enough with the guns

 

It has been a week where crime is too close to home, which merits a follow up to my 2013 post, crime and cars in the Central District.

On Wednesday there was a 10:40 am (!!!) shooting at 2nd and Yesler, an intersection I walk through several times a week that is only a few blocks from home and work. 

After reading about it on Wednesday, I made the mistake of leaving the SPD blotter site open on my work computer so that on Thursday I looked at it again and learned of several other recent, gun-related crimes in the Central District.

These incidents can mostly be divided into gang/drug violence and thefts.

I can't do much about the former beyond (the obvious choices of) not buying, selling or using drugs or joining a gang. As for latter, it feels like a balancing act between taking reasonable precautions and not getting bogged down by fear. 

If I am ever targeted, it will most likely be a theft.  At a low moment this week I was considering that I should probably visualize myself compliantly handing over whatever material possessions are demanded, so that I don’t exercise some silly protective instinct that put me and mine at risk over a few hundred dollars (max) of stuff.

Sigh.

At times like this, looking at the street photos, brief interviews and comments on Humans of New York restores my faith in humanity.

Hawaii pictures

 

This is a belated picture-heavy post on our trip to Hawaii in early August. The three flights weren’t too bad.  We saw an 18 month old flying and made mental note to avoid travel at that age.

First we were on Oahu, for a lovely wedding.  Thankfully the double hurricane that was forecasted, turned in to a single tropical storm, so we just had a day or two of heavy rain and some emergency precautions in Honolulu.

D slept on a thermarest, which worked well in Boston at 6 weeks but not so well at 3.5 months.  He started rolling over and waking up angry and on his face.  That marked the unfortunate end of swaddling and the beginning of a tough sleep month. 

D seemed to enjoy the water and standing in the sand.

 

We had one very long day between our 10 am checkout and 10 pm inter-island flight.  We passed some time walking around Waimea Falls. There were some beautiful trees and flowers.

On Maui we went to the beach several times and visited Haleakala national park, which is a 10,000 ft high volcano.

 

We put a lot of (very natural) sun screen on D.  Keeping him out of the sun and spending a bit too much time in the car was rough.

We watched some impressive surfers and saw four big sea turtles.

On our last day went on a snorkel boat and had a great time.  We bought some underwater pictures they took, but managed to immediately lose them, so this is it.  You’ll just have to imagine how cool we looked under water.

We had a lot of fun, interspersed with a bit of baby-related stress.  My advice for next time (or for friends) is: 1) expect jet lag, even if you don’t think your baby has a strong sleep schedule 2) plan ahead for naps, especially when a hot parked car is not an option 3) minimize car travel.

daycare success!

'Tis the season of back-to-school and D started daycare today.  

Jack brought him in, I visited for a lunchtime snack and we picked him up together. He was put down for two naps by teachers and one by me.  At the end of the day he is happy and only a little hungry as the third bottle feeding didn't go down until I got there.  They have lots of fun toys and he gets to sleep by a noisy vent which functions as a white noise machine. 

I'm very pleased. 

resemblance and coloring

 

When you’re pregnant, people ask “Do you know if it’s a girl or a boy?”  Then after the baby is born it’s “Who does he look like?” and “Do you think his eyes will stay blue?”  We do see a lot of baby Jack in D.  While eye color prediction seems like it could be done scientifically (unlike gender prediction) our answer is still… “We have no idea what will happen.” 

Jack is on the left and D is on the right.  Both are about 4 months old.  Help - I’m surrounded by cuties!

My most obvious contributions to D so far are his dark hair and his fabulously arched frown (which thus far eludes the camera).

Here’s a progression of my coloring through age 3.5, though it’s hard to see eye color in photos.  My dark hair and hazel eyes arrived relatively late

         

Jack was blond, by which I mean white-haired.  Today his eyes are still very blue, but they are less saturated than when he was a little kid.  Like me, his hair color settled down to the current color around first grade.

      

Lastly, here are some kind of creepy close ups of our eyes that I just happen to have lying around.

birthday charities

 

This year I picked a subset of the recipients from last year (2013 charities).  The task of donating (and writing this post) had to fit in to one of D’s 45 minute naps.

According to this, it was a good year for women and a bad year for Seattle food banks.

Honolulu nuptials

 

Last weekend we attended the long anticipated wedding of some good friends in Honolulu.  It was a beautiful and touching ceremony.  Jack was in the wedding party and reflecting on what he wanted to say in his toast, caused us to recognize what a great couple they are. 

 

D was a hit with the ladies (and gents).

divisions of new parenthood

Beyond the obvious separation of tasks that stems from breast feeding, I find myself dividing tasks according to these questions:

Can I eat it with one hand? (bad news for my go to meal of soup)

Does this task make disruptive, sporadic noises?

Do I have to bend over to complete this chore?

Does this  job require two (adult) people?

Will I be able to hear D if he wakes up while I do this? 

My mom's insistence on not putting clothes on the floor is starting to make sense. 

Also, I can peel a hard boiled egg with one hand.   

babies on couches

 

What could be cuter than a bunch of babies, lined up in a gently swaying row?

These babies were in our centering pregnancy group.

 

This is from our Penny Simkin birth class reunion today.  It was a wonderful class and all these babies were born without pain meds.

Here’s D meeting his new cousin.

As a bonus, here’s a picture from my birth class cohort.  I’m leaning forward, wearing red.

This past week we had our first PEPS (program for early parent support) meeting, so I’m sure in a few weeks we’ll have another couch shot for our collection.

Viaduct/Alaskan Way tunnel: part 5

A entire year has passed since my last photo update and the south end of the tunnel hasn't changed much from the surface.  Bertha only dug for a short while before breaking down, but we can celebrate the small victory of the construction of the road leading in to the tunnel. 

Compare this picture to my previous posts from July 2013, April 2013, December 2012 and April 2012.

more construction

We are watching another new building go up in Pioneer Square. Also, I just like this picture. 

four thoughts on parenting

1) The task is always changing. The tricks of one week don't work the next and the recommendations are also a moving target. 

2) Regarding those recommendations, I'm pretty surprised by how confident people are after raising only one child or even a handful of them. I definitely prefer to read evidence-based advice inferred from data from hundreds or thousands of kids.  Parenting is the ultimate small sample size. 

3) There was a recent recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics    recommending reading to kids as soon as they are born. 

Though this is totally the type of evidence based advice I appreciate, I also recognize that D is not in the demographic they hope to help (kids in poverty).  He hears plenty of words and we keep the TV off. Of course, we are reading to him some, but right now I find that singing and talking are much more rewarding. 

Sometimes he does look at the pictures (when we read a picture book ).

4) His face is most beautiful thing. It is so expressive. I love his grins, his frown, his satiated look, his wonder and his expression of relaxed confidence that we will take care of him. 

D's first M's game

We took D to his first Mariners game this Friday, along with a couple of our friends.  D got to “see” a 3-2 victory, and even managed to sleep through the post-game fireworks show.

He was a little bit fussy, so Cari and I each spent a fair amount of time out on the concourse walking around and feeding him, but overall it was fun and easier than we expected, especially considering we were sitting in a light drizzle part of the time.  D’s helicopter pilot style baby ear protection, which he wore without much complaint, presumably helped a lot.

Boston bound baby

 

Last week my mom, D and I spent four days in Boston visiting D’s aunt and uncle.

It gave me a lot of confidence in being out and about with D.  The primary lesson was that D at 6 weeks vastly prefers the plane, the subway and the bus (even in the rain) to the car.  We already know he’s a big fan of walking.

D shared his cuteness with his aunt and uncle and a few other friends.

   

We also toured my sister’s lab (boys need encouragement in STEM careers too :) ) and went candlepin bowling, which is a local variation.

As much as the trip built my confidence, I couldn’t have done it without my mom!