06.24.06
Portrait of a young man
Dark, brooding, mysterious…
…or just pooping himself. That’s what makes him so inscrutable.
Serenading Ethan (…sort of)
Ethan had no idea his father was such an accomplished musician…probably because the song I was playing was being hopelessly mangled. Young Ethan, however – and this is lucky for me – is a great connoisseur of discord, and thus was quite satisfied listening to a song that purported to be “Redemption Song” but which sounded, rather predictably, almost exactly the same as the handful of other songs I “know” how to play.
Another reason I love this kid!
06.23.06
Ethan at four weeks
Ethan is four weeks old today. It has been impossible to miss the passage of time, as he has already outgrown some of his 0-3 month-old clothing, overflows his ‘newborn’ diapers, has grown more than an inch and a half in length and gained more than three pounds.
For those of you not into text-dense reports – as above – let me give you the executive level talking points:
- Ethan has gotten freakin’ huge.
That pretty much sums it up. Still the same pensive guy, though.
How is it procrastinating…
…if I’m not even intending to do work?
Sometimes Laura comes up with the best lines. Indeed, I didn’t know quite how to answer her on this one. Good point!
06.21.06
Ethan cheers on his mum
I was heartened yesterday to see the enthusiasm Ethan had for Laura as she got back into her yoga routine. Being something of a sportsman himself, it seemed impossible for the little guy to keep from demonstrating his love of physical activity.
06.18.06
Ethan’s furious battle…with himself
Here’s the scene: Ethan has just had a big feeding, and thinking that he might like to play a little while he’s awake, I lay him on his play mat. There’s a little plush parrot that dangles above him that sometimes freaks him out a little, but today – as he lies contentedly on his back – he’s just batting it around a little. I’m on the floor beside him, watching him most of the time, talking to Laura the rest.
A pretty nice father’s day afternoon, thus far.
Suddenly, while looking over at Laura, I hear Ethan scream like I’ve never heard before; a feral howl of pain and surprise. Laura launches off the couch and is across the room in a split second, and I sit up to see what could have happed in the brief moment that I wasn’t looking.
In the seconds before we figure it all out, Ethan’s howling gets louder and more tormented. And that’s when see it:
Ethan’s left hand has strayed northward, where it has found that cute little patch of hair that always sticks up on top of his head…and it has latched on with a death grip. I try to tug his hand away gently, but he only grabs tighter and screams louder, his eyes flared wide as he struggles to figure out what kind of scoundrel would do him such harm. As I pick him up, Laura tries again to break his grasp, but by now his hand has turned white from gripping so hard.
What a bizarre parenting situation. What do you have to say about that, Dr. “Smartypants” Spock? The parenting books should have a section for “Emergencies that make you laugh”, because as I desperately tried to keep Ethan from ripping the cute little tuft of hair from his head, I couldn’t help but be conscious of the sheer absurdity of the situation.
As poor Ethan got more upset, his grabbing reflex got stronger, and it quickly became clear that we couldn’t get his hand off by force (you can lift a baby with it’s own grip), so in a strange moment of inspiration I started blowing on Ethan’s scalp and hand (one of those wierd, inexplicable ideas) until he let go.
Ethan cried a bit more, looking around accusingly and clearly wondering of his assailant; “Who the hell was that?”
I think he gets his smarts from me.
“I’m a” father’s day
A strange feeling to have father’s day apply to me.
In celebration, a favourite recent photo of the person responsible for my status change…this was last week on a patio on Greenwich street. During some lively discourse with his mother and I, Ethan had a sudden thought…
Ethan meets his G-Parents!
My parents are in town right now, lavishing attention on little Ethan.
While we were in Central Park yesterday, Dad (Gpa) had the chance to introduce Ethan to the joys of sailing model boats. A contemplative moment, shared.
06.04.06
Back to work
The baby-moon is over, and I’m back to work tomorrow. I’m showing Laura how to do this whole blogging thing, so she’ll be continuing to put up some pictures of Ethan through the week…have no fear!
The witty banter, however, I cannot teach. Alas!
West Street
The other night we had an absolutely crazy thunderstorm descend on us. We turned off the lights and opened all the windows so that we could watch the lightning crash down and hear the pounding of the rain. We been watching for a while, seeing incredible arcs of lightning shooting across the sky, when I thought it might be cool to get a shot of some lightning…how hard could it be?
I got this neat photo of West Street, instead.
Every time I so much as looked away or lifted my finger from the button, lightning would strike and I would miss it. Same goes for this picture. No lightning had crossed the patch of sky I was focused on for a long time, when I got distracted be how cool this street corner looked. The moment I swiveled my camera down…well, you know what happened.
Lessons in parenting
You always hear that you shouldn’t leave your child unattended, but it’s one of those pieces of advice that is repeated so often that you no longer think about why people say it.
I learned that lesson yesterday. I turned my back for mere seconds, only to find this scene when I looked back at Ethan. He’s lucky I came when I did.
Our building is absolutely infested with small, plush bunnies, and in the time it took me to get my camera (coincidence?) one had found Ethan and pounced, pinning him helpless to the floor.
What really amazes me when I look at this photo (I was too panicked at the time to notice) is how calm and collected Ethan remained under fire. What a champ!
Ethan says to “party on”
Of all the comical hand gestures that Ethan has made thus far, this has to be my favourite…
06.01.06
A day of firsts
Ethan had his first doctor’s appointment today, in which we found out two things:
1.) he is in the 90th percentile for height, and
2.) he is in the 75th percentile for head circumference
What that means is that he is extremely tall and he has a pretty big head. I wonder where he got that from.
Laura is doing great and we walked both to and from the appointment today, which was up in Greenwich Village. Walking – so far – has seemed to be the best therapy, and she is feeling better every day.
Ethan continues to be a pretty amazing kid. As this photo may illustrate, he’s a generally chilled out guy.
He just reclines someplace and slips into hours of pondering existence. He’ll be so quiet that we think he’s asleep, and then we find him just sitting there, looking intently at something.
Ethan had another first today; his first package. He got a rather spiffy outfit from Jill and Rob, which came with a hat that looks pretty awesome.
That’s a hat that says party. Who doesn’t need a hat like this?
This last picture isn’t really a first, but it was really cute. Ethan really likes dozing off on Laura or my lap. I wouldn’t call it a hobby, but it’s certainly an interest of his.
I think in his dream he was either breakdancing or spinning some tunes on his turntables. I’ve never seen someone who can always look like their in mid-flight while they sleep.