Cooking Together

I've always dreamed of the day that Isaac would stand up on a chair and cook with me.
And on Saturday, it (sort of) happened!

I hope he's thinking about how he must stay away from that big knife.

I hand him the potatoes and he plops them in the bowl, just like that.

Ready, aim and shoot!

We were very excited that he we can (mostly) trust him not to fall off of the chair.

Cooking requires lots of encouragement and kisses.

It was so much fun we decided to do the same today:

Note the concentration.

And the healthy sampling habits!

We look forward to what you create next, Chef Isaac.

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.

My Baby is Obsessed with Trash

And it is Driving Me Nuts.

Action shot!

I try to remind myself that this is just a phase, but this phase has been going on for months. Many months full of hanging out at garbage cans while Isaac picks up little bits of detrius ("shrash!") that range from the seriously gross, to a nice firm stone, and drops them "in!"

Behind the visitor's center in Fort Greene Park, where there is lots of trash!

The ladies who work at the park all know his name and love him, not just because he's so cute and chubby, but because he helps them with the little hard to get trash items.

"Shrash!"...."Shrash!" His little bottom up is up in the air, his little fingers down on the ground, picking and pulling. The only time I really get upset is when he picks up cigarette butts, "No Isaac! No cigarettes!", or gum, "Yucky!"

trash heaven

But that is maybe 50% of the time, which is quite a lot of time, if you think about it.

The people on the bench thought it was funny.

My Little African Prince

This is my latest and favorite conversation with Isaac:

Me, "Hi!, My name is mommy, What is your name?"
Isaac, with a teeth peeking out grin and smiling shining eyes, "Ateenda!"

Then we move on to pipes or faucets or trash, his favorite conversations.

Brooklyn Moon

From Fort Greene Park, last night.

Tooth Brushin' Blues

This article from the NY Times has got me worried!
Preschoolers in Surgery for a Mouthful of Cavities 

The many personalities of teeth!

I'm feeling very remiss. Every night I try to brush his small chompers, but to a frustratingly sad outcome. Isaac clamps his little mouth shut, and all my cajoling is to no avail. I've tried brushing my own teeth to get him to want to copy. I've tried singing silly tooth brushing songs. I've tried letting him use my or his daddy's toothbrushes, which are way more exciting than his own.

I get a few swipes if we're lucky. And he loves the little brushes as nifty little objects, but much prefers to do my teeth (much too roughly), or the surface of the bathtub, rather than his own.

Ok, so the Times has given me a kick in the pants. Tonight, we brush!

We Love Dr Seuss aka "Pop!"

Yay Pop!

Isaac was comin' right at me, with white knuckles, and Hop on Pop leading the way.
"Pop!" he was announcing, sort of yelling, or definitely demanding, and that was something like 2 months ago, before he was saying much of anything!

If Dr. Seuss wasn't already awesome enough, here's one more reason to love him:  [from Wikipedia]

"One of Geisel's manuscript drafts for the book contained the lines, "When I read I am smart / I always cut whole words apart. / Con Stan Tin O Ple, Tim Buk Too / Con Tra Cep Tive, Kan Ga Roo." Geisel had included the contraceptive reference to ensure that publisher Bennett Cerf was reading the manuscript. Cerf did notice the line,^[4] and the poem was changed to the following: "My father / can read / big words, too. / Like... / Constantinople / and / Timbuktu."^[3]

Ha!

Isaac at less than 2 months old and already learning about green eggs and ham.

The Michigan booties were sent to the very small Isaac from his 2nd cousin once removed (?) Talia!