Nothing like a bandage on a newborn to give you a little perspective.














Riley takes her first walk through the neighborhood as Jack "makes music" with a stick along the fence.

Jack is, in a way, not unlike Finley: if we don't run him around the park for an hour a day he gets a little antsy.

All in the family.

Sweet dreams, baby girl.

Uncle Eddie and Jack say good morning to Riley.

Abu, meet Riley.

Rick seems genuinely stunned. Vickie seems genuinely amused.

Jack meets Riley for the first time.

Gif creator

The first time my daughter ever held my hand. She's exhausted, but she clings to Daddy's finger.

Riley makes her debut, puffy lips and all.

Finley seems generally (and genuinely) unimpressed.

Jack examines yet one more stick at the Botanic Garden. Everyone asks, "What it is about little boys and sticks?" There are two answers, one I won't talk about, and the other, more obvious answer, is that we're essentially chimps. (98% of the same DNA can't be a coincidence.)

Jack, finding his way among the tulips.

Jack listens to a little music...Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. He likes The Beatles, though, of course, until very recently he called them The Beagles.

Riley Kate Rajczyk, daughter of Pablo Adrian and Penelope Eells, sister of Jack Moises-Crissman, was born in Evanston, Illinois at 7:09 am on April 24th 2010, weighing 7 pounds 11 ounces and measuring 19 inches.

She shares her birthday with Barbara Streisand, Richard M. Daley, Eric Bogosian, Robert Penn Warren, Willem de Kooning and a bunch of baseball players.

We went to the Botanic Garden with Eddie yesterday. Jack pointed out as many things as he asked about; he's so observant and eager to learn, and, in his way, teach. Less than 24 hours later our family grew by one, as Penny brought our baby girl into the world in what seemed like record time. We checked into the hospital at 6:00 am, and Riley crossed the finish line officially at 7:09. And, as the saying goes, nothing will ever be the same again - and that's as it should be

I have no doubt that Jack is still a bit confused about the whole "Riley" thing.  'Who is this person, what was she doing in Mommy's belly all this time, and why has she decided now is the time to show up?'

But Penny has done an amazing job talking with him about it (and I, taking her lead, have done the same...I hope).  We've also read a bunch of books about big brothers and little sisters and they've been incredibly helpful (though I've learned to actually hate the Berenstain Bears; who tells a toddler that babies punch their older siblings in the nose?).  And it goes without saying that having Mikayla as a playmate has been great.

Jack loves to help with anything we're doing, from cleaning the floor to making dinner to going shopping; Jack aaaaaalways wants to help.  So tonight, as he was falling asleep and we were snuggling together, I asked him what he thought about Riley coming home.  He said, unsurprisingly, that he gets to help teach her things. When I asked what thing he said, "Walking, talking, eating pickles."

"Eating pickles?"

"Sure. And carrots...and mangoes.  And ice cweam (he still has that toddler lisp that part of me wants him to keep forever) and peas and chicken and cake and tomatoes and apples and...cake."

"That's good.  What else are you going to teach her?"

"How to talk, and take a baff and how to catch da ball, and fro da ball, and kick da ball, and how to wock in da wocking chair, and hit like da Cubbies."  He paused, and thought.  "And pwaying wiff my new wainbow umbwewa."

I told him that's he's going to be the best big brother.  "I love you Jack," I said.

"I wuv you too, Daddy."

It's all too true that we forget things. I don't mean facts and figures, obscure historical facts, keys. Those are inevitably lost. I mean things more obvious, and in some ways more important.

A high-powered (and rather noisy) hand dryer kicked on while we were taking a potty break at Target. Jack was very suspicious.

Hmmm.

Budding artisitic genius. OK, maybe it's too early to know for sure, but we have the impulse (quite naturally) to praise everything he says and does and to keep everything he touches. The Internet - it's like the new family refrigerator; someplace to keep every art project your kids ever create.

Jack takes a picture of us, and we take a picture of him.

It was the first (nearly) 80-degree day of 2010, and Jack was ready to work.