Whitman boys.

In some cultures, they do not name babies until they have survived their first fortnight. (Note: I made that up.)

Presenting Sam Lawson Whitman, The Gus’s new sidekick and straight man:

This, folks is the baby formerly and still known as Cheese, Dr. McCheesy, Beefy Cheesy Nom Noms, Mac and Cheese, Senor Quesito, etc.

He eats, sleeps, poops, and occasionally cries. That, for now, is his repertoire.

So with his arrival, some changes. The Gus must now share this domain, as he will share our focus and attention. For now he’s adjusting well: he dotes on his little brother, and often when he picks out his books for reading at bedtime he chooses the one where an excellent little boy (named Sam, interestingly) learns what it is to be a good big brother. So the name of the blog changes, but your method of getting here needs not — though now you can come here by typing whitmanboys.com, or samLwhitman.com. (My distant unmet relative Stuart Whitman, on the east coast, beat me to samwhitman.com. Stuart, build that website!)

Cheese brought with him snow, more snow than has been seen in Portland in my lifetime. Cheese says “fie” to global warming. So we have had snow shenanigans:

And snow hijinks, as The Gus channels Indiana Jones:

But sometimes the best fun is the simplest: