Here are some more nice shots of Jen playing with Max in the park.

Interesting stuff about how kids change while they growing up -- Max used to never like this alien toy, he'd just ignore it and move on. Until one day that Jen showed him the little tentacles have squeakers in them, and all of a sudden he loves it, it's one of his favorite toys.

Dumb Daddy says, "I'll take some cute photos of Max hanging out in the hammock by himself!"

Mischievous Max says, "I'll roll over abruptly and twist around so I roll off the hammock and bump my head on the wood porch floor!"

Miraculously Magnanimous Mommy says, "thankfully Max is OK except for a bit of a goose egg, and Daddy's most certainly learned a valuable lesson about child care."

Dumb Daddy says, "Parents reading this, learn from my mistake. DO NOT DO THIS."


FWIW check out the photos anyway.

Bad idea.


Bad idea.


Bad idea.


Thump.

While hanging out in Battery Park, I took Max over to visit the Hudson. He seemed pretty fascinated just by the water going by. My boating parents and brother (and Jen's Sunfish-sailing father, for that matter) might have an extra crewman.

Though, now that I look at the photos again, in retrospect the worried look on his face suggests he wants to make extra sure that I'm not going to throw him in. So maybe not such a crewman after all.

I really don't take enough photos of Jen and Max together. Hopefully this begins to remedy the situation. These are some of my favorite photos ever of the two of them. They are both cute as the dickens, no?

A couple weekends ago we took Max into the city to meet Christine and Eugenia, two of my good friends from business school, and their husbands (John and Jamie, respectively). John made some super-tasty sandwiches, and then we adjourned to Battery Park City where John flew a kite, Max took a nap, and we generally hung out and soaked in the sun. Thank God for summer, esp after all the insane rain in June.

Christine, Jonathan, Max, and Eugenia. Max is the small angry one.


John did an able job with the kite...



...but Max had other plans.

We started feeding Max solid foods when he turned six months old. Here is video and photographic evidence from his first feeding on May 30. By now he is an old hand at this, eating some breakfast every day, and starting to have some lunch too with occasional dinners. His favorites are applesauce, pears, peaches, and any other food that has one of those mixed in with it. Anyway, here is where it all started:


Be sure to click the "HD" icon on the video to see this at 1024 pixels.

Nuh-uh, I'm not doing that.


I love Jen's expression on this one. That is one damn cute wife I've got.






He really did amazingly well his first time, with a minimum of flinging, spilling, and dribbling.

Milking out the photos from our Bronx lunch as far as I can get them, here's a few more cute shots.


I have to say my Mom is really great with Max, it always reminds me that she has a master's degree in child development so she's actually a professional at this sort of thing.



With me it's less "how do I help Max become the best he can be" than "no, really, Max, straws full of Diet Coke are not for babies!"

Continuing the long-delayed photos from our lunch with Max and my grandparents in the Bronx, here are a few more. Note Max's willingness to lunge out to grab at anyone, no matter their age or distinguished demeanor.

Back in May, my parents came up and we all went to visit my Grandparents in the Bronx, where we had a most excellent Jewish deli meal. Here are some great photos of four generations of Bellacks. Max, as usual, is more interested in squirming to escape or grabbing at anything grabbable than, you know, paying attention to the camera.




Though, every now and then you get lucky and Max is paying something resembling attention. Either that or something shiny walked behind me at just the right moment.

My newfangled PC is finally working again, so let the blogging begin again. I've got a bunch of photos going back more than a month, so it's photopalooza from here on in.