October 2018

lifewithpete
Oct 14, 2018
3 min read

I'm writing this nearly two and a half years later. It makes me sad, to see how how quickly the boys have grown between now and then. Of course, that's what they're supposed to do, but what happened to my babies? My agent, Dorian, once told me that a big part of being a parent is letting go of one stage and moving to the next, gracefully. I think about that a lot. That fall was hard, truth be told. My mind was still reeling, in that postpartum way, and my dear friend died in September. Her baby was born three weeks to the day before Hank.

Mr. Hankie, back when he tolerated the stroller. This was before we turned him face forward, so a long time ago.

I believe this was after we came back from North Carolina and he had a terrible cold. We had to take him to the ER. We had a fright because the doctor read the x-ray wrong and told us he had pneumonia, which meant he'd have to stay overnight. (He just had a cold.) This was also in my period of going to the doctor obsessively. I'm glad that phase is over. *Also, I didn't realize that Hank liked to hold his hand next to his cheek like this, but I guess he did.

In the steam room (the bathroom).

This was at the City Clerk's office or whatever it is. I had forgotten to file some paperwork for the house (we moved and then I got pregnant, and sick, and then Hank was born, etc, so paperwork went on the back burner) and I brought Hank in hopes he would soften the person behind the counter up. It worked, in the sense that they let me file the paperwork late, without penalty.

I loved these shoes

A rare moment of unhappiness

This was what I looked like in those days! This was at a preschool meeting at the hotel. I was dressed up because I was going to our Witness Prize reading right afterward.

I thought he looked like he was going to Eton. He was really into hats in those days.

This was a Pete outfit. This is a new rocker thing--Mat was holding Hankie and tripped over our old one and broke it when Hank was a month or so old. We were just talking about that because Hank fell down the stairs last night (it was horrifying--I just heard "thud, thud, thud") and he said he hadn't been scared like that since the tripping moment when Hank was tiny. Hank was fine, in both instances.

At the Farmer's Market, buying pumpkins.

In jammies Courtlyn got him!

When I look at these pics I keep thinking about how infants' eyes are super big to make you like them.

The first time he work his costume, at the Moore's Mill bash. By the end I think he was tired of wearing it--there was the MM bash, then actual Halloween, then school Halloween.

At the museum for a kid art day

At the arboretum for another kid event on the same day--kid events used to be plentiful until Covid! We ran into JJ and family, and then we started hanging out with them a bunch. And still do, to this day.