about a boy, part 2

Today, the artist formerly known as Wiggle is a stunning sixteen-weeks-old. We're almost to the age of teething, jumperoos, and solid foods. On a cold and snowy January day I wrote a top ten list of fun facts about Will, and on this cold but sunny March evening I figured it's time for an update. Here are the top ten facts about my almost four-month-old little boy:

1. He rolled over from his back to his tummy today! When he gets mad enough, anything is possible.

2. He loves sitting in his Bumbo Seat,



3. and hanging out on his playmat with Sir Chimes-a-lot and Mr. Shark. Mr. Shark is sort of a stoner-type dude, but we love him anyway.



4. Those eyes are still a deep blue, and will likely stay that way. He didn't get them from his mommy or his daddy.

5. He is two feet tall and weighs about fourteen pounds.

6. He's got a big head, just like his daddy.

7. He HATES Baby & Me Pilates. I figured we'd give it a go in an effort to get out and meet some moms and babies, but we spend most of the class standing and bouncing while everyone else does their exercises. It's okay; it's sort of a yuppie thing to do anyway.

8. When mom wasn't around, Grandpa put him in a swing at the park and Grandma let him taste an apple. I guess that's what grandparents are for.

9. If mom's taking night duty, he wakes up around 1 and 4. If it's dad's turn, which it usually is (bless his heart), it's usually 3 and 6.

10. Breast milk continues to be a big, big hit.

special friends

On the very last morning of our trip to Marco Island, Will and I got a very special treat: a visit from my friend Anne, her husband Tom, and their adorable son Adam.

This wasn't any old playdate (aside from being Will's first). Anne and I met in 2003 at Boston College, and quickly developed a really unique sort of friendship. She is a couple of years older than me, so we didn't have the same groups of friends at BC and would probably have never met if not for a service trip to St. Thomas that we both went on at the end of my freshman year and her junior year. Right away we found unusual comfort in each other amidst the unfamiliar places and experiences that such a trip entails. We both bonded with a little boy we met in an orphanage in St. Thomas named Malachai. He was just a baby on that first trip, and Anne and I were overjoyed to hold him in our arms and give him the love he so deserved. We led another trip to St. Thomas a year later, and returned to the same orphanage, and to our same little boy, who by then was a busy toddler with a lot less interest in cuddles.

I couldn't find a picture of just me and Anne, but here are a couple of us individually with children from the orphanage:






And this was Malachai then:



To think he is now eleven-years-old is mind-blowing. I wonder what his life is like today.

Anne graduated from BC when I was a sophomore and returned to Minnesota, where she grew up and where her family still lives. I went on with my college life and we kept in sporadic touch, exchanging the occasional card and email. Our communication grew more infrequent as time went on, but I never stopped thinking of Anne or finding comfort in the fact of our friendship.

It wasn't until this time last year, when I found out I was pregnant with Will, that our friendship kicked into high gear once again. Overwhelmed and a little scared, and with no friends who have children or are married, I remembered that Anne had a little boy in June of 2009. At nine-weeks-pregnant, I sent Anne an email asking for any and all advice she might have. Her reply contained the most sensitive and calming words I had heard since I learned about my pregnancy, and thus began a weekly written correspondence that continues to this day. In the age of text messages and facebook posts and IMs, Anne and I are writers of letters, albeit digital ones, about motherhood and growing up and jobs and friendship and everything in between. I owe much of my sanity throughout my pregnancy and the many changes of the last year to Anne and our letters.

And so, when we discovered that our vacations in Marco Island (of all places) would be overlapping by about 12 hours, we knew we had to make a visit happen. Eight years and two little boys of our very own later, here we are hanging by the pool.

We've promised each other it will not be another eight years until our next visit. In the meantime, the letter-writing continues, and our boys grow, and so do we.

what's in a name?

In Will's case, a lot. William Kevin Moynihan is named after my grandfather and father, respectively. Both men have had such hugely important and positive roles in my life that it's nearly impossible to put into words or properly acknowledge. So, I named my son after them.

William Bernard Condon, my paternal grandfather, "Grampa," was born in 1917 and came of age on the north side of Chicago during the height of the Great Depression. My grandmother, Virginia Moore, who apparently had quite a few suitors, fell for my grandfather the moment she met him at a local dance. Grampa worked in the advertising world and rose quickly through the ranks (I imagine Mad Men's Don Draper, except moral, and faithful, and maybe a little less drunk). As a result of his job, he had to move his family of six back and forth from Chicago to New York regularly. After having Jim and Maureen, my grandmother gave birth to twin boys, Keith and Kevin, in 1953. And, as fate would have it, Kevin would become my dad. Here's a photo of my dad, my uncle Keith, and Grampa in the yard of one of their homes in Connecticut, sometime in the late fifties:



My grandfather was one of those unspeakably kind people you never, ever forget. I can still hear his laugh when I look at this picture:



I won't go on and on about my dad because he'd probably ask me to shut up, but I will say he's pretty special. He's worked hard and has earned each of his many successes over the years. He's a lot smarter than he gives himself credit for. Three little girls never loved their dad more than we loved ours.



No little boy ever loved his grandpa more either.



And so, Will has some big shoes to fill. And some amazing examples to follow. During those inevitable times in his life when the answers aren't clear and the path is muddy, I hope he can remember the men he is named for and draw strength from their integrity and kindness.

William Kevin Moynihan. As my dad likes to say, "Now that's a solid name."

I couldn't agree more.

fun in the sun

Will just got back from his very first vacation. We went to Marco Island for a week with my family, and Will had a wonderful time floating around in the pool. Check out this video of the action:

Will's first swim

Now that we're home and totally warped from traveling, the only way to get Will to stop crying is to play this video over and over again. And so I'm really, really regretting my narration. But, oh my God, he is pretty great.