Dear Asher,

February flew bye… At this rate you’ll be all grown up by May. You had a great month of firsts! Your first vacation, first time in an airplane, first taste of real food, first (and last) visit to the Igloo in Pittsburgh, and many, many more.

One of my favorite stand-up comedians of all time is Bill Cosby. My dad (your Paw-Paw) introduced me to his comic stylings a loooong time ago, and I will do the same for you. Once you’re a little older, the 3 of us will sit down together and watch Cosby ‘Himself’. Anyhoo, there’s a part in there were Cosby talks about a little 4 year old kid he sat in front of on an airplane. The kid drove him absolutely nuts the entire flight. Incidentally, the little kid’s name was ‘Jeffry’ – just like your old man. For some reason, that story about a kid wreaking havoc on an airplane has stuck with me over the years. Whenever I see a kid getting on an airplane, I pray to the airport gods that I get a seat as far away from the little bastard as possible. So, when you came along, I knew the day would come when I’d be THAT parent with a crazy, wheels-off kid incessantly kicking the seat of the generic Joe Businessman sitting in front of us.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. You were a total angel on both the flight to Pittsburgh and the flight home. You were so great that we even got several compliments from the people sitting around us while de-boarding. Thanks for not being a little ‘Jeffry’.

The trip to the ‘Burgh was awesome. Not only was it your first trip there (one of many I hope), but it was the first time for your mom too! Your Uncle Ryan drove us around your Me-Maw’s old neighborhood near Riverview Park. We saw the house she grew up in and the church Me-Maw and Paw-Paw got married at.

The best part of the trip was taking you and your mom to see the Penguins play at Mellon Arena. The team might not be in Pittsburgh next year, so it was important to me that you got to see them play in Pittsburgh (just in case, God forbid, they move to Kansas City). Hopefully that won’t ever happen and we’ll get to go to a lot of Penguin games in a new arena! The Pens beat the Capitals 3-2 – Malkin scored an unbelievable goal on a one-timer from Gonchar in the corner. It was a dream come true to get to share such a great experience with you and your mom.

This month you started eating real food. Well, I don’t know if I’d call it “real” food, but compared to the mom-juice-only diet you’ve had so far, I guess pea-mush is as real as it gets. You’ll eat anything you can get in your mouth – sweet potatoes, peas, rice cereal, green beans, bananas, carrots, earrings, loose change… and your facial expressions are priceless. Thankfully you’re not too terribly messy… yet. I’m still waiting for the day when you discover your pitching arm, I just hope we’re not serving mac & cheese.

You’ve also nailed the whole sitting up and rolling over thing. It’s funny to me how excited moms and dads get with their kids when they learn to roll over and sit up. It’s never good when you have to clarify that you’re talking about your baby and not your dog…

You’re learning new and exciting things each day! I can’t wait to see all the stuff you’ll learn to do over the next couple of months.

Love,
Papa