Funny Old Picture!

Isaac LOVED holding the very little Noa on his lap.

Little Monkeys

I've never experienced a paint color making me as happy as this one does. It feels like how I imagine the sky in the Greek Isles, or when the sun makes reflections on it, like the bottom of a very clean and nice swimming pool. I want to lie on our bed and stare at it for ages. These little guys just wanted to jump around in it for ages.

It's called "old pick-up blue" by Benajmin Moore. Thank you Ben!

3 little monkeys

4 little monkeys

monkey entropy!

Exploring San Francisco's Sutro Baths

Who's that in there!?

We have arrived.

A medley of knitwear

We love you, Sutro baths!

Portraits of an Exactly Two-Year-Old Boy

Isaac's two year old birthday began inbetween Anchor Bay and Gualala, Caifornia, in a little cottage at the bizarre and beautiful St. Orres Hotel. We wound through windy roads, dug into blustery beaches, bushwacked hilltops, drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, and landed deliriously happily at the home of Patty and Blade in San Fransisco.

Birthday morning, before breakfast

*Giving momma a blue flower.

Looking out the window at big trees!

Daddy and Isaac at the top of Horseshoe Point

Rocks in your toes!

Luxuriating on a lovely deck in San Fransisco

Arms up!

Lemon cake, all lit up!

*handknit vest by Bev Osband, aka Omi!

Oldie but Goodie

I love this photo. My friend Lena took it when she and Micaela rescued an ailing me by taking Isaac for the afternoon. The three boys then went on an adventure in the backyard of Micaela's house. It was wintertime so they dressed Isaac in Roan's hat and vest to keep him warm. A little tight, but so cute!

The Three Musketeers

All for one, one for all!

Babies in Raincoats

What is it about babies in raincoats?

Its raining, its pouring...and I don't care!

I think it's just about the cutest thing ever!

Baby Portrait Taking 101, Featuring Isaac B.

First of all, go outside! Indoor light is yellowy and dim compared to natural daylight. Try to pick a day that isn't too crazy sunny, so your photos aren't bleached looking. Overcast is great all around, or go earlier in the morning, or later in the afternoon for an extra dramatic effect.

You found me!

If your camera has settings, set the aperture (that should be found by looking for the letter A on your camera's dial) as low as you can. That will make your little one clear, and everything around him or her, nicely blurry.

I am running in through the one clear area of the park, what fun!

Its kind of hard to explain how it works, but basically, your camera will let in more light, and in return for that give you a smaller depth of field to focus on. You can also use a low aperture if there isn't very much light, and you want to make your camera's "eyelid" open as much as possible. Come to think of it, it works with us too! If there isn't much light we open our eyes wide, and when we can't see something far away we squint our eyes, and make far away stuff clear.

wide open eye, medium eye, squinty eye!

Ok, back to your picture taking:

Isaac as baby-heartthrob

Don't be scared to get close up! Especially if you want your little one to look like a soap opera star.

I am feeling very contrasty!

Play with your photo after you take it! If you like the quality of this photo above, go to the contrast button on your photo editing software (even the most basic ones (like mine) will have it!) and up it as much as you can stand. It can give your photo lots of "pop!", and look like candy, and who doesn't like a baby that looks like candy?

Ok, that's all for now, happy picture taking!

Mighty Mountain of Pancakes

We went to my step brother's house on Sunday and he made pancakes.
I love pancakes so much, and these were way better than any I've made. He said the recipe was pretty normal except for the wacky addition of making your own buttermilk by adding vinegar to regular milk.
Very DIY!

The recipe is from Allrecipes.com, and it goes a little like this (I only changed it to take out spray oil for the pan. He used, and I definitely prefer straight up butter!):

Fluffy Pancakes

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• butter for the pan

Directions

1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and melt more butter. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

Isaac's First Girlfriend?

Elegant Abby

There is a little girl named Abby who lives down the street. She is very precocious and lovely and says things like, "Happy Pass - Over!" when you least expect it. Abby is also very shy and barely gives Isaac the time of day, though one can't really expect a 22 month old to tell the time quite yet.

"Pitcher Abby."

Even though she barely looks at him in person, according to Abby's mom, she talks about him quite a bit when they are back at home, like about how nice he is. And Isaac, just last night, asked to see the valentines card with Abby's picture on it that we have posted to our little bulletin board. He said, "See!...Abby!...Abbyabbyabby!" So I said ok, and went and got it for him. He looked at it for a while, and then kissed it and said, "Kiss Abby!", and then held it to his cheek and said, "Hug." 

kiss

hug

While I'm on the topic of hugs, Isaac's Grandpa David got him such a sweet book called "HUG", by Jez Alborough.

It's about a little monkey looking for a hug, and the Elephants and other animals that help him. Its very simple and to the point and inspires lots of hugging at the end.

Hugs for all!

Tai Chi at Fort Greene Park

This couple practices Tai Chi at Fort Greene Park almost everyday. The old guy is so thin it looks like the wind could blow him over, but then it doesn't. The old lady is very sweet and was happy to see Isaac appreciating their moves. They move in unison even though they aren't looking at what the other one is doing. Its very impressive, and sweet, because before the guy used to just do it by himself, but now she is there too.

Isaac's Baby Pants File

much easier and arty-er than folding!

and highlights our fondness for blues, browns and corduroys.

Take Your Baby to The Beach...

And he's gonna eat sand!
That was a shocker, and a bit disturbing, especially when he started using a piece of coral for a spoon.

Jeremy, Isaac and I went to Culebra, Puerto Rico for our first vacation only us as a family. It was quite a roller coaster of awesome fun, gentleness, and bleary exhaustion.

I wrote myself a few emails from our porch because I really didn't want to forget. Here are a few excerpts, and photos:

watching out for airplanes at JFK

From the first email, 4/1/12


"King king Kong, ahhnnghh..."
Isaac sang this over and over again that first morning, sitting, bouncing, lying down, in between Jeremy and I, while we deliriously tried to sleep, and finally gave up at 6:22am. (He had been up and singing since 4am.)

This stray kitty got way more sleep than we did!

The sun flooded the porch this evening around 5:30 with golden light. It was before dinner and Isaac was totally naked, looking so content holding an empty trash can, and then broom, and then both.

pre-dinner raisin snack

There was last night lying in the hammock with Jeremy. Isaac (who says "hammock" now too!) was finally asleep and Jeremy and I were reading, listening to the the froggies say, "ko-kee!" and every once in a while, smelling that incredible blossom, blooming just outside our wooden fence. It smelled like heaven: vanilla and orange, and something mysterious.

Oh beautiful plant, thank you for making our nights so smell-diferous

Isaac loves to be in the baby-pack here! He fell asleep yesterday on our way back from Carlos Rosario beach, which was kind of awful because we couldn't get him to take another nap, even though he was so tired and poopy and so were we. Plus it was raining and raining and we needed to go to town for food. It was nice getting there though, we met a nice and beautiful Puerto Rican lady with her Italian husband, their kids, and his sweet family, visiting all the way from Italy. The grandmother wore a gold chain and had dyed blond short hair, lots of wrinkles and glasses. She kept squeezing Isaac's thighs and joking with him in Italian. We were all very tired when we got home.

hammock nap-time

Today the beach was amazing and reminded us of why we wanted to come.

Two little fishes, with hats.

So much to do!

"Oh, that momma making me go in the water again?", or "No wonder they got burned and I didn't!"

After all this activity, I must nap.

Second email, 4/3/12

I love how Isaac calls a rooster a wostershire, like the sauce.

Last night when Jeremy was waltzing him to sleep Isaac said, "eipaine...heel...ovaa..." He was reviewing his day! Remembering how in the evening, while Jeremy cooked dinner, he and I went for a swim. We saw an airplane go over the green hills above the beach, and talked quite a bit about it.

We went into the water early today, and it was so clear blue! Like a swimming pool with waves. Isaac said "daddy, fish, swim." Then later when we asked if he was a fish he said, "baby!" Jeremy said,"he's really puttin' it together."

In the wild blue.

 Playing in the sand, eating sand, with his little blue rashguard suit and green hat, he looks quite the part of beach baby. We were happy that we only burned ourselves and not him.

I am very well sun-protected.

When we were out into the ocean ("osheeen") yesterday afternoon, the water was so beautiful and clear. Isaac was in my arms and the wind was blowing our hair. We were cuddling and laughing and enjoying the moment and he says, "walk...visit...trash..."

I never want to forget how Isaac looked on Jeremy's shoulders two nights ago, his head plopped on Jeremy's head. His warm browned hands holding Jeremy's ears, the pink and periwinkle sunset behind the osheeen. They were so beautiful and human.

Sweet, tired boy.

Kir-plop.

Gentle sunset

Jeremy lost his wedding ring yesterday morning. It was a rough morning, even though Carlos Rosario beach is beautiful, and I saw pretty little fishes. We got into a stupid fight about where to put the beach umbrella. I thought it would be ok next to a driftwood log. Maybe I was feeling birdie-like and wanting to nest, but J thought it a terrible idea. He also lost his wedding ring in the water. He was very sad about it, but said, "now, don't think of this as symbolic of anything." And I thought, "wow, he knows me so well.", because of course, I did.

amazing yellow crab with big tall eyes at Carlos Rosario!

Surveying Carlos Rosario beach.

Later when I was happy he reminded me that the ring is just a symbol of what we have in our hearts and cannot lose, and he was very right.

I want to come back, with our friends or with more family. Isaac would be so happy to have Patou along.

Now we leave tomorrow, way too early. Ah well, I'm very happy we came!

The art of relaxation.