Cousins

We planned to take a 10 day holiday in Love's Folly prior to and including Labor Day. But Hurricane Irene had other plans. So we bailed from Love's Folly and headed to DC until the storm passed, staying with Opa and Mimmy. Before the full brunt of the hurricane was felt -- it was pretty intense for us east coasters -- Nate and I popped over the Brook and Avi's where we hung with the Gessers. Here's Nate with his cousins, the purple-clad Gesser girls.

Haircut

Nate's bushy wild hair was kind of getting goofy. So he got a haircut yesterday from Lucas.

And so today we went to a drab playground in Greenpoint where we found an old basketball and bounced it around on a basketball court, wandered around on a handball court, slid down a few slides, went on the toddler swings, went on the older kid swings, made friends with Phillip the Polish kid, chased Phillip the Polish kid around for a while and got chased by Phillip the Polish kid, then got on our bike and rode home.

All the while, Nate's hair looked awesome.

Shana is Showing

Shana is starting to really show. So far so good. Nate has no clue. No. Clue.

Smorgasburg to LIC

It's late in the summer and Nate's an old pro on the bike at this point. This weekend we meet Blitz for Smorgasburg, a feast of small booths near the waterfront in Williamsburg. We delighted on a Porchetta sandwich, Red Hook Lobster and a custardy concoction that's made entirely from banana.

Afterwards the boys biked to Long Island City, where we hit the playground. Blitz is good with Nate -- a rare quality for a single guy. Pictured Right: Nate and Blitz sizing up the intimidating rope tower...

The Nanny Crew

This is Nate's crew, with whom he hangs out with almost every day, thanks to the 3 Nannies (Leisha, Val and Shala) who care for them. To Nate's right is Harper, Sophia, Romi, Marshall and Georgia.

Chasing Birds

This is Nate chasing a pigeon at the playground. Except for "duck", he does not yet understand the nuances between the various kinds of birds. But he's fascinated nonetheless. I think this was the first time he made a move towards grabbling or touching pigeons, which peck around the playground nibbling on disgusting things liquid and solid.

Afterwards, Nate met a 16 month girl named Marlow and followed her around from the jungle gym to the small slide to the big slide to the small slide, etc. He's normally quite shy or solitary at the playground actually. But he was into Marlow; there was no doubt. Finally after the two went down the slide 15 or 20 times in a row while I traded stories with Marlow's dad, we all followed Marlow to the swings. Nate didn't want in himself though; he wanted to walk under. So Marlow's dad suggested Nate push Marlow. So I picked him up and he pushed her softly as she gazed back at him sweetly. It was lovely. He was unhappy when I informed him it was time to go home...