Busy days in DC!

Well, we’ve certainly crammed a lot of activity into a few days! I think we walked around 15 or 20 miles this weekend alone. Not to worry, I ate at least 20 or 25 miles worth of calories, so I didn’t create any deficits.  I love being in a city where you can walk so many places. It was like that when Ed and I lived in Coronado. I had to drive to school and the mall and whatnot, but we literally walked everywhere else…to the grocery store, the dry cleaners, to lots of restaurant, to the video store (and maybe to the local dive bar…). And of course to the beach and the bay nearly every day. I’ve missed that very much since moving back to my home city almost three years ago, where nobody walks anywhere, ever. Partly because it’s either at least five miles and up to 40 miles to wherever we’re going, and partly because for most of the year, you might need an paramedics to deliver IV fluids to combat the heat stroke. It’s a bummer.

Anyway, we walked everywhere and saw SO much. Instead of boring you with the blow by blow of our exploration of every major landmark in DC, I’ll just share a few ton of photos of Mattix! I think the number of photos here is out of control. Before I get started with the photos, can I just say I’m not going to jinx any “good sleeping” in the future by talking about it again?! The last few nights have been back to the usual – he sleeps soundly for three hours, then it’s up two or three times an hour until 5:30 or 6:00, when he’s D-U-N, done.  No naps, of course, so by bedtime the next day, he’s soooo overtired, which means we have one of the following scenarios: (1) hilarious, happy, giggly baby; (2) inconsolable, exhausted, screaming baby, or; (3) cranky pants baby. And the whole sleeping-in-the-closet situation (see my earlier post b/c it’s not as bad as it sounds) is going to bite us in the butt. Mattix know KNOWS we’re right there, so instead of lying in bed, half asleep and crying, he fully pops up, looks at us, and either giggles or yells. That makes it even more difficult to get him back to sleep. Soooo, here I am whining about the sleeping thing again, right?

Monday, my mom and I hung around the apartment most of the day, which made both of us stir crazy and nuts. I’m telling you, the the HUGE decline in my intelligence lately is embarrassing. I’m taking my mom down with me, though! She and I entertained ourselves for a good hour with “Mattix impressions.” I won the prize with my tripod stand, balance, and clap act, although her expert maneuver wherein she threw herself on her back and grunted was pretty damn good. Mattix is really into my mom and every time she laughs, he just cracks up, so he was dying right along with us. He must have thought our impressions were pretty bang on, because he laughed his head off for an hour straight. There’s something about my mom’s laugh that gets him going. Maybe he’s laughing AT her instead of WITH her?! He is such a funny kid. I guess he’s already learning that it’s sink or swim in this family: either you laugh your butt off or you don’t enjoy life. The kid is funny all by himself. Is it possible for a baby to have a sense of humor by the age of one? ‘Cause I swear, he already does. He is funny and he knows it. And his faces! He makes the best faces.

On to the the excessive photos…

The Lincoln Memorial, while really amazing to Ed and I, bored Mattix to the point of doing milk shooters…

I’m smiling here, but the Korean War Memorial was very meaningful for us. My grandfather was in the war, and he has horrible nightmares to this day. If you’re at his house while he is sleeping, you can often hear him yelling out in his sleep from the other side of the house. Only recently, as his health is declining severely, has he began talking about it, and only in small pieces.

Once again, the National Aquarium bored Mattix.

After a few milk shooters, he insisted on being let into the alligator exhibit because he wanted to wrangle him a few gators.

When we said no, he told us that it was BS and if he couldn’t wrangle gators, he didn’t want to be there. Then he took another shot and passed out.

Grateful for the opportunity to be out of the stroller, he fell to the ground, giving thanks…

Then boy was happy!

Upon standing up, he realized that he was once again in the National Gallery. Remembering he had been there earlier in the week, his happiness quickly faded

Mattix wanted me to let you know that he was more than a little annoyed that he was left out of the following photo

Mattix was adorable on the carousel. First he was a little annoyed, then he cried, then he had a great time. So much so that he threw a fit when it was time to get off. I was quite happy that the ride was over. I’m getting pretty sad, as I could have used a double dose of Dramamine for the ride. That thing is fast!

These are some of my favorites. We were outside one of the Smithsonian museums. Mattix does NOT like grass. It freaks him out. We set him down becuase I wanted some photos. Instead of sitting down, he assumed the squat in order to avoid contact with the grass. I started cracking up and yelling at Ed to get the camera out. It took him forever and I was sure we were going to miss it. Instead, Mattix was so intent on avoiding the grass that he sat like this for five minutes. We took sooo many photos before he finally gave up and sat down!

We got some adorable shots of him in the grass

Using the skills I’ve developed as a devout viewer of ANTM (America’s Next Top Model for you amateurs), I realized that, as Tyra would say, Mattix’s arm looked “amputated.” Of course, unlike the wannabe models on ANTM, who often do not know how to pose and therefore are responsible for the “amputation”, this was not at all Mattix’s fault. I take full responsibility as his stylist. His jacket is 12-18 months, so it swallowed his hand. A quick fix and the shoot was back on

Sorry I have none of Mattix from the Natural History Museum, but I was very distracted by something very shiny…the Hope Diamond!

Ed took some beautiful photos at the Botanical Gardens. I LOVE flowers and plants. When we lived in California, I had beautiful gardens – tons of them, including 28 different rost bushes that we planted ourselves as tiny little stumps. Every year, we had the most amazing roses that all of the tourists would stop to admire. Iwas so proud of myself. (One day I must write aobut the drunk tourist that fell over into our rose bush while trying to catch a whif. His wife was SO pissed. She took off and left him there, face down, in a huge rose bush. He broke a piece of our fence on the way down. If he hadn’t been drunk, he probably would have broken his neck. Ed had to help him up becuase his wife seriously LEFT him. The rest of their vacation probably sucked. Pretty funny stuff for us, though.) Now, I can’t keep anything alive to save my life, as I’m bad at remembering to water them three times a day during our 115 degree days. Another reason I miss SoCal. Anyway, we have some great photos that Ed is going to Photoshop. I’ll post them later.

And then there was Monday…our cooped up day! The reason we stayed in is that it appears that after a few really busy days, wherein we’re out in public for a long period of time, going lots of places, Mattix sort of experiences system overload.  So we stayed in on Monday until dinner and it was a LONG day. It paid off, though, because he slept very well on Monday night. Here are a a few shots from Monday…

Mattix had a moment of panic when he realized Glow Worm wasn’t moving. He checked for signs of breath…

When he heard nothing, he began CPR

When Glow Worm began breathing again, Mattix celebrated by making out with him

After lunch, Mattix decided he had enough of my mom and I talking about his Buddha belly and chunky thighs. He was going to get out his Richard Simmons shorts, but realizing his diaper offered a bit more coverage, he decided to stick with that

Although he doesn’t feel self conscious about his arms because we have yet to make fun of those, he decided there’s no time like the present to work on those biceps

He ended his workout with a little Sweatin’ to the Oldies routine

Mattix then decided that he would entertain us with a little tumbling

FINALLY, we got out for dinner! Mattix was so hungry from his workout and tumbling that he stole my lemon while he waited for his rice noodles and chicken

Based on his face, you would think he wasn’t into the lemon, but he threw a FIT when we took it away. Tuesday was a good day, a moment of which made me cry in Bloomingdale’s. Mattix has the most amazing ability to fill my heart with so much emotion with just one little sincere gesture. I love him soooooo much. I’ll write about it tomorrow b/c it was so special to me.

Sorry for the photo dump!