Have I mentioned BD is truly walking

As I was posting these pictures, baby Doodle walked into the office holding a sample-size bottle of Disaronno (Italian almond-flavored liquour) in one hand and a shot glass in the other. I really need to move our bar shelf higher.

our fourth anniversary

I know you've been on the edge of your seats waiting for the promised post on our anniversary. So here it is. On June 21st Mr. Doodlebug and I celebrated our fourth anniversary by my being home with baby Doodle all day and Mr. Doodlebug going to work as always. But instead of having to prepare a meal for the three of us, I only had to grab some baby Doodle food from the fridge to feed him. He had tofu cut into cubes with applesauce -- I know it doesn't sound that appetizing but BD enjoys it and he gets his protein and iron -- and eggs cooked with whole milk and peas and carrots -- again, doesn't sound too tasty but it's a way to get him to eat peas and carrots which he now rejects in their plain state.

Mr. Doodlebug came home and bathed BD while I got dressed and brushed my hair. I even applied a little make up. I wore a black slinky dress that I bought for our honeymoon in 2003 and was pleased it still fit. We read to baby Doodle, I brushed his teeth then put him to bed. Our neighbor was kind enough to agree to babysit BD while we went out to dinner.

We ate at Citrus, a seafood/vegetarian restaurant in Chestnut Hill. We had read reviews of people complaining about the service yet raving about the food. We had excellent service and fully enjoyed our meals. We shared a mixed green salad and cold corn soup with corn croutons. I had striped sea bass with a fabulous pesto sauce, shitake mushrooms, and tomatoes. Mr. Doodlebug had crab cakes over chunks of watermelon and some sort of sauce. The crab cakes were phenomenal with hardly any breadcrumbs. We split a bottle of wine -- it's a bring your own restaurant and we bought a bottle of red zinfindel that was excellent. I drank more than my share of the wine since Mr. Doodlebug intended to drive us home. We split a piece of "old fashioned" chocolate cake, which also was delicious.

We left the restaurant and walked past an independent ice cream store. People were outside enjoying their cones stuffed with homemade ice cream and we couldn't resist. So we had a second dessert. We shared a small cone of Gadzooks ice cream. I had never heard of it until that night, and have since seen it twice. It's chocolate ice cream with caramel swirl and chunks of peanutbutter. Now that is my kind of ice cream!

It was a great night out. Mr. Doodlebug took the next day off which was Friday. I was able to sleep in until 8 or 8:30 the next morning.

It seems like we've been married for much much longer than four years, but in a good way. Like the memories of being single are so far in the past it's hard to think of a time when we weren't a couple. We've evolved as a couple, and I'm sure we'll continue to. When we were childless I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have a baby together and now I can't imagine life without baby Doodle. It's been a wonderful four years. I'm looking forward to the rest of our lives. I know as long as Mr. Doodlebug is with me I will be fine, and that kind of comfort is priceless.

Walking -- for real

Baby Doodle is walking everywhere now. He's still a little unsteady, especially when he's tired, but he can go pretty long distances without squatting to sit or falling on his diapered butt. He walks from the living room in the front of our house all the way to the office in the back of the house without pausing. He can squat down and pick up his sippy cup then stand without the assistance of a piece of furniture or a finger. He has no problem turning a corner or making it over a threshold. It's like he wanted to work it all out in his head and make sure he was going to be able to walk pretty flawlessly before attempting to do it at all. Once he started, it was like he's been walking on his own for weeks -- granted he has been walking with an adult's finger for a while.

On an unrelated topic, we hosted our neighborhood happy hour last night. It was a beautiful night -- not too buggy, not too hot, and dry. I made a couple pitchers of a vodka/lime/seltzer concoction that was too weak the first time, but pretty good the second round. I was pleased that nearly everything was eaten. It was a pleasant evening all around. I didn't have too much to drink because I had consumed quite a bit of a bottle of wine the evening before when we went out for our fourth anniversary -- more on that in anther post, right now I have to go change baby Doodle's poopy diaper.

DC v. Philly

We just returned from a four day trip to DC. Mr. Doodlebug had a conference on Thursday and Friday so baby Doodle and I went down to the Capital too. We stayed with friends of ours who have two dogs, one is just three months old and quite nippy. Baby Doodle was in heaven, seeing how dog was his first word. He let the miniature poodles lick his fingers and jump up on him. As always, we had a whirlwind visit, seeing eight different parties. Baby Doodle was so exhausted from our trip that he slept from 7:30 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. this morning, and even then he didn't wake up crying. I had gone into his room to make sure he was okay -- 12.5 hours of straight sleep is unprecedented -- and he was lying there with his eyes open staring at the side of his crib. He hadn't even noticed that I entered the room until I said good morning. He's thoroughly enjoying all of his activities here at home again, as if they are all long lost toys.

We are approaching our second anniversary living in our house and in Philly (July 6). Three major differences between our old home town and our new one:
1. The volume of cars on the road in DC is greater than Philly even though Philly is more populated.
2. The traffic patterns in downtown DC are much more confusing -- yes, I'm starting to forget the most efficient ways to get places there. Philly's Center City makes a simple grid with most streets alternately one way.
3. Housing prices are still astronomically high in DC and are still reasonable in many parts of Philly. We saw a house with three bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, no parking, no yard, shitty looking exterior for $675,000 on Capitol Hill, where we used to live. Conversely, we paid signficantly less for our four bedroom, 2.5 bathroom house with two car parking and a good size yard. Granted our neighborhood isn't quite as aesthetically beautiful as the Hill, but is a fantastic neighborhood none the less.
4. Until Philly gets better subway service, I will maintain that DC's metro is far far superior to Philly's subway and trolley service. In a neighborhood equivilent distance from the heart of DC as our current one we would be taking the metro to the city and everywhere else. In Philly we have to take the regional rail which is far less convenient both in it's frequency and it's geography.

All that said, we are very happy living here and plan to live in or around Philly for many many years.

A lot of good

Mr. Doodlebug is in Chicago for two days. He left yesterday morning at five something and he'll be home tonight after 10:00. Since he's been gone baby Doodle has slept for longer than he's ever slept two consecutive nights (7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.). I 'm thrilled! If it's not ruined by Mr. Doodlebug's return (walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night and walking around in our room with his heavy foot) then it will surely be ruined by our trip to DC next week.

Also since Mr. D's departure I have slept better than I've slept since baby Doodle was born. Maybe it's not having Mr. D next to me either snoring or turning over, or maybe it's that BD has slept for so long so soundly. Whatever the reason, I'm grateful. It makes my temporary single motherhood a lot easier.

Another positive -- baby Doodle has been on his best behavior since Mr. D left. He hasn't whined that much, he's taken full two hour naps in his crib and he's been in a general good mood.

All that said, I'll be glad when Mr. D comes home tonight. We've missed him.

Oh how I love Trader Joe's

I just returned from a trip to Trader Joe's in Ardmore. When baby Doodle and I arrived he was quite hungry and I knew he wouldn't sit still while I loaded the cart with delicious food for later. I grabbed a basket of nectarines and asked a TJ's employee if she had a knife to open the netting around the fruit. She quickly went off to grab one. She freed an unripe nectarine from the netting and asked if I wanted her to wash it, to which I replied, "that would be great, thanks."

I didn't see the canned tuna that TJ's usually has so I asked a guy who was restocking the frozen foods if they still sold it. He said that they did and that it was in the next aisle over. I said I could find it, but he insisted on escorting me there himself. Where the blue and red tuna cans usually sit was a line of olive green and black cans with tuna packed in oil. He made a convincing case as to why it's not that bad for you -- it's packed in olive oil which has the good kind of fat and cholestoral. I declined to get any since it's for my in-laws this weekend and they're pretty picky about food, especially my father-in-law.

After shopping for a while we went to the check out where the nice young man (I sound like my grandmother) made small talk with baby Doodle and asked if he likes balloons. He does, but he was already, without saying an actual real word, asking the gentleman behind us to get the one that had flown to the ceiling for him. He obliged and BD had his balloon, which he kept tightly between his thumb and forefinger all the way home.

Upon noticing that I had brought my own canvas bags to use for the groceries the nice young man asked if I wanted a raffle ticket. Apparently when you bring your own bags you get to enter a raffle in which the prize is free TJ food. I'll take it!

I've been a patron of Trader Joe's for about eight years now, but I had such a pleasant experience today that I thought I'd give them a shout out. I hope we get one in Manayunk some day.

pushing the limits -- already

Baby Doodle is already experimenting with how much he can get away with. Tonight, while he was eating dinner he slid his sippy cup across the table almost making it fall on the floor. I warned him not to let it fall by saying "no no" in a stern voice accompanied by a straight face -- which I had to hide from him because his smile and crinkled nose make me smile -- but he slid the cup right off the table. Then he looked at me as if to say "what now?" I picked it up and repeated "no no." He crinkled his nose and bared his teeth. He's too cute to resist. I'll have to work on my game face.

walking -- well sort of

Baby Doodle took his first step yesterday -- actually, four steps -- without the support of anything or anyone. He hasn't attempted to repeat it today yet, but I'm going to encourage him. Today he is fourteen months old. To commemorate his 14-month anniversary here is a list of things BD has learned since I last wrote about his developments:

He can point or gesture to his head, nose, hands, toes, and belly button when asked.
He says "huh" when asked, "what does the dog say?"
He says "aaa" when asked, "what does the cat say?"
He says "mmmm" when asked, "what does the cow say?"
He says "tee tee" in a high pitched voice when asked "what does the bird say?"
He holds his open hand over his mouth to blow kisses.
He points to the sky whenever he hears an airplane, then looks for it.
He lifts up my shirt to find my belly button whether I'm wearing a dress or in public, it doesn't matter.
He eats his peas when asked.
He says "baaw" for ball, and of course "daw" for dog.
He also says "mmm" when he's eating something he enjoys, especially if I ask, "is it delicious?"
He says dada/daddy to get Mr. Doodlebug's attention. This morning he did it so Mr. D would see him waving goodbye as he left for work.
He points to his mouth when he's hungry -- he learned that one from the Fiendling.


It's amazing how damn cute he is. He's irresistible, especially now that he's communicating.





At my grandparents' house last month.