Volume VI: March Merriment, March 5-15

March 5

In true "L.A. Story" fashion, I did what the sign on the side of the road said to do. Unlike L.A. Story, it wasn't a billboard, and it wasn't telling me that the weather would change my life three times, but it was a sign with directions on it. After a morning at the Nature Center finding frogs (adorable program run by the lovable Miss Abby for the 2-year olds), I ventured out for my free afternoon and found myself pulling off Rte 15 to check out this place: Roots Cafe. It is very conveniently located on the way to The Old Lucketts Store, my final destination for a leisurely browse. It is lovely. It is part market, part wine and craft beer store, part farm to table restaurant. And the pulled pork and corn pudding? Amazing. Definitely going back (in fact, I did, three days later, with my mom!). It's perfect as a restaurant, but it's also perfect for a picnic supply stop on the way out to wine country. Also important to note...the sweet tea is fantastic.

March 6

Some days you just gotta grab Mama's paddle-brush and get singin'.

March 7

I did that brave thing again and took Arthur out to breakfast by myself. He was awesome. He was polite, he used a normal volume of voice most of the time, he conversed with the people around us about what they were eating and drinking, and he was just a delight. I don't know why this feels shocking - I guess I set the bar pretty low and just expect nightmare toddler behavior so that I can be pleasantly surprised when I don't have to use my escape plan. Our whole adventure was to avoid being home while the cleaners came (#firstworldproblems, for sure) so we then got to come back home to a clean house. Which, lasted approximately 30 minutes. Oh well.

March 8

We had a large family dinner out at Red's Table (our local haunt). I say large family dinner because my mom is in town and so are my in-laws, so whenever we're combined in any way that warrants a table with more than 3 chairs...it feels large to me. Five adults and a high chair! As always, we were treated nicely and I always appreciate a meal out on a Friday.

March 9

We went to the circus! I haven't been to the circus since I was little, so I was pretty excited. I forgot how cool it is just to sit inside a tent! And it must seem so incredibly huge to a little kid! Upon entering, we were immediately greeted by a guy in striped pants on stilts with a jolly sense of humor. I was pleasantly surprised that they seem to have done away with traditional clowns, and instead had a duo that did comedic stunts with a story threaded throughout that they would build on during each featured interlude. They were clever, funny, and involved the audience. Arthur's favorite part was "the guy THREW <insert wild reenactment of arms outward> dat red hat!" This was one of the interludes that involved the throwing of said red hat from the aisle inches away from our seats.

Personally, I love the trapeze. I begin to think that, with a few more barre workouts, I could work up to it, you know? It looks so thrilling and free. And really strong men catch you. That can't be all bad.

Arthur must've been inspired by the feats of human strength as well - on the way out, he ran over to one of the tent poles and very emphatically said, "Ar-tur gonna LIFT this WAY up!" Dream big, kid.

March 10

IT'S DAYLIGHT SAVINGS DAY!!!! We had a party! With grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, and beer! (And wine. And chips and salsa. And fancy bread with fancy oil dips.)

AND. THIS. CAKE.

I did not make this cake. My dear friend Caitlin did. She is amazing! Even more amazing is that she can trick me into eating cake that looks like this but is actually vegan. Or maybe it's close to vegan - I can't remember. Most importantly, it was absolutely delicious and so thoughtful of her to go to such effort to bring a beautiful cake to my made-up holiday celebration. We had a great turnout, lots of littles happily running around, and I got to catch up with multiple people that I don't get to see often. AND! The sun didn't go down until after SEVEN:FIFTEEN! And tomorrow...it will be a smidge later than that! What a wonderful time to be alive!

March 11

Giant Cloud Rat mask. Credit: the enthusiastic and ambitious Mrs. B of the Smithsonian National Zoo preschool program.

Our morning started at zoo class (which, I just can't say enough positive things about). Mom came along and got to see the clever stations that start the class and meet the teacher who is so kind.

My favorite, most genuine laugh of the day though was at bedtime. We were reading some book and one page had a picture with a fire hydrant in it. Arthur asked "what it is?", to which I replied "a fire hydrant. It holds the water for the firefighters' hose." He stared at the picture for a bit, thinking, and just as I thought that maybe he didn't understand my explanation, he smiled sideways at me and listed the following questions...

"does it hold the milk?"

"does it hold the nanas?"

"does it hold the....chicken?"

"does it hold....the....strawberries?"

"what bout...hold the stick cheese?"

By the ninth or tenth one, we were both giggling to the point of not being able to get through another question. Taking life less seriously is such a blessing of toddlerdom.

March 12

Two times in my life I've been publicly complimented for smiling. I've smiled in public more times than that, but I mean that I've been noticed for doing so by strangers, twice. Once was on a JetBlue flight. One of the flight attendants was a very sweet gentleman who said to me as we were exiting the plane, "there's my smile lady!"

The nickname stuck between Matt and me, and has become a symbolic term of endearment in our marriage.

Today was the second time. I had a nice lunch at Artie's. Since I was alone, I sat at the bar and had brought along the book I'm currently reading, Hillbilly Elegy. An older couple came in and sat two stools away, which was actually pretty close due to the way the stools were arranged. Though I don't remember exactly, I suppose I smiled at them at least when they first sat down (I moved my purse and book over to give them more elbow room, so I'm guessing I kindly smiled then). The bartender was very kind and engaged in conversation briefly about the book - she didn't like it and had only read the first chunk. We were talking about the writing style and I mentioned how I was really enjoying it, but also how I could see its potential to not sit well for everybody. It was one of those conversations that I'm sure was easy to overhear, especially for the neighboring couple. As I got up to leave, the man turned to me and said, "enjoy your afternoon - keep that smile you have!" My quick wit prompted me to say, "well...I'm off to the dentist so I guess I'll have to!" (true story about going to the dentist. Aren't I clever?!)

March 13

He's been a little sick with a cold. Today was a lying around a lot day. But then I noticed him consistently manipulating this little music toy (which plays excerpts of various classical pieces in the least annoying timbre of all the baby toys) so that it plays Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. He pushes the play button over and over until that one begins to play, says "DAT one", listens intently to the end, and after the final cadence, says, "dun dun DUN" in precise imitation of its rhythm. He's gonna appreciate a good drum line cadence one day.

March 14

He looks deep in thought here. Still not feeling well, but we got outside in the gorgeous weather and shared a treat by the lake. Also, how cute is the hippopotamus water bottle? We've been on a hippo kick of sorts, after repetitive readings of "But Not the Hippopotamus!" by Sandra Boynton. The book's language is already funny, but even funnier is overhearing Arthur paraphrase it during his babbling..."dose guys getting JUICE...and the MOOSE...in hats...but NOT the hippoPOTamus!"

March 15

Adding to my everyday delight is the fact that we are finally to a point where we can declare the basement remodel completed. This massive project began last July. I wish I had taken "before" pictures because you'd appreciate it more. But trust me, it was gross and we never wanted to go down there. Nothing is more boring than a remodel story, so I'll spare you other than to say that we replaced the flooring, painted it top to bottom, and every single piece of furniture is new except the treadmill, the train table next to it, and the 'Poang' chair from IKEA. I really like it down there now. Obviously it's kid-centric in its design, but there's also some adult space carved in - the treadmill, the high-top pub table, and we have a place to sit and listen to records (which are newly organized, along with the CDs that were spared from the hilariously difficult donation mentioned in my last post). I've had a great time decorating with family pictures, fun quotes, and artsy cards that I pick up from local shops during travel. It's a great place to spend a rainy day, and so far it has been easy maintenance compared to the carpet and less open traffic flow we had before, and it just feels like we gained much more useful space out of it.