3 years, 5 months/1 year, 3 months, 1 week.

We spent the morning with Spellbound Explorers, watching puppets and telling stories and playing games.  Graham was raptly interested.  Connor took on his usual job of trash collecting in the vicinity.

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 3 months, 1 week.

Connor is a climber!  He was also very excited to discover that he could make his book play the animal sounds by stomping on it.

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 3 months, 1 week.

These 3 jailbirds have been locked up for creating too much ruckus in the park.  Connor, meanwhile, is uncontainable, and was wandering around trying to hit parked cars with sticks while Graham, Lily, and Jacob played at the gate.

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 3 months.

Nothing's better than a water fountain, even in a playground full of sprinklers.

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 3 months.

Daddy booked Graham and Connor seats on the slow & ultra-fast tire swings before we all had a surprisingly successful experience dining-out--first, Dinosaur BBQ, where Caveman Connor ate two "dinosaur" legs and one thigh, and then Ample Hills Creamery, where we all shared some really good ice-cream (flavors--"Snap, Mallow, Pop!," "It Came from the Gowanus," and "Vanilla Malted").  Graham insisted on being called Tigger and bounced his way to & from the restaurants.

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 3 months.

We headed to the carousel for a few rides this afternoon.  Connor is suddenly a person with opinions--initially, he was scared and clung to the center pole, but after a few minutes he warmed up and then was mad when the ride ended.

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 3 months.

Just chillin' in the park with Phoebe and Bennett.

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 3 months.

The boys had the best time at the nature park with Lily and Jacob today.  Graham loves playing with Jacob, who is 5 and has lots of new things to show Graham, and Lily, who is 3, loves taking care of baby Connor.  It's a good combination.

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 3 months (15 months!).

Happy 1 and 1/4 years, Connor!  We celebrated with Connor's first empanada and cheesesteak (a classic combination, I'm sure).  

Connor has developed an amazing amount since his first birthday.  He's walking very solidly and can go up and down steps with a hand or railing to assist.  He loves throwing and kicking balls (and everything else that he can palm) and occasionally even catches one.  He shouts lots of orders, some of which we understand: Mama, Daddy, hi, more, milk, banana, cheese, yes, all done, please, thank you, love you (appropriate context for these last 3, probably not appropriate meaning), ball, kitty, toast, this (all purpose "what's this?" and "look at this" word), and his most frequently used word--uh oh!  He's a good mimic and knows some animal sounds/gestures: lion, monkey, lizard, fish.  He does the spider in the "Itzy Bitzy Spider" and the clapping and stomping parts of "If you're happy and you know it," though "shout hurrah!" eludes him.  He loves to play peek-a-boo/chase around our hallway/kitchen loop.  He's interested in books, provided they have sounds or textures or doors to entertain him.  He nurses 3x/day most days and eats 3 meals, plus whatever snacks he can get down before Graham scavenges the rest from him.  A high percentage of his diet is blueberries.  He goes down cheerily for nap(s) (he's in the process of dropping his morning nap) and night, though we wish he'd sleep a little later in the mornings.  He's developing a very silly personality and loves to make us laugh with his antics.  He just started pointing, which means that we suddenly know he's interested in squirrels and water bottles and most of all, Graham.

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 2 months, 4 weeks.

After a morning playdate to say goodbye to Ellie and Izzy, who are moving to the 'burbs, we met up with friends at the park to do a little tree climbing and truck pushing.  Connor is all boy--somehow, he already knows how to push a dump truck down the sidewalk.  Next up: vrrrrrrm vrrrrrrm sound effects!

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks.

After a little morning downtime by Graham-in-a-box, we ventured into the city to watch a kid's concert and dine at Shake Shack with Honor and Gil.  

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks.

Our friends Ashley, Chris, Eric, and Ian may have moved to California, but Ashley sent her sister to sub in for her!  Great meeting you, Sarah, Sasha, and Polly, and welcome to the neighborhood!

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks.

Graham is lookin' good for a trip to the roof deck to check on his marigolds, which have bloomed!

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks.

We are sorry that such sad circumstances brought us to Ardmore this weekend, but it was wonderful to get the cousins together and spend time with family.  Thank you for having us, Beth.

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks.

We spent this weekend at Graham's beloved Nana's House.  On Saturday, we visited the Bissell family to meet 2-week-old Edie and test out Graham and Matilda's memories (they hadn't seen each other for over 18 months).  They passed with flying colors--after a few minutes of warm-up time, the big kids disappeared to Matilda's room and played completely without intervention until we had to pull Graham out to go home.  Congratulations on beautiful Edith, Julia & Sean!  So great seeing you.

Back at Nana's house, Molly showed Graham how to use her trike while Connor demonstrated his throwing skills.

3 years, 5 months/1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks.

It's a nature park miracle!  We found Graham's sandal which somehow fell out of the stroller when we left the park yesterday.  Good thing--otherwise, Graham would have been barefoot for his trip to Nana's house this weekend.

3 years, 4 months/1 year, 2 months, 2 weeks.

Graham and Sam had the best time playing squirt guns at the park this afternoon!

3 years, 4 months/1 year, 2 months, 2 weeks.

Back in Brooklyn, with a new story time and play space to check out!  Connor spent most of his time at the play space carefully putting little piles of rocks on each of the stumps bordering the gravel pit.

3 years, 4 months/1 year, 2 months, 2 weeks.

Happy July 4!  Today, Connor discovered that he loves raisin toast and the undivided attention of Grammy, Granny Annie, and Uncle Lou.  He also got a little early athletic training from his Scottish gymnastics coach cousin Maggie and met his first camel with Uncle John.

3 years, 4 months/1 year, 2 months, 1 week.

Connor and Charlotte were very cooperative about being babysat while the rest of us attended Uncle Jim's beautiful memorial service and celebrated his life over lunch.

3 years, 4 months/1 year, 2 months, 1 week.

Connor and I flew to Chicago this morning.  We spent most of the day with baby Isabella, who is just 3 days older than Connor.  Connor was very confused by our entire trip and had this expression on his face most of the time.  So wonderful to finally meet you, Isabella!  Thanks for the airport pick-up and lunch!

Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, Daddy and Graham dined at Shake Shack, where Graham came up with this fry mustache idea on his own.  He's beginning to understand jokes and is interested in learning knock knock jokes and saying silly things (like "I have 8 eyes!") for laughs.

3 years, 4 months/1 year, 2 months, 1 week.

Graham launched his political career (and got in the paper for the first time) by campaigning for our friend Pete who is running for a state assembly seat.  While we were in Cobble Hill, we stopped by one of our old haunts, LICH park, to play with baby Charlotte.

Later in the afternoon, Graham was very excited to hold Ninja and Buttercup, the guinea pigs that Annika is taking care of for the summer.  He was very gentle with them and thrilled when Ninja pooped on him (?).  

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