touch

...have you been enjoying the new series, touch, too? it's my new favorite show. actually, i can't really claim to have been watching it faithfully, as i've seen only the first full episode and part of the second. after that, i saw bits and pieces in between nightly routines each thursday. television watching is not a pastime i have space for these days. i would like to have seen every episode so far, but it comes on when isaac's bed-time routine starts, so it just isn't meant to be.

and honestly, i don't know if i want to continue watching it, because there have been times where i start watching a new series and like it off the bat. but then i come to realize that it's lacking by the end of the season, because they've really done all that they can do with it.

i hope that's not the case with this show, in case i'm ever able to get back into it. i think i was just so drawn to it in the beginning because of the premise... the very name. i like to think there is some truth to those story-lines, as far as how we are connected to others when we don't even realize it... and as far as how our words and actions have a ripple effect that we may or may not ever know.

i guess what i'm writing about doesn't necessarily have to do with my photos. but these shots somewhat made me think of another reason i like the show, which is probably why i chose to post them on a thursday night {after i was done watching what small parts i could}.

i think that other reason... that part of the show that has me hooked... is the relationship between sutherland's character and his son. in fact, it was shortly after {or perhaps just before} i took this bunch of photos of mr. b and isaac that the series started, and one reminded me very much of the other. not in a direct way, of course... my son does not have autism and my husband's wife {me} was not killed in the 9/11 attacks. but there is a closeness and connection between father and son in this drama that i find inviting. before i had a son and was able to see the way my husband and he interact, i might not have been quite as drawn in to the show.

anyway, it is the reason that i have been wanting {for about four or five thursdays, now} to post these photos. any day is a good day to make an album out of them. but i specifically waited for a thursday because it is the night the series airs. i worked on these photos {and more} here and there over the past five weeks... {i originally planned to do a whimsical "mad-hatters" post with them.}

i had just bought isaac a hat, and when i got home to try it on him for fit, he looked so cute that i had to grab my camera. i could not stop taking pictures. it was like photographing an entirely different kid, because the hat transformed his appearance so much, to me... even his mood seemed slightly different in it. so i took over one hundred pictures!

i've had people comment to me that my son will be the most photographed person of all time {only partially in jest, i think}. i don't mind when they say it. i may go to the extreme. but there are two significant reasons for that. i don't have a whole lot of photos of myself from when i was growing up... especially not in the first few years. so i tend to go overboard with my own son. i want him to have as many photos as he would like so he'll have a glimpse back to what his days were like as a baby.

secondly, i once had a conversation with a very talented professional photographer {who specializes in infant and children portraits}. i expressed to her how i would like to some day do what she does, in addition to specializing in other types of photography. she said that she started out where i did... with no formal training and no real knowledge. she just taught herself and practiced, practiced, practiced... on her own children.

then she encouraged me to do the same. {i already had been, actually.} so i took her advice, and now i do just that. and because i really love to live by the same philosophy about photography as monica rich kosann {which i recently heard her share}, i like to take pictures like the ones i've posted here. she said something to the effect of "i like to be the one who is taking pictures when everyone else has set their cameras down."... in other words, when no one is expecting to have their picture taken. just in the moment. i love that! those are my very favorite pictures to take... and often end up being my favorite shots to view.

okay... enough about that. i need to start adding the photos, because there are several. {actually, the really big lot of them is in an album on flickr {should you like to take a look at them}. i added only the ones with dad here.}

before i do, just one more thing... i'm realizing very much that isaac is a daddy's boy. i mean, i guess he's a mama's boy in many ways, too. only time will tell which one he will lean more toward, if he does lean toward one over the other, that is.

but i have to say... as much as i'd love him to be a mama's boy {especially while he is very young}, i don't mind one bit if he's not, because i think i may get more enjoyment out of watching him with his dad who he loves very much... and the closeness they have. i've said it before... there is just something so wonderful about observing them together. they are true buds. every time mr. b gets home from work, isaac gets so excited. i'll animatedly say "dada's home!"and briskly carry him over to the door to wait for him to come in. the biggest smile {that you'd think can't get any bigger} forms on his face... and then his dad walks through the door, and sure enough, that smile grows even more.

we live on the second floor of an older two-flat house, so i often bring isaac to the window to watch his dad come and go outside below. yesterday, when mr. b was leaving, isaac started to cry {as he often does when dad leaves}. so i brought him over to the window to say and wave "bye bye". mr. b. {in true mr. b. fashion} looked up and started doing silly little jumping-jack-like jigs to ease isaac's separation anxiety. it did that and more. isaac started laughing hysterically... the heartiest i have ever heard him laugh yet. it was the most adorable thing... and not just the getting to watch isaac part, but seeing my husband's efforts, too... his love for isaac. i always knew he would make a great dad. i knew from the first time he came to my house to have breakfast with me after we first started dating. when i went to the porch to let him in {after he had rung the bell}, he was nowhere to be seen. it took several seconds before i realized he had climbed the tree that was directly in front of the porch to wait for and greet me.

if i knew then that he was going to make a great dad, i must have sort of felt he would make a great husband, too. and i think without even realizing it, that's when i started to believe so. let me tell you... when a dad is really good at being a dad, he's not just a great dad. he is a great husband, too... if he is married, that is. it not only makes my life so much easier that my husband is a loving and attentive father to isaac... it also makes it much more fun and precious. it's why these photos mean the world to me... why any photos of the two of them mean the world to me.

so i create these albums... they may not be in leather-bound books with plastic page-protectors over them. instead they are to be scrolled through on big, bright lightboxes. but either way, they are my capsules full of memories of days to remember... like days where we are simply sitting around wearing silly old hats. and i like to share them here.

i almost forgot... the one thing that really hooked me in to the show, touch, was the very last line in the first episode. sutherland's character was talking about his wife and quoted something she used to say all the time when their son was first born. she said, "one plus one equals three". i like that... and i just might have to steal that little phrase and use it for my little family.

okay. finally... the photos! {well, some. the rest here.}