9.08.10 ~ Lovely Pics of Liam and His Bestie

Miya just sent me these amazing pictures. She took them last week when Liam and Emi were busy decorating her chalkboard wall. I immediately made one my desktop background. That way when I'm at school and working my butt off, I can always be reminded of the fun things we did during our summer break.

9.06.10 ~ The Labor Day Parade (The West Indian Day Parade)

So, I haven't been shy about my ambivalence when it comes to staying in New York and moving to Brooklyn. However, on days like today, when there is a badass festival and parade right outside of our front door, I feel like we live in the coolest place ever.




Here's how much Liam enjoyed the whole thing:

As you can probably imagine, it wasn't exactly quiet outside. Liam is definitely a city kid.

Even after we returned home, we kept an eye on things from our apartment window:



So, tomorrow is the first day of school. I hope no one got used to the regular updates because starting tomorrow all of my free time and brain power will need to be redirected to my dissertation. It's been a truly delightful month with Liam, but now it's time to get back to work!

9.05.10 ~ My Battle Wounds

....And by battle, I mean picnic. On Saturday we were having a lovely picnic in Prospect Park with Miya and Emi when I managed to bring the fun to an abrupt end by plunging a knife straight through some hard salami and into my finger. Here’s the fun that was being had:




….before Jason and Miya had to jump into action by packing up our picnic and kids and guiding our stroller brigade to the hospital to get these stitches:


So don’t be surprised if Liam looks a little hungry and dirty in the coming weeks. I don’t plan on chopping any more food for a while. And bathing may also be a little tricky with a stitched finger. But currently, with Jason and his capable hands (and fingers) home for the weekend, we managed to have a very nice day today.









By the way, Liam is wearing hand-me-up shoes from Emi (he’s getting to wear them before she even grows into them!). Today on the playground a mother complimented Liam’s style, specifically pointing out his shoes. Thank you, Miya - -expert stylist!

8.31.10 ~ Pictures with Mommy

Here are some pictures taken by my talented friend, Chris Shea. I love them. And he's for hire on photo or film projects in or around New York after November 1st. Just sayin.

8.29.10 ~ Governors Island

Why all the activity you ask? We’re making up for lost time, I guess, since Liam was sick last weekend and for most of last week. So today we took the ferry to Governors Island. There we rented what Liam dubbed a “bike car” and peddled around in the heat. Liam was really into the ferry ride, the bike car, the bike helmet (“cool hat”), and the ice cream we fed him. Liam really didn’t care about the old army base buildings, the Statue of Liberty, or the views of the Manhattan skyline. Jason and I liked all of it. Except the heat. And the mosquitoes. And Liam’s temper tantrum at the end of the day.

8.28.10 ~ Coney Island

Today we ventured out to Coney Island for the first time since we’ve lived in New York. Annette and Ryan met us out there and we basically ate our way through the place with pizza, hotdogs, and beer pit stops.

Secretly, I was using the amusement park as sort of a personality test for little Liam. I don’t think he’s ever been around so much stimulation in his whole life. There were crowds, loud announcers at each booth, bright colors, music, and rides zooming around above Liam’s head while spinning kids in circles and flipping them up-side-down. My goal was to figure out if my kid is a thrill seeker and action junkie (so that I can start now with making plans to lock him up for his teenage years) or whether he would approach this environment with a bit of caution. I’m not sure I got my answer. On the one hand, he was definitely not scared. In fact, he promptly wiggled out of my arms and ran off zigzagging to look at whatever caught his eye without ever checking to see whether Jason or I was actually following him (obviously, we were). On the other hand, after expressing interest in every single ride (all of which he was too short for), when we finally got the carousel which was appropriate for his age, he didn’t want to ride it. Several loud “NO’s” from Liam encouraged us to give up and go get pizza instead.

After eating we decided to get on the Ferris wheel since that didn’t have a height requirement either. As we stood in line waiting for our turn, Liam basically jumped out of my arms to get into every little passenger booth that passed by before us. Once we got in, we rode up, up, up, and Liam got very quiet and stared intently out at the view of the park, the ocean, and the street in front of him. But he was definitely not scared. Not even as much as a whimper came from him as we rode high into the blue afternoon sky. In fact, he refused to sit on my lap and instead wanted to sit by himself, next to me on the bench. Of course, it’s impossible to know for sure, but I think he thought it was really, really cool.

So, I’m not sure what my conclusion is. He definitely wasn’t scared of the height of the Ferris wheel, but also wasn’t willing to take the risk of riding a stationary horse in a circle for three minutes. What I do know for certain after today is that Liam absolutely loves pizza and hotdogs.

8.27.10 ~ Best Friend

Liam has a lot of little friends, but I think if you asked him (and he suddenly had the verbal skills to answer you), Liam would tell you that Emi is his BEST friend. She came over today while her mom was out bringing home the bacon (her words). Liam and Emi played together so happily and busily that they barely noticed I was still there. After Emi left Liam slept very soundly. And when he woke up the first thing he called from his crib was "Emmmmmiiiii!"

8.23.10 ~ Temporarily Domesticated. Wait. I mean, Domestic

Ahhh, the life of a full-time mom. I’m starting to get used to this. Not that it’s exactly restful. But it’s definitely a good life. I am stay-at-home-mom-ing until Liam’s school is back in session after Labor Day. The first few days after returning from Turkey were a little rough. It was hard to get used to the constant demands of a toddler after lounging on a boat and having someone else do everything for me for six days. I guiltily had the thought that there was no way I could do this full-time long-term and yearned for school. But it didn’t take long before I got into the groove of Liam’s daily routine. And now we’re having a really nice time and I’m actually not looking forward to school and dissertating so much anymore. We’ve been exploring our new neighborhood here in Brooklyn, frequenting the local playgrounds, hanging out with lots of adult and baby friends, having ice cream regularly, playing with trains and cars A LOT, and -- wait for it -- even doing some cooking! And the camera has been rolling to catch all of Liam’s cute tricks and hilarity.

Counting from Nina Philipsen Hetzner on Vimeo.

Singing from Nina Philipsen Hetzner on Vimeo.

Trash Man from Nina Philipsen Hetzner on Vimeo.

More Trash Man from Nina Philipsen Hetzner on Vimeo.

More Counting from Nina Philipsen Hetzner on Vimeo.