The hotel was right on the beach, which was great. (It was also only two blocks from where I used to stay as a child, Waterways) Some mornings instead of actually hauling two children across a very wide beach to the water, we would simply stop at the base of the hotel steps, throw out our towels and dig sand castles there. If we needed water we could grab it from the hotel outdoor shower. JD loved this – he would wait for me to dig a hole and then he’d throw a ball in it and try to bury the ball as I tried to dig it out. This would amuse him for an entire hour! By the end of the week he had figured out how to fill the bucket with sand and turn it over to make a “castle” by himself! (He needed help with the packing it down part)

So our place had two rooms with the main room having a stove, sink and refrigerator across the one wall. The back bedroom had a double bed and a single, and the main room had a couch that flipped out into a queen. So supposedly our room held 5! (Ha ha – only if you stack people on top of each other) It’s fine now that the kids are little but we’ll definitely have to switch to a bigger room when they are older or we will end up killing each other.

JD just loved the ocean and the seagulls. We spent one entire morning at the base of the surf with me digging out those little clam things. I’d dig one out and place it in front of JD and he would watch it dig like mad to get back under the sand. He was simply fascinated. I caught a couple of ?? I don’t know what they are – they’re gray with lots of legs, no claws, and about as big as my thumb. Anyway, I find one and give it to JD and it would scurry up his hand and back into the sea. The storm killed a lot of crabs, which was nice, because I would “catch” one and show it to JD. We dug a hole just above the surf line, so it was full of water, and I would give JD a crab and he would run and put it in the water. It didn’t bother him at all that they never moved. I also found a TON of those little crabs in the spiral shells. That was fun for me because their claws are too small to hurt.

Lets see. One morning we bought a crab trap and a dead fish and went crabbing. It was too cold and windy so we didn’t catch anything. Well, actually we caught a fish! Some hideous thing with lots of teeth flapping around in our trap! So JD loved that, and some other people were fishing and they caught fish, which JD really enjoyed. SO that was a big success. We went crabbing in Stone Harbor, which is where John went as a child. It was a cool trip mixing both of our old stomping grounds.

One night we took JD to the Wildwood boardwalk. It’s very long and has three piers that jut out into the ocean full of serious rides! They say that those three piers have more rides than Disneyworld – which doesn’t strike me as being all that hard since Disneyworld doesn’t have all that many rides. Anyway, JD had a blast on the rides. I think that next year he’ll be able to go on some rides without my help! It’s funny what he likes! He LOVES those HUGE slides that you get on the burlap sacks and ride down! I mean, there is no way you could pay me to go down that but he loves it and yells, “Slide! Slide!” But on the other hand, he’s afraid to go on the carousel without me riding behind him. He was simply fascinated by the log flume ride – I’ve never met a kid more in love with water!

Another funny story. One night we watched some dumb movie on TV. Anyway, the plot was something along the lines of 3 stupid people get chased by a very large grizzly bear who manages to graphically maul and eat one of the party. The bear was great – lots of roaring and pawing at things and generally being fearsome. So at the end of the movie, at the very first of the credits, in Large letters it said “The movie producers would like to thank Ben the Bear” and under that in tine letters something about his trainer. Well, John and I about fell off our seats! This fearsome bear needed a name like Killer, and instead is “Ben the Bear”. Or, as John pointed out, you’d think the trainer would like his name first. So we giggled about that all week long.

Things here in DC have settled down to a wonderful routine. JD gets up around 6:40ish to 7. From 7:30 to 8 is Teletubbies on TV, then he eats. Then we attempt to get ready to go to Potomac Mills to walk - IE put on socks & shoes. (I've joined the walking club.) This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to a full hour depending on JD's mood and whether or not Katie gets up. (She usually gets up around 8, and she needs to be fed before going walking.)

So the goal is to get to the mall by 9 and do one complete trip around including all the side branches, which = 2 miles. Usually the last quarter mile is spent with both Katie and JD crying. I love being a parent. We have this GREAT stroller called a sit and stand. There is a stroller seat for Katie, and behind that is a platform where JD can stand. So when he gets tired of walking he stand on the platform. There is also a little seat behind Katie’s seat (facing backwards, so you’d be sitting on this little bench and placing your feet on the platform) but JD has no interest in it other than to stand on it and attempt to climb onto Katie. While walking I sing the ABC’s to him, or other songs. So, by the end of the week he can somewhat sing the ABC’s back. However he seems to forget it over the weekend so I have to keep starting over. Guess he’s not ready yet.

We get home around 10:15. I usually would love to shower at this point, but it absolutely depends on Katie's sleeping patterns for the day - which are random. Anyway, around 12 JD takes a nap till 1:30 and then eats - by this time the neighbor kids have pounded on the door several times wanting JD to come out (so they can play in our pool or backyard). SO after lunch I grab Katie and sit in either the backyard or front yard and let them amuse JD. (Now that school’s started they don’t pound on the door till 3. But our house is still the center of the neighborhood)

JD is still a bit of a terror, and falls to the ground screaming at least once a day. Usually the other kids look at me and ask what is going on, and I usually have no idea. Tired, thirsty or hungry, I guess. While at the beach he got hysterical 3 different time. I mean, unbelievably upset with high pitched screeches! John and I didn’t know what to do. Luckily, that hasn’t happened since we’ve gotten back. We call my mom every day and he “talks” to her, which I think they both really enjoy. Every time I am on the phone he thinks it’s to her and wants the phone. Also, he knows the difference between ma-maw (my mom) and Nannie (John’s mom) because when he talks to ma-maw he always wants to walk sammie!

JD knows the names of all the kids around the block, and simply adores 3 year old Kenny. So that is a real blessing. It is SO CUTE to see them together – like lovesick puppies. For instance, if we pull in the driveway and Kenny, usually on his tricycle thing, is out JD starts yelling “KENNY!” And Kenny, seeing our car – well he starts motoring over to our driveway. So they just love each other as only toddlers can.

JD’s learned to ride his bike, but as it is still a bit big for him every now and then he starts peddling and moving backwards – which really ticks him off. He has also learned to fall off using all of his dramatic powers. He then lies on the ground with the bike partially on top of him and coughs horribly, as if he had broken ribs or something. He does this so convincingly that neighbors have run across their yards to “save” him. I no longer even move out of my chair having seen this show one too many times. But damn he’s clever!

His three new favorite phrases are, and I quote, “Shit!” (said only when he falls off the porch, or other appropriate occasion), “Again, Again!”, and “Watch Out!” This last phrase is because the darling boys in our neighborhood felt JD was being left out because they have a skateboard club and JD didn’t have one. Notice I say “did not” as compared to “does not” . Yes, they somehow found a midget board, which they gave to JD and he loves. When he knocks all his teeth in you’ll be the first to know. (Sigh)

On to Katie! She is still enormous! She’s the only child I know that gets a diaper rash around her neck due to folds of fat! I’ve weighed her recently and she’s around 17 pounds! For a 3 month old! Wow. Her eyes are simply amazing! They are so huge and alert! People are always stopping me places and commenting on her. And they all say the same thing; “What bright eyes she has!” Her eyes are going green already, so there is no doubt that they won’t be blue. Her hair is still a reddish brown, and her head is growing faster than her hair can keep up, so she getting odd bald patches.

She’s very much into cooing and smiling. She LOVES to stand up on my lap – which she can do for like 20 minutes at a stretch. That always brings a huge smile to her face. She always seems to have this look of amazed, happy wonderment on her face. Very much like how the Joker smiles in Batman cartoons. And, like JD, she seems to really enjoy baths. I’ve just started taking her in the water with me. She can’t roll over on her own, but she can definitely control her head. She blows bubbles a lot – but it’s not the massive quantity of drool that signals the first tooth coming in. She’ll smile at JD, so she seems to like him. And she loves it when the cats touch her. Sometimes I take one of the Cat’s tails and rub it under her chin and she seems to like that. (She doesn’t seem to giggle much yet) (Also note, we have really bizarre cats that allow us to do this.)

Well, I have just deleted like 3 paragraphs about what a opinionated little girl she is. On and on about what a light sleeper she is, how she needs to nurse like constantly, how she capnaps, how she demands to sleep with me (being as she nurses at least every two hours. ) And, to be blunt, it was really annoying when it takes her 45 minutes of nursing to fall asleep! Only to have her wake up 15 minutes later! It’s like – Go To Sleep!!! You’ll feel MUCH better! And she can scream for very long minutes at a time. Well – that was the past. On Monday night, September 14 she discovered her thumb! Now, every two hours instead of needing me, you’ll hear a peep and a little cry, and then voraciously loud sucking as she chomps on that thumb! PRAISE GOD!!! Yes, she’s so loud you can hear her sucking away in the dining room while she’s in the bedroom! And because she has her thumb, I can now put her down after only 20 minutes of nursing (and of course she wakes up) but since her thumb is an acceptable alternative she actually goes to sleep!! And I’m able to (usually) move her from the bed to the bassinet at night! And she’s going to bed at 7:30 instead of 11. Oh great joy!

Cool news, the lady across the street is going to have a little girl in Feb. So that means Baby Katie will have a buddy just like Little John does. Yippe. So I can fob JD off on Kenny, and Katie off on this other little girl. Is this a great life or what

I am currently taking my final class at George Washington University. That is where I am getting my Masters from. Unfortunately, this class is math intensive and I am math pathetic. To get my masters I need to pass the class I'm in. The teacher is a stitch, and obviously loves teaching - what a change! It’s hard to get any studying done (as I am currently using my free time to type this instead of school work) If I can get both kids to nap at the same time (big if) that is really the only free time I have all day – so I’m having a tough time convincing myself that I want to study and not play on the computer or nap or just take a shower. (Which is what I am going to do once I send this out!) Well, this letter has taken me like 2 weeks to write, and it’s now 11pm. I’m ready to drop so I’m going to sign off.