Our boys love yogurt

A portrait of two eating styles.

Dash at Astoria Park

Last night's beam of light

What you are seeing here is called Tribute in Light as seen from our neighborhood last night--rising above the tree in the middle-ground. Two gigantic beams of light where the two towers once stood. These massive lights have been switched on every September 11th (since 2003) to mark the anniversary. We live 11 miles away, but these beams have been reported from much farther away than that. Today is a pretty solemn day for New Yorkers (especially those who were living here when it happened...but the gravity of this occasion is not lost on those of us who were living elsewhere, such as Jen and myself). I look forward to seeing the new memorial someday soon.

Finger painting!!!

We are elated to be getting these little notes with pictures from Hugo's teacher. Here's one of him finger painting on his second day of school:

"Hello Jennifer, Hugo had a better day. Here are some of my favorite pictures from Hugo. Enjoy them!!. We are so happy to have The Brown's family in our class."


We call this one, Study in Magenta #1

After school, Hugo and Dash went to play with their friends in the park (in LIC at Gantry Plaza). Here's a serious-looking Hugo on the slide with his friend Alexi. They had more fun than their faces reveal in this photo. Thanks for the photo Dr. K.

From my ride into work yesterday

Finally the rain had lifted and I got a chance to stop on the George Washington Bridge (connecting the city with, well....the rest of the world heading west) to take this picture. Just remembering ten years ago, on September 11....what a different view this was. (Click the photo for a larger view).

First Day of School!

Yesterday, we drove into Manhattan for Hugo's first day of school. Normally he will take the bus with other children, but we wanted to meet his new teachers, see his new classroom and get a feel for how things work in the morning.

Here's the full name of his first school. It's a mouthful, so it's normally referred to as just "Central Park" and has a great reputation for teaching kids on the spectrum.

Hugo is in classroom "L." His name, as well as those of his classmates, are written on the yellow pencils (Hugo's is on the bottom).

Hugo seemed to take to school right away. He seemed very excited and darted from station to station trying to touch and take everything in. Here's Hugo's new teacher guiding him in his first-day exploration.

She showed him a box of markers and set up some paper. We're not sure whether he drew anything or not, but according to Jennifer, he came home with red marker on his hands.

A picture of his new backpack (great pick Mommy!) and his cubby hole where they store all his stuff for class.

Here's the list of the first day's activities.

Here's Mommy and Dash in front of one of the bulletin boards. The rain drops are new students, the flowers are returning students...Hugo's name is on one of those rain drops.

Before we left the school, we wanted to see how things worked with drop-off. Normally, these parents won't be here, but it's the first day of school.

Dash by this time was beat. Not even Dumbo could work his charms.

Here's Mommy and Dash in front of the school entrance. The buses have a little drive way to pull up and drop kids off. From here, each child is escorted into the building and up to the second floor where the school is located.


As we were leaving, heading to Jen's work to say hello her colleagues in the CBS Radio Newsroom, we passed a large 9-11 ceremony at Lincoln Center. The picture doesn't do it justice, but many police were gathered. No wonder it was so busy getting into the city.



Here we are visiting the CBS Newsroom. Dash was a bit shy, but he and Dumbo soon started doing laps around the newsroom and dropping into studios to say hello.

Hugo's Early Intervention teachers

Hugo has spent the last year in Early Intervention and he's had several therapists come to the home to help him. From L-R, Mary worked on Hugo's social play, Julie (OT) helped Hugo eat with utensils and write with a marker (he loves drawing!), Anna teaches speech and got the most words out of him than anyone, and Evelyn helped Hugo learn to sit nicely and work on puzzles, if you could have only seen how he'd clean up when Evelyn arrived! She meant business and Hugo knew it!

This week Hugo will start preschool in Manhattan. He'll take his own lunch and snack, get on a school bus and even take field trips. We've been reading to him a little book his teacher Griselda made about the school day and his teachers. We're not sure how much he's soaking in. But we're all ready. As Nemo says, "FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!"

Labor Day pancakes

Sunday morning

Hanging out on the couch

At 47th Street Park

...and wearing some of my new clothes for school (starts next week, so I gotta look good).

Mmm...GoGurt!

Today we are at Jones Beach

Blustery Astoria sunset

Wind picked up on the back side of Irene.

Assessing the Yard

Not much to report from last night's hurricane. A significant lean to one of the small trees in the front yard, plenty of twigs and pine needles all over, and recycling containers full of water (which gives you an idea of the amount of rain that fell in the past 12 hours--there's over a foot in that barrel). Looking like it's going to be a nice, but somewhat breezy afternoon...taking the boys out later on.

Good bye, eye...

Hello wind...should pick up again fairly soon. Dash napping.Hugo jumping. Mommy working :(. Daddy taking a moment to blog...and doodle wind gods...maybe Hugo wants to do a puzzle?

Hello Irene.

Wind and rain in abundance. Needless to say, the kids and I will be playing inside tomorrow...the dogs will have to hold it I guess....or poop in the tub; the living room rug is an options.

Our visit to Central Park today

Since Jen worked the early shift today, the boy's and I drove into the city to meet her. We walked over to Central Park and unleashed the kids in the Heckscher Playground. Although a supervision headache (as it was built for kids, they can get places quickly while the adults have to go over, under or go around), the park was really cool--it had fountains, tunnels, sand, climbs, walls and bridges. Very kid friendly. It was the first time Jen and I had been to this part of the park, and the boy's loved it.

Random images from August

Comments embedded in slide show images, enjoy.

An afternoon at Lake Welsh

For a boy who can't sit still...

Haircuts can be a problem. Last night, for safety sake and because his previous hair was a rag mop with strands of varying length, we put away the scissors and brought out the clippers (thank you Adam). So now, Hugo rocks a brush cut.