Home Work

This is our house in Rivervale, New Jersey. We bought it in 2003. Before a certain 15-month-old took over the entire house, it looked really pretty.
Now, there are Cheerios on the couch, and bottles, bibs, spoons, cups, pens, keys, toys... just the weirdest assortment of things in the strangest of places in every room.

Cape May

Barbecue at Jonathan and Erica's

Rowan in Manhattan

Rowan


A small wrapped packet,
Arrives at dawn,
There’s quite a racket,
Rowan is born!

Perfect size,
Luminous eyes,
Face full of light,
Toes seem just so right.

Black silk for hair,
Rosebud for a mouth,
Brow so fair,
Like a belle from the South.

First frown! First sneeze!
Hearts trapped with such ease.
Toy and tub, song and bib,
The softest sheet for his crib.

The merry carousel goes around
With Horsie and Lion and Teddy Bear
The stars whirl with a pretty sound
He sleeps, dreams dancing in the air.

Flush

I have to put this down before I forget.
Rowan flushed the toilet. He did. He didn't use the toilet (too early for that, unfortunately) but he figured out that if he climbed into the magazine rack that sits next to the pot, he could reach up and pull the lever down. He looked really proud after he did it.

He's also into cleaning the kitchen floor. (God knows it needs cleaning every 3 minutes.) He grabs the broom and sweeps away.

Maybe it's not too early to start teaching him to do the laundry.

Meanwhile, still waiting for Tooth # 7 & 8 to show up.

Xplosion

The last few weeks have seen Rowan add to his repertoire of fast developing skills at an astonishing pace. He's walking all over the house fearlessly. I see his little head looming over the unlikliest of places these days. He has identified his own unqiue name for fruit and vegetables - " Potay". One evening, as I was cooking, I pointed to a potato and said, "Potato". He repeated, quite intelligently - " Potay", and has since been wildly extrapolating the word to include the gamut of veggies and fruit.
And

Poo is spoon
and Taah is Star or Car, depending on the circumstance


Then, he tries to put on his pants, and socks and shoes. Just yesterday, he put on his shirt and took it off! It was the coolest thing. And he kisses Teddy Bear and Lion on the nose , "Mmmmmmaaa". These days he's giving me and Kedar kisses voluntarily! It's the best feeling. And he says" Pa pa" all the time. " Pa pa" is water. So whether it's raining, or there's water in the bath tub, or he wants a drink, he goes " Pa pa pa pa". And "Mama" is.... food. He wakes up in the morning and goes " Mama". Hopefully, someday soon, he'll make the improbable leap from "Mama" meaning food to "Mama" meaning Mommy. How, I don't know. I'll leave that to his extraordinarily sharp mind to figure that one out.
Meanwhile, we laugh all day at his silly antics and the talking.