Picking up the second half of 1996 from the end of September when we moved into our house at Paddington Court. It was a big year.
At the end of September, we finally moved into our new home at 10316 Paddington Court. We used Student Services for the short move (because they were cheap) and they actually did a fine job, though the company itself seems to no longer exist. The move itself was relatively easy, supplemented by many runs and carloads over the course of a week or so between Davidge and Paddington. I’m not sure how we got it all done…Well, yes I do: Barb cracked the whip and made sure it all got done, and did an awful lot of it herself. Both of us had childhood training of moving into new houses and settling in right away — hers was just a lot more zealous and efficient.
Some of the documents from the move, proof that we were reasonably organized — I think I typed up the initial lists and Barb made edits. Teamwork!
We have here a video from September 21 that features a tour of the new house, narrated by me. I started making excerpts but it’s only 3 minutes long and it seemed silly to insert three 1-minute clips, so please have a look. It includes my being rude in overlooking Gerard and Chris who were there to help, and a sequence of Allie getting changed by Barb and later playing peekaboo behind the bathroom door. Barb disparages this last sequence as another example of my questionable parenting techniques (“It’s lucky she didn’t smash her fingers in the door”). Methinks she doth protest too much.
Allie video, September 21, 1996, Paddington (3:06).
First tour of Paddington house, mostly empty, with Gerard and Chris.
Shortly after moving in, it was Allie’s first birthday which we extended into a multi-day, highly documented affair. We started the day in our home.
Allie video, October 5, 1996, Birthday morning at Paddington (6:34).
A quiet time in the morning.
Patti and Lee very ambitiously combined their annual pig roast on Saturday, October 5 with a birthday party for Allie at their home on Rogues Road in Warrenton. We dragged along the Embreys, Franks and Leila for the festivities. The birthday party was first, in Patti’s family room mostly with the Embreys, Franks and Leila.
Allie video, October 5, 1996, Birthday party at Patti’s (12:54).
A not quiet time with everyone at Patti’s with cupcakes and presents.
Bobo 
More efforts at filming 
Need to find the films 
Cupcake time 
Yum! 
Cleaning up 
Kristen 
Alan and Bobo 
Barb with Floria, Bobo and Dayva 
Time for presents
The larger pig roast was on the front lawn. It happened that this was a particularly nice day and made for some good pictures.
A favorite shot
The next day, back at home, our inaugural event at the Paddington house was another celebration of Allie’s first birthday. The Harders and Tony were guests. It was another nice day so we were mostly on the back deck; there wasn’t much inside the house that was ready for entertaining.
This may be Barb’s favorite video because it documents my (non-) parenting style. Allie goes into the “forbidden room” while I simply watch. The full sequence is even more damning, in Barb’s eyes, as I let Allie take a heavy bronze doodad to bang on our ceramic umbrella stand. I stand by my contention that both Allie and the umbrella stand survived, even to this day.
The rest of this video is sweet but kind of uneventful as we follow the good-natured girl around for a while until the arrival of the Harders. It’s worth a look if you have time.
Allie video, October 6, 1996, Birthday morning at Paddington (7:58).
Birthday wander around Paddington, arrival of Harders.
One more video from the day. Allie was doing a good job of feeding herself applesauce but by the time I got the camera cranked up, the moment had passed. Still, it’s a record that not everything Allie did was necessarily charming or even remarkable. But she was still pretty good-natured, even after a long day.
Allie video, October 6, 1996, Winding down after party (4:39).
Partaking an applesauce snack.
Allie’s first birthday was a multi-day, multi-venue event. There was also a celebration the following Monday at her daycare.
After all the birthday fun, it was time to get ready for Halloween. First, a visit to a pumpkin patch with Betsy, Kristen and Sara.
Kristen hatching a pumpkin 
Not so sure about this pony ride 
Two peas in pods, again
At more or less the same time, we paid a visit to Sara and Kristen at their house.
Allie, Sara and Kristen on Betsy’s front porch 
Sara hanging out on Betsy and Joe’s bed 
Kristen ready for a fire 
Kristen chillin’ 
Kristen brushing teeth 
Sara and Kristen
Then it was time to try out the Halloween costume Barb made. Allie and I contend it was a cow. Barb holds out that it was a dalmation. Either way, it was mighty cute. I loved the ears and the tail.
Love the tail 
Posing on the front steps of Paddington with finished pumpkin. Baby Yoda had nothing on our girl.
Savoring an initial Halloween haul from the Paddington neighborhood.
The better haul was earned in the Franks’ neighborhood, where Alan pulled Allie, Dayva and Bobo around in a wagon. Alan was great with this ritual for several years. I think Allie was a cow to match with Dayva’s cowgirl. Bobo was a pirate…in a Baltimore Orioles jacket.
The Halloween festivities continued at Allie’s Gymboree class. Barb enrolled Allie in weekly Gymboree classes since before Allie was six months old. We went religiously on Saturday mornings. The classes consisted of playing in structured and non-structured activities, climbing on lots of padded things and singing lots of songs…especially “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Head and Shoulders (Knees and Toes).” I remember once begging to please sing something else and the instructor scolded me on the merits of repetition for toddlers. Sigh. Anyway, the Halloween day was fun.
Getting used to the kitchen at Paddington
We started to get ourselves settled in the house at Paddington. Barb and I decided that this would be our “grown up” house so we actually contracted with an interior decorator for advice on wallpaper, window treatments and furniture selections. We ended up doing a lot of business with a design shop in old Ellicott City which supplied various exotic wallpapers and window treatments. I had always thought that a single curtain or blind was sufficient for a window, but it turns out you’re supposed to have a complementary combination of blinds, sheers, valences, rods and other things, or at least so we were told. We had a lot of windows at Paddington. We got to know the design shop people pretty well, though I think we wore out the interior decorator pretty quickly — she wanted to do even more than we were willing to undertake. I can’t find many pictures of our Paddington decorations but I trust they will turn up over time.
At some point, there was a playdate with an unknown child at an unknown location, though very likely it was a Chuck E. Cheese (detective work based on the trolley car seen at a later Chuck E. Cheese party). A fine time was had, wherever it was. This child turns up in a number of later outings, so we will call her “Julia”, for the sake of argument. I think she was the daughter of one of Barb’s work colleagues; maybe the truth will come out.
Betsy sent along these pictures of Sara participating in a culturally questionable Thanksgiving activity at her school (I guess) and then Sara and Kristen visiting a Christmas gingerbread house later in December with their Mimi and Bopbop (Joe’s Mom and Dad).
Video evidence of the general good-time mayhem of a visit from the Embreys. I like Barb’s comment at the end, “You’re not still filming, are you?”
Allie video, December 8, 1996, Three Girls, Little Feat (5:46).
Sara and Kristen have a Little Feat dance party with Allie at Paddington.
Christmas 1996 at Betsy’s, no doubt accompanied by a visit to Auntie Jessie’s for dinner and carols, and then a spring roll feast on Christmas Eve. For all our intensive documentation of Allie’s first birthday, we have only these few photos of her second Christmas, mostly courtesy of Betsy. In a video from January 19, a few weeks later, I mention that I was sick all Christmas and didn’t take many pictures or videos.
For several years, while the girls were young, we got into the habit of opening presents together late on Christmas Eve. Then we would head to our respective homes and have Christmas morning all over again at home, followed by a roast beef dinner on Christmas Day. And then we would repeat the roast beef dinner on Boxing Day with Patti and Lee, along with a day full of cheese balls and Chex mix. We absorbed a month’s full of calories in three days. Hooray!
Allie’s photo with Santa, a Christmas shot of Jimmy and Christine, and our Christmas letter, 1996.
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