1996 Second Half

The second half of 1996 we started to venture a little further afield and got ready to leave the Davidge house. Allie started walking and doing lots of other interesting (to us) things.


July 1, 1996: Good Morning!
July 1, 1996: Got a wave.

July 1, 1996, In the Crib (4:38).
Greeting a new day with Allie in her crib.

Patti and Lee hosted a July 4 party and softball game at their house.

Larry Harder, a Philadelphia-born boy, was excited that baseball’s 1996 All Star game was in Philly. He decided to get tickets and invited me along. We both took that July 9 Tuesday afternoon off and drove up to Philly to make our way to our seats in the nosebleed section of center field at the old Veteran’s Stadium, about as far away from the game as one could be and still be inside the stadium. By the time we got there we missed the biggest excitement of the day when Cal Ripken broke his nose getting accidentally hit in the face during the pre-game photo ceremony. The game itself was a bit of an anticlimax as the National League ran away with it 6-0. I had a good time cheering on Cal and the other Orioles, Roberto Alomar and Brady Anderson. We made sure to stay reasonably sober throughout and drove back home that night so we could get back to work the next day. Such dedication!

Returning to the homefront, waking up with Allie some days was a pleasure.

Other days had their ups and downs.

This was the outfit, however, in which we had Allie’s portraits done at Sears, now that she could sit up on her own. I’m pretty sure these shots were done in October, around her birthday. The pro did a much better job posing our little cutie. That’s why they make the big bucks.

July brought a first birthday for Maddie, and more or less the same time a needed rest with Nana Leila.

Mark the day: Allie took her first real steps on July 25, 1996, at nine months and three weeks, give or take. We pulled out the video camera to commemorate the event.

July 25: First steps (that we recorded)!

July 25, 1996, Kitchen (3:06).
Playing with Dad in the kitchen.

July 25, 1996: Pattycake with Mom

July 25, 1996, With Mom (2:47).
Playing with Mom in the family room.

July 25, 1996, Stairs (3:36).
A little time with Mom on the stairs, then some crawling and more time navigating the stairs.

That summer we welcomed Chris and Charles Bailey’s new daughter, Anne. She is now an avid guitar and bass player whom we saw in 2019 playing at a Baltimore club.

On July 28, we ventured out to the National Zoo in DC with Nana Leila and the Embreys. I’m not quite sure how Leila got tasked with carting Allie around on her back, but she seemed to to be OK with the assignment.

July 28, 1996: Getting ready for the Zoo with Nana Leila.
July 28, 1996: Allie’s first ice cream cone.

July 28, 1996, National Zoo (3:29).
An outing to the National Zoo with the Embreys and Leila, mainly involving an ice cream cone.

We had a visit with Gloria and Dayva. By this point, Alan Frank was regularly bringing Allie back to their house after work to hang out with Dayva and Bobo. Alan would leave work at Social Security much earlier than Barb and it was a godsend that he would get Allie out of daycare a few hours earlier than Barb or I could. Also, Alan in particular seemed to love having Allie around; Gloria was maybe less enthusiastic but very helpful nonetheless. On more than one occasion, the cartoon below seemed appropriate.

To make things even more complicated, Barb took a “detail” or temporary assignment at HHS headquarters in Washington, DC, for about three months in 1996 (I’m not sure exactly when during the year). It meant she had to commute to DC every day. We couldn’t make alternative arrangements for Allie, so Barb (mostly, and I occasionally) would drive Allie to her daycare at Woodlawn every day before heading down to DC (or Rockville, for me). It made for some very, very long days. Fortunately, Alan was still doing most of the pickups. The detail assignment was good for Barb’s career and she was glad she did it, but it made for a rough time for everyone.

August 1. 1996: Allie makes her way down the steps.

August 1, 1996, Coming downstairs (2:39).
Allie shows Mom advanced methods of descending our staircase.

August 1. 1996: Allie walking for Grandmom’s birthday.
August 1: 1996: One more time!

August 1, 1996, She Walks! Exploring the living room (4:05).
Allie explores the living room with Mom and Dad. Showing Grandmom she can walk.

A couple of days later…a quiet time of exploration for Allie and Dad.

August 3, 1996, Changing table and crib (5:01).
Allie explores the changing table and her crib with Dad. Not a lot happens, but the girl stays very busy, not taking hints to go to sleep.

In August, my company Hekimian held an annual company picnic at Smokey Glen Farm in Gaithersburg. This year, we brought Allie to show her off to friends and took a little pony ride. It was always a good picnic, with BBQ chicken, hot dogs, corn and lots of beer and ice cream. Also softball, putt-putt, volleyball and other games. We have no pictures with friends, but here is the pony.

Early August also brought an outing to the Howard County Fair and its petting zoo.

The Zoo in July was sort of a test run for a larger expedition to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania on August 11 with the Embreys. We stayed for a night at the Hershey Lodge and got into the park early the next day. We had a fine day riding the carousel and the little train.

However, we discovered that Kristen was terrified of the candy creatures. Allie and Sara were fine with them, but Kristen has been traumatized ever since.

Aunt Leona sent a letter in August which, while not earth shattering, was a nice representation of Leona’s efforts to stay in touch with Barb and Betsy. Leona was always a sweet lady though Barb and (especially) Fred shared an unfortunately low appraisal of her general intelligence. She may not have been the brightest bulb, but she deserved better, I felt.

On August 21 we endeavored to take a bunch of videos, partly to document our house at Davidge before we moved, but mainly to document this stage of development of Allie. We were also doing the videos with the idea of showing them to Grandmom and Grandpop. I’m not sure that ever really happened. Now they’re for us.

August 21, 1996: Short tour of Davidge…and a hiccuping girl.
August 21, 1996: Hiccups and happy girl.

August 21, 1996, Standin’ (4:32).
Allie hanging out in the pen in Davidge family room, and a quasi tour of the house before we leave.

August 21, 1996, Walkin’ (7:46).
Allie shows off her now-advanced walking skills in the Davidge living and dining rooms; an extended tour with running commentary (and very little supervision) from Dad.

August 21, 1996: Bathtime tour

August 21, 1996, Bathin’ (3:49).
Mom gives Allie a bath.

In random family notes, we got some pictures of Laurie and Maggie visiting Grandmom and Granddad in Riviera Beach. I’m not exactly sure of the occasion, but since Laurie is sporting a Crete t-shirt in one photo it may have been while she studying at Penn and going on periodic archaeological digs in Greece.

An afternoon of softball with Barb’s work team. Allie and Maddie were cheerleaders, sort of.

August 25, 1996 (6:41).
Dad keeping up with a walking girl around the house. She was getting more mobile…but still didn’t really respond to requests. Not as much happens as I might have hoped.

Over the Labor Day weekend, we had the first of what became several annual beach getaways with the Harders to Ocean City, MD. We rented a couple of condos at The Plaza at 98th Street, a high rise with a pool. Larry liked it because it was a short walk from convenience store where he could get coffee and the NY Times in the morning. I liked it because it was across from a Popeyes. To each his own. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was good to have options between the beach and the pool. When Allie and Maddie were on the beach, they tended to eat the sand rather than play with it. We arrived just after tropical storm Fran, so the waves were up.

September 4, 1996, OC Condo (1:25).
On the pool deck of the Ocean City condo with Maddie and Ashley. Allie is tired so the video is relatively short.

September 5, 1996: Maddie pushing Allie around the condo. Great fun for Allie, not so much for Maddie.

September 5, 1996, OC Condo (2:59).
In the Ocean City condo with Maddie, Ashley and Larry. Maddie pushing Allie around the condo.

September 5, 1996: Enjoying the surf in OC, courtesy of Tropical Storm Fran.
September 5, 1996: Baptized in the surf.

September 5, 1996, OC Beach (6:05).
On the beach in Ocean City with Mom, Maddie and Ashley.

Some photos from Betsy: Sara’s first day of school! Backpack ready! On a different day, ready for soccer. Also in September, Allie graduated from the baby room to the toddler room at daycare. Progress!

Back home for a bath with Sara. Turnabout is fair play in the pointy hair department (see Sara at Easter, 1993).

By this time, we had a long-established bedtime routine of reading to Allie and playing some nice lullabies. This was most often my assignment and I enjoyed the ritual. Our favorite books included “Goodnight Moon”, “Pat the Bunny”, “I Love You This Much” and a variety of Dr. Sueuss selections. The lullabies included CDs from Linda Ronstadt and others that I’ll have to find sometime. One more than one occasion I would doze off along with Allie.

Waking up to a new day; I can’t tell if this was in the Davidge house or Paddington. We used much of the same animal sticker wall decorations, though in Paddington they were supplemented with glow-in-the-dark stars in the ceiling that I tried to arrange in proper constellations. I got a least a few of them right, then scattered the rest into our own Milky Way.

September 21, 1996: Breakfast snack time.

Allie video, September 21, 1996, Snack time (3:06).
Documenting a breakfast snack with Allie and Mom.


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