Father's Day

We filled a lonely weekend without Donald (who was at a bachelor party at the College World Series) with lots of activities to keep us busy: a Father's Day party at Abra; a trip to the playground where Patrick and I spent an hour making pretend food in the "kitchen"; a lovely but too brief visit with 2nd cousin Eleanor; a birthday party; a playdate; and a trip to the pool. Donald was never far from our thoughts though. At the Abra party, where I was standing in as "daddy" and wearing the beautiful hand-painted tie that Patrick made, he informed me that I had to share it with daddy. And last night when Patrick had me tell him a bedtime story about two cows named Patrick and Mariel who were planning Patrick's birthday party we went over the list of invitees. I thought I'd named all of his friends and cousins and was moving on to cake flavors when he stopped me and said, "and don't forget my daddy." Never.

Blessed

Gran T, Grammy, Grandaddy, and Aunt Melissa all came into town for some very special weekend celebrations. Donald and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary with a delicious dinner out, Cousin Sophie turned two, and Donald, Patrick, and Madeline were baptized on Sunday. With the exception of me "losing" my keys in Gran T's purse and making us walk home from Mancini's because I thought they were locked in the car, Cousin Sophie being permanently traumatized by Uncle Donald breaking her donkey pinata (and some of the prizes inside), and me making coffee for the second time in a week with no pot underneath to actually catch the coffee, the weekend went off as planned. A special bonus was a Saturday morning dip in the pool—Madeline's very first swim ever! I thought she'd be cold, but one look at brother Patrick having so much fun and she insisted on getting in, splashing her hands, and squealing with delight. She had a great time and after the swim we both got a much-needed nap on a shady lounge chair.

Graduation Day

Last Friday Patrick and his fellow Muchkins performed a sweet, if perplexing, song as they wished their classmates the Wizards well on their path to kindergarten. We had a wonderful time at the post-graduation cookout as we all pondered the meaning of the hard-boiled egg and bottle of milk in Patrick's basket. The milk of knowledge? The fragile egg of youth? Whatever they mean, we are thrilled to be watching him blossom at school and are so grateful for his wonderful teachers and classmates. Late in the evening one of the dads finally filled us in on the words of the song, sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot:" I'm a little Munchkin, sweet and charm(?!) I carried my basket, and went to the farm I looked in my basket, and I don't know how, There was an egg from a chicken, and milk from a cow!

First Puff

Madeline has been keeping very busy putting everything in her mouth the past few weeks. Except of course, the puff that I gave her with great expectation last night. She held onto it for a while and shook it all around while we all encouraged her to eat it. Patrick was delighted to be reunited with his former favorite food and happily showed Madeline how puff-eating is done, but to no avail. Finally I popped one in for her. She seemed a little surprised to have me put something in her mouth rather than take something out, but it did go down. She remains completely unaware of the significance of her first puff and continues to dedicate most feeding energy to consuming enormous quantities of milk.

Welcome Summertime!

Welcome back summertime! We kicked things off early, as Madeline accompanied me on a train trip to New York for BookExpo. She made loads of friends on the train, and did great playing with Grammy in Connecticut while I perused the latest titles, lamented the long slow decline of the printed word, and enjoyed a truly lovely business dinner in the city. Patrick and Donald arrived on Thursday night, and on Friday we had a fun trip to the Stamford Museum—a little farm park—with Grammy. Patrick loved seeing the ducks and chickens and cows, and even got to feed an African tortoise lunch. Grammy and Grandaddy handled bedtime on Friday so Donald and I could enjoy a nice dinner out. On Saturday we took in a few baseball games in Binney Park with Grandaddy, and when Aunt Melissa arrived we went for a walk in the Pinetum, which we’d all forgotten was such a beautiful place. We saw a red-headed woodpecker, lots of chipmunks, and came upon a forgotten pond. We hit good old Rocky Point on Sunday and Patrick and Donald took a chilly dip. Patrick looked like such a big boy with his new haircut and goggles. On Monday we were back in Alexandria to host a cookout in the back yard. We had fun time playing with friends, testing out the new ride-on trains, and eating popsicles. Patrick and Sophie entertained us at the end of the party by chasing each other around the house for half an hour and being delightfully scared by the tickle monster—aka Aunt Jen.

Patrick gave us two belly laughs this weekend: On the highway on the way home Sunday evening we pointed out a horse trailer with a horse’s head visible from the side. As we drove past, Patrick waved at the horse and asked us “why is there a farm in there?” And today, on the way to school, Patrick decided he wanted to wear his new crocs. He took off the shoes he'd been wearing, and I told him he could wear his socks with the crocs if he wanted. “No,” he told me, “I’m just going to wear feet.”

I’m looking forward to wearing just feet in my flip flops later today. Ah, summertime.