After the craziness of Nina’s birthday party and aftermath, it was nice to have a quiet Labor Day (and she opened more gifts) on Monday the 1st. Tuesday was her birthday and the first day of school – she thought it was ok, but was thrilled playing with her new fire station Legos at home.
Saturday the 6th she started gymnastics again, and that night my mom came over to babysit while Jill and I returned to Manassas for more Thai (the duck curry was very good) and then onto the Lube. I finally found what would make Jill tolerate Guns N’ Roses: not having Axl sing. Slash was great, and Aerosmith was pretty good too. Sunday I found out that the good thing about your favorite bands doing kids music is I can handle hearing The Jayhawks version of This Little Light of Mine 10 times in a row.
Tuesday the 8th Nina celebrated her birthday officially at school – Montessori has a little ceremony to mark the passage of time and Jill and I both came. They have a special song for the occasion and Jill made cupcakes for everyone.
Saturday the 13th Nina watched her first wedding (from our back deck), we finally tried Ted’s Bulletin (in Reston Town Center, tasty though few kids options Nina could eat) and had milkshakes at home for dessert. I could have dealt without the sleep deprived tantrums to end the day, but at least they all happened in private.
The end of Monday night the 15th (with Nina’s first fudge sundae) went better than Sunday night (with an angry hornet chasing the girls upstairs before I trapped it on the honey jar with the blender). Tuesday I discovered that screaming matches with a toddler and arriving 2 weeks early for your dental appointment is a remarkably effective way of warming up for the office.
Saturday the 20th was a very busy day. Between gymnastics, bouncy castle party and her first face painting at school, and a delicious steak dinner from the Jewells, Nina could barely stay awake for her bath and was out cold quickly. Sunday we took her to Cox Farms, where Nina had a great time on the rope swings and slides.
Nina can arrive at school between 8:30-9AM. Wednesday the 24th it was raining and I woke up first at 8:30, and it was a struggle to get to school by 9:10. And then I had to take someone else’s lunch to her. Thursday I set an alarm for 8, woke up an unresponsive toddler (just like her mother), went through two almost tantrums and one actual tantrum, and got her to school at 9:05. I just gave up.
Saturday the 27th Jill went to the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival, so I took Nina to gymnastics, then to Alexandria where my mom was having her work picnic. Later we went to Fair Lakes where they were having a fall festival and Nina got to sit in a fire truck and jump in a bounce house. After that, the following conversation took place:
Nina: Where are we going?
Me: The beer store.
Nina: Don’t you have beer at home?
Me: LOL. Yes, but I need to buy more.
Sunday I slept in, then Jill and Nina dropped me off on the way to go apple picking in Purcellville at a farm (Jill’s car was wonky the day before) and I took the Silver Line all the way into DC for the first time to meet up with my Dad to finally catch a Nats game this season. And see two things I’ve never seen before: Teddy winning and a no-hitter (from Jordan Zimmerman). I thought both were good omens for the postseason (I was wrong). When I got back Nina was still sleeping, so I walked home – took about 25 minutes. They had 20 lbs of apples when I got back, so I’d call there day a success too.
Monday the 29th it took us only an hour and 45 minutes to make it to Vienna, eat dinner at Noodles & Company, watch a concert and make it back home. Thanks to Jim Boggia for a great show (and a nice Sesame Street medley just for Nina).