A few highlights from the past few weeks:

• Eli seeming to find interest in all things musical – calling out the names of different instruments when he hears them in the car.
• Eli’s favorite instrument – Harmonica (or Mahkana-maka) – See video
• Eli starting to “read” books to himself.  Walking into his room to hear him “reading” with the same inflection when we’re reading to him at night.
• Eli playing with, and already looking up to his older cousin Jonah.  Brings me back to time as a kid with my own older cousin.
• The first family road trip down to NJ to visit Rachel’s parents.  Rachel in the back between two boys…flashback to her childhood with two older brothers.
• Eli’s last day of “Tuesday’s with Nani”.  Eli spent every Tuesday with his Grandma Karin from 3 months old until 2 years, 1 month.  Now he’s in daycare full-time and Liam starts the “Tuesday’s with Nani” in February.
• Looking at Rachel when both kids are finally asleep, and just laughing at the life we find ourselves in today

Here’s a photo/video update of the two kids at their respective milestones.

Eli @ 2 Years & 2 Months:

Liam @ 6 Weeks:

Mahkana-Maka:

Liam rolls @ 1 month:

It’s getting harder to remember a life without this guy running around.  At 2 years, we’ve settled into some sort of a parenting routine and he’s pushing new boundaries each week.   We’re not sure what to expect from “the terrible twos”, but he knows what he wants and has learned how to use “no.”  For the most part his assertiveness is still cute, but we’ll see how long that lasts with another Ash on the way any day now…

A few clips and pictures at his 2nd birthday:

Eli reading to Russ (and aggressively patting him)

Eli reading magazines at dinner (a demand at every meal)

Eli bites it at gymnastics (and dad holds back laughter)

Eli opening a gift on his birthday (quite the reaction to a pair of pants)

And then the biggest highlight.  Meeting Bill Murray at a Cornell Football game. 

Took a trip last month with dad and brother to Bryce and Zion National Parks.  The highlight of the trip was a 16 mile hike through The Narrows, a deep canyon section in the Virgin River in Zion.  Hiking the Narrows was ranked 5th by National Geographic in “America’s top 100 adventures”.   Three-quarters of the hike is through the river, and we were told that we would have water up to our chest in a few sections.  They didn’t say that there were sections that we would be actually swimming with full gear on our backs.  (See last picture in slideshow above).   But the hike was incredible.  We were one of 10 groups that had permits to hike the full trail and camp overnight in the canyon.  The walls of the canyon are over 1,500 ft. in places which gives the trail a feel of complete seclusion.  While camping overnight, you can faintly see the giant cliffs above you, with a sliver of the most clear stars and moon through the peaks.  Growing up, our parents were pretty big into wilderness vacations.  But, to take a trip as adults and friends, not as parent and kid, was something we’ll appreciate the rest of our lives.  By the time we reached the exit of the park, I was already picturing the day I would bring my own son on this hike.  Thanks for a great trip, pops.

Dad tackles The Narrows (Viewer discretion- foul language from the old man)

I had been living in NYC for a little over one month.  I got  on the 4/5 train before 9am from Brooklyn to Manhattan for a job interview.  At the Broadway/Lafayette subway stop in lower Manhattan, I left the underground to transfer to the Lexington train uptown.  When I exited on to Houston Street there was chaos on the street.  I noticed the fire engines and police cars first, then the unmarked cars with lights and sirens all heading downtown.  Then I noticed the people running, one of them yelling that a plane hit the World Trade Center.   I moved down the street half a block and the trade center came into view.  There was a huge gash and smoke pouring out of the building.  Like most people, I assumed that a small plane must have accidentally hit the tower.  I stood there for a few minutes considering what to do and then left, assuming that I still had to make the job interview.  I got on the 4/5 train uptown, buzzing with chatter about the accident.  At the 14th street station, someone got on the train and yelled that another plane had hit the second tower and we were under attack.  I got off the subway at the 42d street station and called my cousin back in Brooklyn.  He told me he was watching TV and that the Pentagon had just been hit as well and that there were reports of additional planes in the air.  I went across the platform to get to the downtown train back to Brooklyn and made it halfway between the 42nd and 34th street station when the train stopped and lights went out.  I was in the first car and could see light from the 34th street station around the corner, but we weren’t moving.  The conductor came on the speaker after a few minutes and informed us that all trains were being stopped due to an incident at the trade center.  We waited in the tunnel until they moved us to the next station to let people out.  When I got out of the station at 34th Street everything above ground was a confused scene.  All traffic had stopped, people were standing in the middle of the street listening to radio reports from cars stranded in the masses.  There were reports of additional crashes, reports of more planes in the air and rumors of a plane heading for the Empire State Building (which was a few blocks from where I was standing).  We had a clear view of the burning towers, and that’s all that people were watching.  At this point, a few people started screaming and we saw the first tower collapsing. It was the most surreal site to witness.  A tower that had looked so immovable and central to the NYC skyline was collapsing on itself in a silent, dusty explosion.  There were gasps, screams and cries all around me.  I stood with everyone and continued watching for half an hour until the second tower fell.  During this time, I ran into a friend of my uncle’s and he told me to follow him to his coworker’s apartment.  From there, I reached my uncle and decided to spend the rest of the day with him at his 22nd street apartment.  (All trains, tunnels and bridges had been closed, so there was no way to get back home).  While walking to my uncle’s apartment, I started catching people walking uptown with dust-covered suits.  There was a flat look on most people’s faces.  I didn’t see a lot of shock or panic…just disbelief.  The most memorable reaction was when I reached the outside of my uncle’s apartment and saw a woman completely covered in grey dust, weeping in a man’s arms.  When I passed, I heard her say something about people jumping off the tower.  That was the first time I remember feeling the human impact and not just the structural and societal impact.

I spent the rest of the day watching the replays of the images on my uncle’s TV.  I called the restaurant which was my employer at the time and the manager told me I had to find my way back.  He told me it was quickly becoming the busiest night of their history.  When the subways opened, I made my way back to Brooklyn and to the restaurant.  As he said, the restaurant was filled both inside and out.  The air was thick with the smell of the burning towers, and debris consisting of half burnt business documents blowing down the street.  I spent the rest of the night serving people from the neighborhood.   On a day of such horror and confusion, I believe people were looking for something positive and reaffirming.  Perhaps they were looking for the most basic of needs…a human connection and a sense of community.

Language:  We’ve clearly entered the questioning phase of childhood development.  Eli’s vocabulary expansion is on cruise control and now he wants to know what everything is around him….

Swimming. His mom was a State champ and his dad has a freakishly long torso, so he has the genes to be a future Mark Spitz.  Yeah, he has the aid of a pretty ridiculous looking 1950s inner-tube jumpsuit, but look at this kid move.

Helping Out.  In addition to picking up our language, he’s mimicking much of what he sees us doing.  Which happens to be a lot of house work.

Just Eli.  Two random clips.  His first backwards walk, and a time in the grocery store when he heard his mom use the word “honey” for dad.

Yesterday, Ethan and I spent our date night at Cinemapolis for a screening of “May I Be Frank“, co-produced by someone Ethan knew growing up in Ithaca, Conor Gaffney.  Conor was out in San Francisco working with friends for Cafe Gratitude, (a Vegan/Raw Food restuarant), when their worlds collided with a native Brooklynite, Frank Ferrante.  Frank, A 54 year old, obese and depressed addict, caught the affection of Conor & his friends, who put him on a 42-day regimen to transform his life, in quite the opposite way of Morgan Spurlock in Super Size Me.

The result is a very real, raw account of the various steps he commits to take as he begins to heal his body, mind and spirit.  It really, really moved me and his message is still with me today - that we, and only we, have the power to be who we want to be.  Cliche, cliche, but there is nothing more true that that.  Yes, this includes facing your demons and taking risks but Frank lets us into all of this and coming through the other side is a more centered, authentic and fulfilled person.   The film also beautifully demonstrates the power of community and giving of your self to impact a life.

If it screens near you, check it out.  If not, the DVD will be up on their website soon.

Here’s to paying Frank’s transformation forward in little ripples…

That belly is the big news this summer.  That’s right Eli…we’re giving you the greatest gift a parent can give their first-born.  Someone to pick on for the next 20 years.   Come November, you’ll be a big brother.

Growing up, my brother was my best friend and partner for endless games, chats and torment.  Watching my own son grow up with a sibling will no doubt bring back some great memories from childhood.

From a parenting standpoint, it’s hard to imagine what it will feel like to have two kids to spread the attention between.  But as with the first, I don’t think there is any way to really prepare for it.  We’ll buy extra diapers, stock a little more wine in the cabinet, close our eyes and get ready for the ride.

A few interesting things (probably to his parents only) that we’ll want to remember about Eli from this stage someday:

• Following his mom’s actions, when he wants my attention, he now yells out, “E!” (see video)
• His word for all done:  ”Gah-gong” (also in video)
• His favorite book:   We All Go Traveling By – He can point out the buth (bus), chuck (truck), bikey (bike), and peeeen (plane)
• His favorite character:  Elmo or “Em-mo”
• Favorite Song:  Wheels on the Bus (complete with ‘rolling down the river’ hand motions)
• His surprise face whenever he sees something new or wants to impress us (see jack in the box video clip)

While most of our previous observations about Eli centered on him evolving from an infant into a relatable human being, the last few weeks have been marked by clues that those XY chromosomes are shaping him into a real boy.   While every new word that rolls off his tongue is exciting, there is something different about the emphasis and wonder he has for ‘truck’, or “kuksch” as he calls them.

In the span of one week we noticed that he kept pulling the same truck book off the shelf.  His favorite toys are now trucks and every time we pass one on the street I hear the same cute chatter from the back seat…”Kukch, Kuksch, Kuksch.”  I’m not implying that girls don’t enjoy trucks, or that I’ll be upset if his truck interest evolves into something less masculine, but it’s just interesting.  What is it in our makeup that causes a kid at 17 months to fall in love with trucks.  I can see why I like them. But what does he see?   As far as I can tell, nobody was giving him cookies if he said the word truck.  So why does that happen?  Is there some evolutionary benefit to boys liking trucks?  Life mystery I guess.

On another note, he also discovered pockets this month.  While not as defining as trucks, for some reason he looks 10 years older when he puts his hands in them and starts strolling.  Go figure.

Quite a fun time in parenthood.  The changes are happening at warp speed and it’s just fun to be a witness to it all.  Thank god for the blog or I’d forget all this stuff next week when he discovers race cars and play dough.