21 months - my sweet, embraceable uke

in a previous post i mentioned that our little man has taken a shine to his ukelele which we basically just call a guitar even though that's wrong. fact is, no matter what we call it, it's part of his daily ritual, not to mention his nightly...
that's some serious dedication to your craft!

and its paying off.
mommy and i get many personal concerts at home and at one recent show i decided to throw something else into the mix that he picked up on like it was...
SECOND NATURE
(http://bit.ly/GZEJdA)

it was definitely time to take the act on the road.
so his full-time aunt and part-time manager, sus, brought him down to washington square park to see if he could draw a crowd.
he started with a very private serenade..


but word spread quickly...


and the inevitable masses followed...


this is aunt sus's description of the scene...
"They were all 2-year-olds and they gathered around him spontaneously and started clapping. It was hilarious and adorable and went on for quite some time. He had also been playing the wandering minstrel, singing as we walked through the park, pausing from time to time whether he had an audience or not. He spread a lot of joy around the neighborhood this morning! People loved it!"

the key words there: "he spread a lot of joy." he's pretty good at that.

oh, and there's one other thing parker delgado havlan has become quite well known for...
his often two-fisted appetite.
(peach pickin' at an orchard up near the lake house. what a life!
and yes, that's peach juice all over his shirt.)

everybody always says "he's such a good eater!" and he is.
he certainly refuses to ever let me finish a smoothie on my own...

but i'm beginning to wonder at what point "wow! he likes mushrooms!" becomes "your kid just ate two-and-a-half pounds of mushrooms and a turkey leg. is he okay?"
the only saving grace is that not all of the food he eats makes it to its...
ACTUAL DESTINATION
(http://bit.ly/H1oSOv)

never too preoccupied to wave to daddy... which is nice.
and for the record, that's uncle alan laughing uncontrollably in the background. he sure does enjoy our little man's antics... which is also nice.

oh!
goodness!
almost forgot!
two things:
1...
we won an emmy!
and no, it doesn't get boring.
especially since this time, we brought our little man along for good luck...
obviously it worked.

and 2...
note ellen's "bump" in photo #1.
that ain't baby fat!
well... actually it kind of is.
for those of you who didn't know it already, our little man is going to be a big brother!
no word yet on if it's a boy or a girl, but ellen is due at the end of february and is feeling and looking great.
by the way, this makes the daily show 2-for-2 when ellen is pregnant.
way to go pregnant ellen!

of course, PD didn't actually come to the ceremony with us, but the next morning he was happy to give his own...
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
(http://bit.ly/GXkoHZ)

trust me - that was safer than it looked.

and finally, since guitar was the main focus of this episode, and because daddy is a fan of what the kids call "rock and roll", it seems fitting that today's song be the work of the best there ever was...
jimi hendrix: badass.
(and he's a lefty, just like little man!)

actual song choice was hard to narrow down, but i couldn't help but be drawn to one of my personal favorites: "little wing".
i'm including the lyrics, as usual, because i love how whimsical they are, though i can't rightfully condone whatever it is that "inspired" mr. hendrix to come up with them. but this choice is mainly about sound, which hendrix himself explained in an interview: "We put the guitar through the Leslie speaker of an organ, and it sounds like jelly bread, you know?"
actually, no. i don't know. but it sounds awesome/delicious.
dig it...

Well she's walking through the clouds
With a circus mind that's running round
Butterflies and zebras
And moonbeams and fairy tales
That's all she ever thinks about
Riding with the wind.

When I'm sad, she comes to me
With a thousand smiles, she gives to me free
"It's alright", she says. "it's alright"
Take anything you want from me,
Anything.
Fly on little wing

awww yeah...
just like jelly bread, you know?

18 months - frequent flyer

at the unripe young age of not-quite-one-and-a-half-years-old, little PD havlan has already racked up more travel miles than an army brat with a pilot's license. mexico: been there. maine: been there. the moon: not ruling it out. and for the last three months the exploring has continued. basically if you say "marco" our little man has been too far away for you to hear him say "polo". also, he can't say "polo" yet, but we're working on that.

at the beginning of march PD and mommy flew to north carolina to visit our friends, the seilers. mommy doesn't have a camera attached to her hip the way daddy does, so this pic isn't from that trip, but it sure is cute!

read on for the location and thrilling sequel to this picture!

at the beginning of april our superhero and mommy drove to philadelphia to visit mommy's friend margot and her growing brood of human knock-offs. they were joined by the always-great-to-be-around margaret sadovnik and her own beautiful knock-off. so it made perfect sense that they line them all up for some highly competitive... "baby races".

as you can see, PD brought along his game face.

let's go back for a moment to a simpler time... or was it a more difficult time?
whatever.
it was definitely "a time". january, 2010, when aunt pam was kind enough to come to new york to help oversee the origins of our little superhero...

an instant classic!

flash forward to late april, 2011, and it was time for PD to head down to atlanta to pay his own visit. and being as he's a baby and all, he found a way to make it...
ALL ABOUT HIM
(http://bit.ly/GZCve9)

it's not the most exciting video we've ever shot, but it highlights PD's early love of water, shows off his very advanced "regaining your balance" skills, and features none other than the one and only aunt pam.

and the adventures of the traveling poopy pants is not over!

at the beginning of may, mommy and baby once again left daddy behind and flew to jacksonville, florida, to visit mommy's friend kara and her new baby, max. this trip resulted in one of my favorite pictures of the last few months courtesy of the lovely kara scremin who asked for nothing more in return than to be mentioned in the blog. hi kara!

kara sent this picture to me with the caption "how cute is your kid?" i think you know my answer.
and you gotta love how he's rockin' the natural "whale tail" bangs. sweet look.

so what was daddy doing during all these trips? aside from sleeping? and cleaning? and working? and walking charlotte? and watching do-it-yourself home improvement shows on HGTV?
actually, that was about it.

but finally, at the end of may, daddy got to come along for one of the many rides. i was off work for a week and we headed to california to visit the west coast thomases and say happy birthday to kobi...

this was at the oakland zoo waiting to ride the tiger that appears to be attacking them at the moment.

the birthday party was out of this world, mainly in that there was a space theme - including a space shuttle cake, a space shuttle pinata, and what i imagine was a NASA-sized budget. but in a preview of his commitment to fight evil in all its forms, parker was perfectly happy to spend most of his time patrolling the yard for wrongdoers...

this is not the look you want to see on a cop's face. even if that cop is a baby cop!
(idea for screenplay: rookie cop - played by a baby - gets partnered with veteran cop who's one week from retirement. tag line: "sometimes it takes a baby... to make a man". working title: baby cop and tisdale. just brainstorming here, but i'm thinking matt damon as "tisdale".)

but i digress.
after the party, it was off to...

continuing with what we hope will be a lifelong tour of our national parks, we spent three beautiful days in yosemite staying at the yosemite lodge right at the base of yosemite falls where we ate yosemite sandwiches and wiped our faces with yosemite napkins.
(you get the point. basically everything in the park has the word "yosemite" in it.)
everything, that is, except for...

"nevada falls".
who needs a gym when you've got access to a two-and-half hour stairmaster-like hike with a 30-pound baby on board. PD was sleeping in this picture, but he was awake for most of the hiking and seemed to enjoy it, easily keeping pace with his astonishing 99% singing/1% crying backpack ratio.

the top of nevada falls, and yes, we had to walk back down.

mariposa grove. one of many wildly beautiful spots. no books, no CD's, just a natural classroom of colors and textures and sights and sounds.

two giants: one sequoia, one baby.
(guess which "giant" fell on it's face just after this picture was taken.)

and finally...
the thrilling conclusion i promised you!
it pretty accurately sums up yosemite's effect on our general family mood.

seems like time for a song, doesn't it?
today's super tune for a super baby is from a super star with super moves and super grooves.
it's james brown's "super bad", and you have to be super-crazy not to...
dig it.

Sometimes I feel so good
I jump back
I wanna kiss myself
I got soul
and I'm super bad

of course, in this instance the word "bad" means "good"... as was consistent with the cultural vernacular of the time.
long story short, if there's one thing me and mommy agree on - and for the record, there are at least 2 or 3 things - it's that our little superhero is as bad as they get.

15 months - baby steps!

this is it!
the moment you've all been waiting for!
the moment every parent longs for and then almost immediately realizes is going to mean ten times as much work for them!
behold...
"WALKIN' BABY"
(http://bit.ly/GLVFtT)

not bad for a beginner. note the extremely stable "orangutan" style.
for the record, this was on day 3 of walking which was march 10th. his official "first steps" were on march 8, into the arms of our babysitter, taryn. yes, while young PD was wobbling across our living room, ellen and i were at the bamff film festival watching a guy named ueli steck speed climb the north face of the eiger. (note to parker: look this guy up on your "brain computer" some day. he's amazing.)
so, sorry we missed that, little man, but it didn't hamper what a special moment this was... even if he wasn't really walking to his daddy so much as he was walking to the bottle his daddy was holding. i'm cool with that.
running will have to wait a few months, but we do our best to set a good example...

in central park after a 10-mile run by the whole clan. (charlotte's at the end of that leash.)
ellen was training for a half-marathon. i was there for support and to push the stroller. mainly to push the stroller.

showing off the medal HE won after mommy ran the half marathon. not totally undeserved. as you can see from the first pic, he was an integral part of the training.

with daddy after the "scotland run" in central park a week later. turns out i can run pretty fast when i'm not pushing a giant baby in a stroller the size of a cadillac.
(official 10K time: 41:05... true story)

and now for a few (even more) random photos...

feeding time.
otherwise known as "awake".

st. patrick's day parade.
we wanted him to be part of a classic new york event while simultaneously learning the dangers of over-consumption. this was perfect.

at the central park children's zoo. we got an annual pass with the hope that parker will never tire of pretending he's been eaten by a giant tortoise.

which brings us to video #2...
PARKER ALMOST GETS EATEN BY A GOAT
(http://bit.ly/GNqmz5)

helping out in the garden. he saw daddy water the plants in his underwear once and all of a sudden he has to do it that way too. kids!

"swag baby"!
uncle ed's very funny movie, "cedar rapids", never got better advertising.
as for the guitar, it's part of the deal these days. he seriously carries it around the house all day. we're thinking of attaching a mop to the bottom of it so he'll clean up without even realizing it.

just because he's only 15 months old and has only been playing guitar for 1 month and his guitar is actually a ukulele doesn't mean PD doesn't already have his jimi hendrix impression down cold.

this is not to say that his skills are limited to guitar. no, no, no. as you are about to see, our little man is also...
A NATURAL ON THE DRUMS
(http://bit.ly/GWh3Lq)

that's an electronic drum kit daddy bought earlier in the year. i guess that's what a mid-life crisis looks like when you can't afford a little red sports car.
as for the electronic keyboards...
PD'S NOT SUCH A NATURAL
(http://bit.ly/GMRLuX)

perhaps we've introduced one too many instruments a tad early.
then again, who's to say he won't be the best "drum-boardist" in the illustrious history of "drum-boarding".

and finally, something a little more baby friendly...

his first train set.
it wasn't easy to set up, and it's also not easy to set up every time he knocks it all down, which is pretty much every time.

today's song is "i'm gonna be (500 miles)" by the proclaimers.
it's kind of a silly song with an even sillier video featuring two extremely silly-looking men, but there's a walking theme involved, and i thought these words in particular were kind of nice.
dig it...

When I'm lonely, well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's lonely without you
When I'm dreaming, well I know I'm gonna dream
I'm gonna dream about the time when I'm with you
When I go out, well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you
And when I come home, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who comes back home with you
But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

and thus ends today's lesson in late-80's schlock.

1 year+ edition!

one!

"i can't believe it's been a year already!"
that's what i would say if it didn't actually seem as if it's already been at least a year.
to answer a few basic questions...
- he's not walking yet, but he's close.
- he has a few good-sized chompers and a few smaller ones.
- he speaks several languages fluently... none of them recognizable.
- loves eating paper.

at sus and alan's for the pre-birthday birthday party you throw when your baby's first birthday falls on a tuesday.

we got PD a little red wagon for his first birthday because we're unique and imaginative!
he was supposed to push it around to help him learn how to walk, but the little man had...
OTHER IDEAS
(http://bit.ly/GKRIoe)

classic bathtime!
before you leave the hospital, doctors actually make you sign a contract promising you'll take a picture of your baby in the bathtub with suds on his head and pretend it's the first time a picture like that has ever been taken.

this is what christmas in mexico looks like.
we were at club med in ixtapa.
if you're feelin' it, go to youtube and type in "ixtapa santa" to see mr. claus himself ride in on his no-horse open motorboat.
for those of you into math, 85 degrees + santa suit = worst santa gig ever!

our little don juan wooing auntie sus with a single red rose and a come-hither/where-am-i look.

this is the face of a mother on a well-deserved and very relaxing vacation. that's parker in the background with guacamole on his face. this was not a hard picture to get as ellen was laughing and smiling a lot and PD had guacamole on his face about 90% of the time.

"open your mouth like this, baby parker. that way you'll get less guacamole on your face."
- cousin hana

one of several "christmas mornings" with hana and kobi.
parker didn't complain once about over-commercialization of the holiday, but i could sense that's what he was thinking.

this is what mommy and daddy do at club med when the little man is in "baby club med". there was also tennis, rock climbing, beach volleyball, ping pong, yoga, a different kind of yoga, and something that looked like yoga but wasn't.

there's little question that the world would be a better place if we could all feel whatever it is these kids were all feeling right here. and this was before they even knew there was going to be a chocolate fountain at christmas dinner.

and this was not the only dancing going on.
i present to you...
"BUTT DANCING" WITH PARKER DELGADO
(http://bit.ly/GMRWVT)

at our hotel in zihuatanejo for a few extra days of r&r.
little man was sick, but it sure beat sleeping on the floor at houston airport waiting out the huge snow storm that shut down new york that weekend.
for the record, we ended up getting home with no problems save for a mad dash through the airport trying to make our connection. good thing i was able to remain perfectly calm throughout the entire ordeal. ;)

welcome to the thunderdome! (a.k.a. "ballpit")
this is just the somewhat superfluous super-cute bonus pic.
i can't help myself.

i'm pretty sure the featured song for this entry is copyrighted, so i'm taking my chances reprinting it here in its entirety, but here goes nothin'!
dig it...

(sung to the tune of "happy birthday")
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Parker
Happy birthday to you.

and ma-ny mooooore!