Volkman Griscom Family

Dear Declan --



On Sunday i took you to the Intrepid aircraft carrier off the west side highway in the 30s, a floating museum showcasing fighter jets, supersonic surveillance aircraft, a cruise missile bearing submarine, and other child-friendly chattels of the world's reigning superpower. You were transfixed -- you pulled at my arm and dragged me from exhibit to exhibit for a period of several hours and protested with all your four year old might (which is considerable) when we had… Continue

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Dear Declan --



Your grandmother (Grandma Cookie) collapsed in our bathroom on Thursday morning, hit her head on the bathtub, and was taken to St. Vincent's hospital in an ambulance. It was a frightening moment for your mother and me ... she has spent much of the last couple days in the hospital, and we have been intensely engaged… Continue

Dear Declan --



This morning in the middle of brunch at the Whitney (Museum of Art, Sarah Beth's downstairs, highly recommended), you pronounced, "Kids don't like mushrooms." You said it patiently, over-enunciating, slowly shaking your head, as if you were talking with your three year old son.



This is something you have starting doing lately -- making grand proclamations about the habits of your tribe (kids), usually in an… Continue

Dear Declan --



Sometime in the summer of 2008 you began squinting and drawing your upper lip up like a retractable curtain when someone says "Smile!" This is a fascinating thing for a parent to watch -- the incremental process of a little human (that would be you) becoming socially aware. Which is to say, becoming less sincere. Developing an intent, however clumsy and well intentioned, to deceive.…



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Dear Declan and Grey,



This is the first of a series of letters I will be writing to you about the experience of being your father.



I am doing this for a couple reasons: First, because being your dad is so stupendously cool, and I don’t want to forget a single poopie diaper. Memory is the clumsy process through which our lives are edited, and I want the never-ending director’s cut.



The second reason is that I want… Continue