On Valentine’s Day morning we went to a new little coffee shop in our neighborhood called Steeplechase. Located on the outskirts of Kensington just before Brooklyn spreads out with Greenwood Cemetery on one side and fast food chains and auto body shops on the other, they have great coffee and pastries and it’s not too crowded. The barista was a pleasantly slackerish fellow. Apparently Brooklyn is so hipster-saturated that now they even live and work the Kensington hinterlands. Remarkable. Julie and I got caffienated. Milo got hopped up on blueberry muffins. Then we hunkered down and set to work, to the sounds of tastefully generic indie-pop, on this collaborative valentine:

Milo is away at his grandparent’s house in West Virginia and I’m missing him something fierce…So I’m posting a drawing he did last week to remind me of him.

Milo “helped” me with this one:

This was a collaborative Mother’s Day card by me & Julie. Julie in red, me in black.

Not a typical Mom’s Day card, but she’s not a typical mom! Note Milo with balls spelling “Mother’s” and Frank in his Prius.

From our recent trip to Brooklyn. Just like old times, I took him for a walk along Ocean Parkway and the steady rush of cars put him right to sleep. He napped in the front yard while I sat on the stoop and sketched. It was a nice afternoon.

Now that Milo is addicted to Dan Zanes & Fred Garbo DVD’s, it’s much easier to draw him. He actually sits still for extended periods! On mornings that Julie needs to sleep in, Milo and I eat poached eggs and watch DVD’s.Note the vacant stare. Also note the slumping posture, clearly inherited from his dad. Sorry, kid.

Milo is drawing human heads, complete with eyes, nose and mouth. He says they’re pictures of Frank.  This seems pretty advanced for a kid who  just turned 2 1/2, but what do I know, I’ve never had a kid before. I don’t wanna be an obnoxious show-off dad…or maybe I do.

There’s an apple tree down the road from here, and back in the fall Milo would like to walk to it and pick the fruit. It was homely and a bit worm-eaten, but the apples were tart, sweet, and crisp. This painting was done in October. Not up to Abbey Ryan standards, but a valiant attempt.

Sometimes Milo actually sits still long enough for me to draw him. Not often, but sometimes. He was lost in thought after eating a big plate of roasted sweet potatoes. Then I let him have a turn…