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.