Four Months of Rowan

Tomorrow, Rowan will be 4 months old. So in honor of this occasion, here's his life so far:

His delivery was complicated by an umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, which caused his heart rate to drop periodically during labor. But after hours of oxygen, shifting and monitoring, he popped out nicely at 1:30pm (ish) August 12th, 2010.

My beautiful baby boy, Rowan "Ro-ro" Charles Powell.

Kiki came in with Aunt Mary (babysitter extraordinaire on labor day!) and greeted her new brother with instant kisses, many many kisses. (The suffocating bearhugs, she'd save for later.)
He was a big baby (8.2 oz) but still sooo small.
Auntie MJ, his official photographer came by for a visit.
Along with Auntie Songhee, his champion against second-child neglect syndrome.
For a small baby, he has freakishly long toes. Not sure who he got them from. ???
A few days later, after we all went home, Kiki started initiating Rowan to her management style. The submit-to-my-will-and-we'll-get-along-just-fine style.
But as ever, she was generous with the kisses.
Grandma flew all the way from Montana to see Rowan and Kiki. She and Kiki's daddy took her to the new Pier 6 playground to give mom a chance to rest with Ro-ro. Kiki wore the new bathing suit Grandma brought and jumped right into the fray.



By the end of August, Kiki had to say bye-bye to her beloved babysitter, Chanika. She even learned how to say her name just for the occasion. (And she hasn't forgotten it since.)
Fun with helpless newborns...

One month old, and we were sometimes able to get a beauty shot. But mostly, he kind of looked...
sort of funny...or scared...
or confused...


Finally, around two months old, and he's starting to find his cuteness.




Come Halloween, while Kiki conquered Park Slope as a magical flying unicorn...




Ro-ro was content to sit snug in his blanketed stroller and watch the show.


STAY TUNED FOR MONTH FOUR...

A chronology of play

Oh, to be a kid. Your day's work is all about play.

On our way back from visiting Long Island, we stopped by the new Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 6. Three playgrounds -- one is an extravaganza of sprinklers, one's a mega-sandbox, and one (for older kids) is a climbing wonderland.

We mostly hung out in the sprinkler section, since it was such a hot morning.




Those blue floors are actually made of spongy pellets. Perfect for spazzy toddlers.

And this cool climbing area is something for Kiki to look forward to in her old age (5+ yrs)


We spent last weekend at a co-worker's house near the Hamptons. He has a fantastic pool that this pregnant woman found to be very relaxing.

Kiki did a lot of running around, but took a moment to plant her dirt-covered shorts onto these pristine white lounge chairs.

Biggest. Volleyball. Ever.


On July 4th, we escaped the 100-degree heat by ducking into the NY Aquarium, along with 10,000 other New Yorkers who shared the same brilliant idea.




June was "let's find air-conditioned playgrounds for Kiki" month, so we joined the Brooklyn Children's Museum. The toddler section is great. Totally enclosed with activities geared for the 5 and under crowd.

Sandpit...

Puppet theater...

Make-believe...

Toddler section (18 months & under)...

Clang, bang, boom wall...

What a lucky kid. Little does she know what's coming around the corner in a few weeks...

Hot Times in the City

Kiki at our local playground.

She's grown so much (though not her hair). Here's a picture from last July.

A week at the beach in the D.R.

It was hot. Really, really hot. The sun was blazing and the humidity was near 100%. Good thing the frozen coconut drinks and sodas were all part of the package.

This was Kiki's first experience with beaches. She was hesitant at first, but she soon dug right in.


The water was beautiful. Not an oil slick anywhere....yet.



Unfortunately, we couldn't say the same about Europeans and their Speedo's.


The pool was a nice alternative to the beach. Minimal sand, perfect for wading in with Kiki. And closer to those frozen drinks...

I was pleasantly surprised with the resort. Clean, pretty and comfortable.


They even put in a few nice touches.


My biggest complaint was that nearly all the restaurants on-site were not air-conditioned. Nothing like having soup...or sushi...in 90-degree heat. Mmmmm.

There were a few A/C'ed restaurants, but they were considered "upscale" and it felt weird to bring the cranky Kiki.

On the bright side, the open-air eateries were nice and casual, and random servers would often go out of their way to smile and say hi to Kiki, sometimes dancing for her, which she LOVED. (She'd wiggle along in her highchair.) The Dominicans really love kids.


Thanks for a great vacation, DR!