Boating

This is Nate and me on the boat in Love's Folly, a somewhat stressful little ride captioned by the unconquerable Jimmy, which we took with our friends and their kids on a lovely Memorial Day weekend holiday. Nate's life jacket situation was so intense that it practically swallowed him up. There was really little room for him to turn his head let alone move about and enjoy the sea or the wind. So he just hunkered down, his goal really being to essentially not drown. He didn't mind as long as we fed him pretzels.

Our friends -- Marc/Aimee/Ari -- had it worse. Ari kind of shut down. Before that though, he may have indicated some sea sickness or something, and Aimee rode most of the way holding a plastic bag under Ari's face, waiting to catch the vomit should it fly. Meanwhile, Aimee's folding chair slid back into Marc's legs, causing him severe pain. They look good in this pic but suffice it to say they were in some choppy waters.

Waterfront

Nate is starting to get comfortable moving around. On this chilly May sunday, we went to the waterfront in Williamsburg, the first time I've taken him there this Spring. Although Nate seemed a bit tentative on the grass, he was left to wander and explore, and that made me happy, to watch him going more or less where he pleased. We rolled a ball to each other some. He got excited as we got close to the water, screaming DUCK! DUCK!! DUCK!!!, pointing to an aloof seagull floating in the water. People were walking by and Nate would look at them and point to the seagull, as if it was just the most amazing thing ever. DUCK! DUCK!! DUCK!!!

There's an industrial kid's playground type of thing, down in this area of the Williamsburg waterfront park, with large objects on which to climb. There was a kid's birthday party going on; children were wearing capes. In this picture, Nate was eyeballing 3 girls on a bouncy wooden circle. Then they were gone. And Nate and I headed to the Brooklyn Flea where we had french fries before meeting Shana for a fun Mexican dinner at Taco Chulo.

True stories from 20 months

Nate turned 20 months yesterday!! Here are a few funny stories from the past few weeks:

Nate loves to sing into a microphone which could be anything--a lamp, a doorknob, a toothbrush and most frequently, the knobs of Michael's keyboard stand. His standard song is sort of a punk rock riff--very gruff and passionate. It's hysterical. We're not sure where he got the microphone idea. Maybe from seeing the kids bands? Occasionally he sings quietly, like when he's on the swing and is right now very into the song "Goodbye, goodbye" from Yo Gabba Gabba.

Nate is also really into remarking on big trucks, or other cool things he sees, with the following expressions: "whoa baby!" "oh man." "oh no." "wow." He often points out "mess"-- almost everything seems to be a mess to Nate right now. Not sure where he picked up this fastitiousness. Probably not from us.

Funny story--I'm standing with Nate on the sidewalk in front of our house when a car pulls up and the high school age driver says hi to some kids who are passing by. The guy on the sidewalk goes "Hey N—. that's a fat car." the driver responds "Yo N--where you going?" They exchange a few more words and then the car drives off and which point Nate, who has been observing this whole conversations yells "BYE!!!"

Nate Walks Music Video

This is a music video of Nate, more or less his journey to walking. It's sappy but so what. As Nate walks around more and more confidently, his reluctance to crawl followed by his insistence on crab-crawling until about 19 months old, seems funny now. But Nate had weekly battles with a physical therapist -- Jackie -- and that was no laughing matter. Well, it is now.

Family BBQ in Tarrytown

We had a family BBQ -- something this family rarely if ever does -- at Cousin Debra, Kenny, Drew, Nina and Cole's lovely house in Tarrytown, NY, about 45 minutes drive up wooded and rolling-hilled Westchester. Erik, Kim and Mai-Ling from Boston attended, as did Uncle Paul and Aunt Rochelle and Mom/Dad. There was excellent BBQ (plus ridiculous margaritas) and a thrilling ping pong tournament (I crushed Shana, my mom and Aunt Rochelle to face off with Kenny in the finals and won a close one).

Nate, meanwhile, had a tough time of it. We forgot to change his diaper before the trip up from Brooklyn, so when we arrived in Tarrytown, he was soaked through. We didn't have a change of clothes and he didn't nap, so he was mostly a wreck. Mai-Ling, however, was dry and well-rested. Anyway, despite the distance between them, I am hopeful Nate and Mai-Ling become good friends.

Nate managed a few good moments. He played catch with Cole:

He played with Cole's old matchbook cars with Mai-Ling:

And he posed for a family picture:

19 months old

Nate is about 19 months old now. Most of his teeth are in. After an epic resistance, he's walking around some, getting the hang of balance and understanding what his legs can and can't do. Nate seems to understand more than he can actually say. He knows the following words: Mama, Dada, Nana, Rampa (Grandpa), Simmee (Simma), O-ah (Opa), Book (Brook), Aheee (Avi), Sadie, Mae, Marmo (Margot and/or Elmo), chee ("cheese"), sky, door, light, and of course, hi and bye-bye. In an odd twist, he says "Bye Dave" (first said when saying goodbye to my tennis buddy Dave), when he says goodbye to anyone.

Nate has become a bit more easy going these days too. He's easier to change and dress, though admittedly more difficult to feed (he's in a finicky stage with food). He's still attached to his ba-ba (bottle), but only needs his pacifier to sleep. Both of those battles loom like a mountain range.

With the warm weather finally arriving and Nate walking and acting more easy-going, the family finds itself on a good run. Here's Nate at my parent's house playing with a mop bucket.

Nate Falls

With walking, comes falling.