We are approaching 8 weeks since passport applications for two minor children, planning to travel in a few weeks, still "processing". See below for timetable and questions.

History:
~4.5 years ago: applied with zeros for SSN; received standard processing (not expedited) passports in ~2 weeks.
April 8, 2017. Pre-filled application forms online. Used zeros for SSN as before.
April 10, 2017. Applied for two new passports at Post Office. Sent two old passports in for renewal. Unfortunately, minor passports are processed as new applications (not as renewals). Standard 6-8 week processing.
April 27, 2017. Department of State generated letters stating that SSNs were now required. The outgoing administration made changes to allow the IRS to revoke passports, which now effectively require SSN.
April 28, 2017. We received an emailed version of the form, printed it, and mailed it with the numbers. The application hotline refused to take the numbers over the phone.
May 5, 2017. Our application was updated with the new data.
June 2, 2017. Still "processing". Calling the phone number gives no useful information.

Future:
June 5 will be 8 weeks.
June 11 we are planning to drive to Canada (Adults have passports/NEXUS/Global Entry, kids have NEXUS) for a conference in Victoria.
June 15 we fly internationally from Vancouver.

Questions:
1) Is there any way to find actual status of an application?
2) Is there any actual phone number for the Seattle Passport Agency?
3) If we request an in-person appointment in Seattle, how will that impact the already-in-process applications?
4) We are considering requesting a June 9 appointment; Seattle is a 700 mile drive, but at least "almost" on the way. Any comments/suggestions about the Seattle office? Note that they already have our application documents and old passports.

Hopefully the above narrative will help some of you avoid future problems. In hindsight, we should have fully submitted to our benevolent government and provided SSNs and paid their "protection" fee (expedited processing, which seems to be almost a month for some). But at this point, we are really starting to worry. Any help, suggestions, or experience others can provide for us would be appreciated.