Friday the 2nd I read that Best Buy is giving up on CDs and thought damn, only 22 years too late to save our used CD store… Saturday was concert #3 of 2018: Steven Page with the Art of Time ensemble. They moved it from the Strathmore to the Amp by Strathmore, and it was perfect at a club. Also great was the disassembled duck with Banh Mi fixings at City Perch next door. I had strong opinions about which songs should be selected. Beware if you watch this, because you can see me rocking out, and that can never be unseen.
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Sunday Nina had her cheer team pictures, then we went to see the Super Bowl at one of Jill’s knitting friends and had potluck (I made chicken skewers). The Dinklage/Freeman ad was my favorite ad of the night (closely followed by Dundee). The full Solo trailer they released the next day was better than the short one, though. The next week was busy leading up to Nina’s first cheer competition. They had a practice Monday, then Jill met with Nina and her niece in Tysons on Tuesday night to pick out and practice makeup. Wednesday school was canceled for ice and Nina went to camp at Lifetime, then had a second practice Thursday.
Saturday the 10th was Nina’s first cheer competition. We woke up early and drove down to Fredricksburg. We were supposed to get there by 10, but doors didn’t open until 10:30, so we had to kill time outside in the rain. Once in, the girls went to practice and we waited about 45 minutes until it was their turn to perform. Then we all watched all the other groups, then the girls danced for a while and they announced the winners (Nina’s Delta’s were 3rd out of 4 in their division). We had packed lunch to eat there, and got a snack at 7-11 for what turned out to be a much longer drive home with the rain and traffic.
Our babysitter got sick, so I was the only one going to Beth Patterson for concert #4 at the Old Brogue Sunday. It’s not unusual to hear a Rush cover at her shows, but Crack The Sky? I’ve never heard anyone cover them before. I knew it was gonna be a good day on Monday when we were almost late to school because someone got her feelings hurt that she was accused of knocking a box over. Which she totally did. She lost another tooth Tuesday.
We had a low key Valentine’s Day at home Wednesday. Nina’s new hero during the Olympics was Maame Biney, alumni of Terraset, her elementary school. She didn’t make it far this time, but she was fun to watch.
Saturday the 17th Nina wasn’t feeling well, and Jill was expecting a Strep diagnosis. Instead, it was flu – and I got it later that night. So we had a miserable couple of days, but that was all, probably due to us both having the flu shot and using Tamiflu. We did have fun sending emojis on Skype and watching movies, including The Force Awakens. I was back at work on Wednesday but Jill was off and they did a picnic outside for lunch.
Saturday the 24th was another cheer competition, this one in Bowie. Dad and Patricia joined us, but Bowie High School was smaller and more crowded than Mary Washington and we headed out immediately after the first section of winners was announced. We went to Old Town Deli in downtown Bowie for lunch, it hit the spot. That night Nina had a babysitter and we met a bunch of Shantytowners at Busboys and Poets in Shirlington (Chris Ch. was visiting) before concert #5: Robbie Schaefer’s new musical Light Years at the Signature Theatre. A delight for fans of his (like us).
Wednesday was Nina’s next egg challenge: french toast. Jill said “So, she didn’t pass with flying colors. BUT, she didn’t fail, either. We have been given the go ahead to continue the egg challenge in small amounts at home which is very encouraging. She tolerated small amounts and didn’t have any issues until 3 hours later, 1 hour after her last and largest ‘dose’. She’s still on only baked egg when at school or not with us, but we can start introducing mayo based salad dressing, egg noodles, lasagna, meatballs, etc with egg in it. All in all, it was a tough day, but I’m glad we did it and hopeful that we can accomplish most of the hard work at home over time so we won’t have to do it again!” That night the Scary Godmother doll I’d helped crowdfund years ago finally arrived, and Nina loved it and the story.
