Wednesday the 3rd we confirmed our suspicion with Nina’s doctor that she has a severe egg allergy. Now we’re making sure she’s not in contact with anything with eggs in it.
Saturday the 6th I went to the Virgin Mobile Freefest at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Just me, but that was nice as I decided where to go. I started my day with Ben Folds Five at the main stage (seen Ben solo, but never the group before) from the lawn, then stayed for Alabama Shakes. I went looking for food, but the lines were crazy long and there wasn’t much I wanted, so I got a drink instead. I went down into the pit for ZZ Top, and they were the highlight of the festival for me – classic songs, and they can still rock. M83 and Jack White were good too, but it was getting pretty cold towards the end. I had a hankering for a hot dog though, and found Bold Bite in Bethesda (New York was very tasty).
The next day we took Nina to Georgia’s 4th birthday party at Walker Nature Education Center. It was fun, but it was close to naptime so we left kinda early.
Columbus Day was Monday and I worked from home, as the thundering of a 13 month old, a Husky and a Malamute above my head was quieter than the construction at work (and some toxic new carpet glue was nastier than any diaper I’ve smelled).
While I have long referred to useless CDs as “coasters”, Thursday the 11th was the first day I actually tried to use one in that manner. Verdict: surprisingly effective. Friday I heard “Enter Sandman” at the high school football field and realized it’s older than most of the people there.
Sunday the 14th we watched Felix Baumgartner’s epic jump from the edge of space on TV in the morning. Mom put Nina to bed in the evening while we tried Alegria, the new Mexican place in Vienna (sister of Bazin’s), then headed over to the Patriot Center to see Peter Gabriel. It was the 25th anniversary of So, and he was performing all of it – I’d never seen him do “Don’t Give Up” before, and love that song. Of course “In Your Eyes” was still the highlight, but props for performing a concert with a complete album and still giving us a show. The next day Nina climbed my face to get to the CD player on the lounge chair. I can’t decide if this is good thing or a bad thing.
I saw the new Led Zeppelin concert film Thursday the 18th in Tysons with Norm. Pretty great, except when they briefly cut to some cell phone video. Looks like someone threw up on the screen compared to the HD footage.
Jill and I celebrated my birthday at the Passenger in Columbia Heights on Saturday the 20th. We had a quick dinner there as we were late (the kimchi hot dog was divine, duck tacos also good), then we had a reservation at the Columbia Room, a private room inside where we had a three custom cocktail course. I’d parked at Ballston and we took Metro in, then we used Uber to get home – a great experience we would definitely reuse (if I could, I would have skipped the hangover the next day).
We celebrated my birthday with my parents at Mom’s on Saturday the 27th, eggless carrot cake was scrumptious. The rest of the weekend was not horrible , but I had a cold and we spent lots of time gathering supplies for the storm. I took Monday and Tuesday off as Nina’s daycare was closed for Hurricane Sandy. Monday morning the wind picked up, steady rain started, and there was a crazy running around baby. The mailman, trash guys, and dog walker were all out early – best part is mailman brought the big box of used toys I ordered. The wind got more intense throughout the day – I didn’t know Lake Thoreau could get whitecaps. I always wondered at what age finger licking started, now I know (after fried chicken for dinner). Jill was working late but got home safely, Nina slept in our room (nursery is windiest room in the house).
Tuesday I was home again as daycare was still closed, along with the schools (winds died down over the day, our area only got a glancing blow). We danced along to “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” as we were listening to Beatles Anthology 3, and I had this to say to Nina:
Dear daughter, while I agree catapults are wonderful things, a spoon full of mashed banana is not the medium to make one of. Also, she’s now saying “Hi”, likes to dance, and can climb on chairs.
On Halloween, Nina wore her costume, but we were too busy around bedtime to handle trick or treaters, so we put a bowl of candy outside (it was barely touched anyway). Later, we watched Halloween themed episodes of Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers (it was perfect and Gene had most of the good lines).
