0518

Today Alex woke up again at 6 (he's been sleeping SO well since I started sleeping in the other room!) Had a short nap (45 minutes only) then I packed him up in the backpack & went to the post office (Angela - finally sent that envelope.) And afterward we went to Kalorama park, realized there was nobody to play with there, and headed over to Walter Pierce park. It was getting to be lunch time anyway, and Walter Pierce has picnic tables (Kalorama lacks.) Didn't know anyone there, and after 15 or 20 minutes the people who were there started to pack up & leave because dark clouds were building and winds were trying to blow the children away. I did get a chance to put Alex on the really big spiral slide, and let him go - he laughs and smiles - so he went down a few more times. Then back home we went and ate lunch here.

Alex had Thai green curry sauce with some chicken for lunch - his first spicy food, I think, and enjoyed it. I only gave him a small amount, in case one of the many ingredients in the sauce might cause problems. Other than that, he ate banana, pasta, pancakes, avocado...and probably other things that I'm forgetting. Then we played here for a bit. I thought he'd want to nap early, given his short morning nap, but he wasn't really into that. So finally he napped at 2 and slept until 4:15. I napped for an hour or so myself. Then we did almost the same tour again - to Kalorama, this time empty completely except one older kid. I held Alex while he went down the slide a half-dozen times, and Aliza showed up with her baby Emmitt - who was a little under the weather. Aliza was just taking him for a walk, but didn't want to get him out to play. So we walked together to Walther Pierce park, which was full of kids (also, Noah and Ollie showed up, and Joiwind with her baby, who's name I forget.) Alex got to go down the big slide a few more times, and he got to pat a very friendly dog named Mango (Ollie and Noah patted him too, through the playground fence.)

Alex had a similar selection of foods for dinner. I skipped the bath because we were late getting back - I blame the dog. For those of you who don't know, one of the best parts of the bedtime routine is after Alex has his bath and we let him play on the bed naked for 5 or 10 minutes. He thinks it is the best, and laughs and laughs. Tonight he got no bath, and I didn't let him crawl around naked - I just put him on the bed, changed his diaper, then let him play. He still had a great time crawling around, getting tickled, and getting tousled by the papa. Then I read him a book, give him his last bottle, sing to him, and, if all goes well, put him into the crib. Tonight he was asleep at 7:10 pm, with no call from Angela b/c she's not yet able to call from China, sadly!