first ride on the Metro, but perhaps the first that I will remember. Daddy was definitely ready. It was really cold in the morning, but I was super bundled up in my stroller with a big blanket over me and a warm thermos full of oatmeal waiting for me when we got there. Mom and I walked to the bag check with dad (he accidentally threw away his bag check bag, so we wanted to make sure he could actually check his stuff before we walked away). They had plenty of extra bags, so we said good luck and started our hike to the first viewing point.
We walked from the start / finish (pretty much at the base of the Washington Monument) past the World War II Memorial, past the Reflecting Pool (or the construction site that used to be the Reflecting Pool) to the Lincoln Memorial (aka the "Blinking" Memorial) to about Mile 1 of the race at the foot of the Memorial Bridge. It was a nice brisk walk for an early Sunday morning! When we got there, I got to get out of my stroller and run around the grassy area until the runners came through. There was a policeman there and I got to talk to him and see the lights on his car :) A little while later, the elite women runners came through - they were FAST! They were allowed to start a few minutes ahead of everyone else, so it was another few minutes until the elite men came through. I clapped for the runners and mom tried to get settled in to figure out when dad would be coming through. There were about 17,000 runners and it's REALLY hard to find the person you're looking for, so she had to be on the lookout! We had it figured out pretty well and we spotted daddy running towards us! He knew which side we'd be on and ran by and gave us a high five! I was so excited!
We waited there for another 10 minutes or so until daddy came back by at Mile 2. He was on the other side of the bridge and mom didn't see him (though he saw us). After 15 minutes or so (he was going to be running around 9 minutes/mile or less), we started walking down the hill towards Ohio Drive towards Mile 4. We got there with plenty of time to spare and saw daddy again! When he ran by, I started to really cheer for the runners and we started walking towards Mile 9. I kept yelling "Run Faster Daddy! We'll catch up to you!" Mom just laughed, knowing how much faster daddy was going than we were. But the way the course is laid out, we walked to mile 9 and "parked" ourselves on the up hill figuring that dad would want a cheering section on the hill. Turns out that mom almost got thrown up on (um, yuck!) and dad didn't see us, but we saw him and yelled like crazy! After we saw him, we walked toward the finish and waited where we agreed to meet, near the bag pick up. Dad came by not too long after and it turns out he KILLED his goal!!! I'm so proud of him! A full 5 minutes faster than expected - that's a lot!
http://www.cherryblossom.org/results/2011/2011cucb10m-m.htm
Here is the walk from Mile 4 to Mile 9. Look how many runners are still crowded together!
We met up with Alex and Colleen afterwards and hiked over to Eastern Market for brunch. Mom got quite the workout pushing me in the stroller hauling all of the gear with somewhat flat tires! I passed out somewhere along the way (about 3 hours earlier than my normal nap, which wasn't surprising given what time I woke up!)
Brunch was FABULOUS (though cold). We went to Belga Cafe and they had the best Belgian Waffles. We had to sit outside since we didn't have reservations, but it was ok - I slept most of the time and then woke up in time to eat and get back in to the sun. We stopped at Starbucks on the way home for mom to get some coffee (and she got me some yummy mango snacks), then we headed back home on the Metro. Mom and dad both tried to nap when we got home, but I wanted nothing to do with that, so mom stayed up with me and I got to watch some TV (a rarity for me unless mom is really tired).
I had a really rough week in terms of potty training. I've been doing SO well, but for some reason after mom went away for just 2 days, I started with some very defiant behavior. I would stand up and deliberately pee in my underwear, then laugh about it. Monday and Tuesday at daycare were rough - probably 8 outfits each day just from defiant behavior. I think I scared one of the "floater" teachers when I deliberately peed on my cot after naptime (including my pants, shoes, blanket, pillow, etc.). Boo. Mom, dad, and my teachers were all consistent with me and I'm back on course now. I've been completely dry for at least 6 days now including nap time and night time, which confirms mom's belief that I was just acting out trying to get attention.
Last Saturday, we went to the DC United - LA Galaxy soccer game! I had so much fun and got to hang out with Gabriel at the tailgate. He shared his toys with me and I shared my fruit with him. It was fun! I stayed awake THE ENTIRE way home - dad and Joe were sitting in the backseat with me, so I didn't fall asleep. Mom had taken me to the car about half way through the second half, though, so I already had my jammies on and was ready for sleep. I fell asleep quickly on the way from Joe and Ruthie's house back home. Mom was able to carry me straight to bed, tuck me in and say good night! The easiest bedtime we've had in a LONG time :)
Sunday morning mom had her race, the Parkway Classic 5K. She was supposed to run the 10 Miler with Molly, but mom dropped back because of her leg and Molly wasn't feeling well, so she didn't run. Mom left and drove down long before I woke up. Daddy got me up and ready and headed down a little later (though still early especially after being out late the night before!) We waited and cheered for the runners. When mom came by, she ran over to us and gave daddy a high five. The finish was only a tenth of a mile or so past us, so mom finished, got some water and walked back to find us. Mom didn't do too badly, but she was about 37 seconds slower than she wanted to be. She said she got hung up at the start where slow people were near the front and some girl just stopped in the middle of the course and mom ran right in to her! Some people just don't think! But she finished in 28:37 which is a personal record by 11 seconds, so not terrible. Dad made yummy short ribs for dinner on Sunday night - the entire house smelled delicious! A great way to break in the new dutch oven that mom and dad finally broke down and bought.
There must have been something in the air on Monday night because I had an AWFUL night trying to get to sleep (as did several of my friends at school as we discovered on Tuesday morning). It took almost 3 hours for me to fall asleep and nothing mom or dad did could calm me down. It was truly bizarre. I finally let mom hold me and passed out in her lap on the glider and slept ok until mom had to wake me up for school at 6 the next morning. Tuesday night I think I was exhausted, but the last two nights have been a little rough again. Oy.
Tomorrow is FRIDAY though and mom, dad and I are all really looking forward to a weekend - it's been a LONG week! Hugs to all!
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