Sleeping with Curious George: A Short Timeline
NOTE: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.
Pile of George ... and George, and George, and Friends -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f/2 — 1/200 sec, f/2, ISO 800 — full exif
Pile of George
... and George, and George, and Friends

When Anthony wakes up, he gathers the friends he slept with, comes into the living room and deposits them somewhere random before starting his play for the day, or getting ready for school, etc. The photo above is from a week or so ago, though it's much the same every day save for the set of “and friends” that fluctuates often. (The pink pig, for example, is a recent addition.)

Realizing that he'll all-too-soon grow out of this childish cuteness, I took the snapshot last week to remember it by.

George Debut Oct 8, 2002, two weeks before Anthony's debut -- Copyright 2002 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
George Debut
Oct 8, 2002, two weeks before Anthony's debut

We received George at a baby shower thrown by my colleagues at Yahoo!. If I recall, it was David Papandrew and Jim O'Connor who so very kindly “invited” George. Fumie's mom was there, as were lots of friends and coworkers.... on the right in the photo above is Mike Bennett, who hired me into Yahoo and was still my manager at the time. At left is friend Katie Stanton and her three kids (she had left Yahoo! the previous month to spend more time with her kids, but eventually got antsy and moved on to Google and beyond).

Katie, having just had twins, gave us the lowdown on the tools of the trade for parenthood (Diaper Genie: yes!) and a lesson in how to change diapers. The first diapers that Fumie and I ever changed were the twins; she Caleigh, and me Declan. I'm sure this remains a cherished memory for them as it does for us. In particular, I was very encouraged by the fact that Declan did not pee on me (a track record Anthony did not quite manage to maintain).

Four Months Old -- Copyright 2003 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Four Months Old

It was a while before Anthony could appreciate George, or even grasp him, but once he could grab a hold of George, his basis of appreciation was likely George's great gum-ability. At that stage, Anthony liked anything he could bite...

Chow Time -- Copyright 2003 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Chow Time

Heck, he'd chew on a pair of socks if he could....

Really.

I Wasn't Kidding -- Copyright 2003 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
I Wasn't Kidding

But it wasn't long before George was Anthony's go-to friend, especially for sleeping.

5½ Months first picture I can find of Anthony sleeping with George -- Copyright 2003 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
5½ Months
first picture I can find of Anthony sleeping with George

We don't have a lot of pictures of Anthony sleeping when he was young, due to the simple fact that the camera would tend to wake him up, and a sleeping baby is not something we wanted to deny ourselves.

In fact, I'm not even sure that he's sleeping in the picture above. The camera I had at the time (Canon Powershot SB20) had the habit of pre-flashing the flash a quarter second before taking the shot, thereby almost guaranteeing that Anthony's eyes would be closed or half closed with a blink. It took a long time before I realized why he looked dopey in a lot of pictures. Grrr.

Soon they became inseparable friends. If they did somehow become separated, unfunness ensued.

Two Years Later April 2005, 2½ Years Old -- Copyright 2005 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Two Years Later
April 2005, 2½ Years Old

I'm not sure when I noticed that he brought all his sleeping friends out when he woke up, but here's a shot of him at 3 years old with a big ole handful of friends, first posted in “Sleepyhead”.

Sleepyhead emerges with his friends -- http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 @ 28 mm — 1/40 sec, f/4.5, ISO 3200 — full exif
Sleepyhead
emerges with his friends
Last Spring after a lively dinner on the far-southern-Japan island of Ishigaki -- Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 3200 — map & image datanearby photos
Last Spring
after a lively dinner on the far-southern-Japan island of Ishigaki
This Summer the night before he lost is first upper baby tooth -- Rootstown, Ohio, USA -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 — 1/60 sec, f/1.4, ISO 6400 — map & image datanearby photos
This Summer
the night before he lost is first upper baby tooth
A Few Days Ago -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 58 mm — 10 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200 — full exif
A Few Days Ago

He's growing up so quickly, and there will eventually be a time when I'll be worried if he doesn't grow out of this, but I'm not there yet.

Not even close.


All 6 comments so far, oldest first...

You are spot-on in realizing that you need to make the most of these years. My two sons, who each slept with a special ‘sock-monkey’ friend, just turned 19 and 22 this past month. They are both in college and live outside our home. I frequently look over my own photos, remembering those days when they were far younger, and more interested in spending time with Dad.

— comment by Gary in GR on December 15th, 2009 at 2:36am JST (14 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink

Thanks for sharing this. My son (now almost 4) has never had one favorite stuffed animal, despite our best efforts. Very cute story, and it is very sad when the outgrow those little quirks.

— comment by Tony McDaniel on December 15th, 2009 at 3:06am JST (14 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink

I’m glad to see Curious George is still in good shape!!!

— comment by Jimo on December 15th, 2009 at 4:33am JST (14 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink

What a great post! I totally share your feelings, since Katie has her special “friend” in her stuffed puppy, which was a shower gift from her Aunt. We have tried, quite unsucessfully I might add, to replace said puppy with a new fresh one, but that never works out. The best we can hope for is an occasional washing!

— comment by Ray on December 15th, 2009 at 7:11am JST (14 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink

Aww! I was waiting for a post dedicated to Curious George. Beautiful pictures. Ever since I began to read this blog I remember seen Geroge and Anthony in all places and pictures almost.

Isn’t so sad to see your child growing up so fast?

Griselda Nishikatsu. Arlington,TX

— comment by Griselda Nishikatsu on December 19th, 2009 at 2:01pm JST (14 years, 3 months ago) comment permalink

The picture of pregnant Fumie and you looks incredibly nice. You look sooo proud and by the way you have the same gaze as “gladiator”. 🙂
Anthony is the first grandchild for your parents: you and the 3 other siblings with kids started quite late having families… Your parents sure did a good job of raising the 5 of you…

— comment by Anne on September 19th, 2012 at 4:32am JST (11 years, 6 months ago) comment permalink
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