Charlie has discovered the playground. He gets a clue that we might be headed in the direction of a playground, he gets excited, and don't even think about going the other way. It's gotten to the point that since there is a McDonald's near one playground, he thinks every McDonald's is a playground. First, we start with the swings.
Then, we like to run around, climbing steps and just missing getting knocked over by the bigger kids.
Sometimes, we have to wear Mommy's sunglasses.
Although my picture taking and cataloging has significantly declined since Charlie's first birthday, here he is at his 16 month birthday. First five quarters completed!
Nilda still refuses to cut his hair, though it's getting a little crazy. She finds support in people at the playground who say "DON'T YOU DARE CUT HIS HAIR!!" You can almost comb it, though his curls make that tough. It's probably more timely to compare him to Don Draper, but I would rather say he looks like Gordon Gecco. Always on the phone.
Charlie had a good time at the local beer garden.
But then he had to sleep it off.
This kid gets most active when he's tired, right before bed time. Here he is working on his moon crawling.
I tried to get a video of him dancing to Sesame Street, but he's become very camera shy. Here he is eating breakfast and realizing that I was supposed to eat that particular waffle.
On the house front, we are closing on our apartment in early June and will need to be out. We found a house we like in New Rochelle where we want to be, but things are getting a little rocky with the sellers, so we're looking at other houses this weekend just to be safe. We'll keep you updated.
P.S. - Charlie enforces a strict "no one poops alone" policy, so don't even think about closing the bathroom door on him.
It's the usually-almost-annual Passover / Easter episode! We went to Philly for the long weekend and Charlie saw all of his cousins, including his 3-month older cousin, Serena. They were both so excited that they woke up early. Here's a picture of them being really pissed off about that.
The best part of going to Philly for Passover is getting the slow leak in your tire fixed for under $15 at Costco using your mom's membership. Charlie's favorite part was the chocolate covered acai berries.
The first seder was with my dad's side, the second seder was with my mom's side. This is one of the times where Nilda not being Jewish is very convenient.
Charlie doesn't know the four questions yet, but his main question this year was "Why am I not allowed to throw this matzah on the floor?" I tried to explain that if He hadn't smoted our ancestors, it would have been enough, but he wasn't having it.
Charlie liked the clapping. Apparently, having ancestors escape from bondage means you do a lot of clapping.
Btw, you see that sheet/place setting right there? That means I made it. Charlie had a great time. He got to run around a house the first night and a large hall the second night with his cousins all around him. The only problem is that he falls after every three steps he takes. He's like Maggie Simpson. Finally, Charlie decided to make his own Exodus from Mommy changing him into pajamas and made a show for everyone.
On Easter, back in New York, Nilda and I took Charlie to the Little Red Lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge, which is the only remaining lighthouse on Manhattan that you can only get to on foot.
Charlie liked it because he got to walk around on a picnic table and man, you should have seen the tears when it was time to go. Just to put all of this in perspective, here is what Charlie looked like a year ago:
We spent that Friday night at Kate and Houdin's in Connecticut, where Matt and Mary were staying as part of their Passover travels. Jeremy and Irene tagged along because what the hell. It was a quorum-reunion of the whole law school group, with a key few unfortunately missing. It's amazing to think how far we've come, from the mouse-infested hell hole in the projects that even the drug dealer wouldn't go to, to a diaspora of Connecticut, Min-eh-so-dah and shortly Westchester.
It's amazing how when we're all together, it's like no time has passed. Kate didn't go to law school, but she remembers being in 3A once and one of us catching a mouse on the kitchen counter using a cup, so she's in. None of us met Nilda until well after law school, but she's got enough law school debt from Fordham to be one of us. Besides, I think we all recognize that I'm happier married than I ever was single, so that makes me easier to tolerate. We had the eight-year old serve as the photographer and made sure to get a picture of what he claims is my butt.
Great shot, Noah. Make sure they put you in the gifted class. Speaking of the diaspora, it looks like we've settled on a house in New Rochelle. We're in talks now on a particular place and more to come. We may have a backyard sooner than I had thought. I want a place Charlie can grow into
and think of as his home. I sometimes look at him and remember about my own
childhood, how I felt and wondering how my parents must have felt watching me grow up, like I'm watching Charlie. Then
I look at Charlie and realize he's thinking, "I'm pretty sure there's more
banana that they're not giving me."
In the meantime, check out this video, which proves why 90210 was not as cool as you thought it was at the time and why high school would have been so much better if everyone listened to Phish.
