Fall photos

The end of the party

Rowan had had enough. No more pretending to be something I'm not, he thought. No more biting crackers then putting them back on the serving tray, no more parading around in leg-warmers and a pink head-band, or stealing other kids' toys and appropriating them as my own. I am bushed...And so, at the end of a great little costume party, it was time to pack it up, head home, and get ready for the (literally) 110 trick-or-treaters who rang our doorbell until 8:30PM begging for candy. Some came dressed as monks, others as murdering psychopaths, though a few roguish preteens avoided the whole idea of dressing up altogether, decided to cut out the middle man and demanded candy just for breathing the same air as us. So we gave them candy...the poisoned kind...heeheehee...heehee...

Even more from the party...

Rowan takes a ride on another of Allison's toys, this time being towed instead of doing any actual locomotive work himself. He had a blast, though.

More from the party...

Rowan on his throne. Command me, lord!

Father and son share a beer and cracker.

Rowan walks up the steps unassisted. He's been getting better and better at this skill and uses it frequently at the playground, though he hasn't quite mastered the descent.

What was Rowan?

Rowan went as--now keep in mind, we tried to get a pumpkin costume for him, but the whole thing fell through, so we were left with the only option on the table--an 80s aerobic instructor. I have no shame...


While at the party, Rowan had the habit of taking a bite out of a cracker, then putting it back; repeat ad libitum.

Rowan, in a not too flattering pose, takes a gander at Allison's riding toy while shamelessly flaunting his gut. All this time, he has been completely unaware of the head-band.

Among his friends...

Next in line we have Mojo: Daddy's Little Pumpkin! Mojo (short for...something) is the daughter of another group of friends. She has bright orange hair and just LOVES Rowan. She also sits still and doesn't get into too much trouble, as far as we can tell, unlike some people...

Next we have Ba-Ba as a Rene Magritte painting! Here is a perfect example of what I was talking about earlier. I have no shame...

We have Bat-Man and his cousin...uh...Power Ranger...dude...who apparently was not a power ranger despite his costume. It's complicated, I guess. Rowan looks on in utter apathy.

The Halloween Party!

Rowan went to a Halloween party sponsored by some friends of ours at their house in Bloomington. Everyone was dressed in an appropriate costume--except us...So let's take a look at the cast of characters: We have Allison: A Fairy! and a spectacularly cute one at that. She's the daughter of our sponsors (the father happens to be an old friend of Winnie from her U of C days).

It's Halloween!

Yes, it's Halloween, that time when you don't have a costume so you scramble around to find something that remotely fits the bill of "off-the-wall" but ultimately fails in its statement. Just flip through the photos--you'll see.

Rowan and his Girlfriends III

More wagon pushing. The girls form a barrier, trying to force Rowan to turn away, like a really slow game of chicken. As I recall, Rowan won, though it was not a true victory. This picture also gives a very good sense of scale--Rowan is still pretty small, though he's already over half the size of his friends, who are some years older than he. Daddy towers over the rest, though stepping awkwardly and clumsily.

Rowan and his Girlfriends II

Rowan pushes (and sometimes pulls) a wagon, showing off his obvious strength to the girls--just like a male.

Rowan and his Girlfriends I

Rowan tries to escape, but Daddy holds fast. The girls are oblivious, making sure they look good in the picture.

Ok, Ok...

As it turns out, Rowan was not, in fact, kidnapped. Apparently, these blonde coeds surrounding him are his friends from the neighborhood. From left to right, Anna, Elizabeth, Greta and her sister, Marta. Ever since Rowan came into the neighborhood, they have welcomed him with open arms, and continue to do so every time he comes home, usually screaming "Rowan!" before assaulting him with affection. Yes, already he's attracting the ladies. He likes to play ball with them, too, and they routinely play keep-away with him, eventually giving him the ball when he protests a little too loudly. He also likes to walk up and down the driveway, in addition to any stairs he can find, either at home, in a restaurant, etc. And he insists on climbing them without crawling, one leg at a time. More photos to come...

Freedom!

Rowan was finally released from his captors, after Daddy explained to them, "We don't negotiate with kidnappers. Now hand him over or I'm telling your parents!" They quickly obliged. Mama caught the hand-over, and a very relieved Rowan, on film.

Kidnapped!

Rowan was kidnapped by a giddy troop of blondes wearing bright pink! This is the photo they sent, along with a ransom note: "Give us $4 ($1 for each of us), or the little punk gets it!"

We'll keep you posted...

Eating in the car IV

Rowan likes to check out the scene while eating. Don't we all. Note the wedge of cracker sticking out like a yellow fang in the second photo--he'll eventually push it back in with the back of his hand.

Eating in the car III

Rowan expresses frustration at some morsel or other. Sometimes the small pieces are hard to grab. At other times, the oat cake falls apart too easily.

Eating in the car II

Rowan likes to point to the food in his mouth, either to acknowledge its relative tastiness, or to ask what he just ate and is now chewing ravenously. Always, this pointing is accompanied by the verbal formula, "Ga-ga."

Eating in the car I

Out in the park for a while, Rowan gets hungry, and it's getting a little late, so we double down and give him a snack of toasted oat cakes in the car. This is the first in the series.

At the park again...

Rowan shows off his crumby jowls and pronounced lower lip that makes him look a little like Winston Churchill from time to time.

Brown County Park from on high. Beautiful rolling hills, high clouds, vast expanses of green, all toward the beginning of Fall when the leaves are just starting to turn. Nowadays, most of the green is gone. We'll get a few pictures of the changing colors soon.

Bird's eye view

Mama and Rowan stand among a field, walking around as usual. I took this from an old forest fire lookout station at Brown County. Another to come...

Smooch...

I guess Mama liked this father-son moment in Brown County State Park. He likes to be outside and run around and point to things, saying "Ga-ga," which is to say, "What is that?" It's hard to get him to say "What is that?" rather than "Ga-ga," especially since we're also trying to teach him "Mut yea lei ga?", the Cantonese equivalent. He does know certain words in both languages, like "foot" and "tree," and perhaps a few others. Some words, though, he only knows in one language, particularly his English name.

Faces of Rowan

Rowan protests as Daddy helps him walk. He wants to do things himself--walking, eating, turning the pages of books, etc. He likes that sense of control, but when a spoon laden with brown rice goes flying off in one direction, it causes Mama and Baba consternation.

Rowan points to something. I don't know what.

All the pretty little horses

Rowan had never seen a horse before, so one can imagine his reticence at getting too close to them. He observed them very quietly, not like when he yells out 'gaga' whenever he sees a dog, or 'gagaaaaa' when he says an especially big truck. This was something different, not to be trifled with, something to be feared but respected.

Finally!...

A picture where Rowan doesn't look like he's trying to get away from Mama! Who woulda thunkit? This was taken out at Brown County State Park, where the leaves of the maples, ashes and tulip trees were starting to turn yellow in profusion, making the the whole scene look golden amongst patches of green, scarlet and orange. You may notice a couple of bruises on Rowan's head. That's whatcha get, Rowan, for runnin' downhill...

A walk in the park...again.

Rowan leads the way, as always, with Daddy trailing behind trying to make sure he doesn't fall flat on his face. I swear, I (and especially Winnie) need to relax about Rowan falling, because he does it ALL the friggin' time, and every time he comes out of it either completely unaware that anything has happened or only mildly upset. Why do we get so worked up over simple falls like this, especially when we ourselves have endured much worse injuries at that age, like falling onto an open-face grill and burning your entire arm, or cracking your head open on brick steps, or vomiting to dehydration. Still, so far it's one of the easier aspects of being a parent, dealing with boo-boos.

Rowan spots, II

Rowan stands again with his spotty, pea-green shirt, this time holding a toothbrush, which he does on occasion use.

Rowan spots, I

Rowan is here wearing one of several atrocities of baby fashion that he still manages (by a hair) to pull off--the brown fleece pants, the ridiculously pea-green shirt with little brown circles on it and matching brown sleeves that give the illusion he's wearing a short-sleeved shirt over a long-sleeved one. This one was taken from inside his bedroom, looking out the window into the back yard. Pretty f****in' idyllic.

Rowan amidst the grass

Rowan looks up!

Rowan looks out toward the world in wide-eyed astonishment. Is it an eagle, a hawk, or the black plumage of an old crow that you see, my son? No father, it is none of these...It is the universal gestalt, the yes to all, the always-rising sun, the...OK, yes, it's a crow.

Hooded and still cute

Rowan poses for the camera while Mama chases after him with his snack.

Rowan is running away from his snack, downhill, fast, toward Baba who is trying desperately to keep him in focus despite the relatively high shutter speed. Note to self, must turn up ISO...

Hooded and cute

Here's little Rowan with his orange hood and elk sweater. Really, it's two sweaters over top two layers of clothing. It's getting cold, and we're still waiting for his new Patagonia coat to come in the mail. I swear, it's nearly impossible to get decent and inexpensive winter clothes for kids around here--all the seasoned moms and dads got to everything well before we did, leaving slim pickings like shorts and newborn socks and teething gels.

Posers

Mama and Rowan on the Friends' Trail. Notice that Rowan's head is nearly the size of Winnie's.

Ehhh....

This place is boring there's nothing to do it's just trees and leaves and crap and heh is that a moose no it's just another tree and my feet hurt from these shoes that I wear now because Mama makes me wear them so I can walk and I like to walk when I want to but not now it's so boring here I want to go but not in the car seat that Baba puts me in it looks like a cow that goes 'moooo' and a sheep goes 'baba' and is Baba a sheep it's so confusing I wonder what a cow looks like and oh look a stick I like to wave it because it makes me feel impotent I mean important and ooh a leaf I like leaves and trees and trunks and this place is cool I like to walk around and the leaves crunch under my feet and I picked up a worm but Mama said 'ewww' is Mama a cow maybe because she makes milk and cows do too I don't like milk but I like Mama's milk and where am I?