a dog named molly

One of Kenny's favorite books right now is entitled, "Dog," and has a plethora of dogs and puppies to look at and touch. It also has a number of fun pull-tabs to initiate moving images of wagging, shaking, scratching, and even peeing. The book was a gift from "Uncle" Jarrod and "Aunt" Molly, so this may explain the next statement.

There's a Welsh Terrier named Molly that is Kenny's favorite. Every time he looks through the book (or even at the cover - she's the one on the left) he smiles and points at Molly.

Overboard has taken it upon herself to learn all of the names of the dogs, which are listed in the back of the book. Suffice to say, we've read this thing a couple of times.

It's funny, even though Kenny seems to understand that there are words such as "dog" and "puppy," he still points to all of the dogs and first says, "Sadie" (which sounds something like, "Ay-dee"). Is it wrong of me not to contradict him? After all, the house pooch deserves some sort of perk for all of the attention she has been forced to forgo due to her change of "baby" status. Seems only fair.


Kenny makes sure we all see Molly.

go, braves!

Okay, I'm usually opposed to dressing yourself and your child alike, and I even cringe a little when I see people do it to their twins, but today I couldn't resist. After all, Los Bravos are two games back behind the Phillies and have a 3-game stint against the Mets starting tonight (followed by three versus the Phils). Couldn't hurt, right? Besides, Overboard wouldn't let me get a live chicken.

Ohhhhhhhhh....oh...ohhhhhhhhhh...

system overload

Kenny loves many things, but he really loves ceiling fans and light fixtures. I dunno, maybe he was a home improvement specialist in a former life or something, but he loves to stare at lights and fans. This goes along well with his former fascination with lamps.

Anyways, Mr. K and I were at our local home improvement warehouse this morning to pick up a few things, when we inadvertently wandered down an aisle that had fans on one side and light fixtures on the other. Kenny froze and stared with shock and amazement etched across his face. When he looked to his left, fans. When he looked to his right, lights. And when he looked back to his left, the fans were there again! He was in heaven. He was also immobile. I tried to get him to walk down the aisle, but he was rooted to the spot in awe.

Dumbfounded, he stared back up at me and seemed to say, "Dad! Are you getting this? Lights! And fans! EVERYWHERE!" What is sounded like was more of a high-pitched squeal of glee.

I'd say that I long for the days when that kind of thing would happen to me, but I think I reacted in a similar fashion the last time I wandered into Jerry's Hockey Warehouse.

lunch is a contact sport

Taken last Friday after a very enthusiastic lunchtime. For the curious, that's pasta sauce, yogurt, milk and just a splash of carrots. I had to wash his face, eyelids, hair and ears - all while laughing hysterically.

israeli hockey. no, seriously.

As a Jewish man, there just aren't a lot of professional athletes who are "Members of the Tribe" that I can look up to. Yes, we all love to talk about Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg (who went to grammar school with my Grandpa Jesse), and I might try to bust out a Mathieu Schneider or Jeff Halpern, but let's be honest here, it's slim pickins.

That's why this story was so outstanding: An international ice hockey tournament held in Israel featuring Jewish players. Did I mention that this was held in Israel? Did I also mention that, even though the American team won the whole shebang, you have to read about it in the Canadian press. I could get all riled up here and start ranting about how my favorite sport is so overlooked and disrespected in the States, but that would take away from what it is a very, very cool story.

Don't take my word for it, let the nice people at the Toronto Sun tell you all about it.

This is the kind of thing that makes me wish Kenny was old enough to appreciate it. Maybe by the time he is, it won't seem so unusual. Now that would be something.

visitors from the east

Julia and Kenny check out the scene in Glenview

So, as I might have casually mentioned a little while back, the other weekend we had a great visit from Overboard's childhood friend, Beth and her daughter Julia, who is only a few weeks younger than Kenny.


Kenny knows that the guys with the cool cars get all of the hot chicks.

It was fascinating watching the two toddlers interact, and we couldn't help compare and contrasts some of their various developmental similarities and differences. Whereas Kenny is all gross motor skills, as he barrels around the joint at top speeds with dubious control, Julia is very verbal and nimble. In addition to her excited cries of, "Doggie!" whenever presented with a cold, wet Sadie nose, she also amazed me with her deductive reasoning.

Kenny has a small, plastic block bucket with a lid that contains several holes in specific shapes (square, triangle, circle, star and plus). Whereas Mr. K likes to ram the shapes around, and is generally satisfied with merely flinging them across the room, Julia took a different tack.

Plopping down in front of the set, Julia held up the circle, studied it, then dropped it in the appropriate slot. She then proceeded to do the same for all of the remaining shapes. I looked at her, looked at her mom, then exclaimed, "She's a genius! But can she throw a toy train across a crowded room?"


This girl has just been admitted to MIT (very early decision).

"Mommy, why does the funny man keep testing me? I told him, the shape on the page looks like a ducky!"

We had a lot of fun going to the pool, out to eat, and coordinating two sets of nap times. There was also some discussion of a joint family vacation at some point in the near future (which would also include Beth's husband Derrek and their son, Jacob).


Beth and Julia soak up some suburban sun.

"What do you think, Kenny? Should we keep her? You think her folks would mind?"

Evenkeel tries to buff up by doing some "Kenny Presses"

Kenny models the hat that Beth and family got for him. He calls this modeling face, "Blue Steel."

Since our camera has gone mental, the pictures were graciously provided by Beth. Thank you, Beth!

grandma jackie & grandpa alan's kenny highlight reel

A quick montage from Grandma & Grandpa's visit earlier this month for you to enjoy.

yeesh. you type one little thing about rain...

Good grief! I am now able to blog again, as our cable/internet was finally brought back to life this evening - after being knocked out during Thursday night's storm. The same storm that caused a tornado watch earlier in the afternoon, thus corralling myself and my co-workers in the middle hallway of the 42nd floor. Right before that happened, I received an IM from my art director asking if I had looked outside recently, to which I responded that I was nowhere near a window. He commented that the sky had turned an ominous shade of black, and before I had a chance to see for myself, the disembodied voice of building security announced through the fire alarm system that there was a tornado watch, and we should all calmly gather in the central office hallway on our floor and wait for further instructions (see: aforementioned corralling statement).

The tornado watch gratefully never turned into a tornado warning, but that didn't stop the heavens from opening up over the city and dumping, oh, let's say, six million gallons of rainwater on us. Just for kicks, the wind also hit speeds of up to 70 mph in Glenview, so the occasional falling tree helped knock out multiple power lines, thus keeping many residents from seeing clearly that their basements had flooded.

We were extremely lucky in that our house remained dry and free of excess lumber. However, the water in the backyard and driveway was ankle deep. How do I know this? Well, when I waded from the porch to the garage, the water came up to my ankles. The garage had taken on about an inch of water, but it thankfully did not extend all the way to the back wall, so the damage was really that our firewood is pretty flame-retardant at this point, and the garage has a lovely "musky" smell.

Again, I'd like to express my gratitude to the powers that be, as many of our neighbors were not as fortunate as us. Our daycare provider's basement (you know, where the daycare is located) took on four to five inches of water, forcing her to shut down on Friday (and possibly into next week). Consequently, I took the day off from work and stayed home with Kenny to try to teach him how to say fun and useful words like, "lifeboat, sump pump" and "flood insurance."

All of this misery around me didn't stop me from grumbling about my lack of cable and Internet access, as my email addiction far outweighs my ability to empathize with wet neighbors. I'll probably get smote for that, or at least, flooded, so let me just say again, to the powers that be, that I'm being sarcastic here in the name of humorous blogging. Yes, I am perfectly capable of going several days without email or ESPN.com. Stop sniggering. It's true. Sort of.

The sun was kind enough to come back out today, so things are drying up nicely. Once my local hardware warehouses are re-stocked with fresh portable generators and battery-powered sump pump backup systems, I'm sure I'll end up "investing in a dryer future."

Of course, with all of this water, it is nice to be able to "surf" again. I'm just sayin'.

blame it on the rain

My apologies for the lack of updates at the moment, but I was too busy staring, open-mouthed at the torrential downpours that consumed Glenview this weekend. Last night alone it dumped barely under two inches, turning our already swamped backyard into something that resembled the Okefenokee.

This morning, I let Sadie out to take a "swim" and noticed that even the driveway had a good inch or so of standing water. Lucky for us, the basement remains dry. This all goes back to Overboard's theory of home ownership, which states that it's all about "keeping water in and out." So true.

I'll try to find some time soon to post about Kenny's latest goings-on and our awesome weekend visit from Beth and Julia.

coping with kenny withdrawal

[editor's note: the following post is the first from Dr. Overboard herself, and we hope, not her last]

After a long weekend with much quality time with Kenny, I've diagnosed myself with Kenny Withdrawal (Latin Missing Kenny-itis). It's a condition in which you miss Kenny so much that you constantly think about him and little else.

What causes Kenny Withdrawal?
Deprivation of cuddling with, kissing, hugging and playing with Kenny for extended periods of time. Working too much, over-scheduling, out-of-sync priorities, or infrequent visits to Glenview can increase the risk of Kenny withdrawal.

What are the signs of acute Kenny Withdrawal?
- Day-dreaming about a cute Kenny during work hours.
- Frequent viewing of pictures and videos of Kenny.
- Regaling co-workers with unsolicited stories. (Providing strangers with milestone updates may indicate a more serious case.)
- Subjecting same co-workers to aforementioned pictures and videos.
- Propensity to call, e-mail or instant message spouse about said cutie-pie.

How is Kenny Withdrawal treated?
Extended exposure to Kenny is the best medicine. You usually will start feeling better after a few hugs and kisses. More advanced treatment includes playing with trains and/or cars, reading books together, taking walks, feeding him and playing a rousing game of “Where is Kenny?”.

what's the word?

As my man Cameo would say, "word UP." Turns out, Kenny says that too.

After several word "sighting/soundings" over the past month, including what sounded like "Sadie, Light," and "No," this morning Kenny very distinctly said, "Up." Better yet, he used it in context. After finishing his breakfast, Kenny held his arms over his head and said to Overboard, "Up." It sounded a bit like, "upa," which might have meant he was feeling like having Greek food and wanted to smash his plate when he was done, but after a few repeat "upa"s we knew what he was saying.

This is all very exciting, as it can be considered Mr. K's first real word. Overboard and I, in a fit of parental pride, have been trying to get him to use the word in any and every instance since.

For example:

"Do you want to go up, Kenny? Would you like to up the amount of food you get at lunch? If Sadie isn't lying down, she must be getting up, right? How do you feel today, Kenny? Are you feeling up to doing something fun?" (the list goes on and on)

We're extremely curious to see which words come next and how he uses them, but for now we'll bask in the happy glow that is "up."

So if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go fire upa some Cameo...owwwwwwwww.

grandma & grandpa's super happy fun week

Kenny gears up for his week of fun with Grandma and Grandpa by taking his Pooh Bear car out for a spin around the house.

Kenny's daycare took last week off and Grandma Jackie and Grandpa Alan were kind enough to come do some "Kennycare" for us. Not that we really had to twist any arms or anything, but it was a big help and everyone involved seem to enjoy themselves immensely.

In addition to playing around the house, Kenny's grandparents took him out shopping, to the park and on a fun outing to the children's museum up near the house. Now that Kenny is walking around, he's able to really enjoy those kinds of places. Personally, I was proud that he was rockin' his Braves Chipper Jones jersey in honor of his grandparents visit from Atlanta. Now we just need to work on his tomahawk chop and "oooooh, oh, ohhhhh" chant.


Kenny and Grandpa Alan swap Evenkeel stories.

Grandmas are good for holding.

Grandpas are good for climbing.

"And then the CFO ordered 25,000 copies of Grandpa's software. Isn't this a great book, Kenny?"

Mr. Jones ponders whether or not he'll ever win the NL MVP again.

Kenny preps to take on the water room at the kid's museum.

"Hmmm...how I can get this everywhere in the most efficient manner?"

"Perhaps I'll just rip this boat apart instead."

Kenny the Kraken.

"Which one of these buttons launches the rockets? Hmmm, guess I'll just push them all."

"Yo, stretch! Can I get a step stool over here?"

camera obscura (really, really obscura)

I don't know what we did, but we apparently did something to break our camera. While the photos it now takes are highly artistic, it doesn't quite work for us when it comes to capturing the moments in our lives that aren't so abstract.

I'll see what I can do, but we may need to invest in a new camera. Wheee.

kenny, tony. tony, kenny.

I went to a sleep away summer camp in upstate New York for three summers when I was kid (from age 12-14). During that time, I had a lot of fun and made some friends that I still stay in touch with to this day. A while back, one of those friends, Evan, came to visit and meet Kenny, and now my other really good camp friend, Tony, has met Mr. K as well.

Tony was in town for a morning business meeting and got to stay with us overnight. It was a brief visit, but a good one, as we hadn't seen him in years and, consequently, he had never met Kenny.

Since our camera is on the fritz (see post above), I snapped this with my phone - so please forgive the quality. To be fair, both of these gentlemen are a helluva lot more handsome in person. Not that they look bad here, I'm just sayin' the photo doesn't do them justice. I should stop now, shouldn't I? Yeah, I think so too.

pix from the pool

We went back to the neighborhood pool again the other weekend to escape the heat and do some swimming. Here are a few shots for you to enjoy...


Nothing quite like sipping a cold drink poolside...

"No, Mommy, I wanna go over HERE!"

Evenkeel shows Kenny what the view can be like if he makes sure to eat his veggies and outgrow his parents.

Father and son out for a stroll to show off their impressive physiques.

And now we shall dramatically walk off into the sunset. Oh yeah.

sadie's st. louis homecoming - part ii (electric boogaloo)

Last weekend we packed up Kenny and Sadie and roadtripped down to St. Louis to visit cousins Danny & Elise.


Kenny and his St. Louis fan club.

Mr. K enjoyed the car ride, but was so interested in what was going on that he opted not to sleep all that much. Of course, I wasn't helping matters, as just when the little one was in a deep slumber, I got pulled over by Illinois' finest for doing 72 in a 65 zone (he claimed 74, but I'm gonna go with the cruise control settings on this one). Now, I was fortunate to get off with a warning, but the flashing red and blue lights (and prospect of Daddy getting into a heated exchange with an actual police officer) were too much for Kenny to ignore. He thankfully crashed back out soon afterwards, while Daddy attempted to stay within 5 miles an hour of the posted speed limit (with only minor grumbling).

We arrived in the "Lou" around 1:35am and had to get everything, and everyone, into the house and back down to bed. The next day was a bit bumpy, with exceptionally long naps enjoyed by all and capped off by a fun Shabbos dinner.


Is this the face of a well rested young man? Yeah, we didn't think so either.

He was pretty hungry tho'.

Evenkeel and Kenny model the latest in Friday night headgear for the young and upwardly mobile Jew.

Due to the lovely heat wave, we spent most of the trip hanging out in the house, enjoying the joys of AC. However, we did take a quick trip to the zoo on Saturday, where all of the animals seemed to think we were insane for venturing out into the heat. How hot was it? Well, since you asked, it was so hot that we took a 30 minute detour into the monkey house just to get some AC relief. Have you ever been inside of a monkey house? I have. And, imagine this, it smells like monkeys. Or, more specifically, it smells like monkey poop and monkey pee. But when it's 95 degrees outside, with 95% humidity, you suck it up, plug your nose, and get the hell inside where it's cool.

Afterwards, we went and grabbed some lunch before heading back to the homestead. That night we felt inspired to introduce Danny and Elise to the gastronomic wonder that is Steak 'n Shake. Our burgers were the grease-bombs I have come to know and love (after innumerable late night meals in Atlanta during high school with my friends), but Elise wasn't really a fan. Well, her stomach wasn't. Later that night, while we slept peacefully, Elise cursed the heavens, Steak 'n Shake franchisees everywhere, and probably me for suggesting we get it in the first place.


Kenny thinks meals taste better when the food doesn't smell like monkeys.

It was kind of like that time we took our French foreign exchange student to Aunt Fanny's Cabin in Atlanta for an authentic Southern meal (where everything is deep fried and slathered in grease and butter before being served). To say it was a shock to his system would be a, je ne sais quoi, understatement. But I digress.

On Sunday we took a trip to one of those ginormous indoor outlet malls to do some shopping during the tax-free weekend holiday. Kenny had a good time cruising around, and was an especially big fan of the store that had a gigantic remote controlled racetrack for patrons to use. His eyes grew huge as he watched the cars zip around and occasionally fly off the track when someone tried to take a turn a wee bit too fast.

My favorite part was the ice rink in the corner of the mall that was an "Official St. Louis Blues practice facility," where a bunch of young kids were taking a hockey lesson. I held Kenny up by the glass and whispered, "take mental notes," in his ear while he raptly watched the players slide around and take shots. He even managed to bang on the glass with an enthusiasm generally associated with the guys who are on their sixth beer and marveling at their ability to score seats along the boards.



"All monkeys poop. All monkeys pee. Some monkeys even fling their poop from the top of a tree."

The trip back home was cop-free, but we did manage to get stuck in a hellacious rainstorm for about 20 minutes, where I could barely see the taillights of the car in front of me. Always fun.

As for Kenny, he once again opted to stay awake waaaaaaay past his bedtime, yammering away from his car seat and pointing out fun things on the horizon for the dog. He did sleep through the storm tho', so that was a plus.

demolition man

Kenny has a fun, old-school set of wooden blocks with letters and pictures on them. While I have tried to show him how to spell his name, he takes much greater interest and joy out of knocking over the towers of blocks I construct for him.

Kenny has several techniques he likes to employ, including the punch, the smack, the plow-through, the stiff arm, and the karate kick. He is distressed that I have not let him test out explosives yet, but I just don't think his mother will go for that. Besides, we work like hell to keep the carpet in the basement free of food or drink stains, so smoldering burns would probably be a no-go.

These days, we like to put the construction man who came with his dump truck, Jorge Mendoza, on top of the towers. Kenny takes great delight in seeing Jorge go flying, but I can't help bit feel for poor Mr. Mendoza. Here's a great guy who's just trying to build quality structures and support his family, but along comes some giant who takes such unbridled glee in knocking his creations to kingdom come. Besides, I don't know what kind of insurance policies Jorge has, but I gotta imagine he's maxed out his worker's comp at this point, as well as having spent more in construction costs than the state of Massachusetts blew through on the Big Dig.

These are the things I think about. Kenny, well, he just likes to see things go "boom."

Fair enough.

other things kenny is into right now

1. Shutting doors
2. Opening drawers
3. Pushing large wheeled objects (walker wagons, strollers, etc.)
4. General dining mayhem (spitting liquids, throwing food, hurling bottles and utensils, etc.)
5. Using the word "DA!" more often than an overly amiable Russian
6. His firetruck (the house is regularly serenaded by the sounds of, "This is Unit 88. We are in route. Over.")
7. Doling out high-fives
8. Crawling up stairs
9. Ambling, sauntering, strolling, marching, or toddling
10. Trying to get his hands in and on Sadie's bowl(s)
11. Making lists for the blog

it was like he just flipped a switch or something...

Kenny's new "thing" is light switches. Specifically, turning on and off light switches. He thinks it's pretty cool, and loves to see the cause and effect of flipping the switch and the lights coming on as a result. He mastered the oversized light switch on his toy house a long time ago, and is now hard at work on whatever light switch Overboard and I hold him up to. What's really fun are dimmer switches. "Gradual" is just not something Kenny is interested in these days.