Shopping Sprees and Double Dates

On Wednesday, Mommy and DHV made a quick trip up to Strong Island to spend the day with Grandma Steffie and Aunt Molly. It was after 11 am when they arrived at the house but Aunt Molly wasn't exactly dressed and ready to go. That didn't stop her from giving DHV his morning bottle, which he enjoyed while checking his fanmail on her blackberry. Our boy is multi-tasking already!

Grandma Steffie hadn't seen the little guy since January so she wasted no time in smothering him with kisses.

Once Aunt Mollly got herself in a presentable state she and DHV reconvened in the kitchen and strategized for the upcoming shopping expedition.
"Yeah, yeah, you can hold me all you want but make sure you pick out cool duds for the ladies... none of that cutesy stuff for me!"

Having successfully outfitted DHV for the summer, Grandma Steffie sent Mommy and Aunt Molly out for pedicures so that she could have some quality time alone with him. Here DHV is screening Stef's calls for her.

A few days later Mommy packed DHV up once again and set out for Lancaster,PA, where two little ladies were waiting for a playdate with him. DHV wasn't so sure about this sharing business.
"Whatya doin with my rings, Fool?!?!"

And the interaction was pretty minimal.

Weekend in the Big Apple

DHV got packaged into his car seat early Saturday to run up to Manhattan, where we met Matt and Stacey Jo for brunch at City Bakery. The opaque food service system deterred us initially but did not prevent us from filling up on bacon and eggs and cookies.

SJM regaled us with "True Tales of Goldman Sachs Debauchery and Tomfoolery" while making friends with DHV. The ladies sure seem to like the drool!
MLL regaled us with "Truly Humdrum Stories from Federal Appeals Court" and lured DHV into his lap with some fresh coffee. We captured a rare fit of rage from Matt when Stacey (who hails from the Land of Lincoln) tried to emancipate the boy, "Back off, Woman . . . your War of Northern Aggression over this child will not go unchecked!"
You don't need digital photos to know who won that epic struggle, but here's one anyway.
Continuing our quest to furnish our next house in New Haven, we stopped by a Japanese furniture maker around the corner from City Bakery. The proprietor was as eccentric as his goods were expensive, so we headed over to Brooklyn without furniture but richer for the experience. That night, we gathered for a remembrance of Aunt Bea, benefactor to many, who passed away in January. Here Ellen offers to carry DHV during her 15km race the next day while Kaiya practices a vow of silence after taping her mouth shut.
Sunday morning Aunt MAV, Uncle Hairy Trespasser, and Cousin Elsie came to Grandparent Lindy's house for brunch - more bacon and eggs! Uncle Trespasser was out on a work-release program after serving time for good behavior. He told the corrections folks that he had lined up a job in "internet publishing;" now that sounds like a mafia no-show job if I ever heard of one.
DHV and EAB had a more meaingful meeting than last time (also documented on Elsie's not-for-profit blog here). After an ice-breaking staring contest, DHV tried to pull off Elsie's leggings.
"Hey, get this spaz off of me!"
"That tri-hawk is more impressive in person than online. Don't worry, friend . . . just give me that legging and everything will be cool!" DHV then challenged EAB to a jumparoo contest, knowing that his 4 month age advantage will soon expire. He was little more than a blur as Elsie looked on.

John Heinz NWR

Yesterday we slathered DKV with sunscreen and headed to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, just south of the airport. There were lots of birds and turtles:

But DHV was more interested in his mommy than anything:
We also shot this family portrait, in between large groups of school children on field trips. Check out those sun hats!

Thanks to Uncle Pete (professional author, part-time professor of the Defense Against the Dark Literary Arts, screenwriter, yogamatician, and triple bike owner), we can now directly compare our Ali G to Sasha Baron Cohen's Ali G:

Lastly, for those who enjoyed DHV eating a clementine, here he takes on a heavyweight pear.

Aunt Molly Comes to Town

Yesterday was a big day for DHV - after several months of admiring him from afar, Aunt Molly finally made it back to Philadelphia to enjoy him in the flesh. She came bearing gifts from exotic places like London, Paris, Prague, and Long Island. (She really should seek treatment for her baby-shopping addiction!) After the present-opening bonanza, we stuck with the tried and true and headed to the park. Aunt Molly is no dummy - she knows that the way to DHV's heart is through his stomach.

Having been won over with that soy-based goodness, DHV was ready to share his plastic treasure with her.

By then DHV was ready to get up close and personal. Aunt Molly was good for a couple of laughs...

... and DHV posed like a champ for the camera. What a little flirt!

Mother's Day, release 1.0

Mother's Day Weekend (yep, it's a weekend holiday here in the 'delphia) started off with a bang. After DHV's 6am rooster call on Saturday we rolled over to H-field for Grandma V's Mother's Day. After summoning the grandparents to the floor, DHV gave Grandma V a little footrub while being fed.

Then we gathered around the kitchen table for an omelet breakfast with fruit salad and Canadian bacon. Checkout that bumbo.

DHV got so excited for mango and banana that we couldn't get an unblurred photo of him.
Playtime on the floor featured three generations of DVs. DHV was a bit shocked that someone else was messin' with his toys!

We dropped off the old car seat for cousin Ida's trip to the Delaware Valley in June and upgraded to this bigger boy seat; still facing backwards but on a bigger/badder throne. "How u doin'?"

Sunday, SHV's Mother's Day started off about the same - 6am cockledoodledoo followed by eggs, sausage, and fruit salad. We're thinking about having the bumbo surgically removed.

DHV had spent some clandestine arts and crafts time earlier in the week "signing" this card to SHV. We got through it without any crying, but paint and babies don't mix! At least it was water-based.

The family hit Manayunk (that's Mannie-unk for you nonadelphians) and the gauntlet of furniture stores therein. DHV was apprehensive about the paparazzi (ie, that suspicious fellow on the stairs with his tongue out) spotting him so he tried to go incognito with this low hat look.

Hunger, however, soon trumped privacy so he flipped up the brim for some sweet potatoes. "I know it's Mother's Day and all, but the MAW is over here!"

Just as he let his guard down the paparazzi caught him looking like Russell Crowe after a night out. "No pictures, no cameras! Can't a guy eat his sweet taters in peace? Where did my security go? I need more taters in my MAW! Tater woman! Taters! MAW! Now!"

Pakin' It III, Rittenhouse Style

Life with a baby tends to be a bit repetitious - but you don't mess with success. So today, on yet another beautiful Philadelphia afternoon, we packed up the stroller and headed to the park. First we stopped at the sneaker store and bought HusbandKV a new pair of running shoes. Then we discussed the big envelope that HusbandKV got in the mail outlining the board certification process.
DKV: This is ridiculous!
DHV: The $365 application fee, the $845 to actually take the written exam, or the $1060 plus airfare for the oral boards? Or is it this statistic here that 55% of your time is "spent delivering uncompensated care"?
DKV: I need to retire - when's your mother taking the Connecticut Bar?

With that adult-sized whining out of the way we soon discovered that the shoe box and tissue paper from our purchase could keep DHV entertained for a good half hour. It takes both hands to control that rascally paper:
DHV was very proud of the way he handled that box and took advantage of the opportunity to show off his 6 teeth.
Apparently the box workout made the little guy hungry though. Daddy's shoelace looked like it would be tasty . . .
. . . as did that salt-lick DKV calls a hat . . .
. . . but nothing hit the spot quite like the cheerios Mommy had packed.
Now that's a satisfied baby!
Then DHV climbed back into his ride and headed home.
"Check out those plastic rims, red trim, and mesh undercarriage. Pimp MY ride, baby!"

M-land and H-field

It was a busy weekend for DHV, with a trip down to Maryland on Saturday to meet two generations of South Carolinians - that's grandparent Lindy, great-grandparent Margaret, and great-aunt Karen basking in his glow near a large fireplace.

On Sunday Grandma V wanted to show off her new furniture, so we headed over to Haddonfield to rendezvous with Yalie Nick - soon to be a professor of Art History at LSU! We're already planning our visit to coincide with LSU-Auburn, but I bet Profesori Camerlenghi will be bunking with us for a reunion before that. NMC is seen here preparing for an undergrad's blank stare after midterms . . .

and an angry question, "But mommy and daddy said I would get extra credit for this gently used picture of a temple in Thailand!?"

Then Yalie/Tarheel/Wildcat Matt Leonard and Illini Stacey Jo Miller rolled in just in time to form a circle of scrutiny around open-air playtime; Matt noted that, "his hair stands up, like just before a lightning strike." If DHV chose this moment to start crawling he wouldn't have gotten far. He chose not to start crawling.

Grandma V made so much food you couldn't see the table anymore - more of a Thanksgiving feast than a cookout. DHV is telling NMC to just be a man and eat some rice already!
DHV is demonstrating that by pulling on just the right hairs you can control a corporate attorney (played here by Penn/NYU Law grad MLL) just like a puppet. "I said wink with the LEFT eye, monkey!"

In between preparing vast amounts of comestibles, Grandma V got her time in overseeing some corduroy fish tenderizing.

Parkin' It

It was another beautiful day so we brought DHV down to the dog park after another morning of fitful napping.
Here DHV is harkening back to his southern roots (South Carolina and Arkansas) by showing off his poor dentition while kicking back in a Huck Finn outfit and guzzling some soy-based moonshine.
This work-issued cell phone wasn't advertised as being drool proof, but DHV's top-notch lab (his mouth) will soon tell us the verdict.
We walked out to Penn for some errands - the first to photograph this parking sign where Susannah got a ticket at 8:30am. Philadelphia's civil servants in a nutshell.
All that moonshine had a predictable effect on DHV. Some passerbys alerted us to his extreme cranial-thoracic angle.
Then it was over to see Professor Grandpa V. Penn, once home to three Vs (DRV, ERV, and DKV) will soon be left with only the original. We made plans for a Phillies game on Father's Day and headed out . . .
. . . where we ran into Eric Ricchetti by the gym. DHV seems mesmerized by that "Blue Steel"-like pose ETR is striking.

The original "Blue Steel":