Sam's Name

As anyone who has read the blockbuster picture book Sam's Names knows, our son has a lot of aliases. Aside from the traditional Samuel/Sam/Sammy, he answers to Bubba, Shmoopy and Buddy, just to name a few.

But now, he has re-named himself! If you point to Sam and ask, "Who's this?" he'll proudly respond, "SABBY!"

Ladies and gentlemen, Sabby:

With a mouthful of raisins.

Kennedy Center

Last Saturday we had a great day at the Kennedy Center Open House (thanks to Alison and the playgroup for telling us about it)! Neither Mark nor I had ever been there; we didn't even know it had three venues (like the Music Center). The Open House was fabulous- there were free events all day; in the three halls, out on the two plazas, and on temporary stages in the foyer. We saw the National Symphony Orchestra play different pieces of "Americana" (including John Philip Sousa, songs from The Music Man, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the type of music you hear in classic cartoons).

After lunch in the rooftop cafeteria we took in a concert by children's folk singer Dan Zanes on the plaza. Really, really fun, with plenty of kids dancing, a misting tent, and more than enough rocks for Sam to collect as he wandered around the plaza (he's still trying to work out how to pick up more rocks when his hands are already full). Sam also got to experience Popsicles for the first time, and he's a fan. :) We didn't get to see the ballet or Chinese puppet theater, and the storytellers weren't geared to kids, but it was still an enormously entertaining outing. There were even free shuttles back to the Metro station.

Too much sitting in the concert hall; must wander around.

That stroller (not ours) was labeled with our last name!
We didn't get to hang around and meet the potential relatives.

Love the misting tent when it's 90F+ outside!

Mmmm, Popsicle!

Dan Zanes is the one in the blue shirt.

This will probably be our only trip to the Kennedy Center for the next two years, but it was a good one

Elevator

This is a cute (pre-incident) baby hand, not elevator chow.

The elevators in our apartment building have doors that shut really quickly. So quickly that the first person to get in the elevator stops the door mid-close and holds it open for everyone else. We've been pretty worried about the doors closing on Sam, and are vigilant about blocking the door around him. What we didn't realize was that Sam could get injured by the door opening.

Today Sam and I were coming downstairs from Lisa and Eric's apartment (after a lovely lunch, thanks Lisa!), and Sam was standing up in the elevator, holding my hand. As the door opened, he lunged for it, falling against the opening door. This carried his little hand into the minuscule space between the moving door and the elevator, trapping it. His body tripped the sensor, making the door stay open, keeping his hand stuck.

There was no button that worked; the sensor overrode pushing a button for any other floor, there was no "door close" button, and the Alarm button (which we had carefully guarded from Sam's eager fingers) didn't seem to do anything. I hollered "HELP!!!" at the top of my lungs while holding Sam's arm so that his hand wouldn't go further in, and he screamed right along with me.

A woman from the nearest apartment came running out to help, and I decided to try to pull the door closed manually. Thankfully, that worked, but Sam's freed hand looked like flattened Play Doh. I called 911, and the EMTs came quickly while building maintenance workers stayed with us. Sam was pretty upset (compounded by the fact that it was his nap time and he was due a bottle), and his hand looked awful.

Many thanks to the ambulance crew, nurses, doctors, and x-ray techs at Fairfax Hospital Pediatrics ER for taking such good care of us. As of now, there are no breaks in his hand (let's hear it for baby skeletons still being part cartilage!) and he doesn't seem to notice that three of his fingers are swollen. He did complain when he couldn't hold his sippy cup as well ("Hep bebe!") but that's about it.

Mark and I are nervous wrecks, of course. Maybe when he's 30 we'll calm down.

139th Ball

In September the 139th Class had a ball (no, a real one) at the DACOR House in D.C. We don't have a photo of the two of us ballroom dancing, but most of you have already seen that. Just imagine a foxtrot medley and a swing medley, not many other people on the dance floor, there you go...

Don't we look fancy! And sweaty.

This is after both medleys, and the salsa dancing.

Not just dancing- there was talking too!

Lisa (the other Lisa) and Steven get down with their bad selves.


Marcus, also looking fancy. And tall. Very very tall.

Sara , Kris, Janice, Lisa. The three of them managed to dance without looking ruffled. Me, not so much.

Even taller with the hat.

Mark, Lisa, Bev, and Joe in his spiffy dress uniform.

Mark and Jon (the organizer!) boogie down.

This is why Mark prefers ballroom.

And yet, the disco and Motown were just so much fun!!!

Did we mention the karaoke? Sweet Caroline is always a favorite.

Sweet Caroline...

...bomp, bomp, BOM...

...so good (so good, so good)...

Ending the evening with a soulful rendition of That's Life!

Bureaucrat or not, the boy's still got a set of pipes on him.

Labor Day Trip South Part 2: Georgia

After resting back at David's, the four hour drive to Kennesaw was a snap. The funny thing was how much it felt like "coming home" as soon as we crossed over into Georgia, and how excited we got about silly things like The Big Chicken, or the freeway off-ramp to the hospital where Sam was born.

Kennesaw is a small town north of Atlanta that has all of the malls where we used to shop. It was convenient for friends from Cobb County and Cartersville to get to, and has a very comfy Hilton Garden Inn with a not too far away Ruby Tuesday's for takeout (we said no cheese on the burgers, people!). Sadly, the pool at the hotel is not heated at all, and after sticking a toe in, Sam and Mark couldn't go through with the much-anticipated swim. This was made all the more disappointing since the pool at our apartment is not just closed for the season, but drained for construction.

Forget the pool; I have a hat, a pen, and the remote.

Sam was very pleased to discover, however, that the fancy chair in the room spun around. More chair rides, Mommy!

The next morning we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then did some shopping before meeting Wendy and Deanne for lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. Wendy and Deanne were the other pregnant second grade teachers when I was expecting Sam (out of seven preggos all together at Murdock), with classrooms on either side of mine. Deanne's daughter Mary Ella is one month older and Wendy's son Brady is two months older than Sam. Here's a photo of the three babies the last time we were all together in July, 2007:

And here they are now:

It was great to reconnect with Deanne and Wendy, and I just wish we could have spent more time with them. We chose Joe's for the play structure at the restaurant, but it was cranky baby nap time so no go. We did kick off the celebration of Mark's birthday with a shared root beer float before we left...

After lunch came more shopping (I needed a dress for Mark's upcoming ball, and to stock up on 6 months' worth of Publix store-brand boxed Macaroni and Cheese for India; it's kosher), then a nostalgia tour of Marietta. We drove by our old apartment, my school (looks fabulous with the construction finally finished), our dance studio, and Mark's bridge club.

There was still time for a rest before meeting up with Debbie and Gary for dinner at Rafferty's. We hadn't seen Gary since we left Georgia, or Debbie since January's trade show in Vegas. She and Mark worked together every day for a year in Cartersville, and when we saw her again the conversation picked up right where they left off. Sam was thrilled to hang out and to go exploring all over the restaurant, especially the stairs. It didn't hurt that a Cal game was playing on the TVs - Go Bears! Note that Sam and the birthday boy are wearing coordinating Hawaiian shirts.

The next morning, after another quick breakfast at Hilton, we hit the road for our epic journey back to Northern Virginia. Let's just summarize- long long long day of driving (670 miles in all), from 9:30 AM until midnight.

Highlights included driving past the turnoff to Pigeon Forge, TN, which southerners will recognize as the home of Dollywood! It was agreed that if we had a week to make this trip, Dollywood would have been a stop. As it was, we just waved and drove on, through the Great Smoky Mountains.

We certainly appreciated all of the rest stops along the way, most of which had fabulously clean bathrooms (a nice surprise!). One that we really needed was just over the border into Virginia, both a good milestone on the drive and a grassy area for Sam to run around on, plus there was a Virginia Welcome Center!

That dirt square is the "pet rest area," largely ignored, so it was important to watch our step.

Twenty minutes out from home, Sam woke up in his car seat, hysterically crying as if to say, "I'm still in this darn thing?!" I drove that last 90 minute leg, and had similar feelings. :) The drive was brutal, but the trip was well worth it. We're trying to fill up on all things "home" before we go abroad...

Labor Day Trip South, Part 1: North Carolina

Having a three-day weekend and all, we decided to go visit old friends further south. This was a wonderful plan, except for the part where we drove... over 650 miles each way... with a toddler. We'll just consider it practice for the trip to India, mmkay? At least someone else will be flying the planes.

The way Sam travels best.

Friday night, leaving rainy Virginia after Mark's class ended, we drove down through Tennessee to North Carolina in the dark. It was very surreal; at one point the darkness just seemed more dark, and a bit hilly. Yeah, that would be the Blue Ridge Mountains. We had dinner in a small Virginia town (Sam likes succotash), stopped for raisin toast and coffee at an East Tennessee Waffle House, and arrived at David's house in Asheville at almost 4 AM (on less than a tank of gas - go Prius!). Sam decided that it was now morning and he wasn't sleeping any more, but we finally got him to go down, and we all slept for a few hours.

After a great bagel breakfast, David took us on a tour of lovely Asheville, including a really neat minor league baseball stadium (home of the Tourists), and a bird sanctuary that Sam loved. His favorite part? Collecting rocks.

Then lunch at a NY-style pizza place, and back to David's beautiful house (built in 1926) for a rest. It is easy to see why David is so happy in his new home, and we're really glad we got the chance to visit him in Asheville.

Mmmm... pizza!