A true connoisseur

Clearing out some old items, I found some old crib bumpers that nobody's using. Preparing to trash them, I got Nate intrigued with the idea of making a second "Bumper" out of one of them.

Tonight we took off one of the covers and cut it down to be the same parameters of our beloved Bumper. Nate was happy and took off with both of them. I asked him to give it a test run: stick his thumb in his mouth and stroke the Bumper tassles through his fingers (how he soothes himself to sleep every night). He stopped, gave it a go, and approvingly said "Not bad!"

The Great Urban Race!

A month or two ago I saw a posting for the Great Urban Race and felt like I finally found the secret of life. I have loved scavenger hunts my whole life, and am obsessed with The Amazing Race. I got my equally nerdy sister on board and signed up to run today's DC race.

It was just as much fun as I thought it would be. And we were just as good of a team as I thought we would be.



There were 340 teams of 2 people, and my hope was to come in the top 100. Deborah was pushing for the top 50. I thought we'd done pretty well, but I was thoroughly shocked by how well - I still can't really believe it. As it turns out, we crossed the finish line 27th but when three teams in front of us got big time penalties (for mistakes they'd made during the race) we ended up 24th, qualifying to race in the National Championships in New Orleans! We have no idea if we'll go for it, but we were really proud to have done so well, and to get medals hung around our necks at the awards ceremony.



We strategized a lot in the days up to the race, and decided on some techniques:

* No laptop during the race but we'd bring one to the start line, use it to frantically Google when we got the clues, and plot out our route with that information. Then we ditched the laptop with friends of my sister who worked in the restaurant where we got started (alternate plan: ditch the laptop in the trunk of my car)

* Take the time at the beginning to make sure we understood where each of the 12 spots would be around Virginia and DC, and plot our route carefully to get through the stops in the smartest way possible.

* Use the iPhone and Blackberry Google and Google Maps features.

* Take the time to read each clue carefully to make sure we didn't end up with a time penalty at the end.

* Use friends as resources to help us with tough questions. Our Mom and Dad ended up being a huge help too!

(All of these strategies were totally legal)

Check the bottom of this entry to see our 12 clues (we were allowed to skip 1).

We started at the Crystal City Sports Pub and ran to the Metro, taking the blue line to Rosslyn. Hopped off and made our way to Ledo's Pizza to do clue number 9. We didn't make good time getting there and ended up on the wrong side of Route 50. Other teams were on the wrong side too and made their way to the pedestrian bridge; Deborah and I scaled down the embankment and crossed on foot. Mavericks. Got the spaghetti and moved on.



Headed on foot to the next two clues in Arlington. Ended up walking up a taxing hill that really slowed us down. We hit a CVS to try to find a shower liner (clue 1) but they were sold out. Made our way to the comedy venue in Arlington (clue 8) and I rocked the house with a joke that Deborah's friend supplied us with ("What kind of cheese isn't yours? Na-cho cheese!") We got our tickets and headed to Combat Sports International (clue 7) for our workout. Talk about insult to injury - we had to do push-ups, kicks, jabs, and lunges!



Headed to the Courthouse Metro to catch the Orange line to McPherson Square. We jogged north towards the cluster of clues around Thomas Circle. Got our picture taken at the statue of Martin Luther (clue 10) and tried to figure out how to handle clue 1.



This was another place where DC knowledge came in handy - when the second CVS was also sold out of shower liners, I stopped in at the 7-11 just north of where we needed to be. Bought a popsicle there (clue 6) and they directed me to a little store that sold me a liner. In truth, they actually GAVE me a liner because all I had was a credit card - I'm going back tomorrow to give the nice guy his $1.60.

We dropped the liner off at N Street Village (clue 1) and jogged south to work on the cluster of clues around the White House. First we took our picture of 12 or more people (clue 2) and had our picture taken holding up 19 fingers (clue 4). Huge thanks to Mom and Dad for solving this one for us! We actually took two pictures: one with 19 fingers up and one with 20 - the clue was open to a bit of interpretation and we didn't want to take any chances!







We got a little hung up finding the exact location of the bench (clue 5) in Lafayette Park, so we pulled a weak one and scanned around for other teams. When we saw people in orange sitting and having their picture taken, we headed their way and joined in. Voila.



We jogged off to the ESPN zone and took way too long getting a good picture of one of us shooting a basketball. Shockingly, this is the best of a whole group:



More jogging, then walking, then jogging, then walking...we had planned to make our last stop the American Indian museum (clue 11) but realized the Hirshorn was a lot closer (clue 12). Thanks again to Mom and Dad for unscrambling the letters and heading us in the right direction - the Crouching Spider statue!



Deborah planned it perfectly to jump right onto the Yellow Line, just a few blocks away, to get us straight back to the finish line in Crystal City. We had the frustrating experience of getting into the Metro and finding a 12 minute wait - lots of teams caught up to us while we were waiting for the train.

When we got to Crystal City, we were determined to just gut it out and run the whole way but our bodies just weren't up to it. We did our best, and towards the end I pushed Deborah to run a bit more. We had stayed ahead of the group we were trying to beat, so she asked what the point in keeping pushing was, and I said so we could do the best we could do. We gutted it out and ran the last block and then gasped for breath for 10 minutes.

As we crossed the line, the guy checking people in told us "You're right on the cusp." I swear by everything holy that it never crossed my mind that it meant anything - I honestly figured it was the cusp of the first half verses the second half. A few minutes later Deborah came over to tell me that we were in shot of the top 25 and 6 hours later I honestly can't believe it. In the end, the winning team came in at about 2:30 and we came in at 3:08. Mapping it out, it looks like we covered about 5.5 miles - jogging and walking when we had to.

Whether or not we go to Nationals, this will not be the last race we run!



12 clues:

1) Find a DC organization whose mission is to "empower homeless and low-income women to claim their highest quality of life by offering a broad spectrum of services and advocacy in an atmosphere of dignity and respect." Choose one of the three items below and deliver it to the guy with a guitar there:

a. A new size 42 - 54 D or DD bra.
b. A new shower curtain vinyl liner.
c. A new set of twin sheets.

You must get a 'brochure' after delivering your item to receive credit for this clue.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

2) DETOUR (choose one of the following two):

a. Take a picture of 12 or more total real people with at least two real people wearing a shirt that clearly says 'Washington, DC."
b. Take a picture of 12 or more total real people with at least two real people wearing a Washington Nationals shirt.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

3) Solve the following puzzle (it was a cryptogram). When solved, it told us to "Find the Super Shot in ESPN Zone and take a picture of one teammate shooting one of the basketballs with super shot clearly visible in the picture."
_____________________________________________________________________________________

4) The Obamas decided to have a slumber party last night and were trying to figure out who to invite to the White House. Malia, being the older child, choose to invite double the amount of Sasha. Sasha invited an odd primary number of friends, the next one up from her age. Barack said it was unfair for only the girls to have guests over so he had a few of his buddies join the party - the other living presidents. Michelle then felt left out so she called up her girl friends, Hilary, Condoleeza, and Sarah to come by as well. Then she thought about it and uninvited Sarah. Grandma Robinson decided to invite all 69 of her Chicago friends to show them the White House. If each guest and each Obama / Robinson slept in their own room, how many rooms in the White House were unoccupied that night?

Take a picture with the White House clearly visible and the answer of the above clue shown by teammates holding up the proper number of fingers.

Leah's note: depending on the reading of "their own room" the answer was either 19 or 20. We took a picture with each one held up, just in case. Mom and Dad solve this one for us - thanks guys!
_____________________________________________________________________________________

5) Victor Hugo wrote that genius and this were "one and the same."

Find the commemorative spot that marks where "the Park Bench Statesman" would wait for his.

Take a picture of both of the teammates sitting on the bench with the bronze plaque set in granite block clearly visible in the picture.

Leah's note: INSPIRATION and genius are one in the same, so we had to look for a bench where Bernard Baruch waited for inspiration.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

6) Return to the finish line with one of the following items:

a) A toothpick with an American flag attached to it.
b) A wooden Popsicle stick.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

7) Take the short lesson at Combat Sports International. After successfully completing your lesson, the staff will give you a flyer. You must return to the finish with this card! This clue is only available from 1 pm - 5 pm so strategize accordingly.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

8) Comedians are waiting to judge your best joke. Find the venue in Arlington where T-Rexx is scheduled to perform later tonight. If your joke makes the judges laugh, you'll get a ticket (return to the finish with this) and the clue is complete. If your joke doesn't make the judges laugh you must perform another joke. Your joke can be simple and does not have to include both teammates. Our judges are looking more for effort than hilarity.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

9) Find the Rosslyn Ledo Pizza. Go directly to the buffet table, take one strand of spaghetti, and take picture of both teammates eating it Lady and the Tramp style (one teammate eating it on each end).
_____________________________________________________________________________________

10) Take a picture of all teammates in front of the specific statue of "The Philosopher" shown on the right.

Leah's note: This was a hard one to find on Google. Searching on "The Philosopher" didn't yield anything. When I looked closely at the photo, I thought it said Martin Luther, and I knew that clue 1 was right next to the church that houses Luther Place (another DC advantage). We tried Googling Martin Luther and found it right away. Thank goodness for good eyesight!
_____________________________________________________________________________________

11) Take a picture of all teammates in front of a real Bombardier in the National Museum of the American Indian.

Leah's note: This is the one we skipped.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

12) Unscramble the following words and take a picture of all teammates in front of this sculpture:

GONCHUCR RIDEPS

Leah's note: I had studied the clues from previous years and had seen that Anagrams were a frequent clue. I loaded a great Anagram program on my iPhone, but when I tried to use it on this clue it didn't find anything! After the race I realized that it was searching in the sub-category of English Names, not all words. We wasted at least 5 or 10 minutes working on that one, and finally Mom and Dad figured it out for us!
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Harris Teeter triples

Easy run at HT, helped out by my long-suffering Mom who handled 20 coupons for me:





Aquafresh: $1.99 minus $.75 coupon (tripled) = free - donation
Huggies wipes: $3.29 minus $.75 coupon (tripled) = $1.04 each (69% savings)
Wet Ones: $2.89 minus $.75 coupon (tripled) = $.64 each (78% savings)
Ban deodorant: $2.59 minus $.75 coupon (tripled) = $.34 each (87% savings - donation)
Ortega refried beans: $2 for 2 cans minus $.75 coupon (tripled) = free + overage
Granola bars: $2.50 minus $.75 coupon (tripled) = $.25/box (90% savings)
Applesauce: $3.54 minus $.60 coupon (tripled) = $.87/package
Frank's Hot Sauce: $.33 minus $.50 coupon (tripled) = free + overage

The whole trip cost about $12 and was worth every penny!

Reassurance

I was lying in bed with Nate after reading him a pre-nap story and we were talking about the trip he's taking with Stewart today, up to New York for the weekend. I told him I'd miss him and be thinking about him. He mulled it over for a little while and then said to me:

"Mama, always always always I love you."

(Leah: "Always always always I love you too!")

"But sometimes I have to go someplace."

("I know.")

"But I'll come back."

He went on for a while, with various repetitions of "Always I love you" and "Always I want you." He further explained that sometimes his Mommy or Daddy says he has to go someplace, but that he'll always be back.

Not five minutes before this happened, I had to haul his limp screaming body up the stairs because he was refusing to take a nap. How can just one child be so amazingly soul-fillingly sweet half the time and so grumpy and stodgy the rest?

Jack's Monthly Newsletter, One Year Five Months

Dear Jack,

Only one day late - not too shabby for me these days! Strange how I was able to keep up with the blog when you were a newborn but find myself faltering these days. Woulda thought it would be the opposite. Anyhow, I'm here now and ready to spill my adoration for you out all over this page.

You are still very adorable. There's just no other way to say it.



Open-mouth smiles all the time, flirting with strangers, you are just the most sweetly social baby I know.

You absolutely adore being outside. When we take Nate to school in the morning, you walk the whole way there and back with me - holding onto my hand most of the way. Any loud engine gets your totally undivided attention; your whole upper body turns around to watch it go by while your little feet keep walking right along with me. Having you hold my hand is such a special feeling for me; Nate was Mr. Independent right from the start and had no interest in walking with me. Heck, he still has no interest in holding my hand! But you do, and it's sweet and warm and soft and trusting and I just love it.



But your favorite thing, by far, is climbing. Stairs, hills, stepstools, ladders - they're the first things you go to. You would be content to climb up and down our stairs for as long as we'd let you; eventually it gets boring to climb around with you so we have to call it quits long before you'd give up. I have started leaving the gate to the basement open; the stairs are carpeted and you show decent judgment about remembering not to just step off the top step the way you used to. You love to stand at the top and throw down anything you can get your hands on.

You still love to grab boxes of cereal off the shelf in the kitchen and sometimes even manage to open them. Daddy was in the basement last week and found you staring down at him from the top, munching away - his favorite part of the photo is the teenage "what of it?" look on your face.



You have just started saying a very few words; even more important you're trying to say things when I prompt you to do it. Your only real word is Dada, and you use it appropriately and consistently and in a gravely adoring voice every time Daddy comes home from work. If it counts, you also say "Mmmmmm....." whenever you eat something you love - and you say it with true relish. When I prompt you to, you can also say Nate ("nah"), Ball ("bah"), Mama ("mah") Banana ("nana", which you ONCE used as a request for a banana in my hand), and Baby ("bah"). We have another assessment at Children's Hospital tomorrow - I'm hopeful that they have some positive feedback for us.



You imitate almost everything physical that we do - playing drums, stomping our feet, spinning around, stretching, and, in the park with my friend Ashley last week, yoga!





But do not let me paint too rosy of a picture. Your up-to-now easy-going nature has morphed into a monster scary to behold: if you feel slighted or denied in any way, you screech a horrible scream and push, cry, wail, and sometimes gently lower yourself to the ground for the pansiest tantrum I've ever seen. If I try to bring you and Nate inside after a walk around the neighborhood, you scream and try to dodge back around my legs to get back outside. Once I have the door safely closed you let go of my legs and just wail with sadness and frustration. If I wasn't laughing, I would definitely feel sorry for you. Yesterday you were standing near me while I was on my laptop; Nate came over to see what I was looking at and you literally tried to push him out of the way, over and over. How dare he stand somewhat nearby to where you might have been thinking about going?!

Truthfully, I think you're going to be far more trouble than Nate. You are so social, outgoing, and now I have to add "determined" to the list...a recipe for parental disaster. But I relish those qualities in you, and I know that in the long run they're going to be huge assets for you.

The world is really yours for the taking. I can't wait to see what you do with it.

I love you,
Mama

Out of the mouths...

Tonight while Stewart was putting Nate to bed, they were chatting as they always do. After some minutes of discussion, Nate walked his naked self into my bedroom with Daddy close behind.

Nate: "Mama, remember how you said that if a bad guy came to get me then Daddy shouldn't beat them?"

Mama: "I remember. We don't beat anybody."

Nate: "See Daddy?"

Mama: "But if a bad guy comes, Daddy will always stop them! He can hold them tight and call the police!"

Nate: "Yeah, and they'll take him away to jail!"

Nate turned around to leave, and made sure to follow up with Daddy. "See Daddy? We don't beat people. You shouldn't do that."

Lesson learned.

Harris Teeter triples

Using my newfound "sanity meter", I had decided to skip the Harris Teeter Triple Coupon week. But I realized yesterday that I needed more milk for the freezer, so off we went.

I made it easy and stuck to just a few things I'd really use.



The grape tomatoes were on sale for $1.25 each and the boys munch them like crazy. The half-empty one was emptied by said boys right there in the grocery cart.

The dole fruit cups were on sale for $2 each and I had 3 coupons for $.75 off 2 (tripled). So each package of fruit cups cost me 86 cents!

The ziploc bags weren't on sale, but we always need them. Each package cost $2.45 and I used coupons for $.55 off (tripled), so each package cost me 80 cents!

The Ken's dressings were on sale Buy 2 Get 3 Free and I had coupons for $1 off 2. So each bottle cost me 48 cents!

The Muir Glen tomatoes were totally NOT needed since we have so many, but I can't resist the price. Each can cost $2.39 and I had coupons for $.75 off (tripled). So each can cost me 14 cents. Can't pass it by.

The end!