Introducing the leash
Posted: July 30, 2013 Filed under: Advice, Anecdote, New York City, Outing, Parenthood Leave a commentSince Henry is now for real walking, quickly, wherever he wants, without regard for others’ personal space or his own well-being, we thought, “Hey! I bet Henry will love to run around on a leash while we drink mimosas and eat eggs!” We were wrong.
That is a monkey on our son’s back.
My mother-in-law bought us this monkey backpack leash mere weeks after we were married. It sat in my sweater drawer for six years. It was worth giving it a try.
Luckily, the perfect cure for leash fatigue is blueberry pancakes. And Lido has blueberry pancakes on the menu. And when you schedule brunch during nap time, this may happen:
Then the patient and attentive staff at Lido will continue to fill your bottomless mimosas. Then you leave a good tip.
Dibs
Posted: July 22, 2013 Filed under: Advice, News | Tags: fate, royalty Leave a commentHenry is marrying the royal baby, so don’t even worry about it.
Father’s Day: Put on your helmet
Posted: July 19, 2013 Filed under: Anecdote, Dads, New York City, Outing, Photos | Tags: bikes, Central Park, Father's Day, New York City Leave a commentIn my ongoing effort to not be too adequate a wife and partner, I can’t tell you what we did for Tim’s first Father’s Day. I think it was on a Sunday in June.
So I decided to make this Father’s Day an actual thing. Starting with sticky buns from our favorite local bakery Dunkin Donuts because the bakery with sticky buns didn’t open until hours after our day began. It started with Dunkin Donuts and this:
Henry likes to wake up at 5:30 so he can go to the park in his pajamas. But Henry and I did let Tim sleep in until 7:00 since it was such a special day.
Then we visited a local bike shop to rent bikes and helmets and go for a ride in Central Park. Henry was excited.
And ready to go.
But it was nap time.
We managed to make it around the six mile loop just about twice. It was my first time experiencing Central Park as a bike rider. I was a little worried about crosswalk ignorers (but thank you for visiting and spending money in my city) in the south end of the park and the very serious bike riders, but their existence affected me no more as a bike rider than as a runner or walker. I liked riding in the park so much that I’ll likely soon ditch my husband and child and ride all by myself.
Note: I will ride in the park. This does not translate into me becoming a person who rides her bike often on a street that allows cars on it. The one time I rode a bike in New York City I got hit by a van. It was the van’s side mirror, and it tapped me on the shoulder as we both slowed down for a red light on a small street, and it was three years ago, but I got hit by a van. New York is becoming more biker friendly, it seems, which may mean more friendly bikers, but until the bike to car ratio more resembles Amsterdam, I’ll walk or run or ride our cheap and readily available public transit.
After our sweet bike ride we ate some cheese and fruit. And yogurt.
And we decided a Father’s Day tradition had begun.
Henry turns 1
Posted: July 17, 2013 Filed under: Anecdote, Birthday, Outing, Parenthood, Photos | Tags: birthday, Central Park, cupcake, Henry, Very Hungry Caterpillar 1 CommentIn May Henry became 1 year old. We threw him two parties. With a theme, a theme that may or may not have been a last-minute decision based on guilt that I was using my son’s birthday as an excuse to day drink.
Party 1: Gangy and Pop Pop’s backyard
I took a few pictures … of the table I decorated. I wanted my son to know I loved him enough to decorate a table.
And commit to a theme.
We couldn’t feature ALL of the food the Very Hungry Caterpillar eats, because then I would win all of Pinterest.
I did manage to take one photo of my son at his very first birthday party. Probably another idea I stole from Pinterest.
People brought gifts even though I said not to, mostly because I didn’t want to have to open them in front of everyone, which I did. (Thank you, friends and family, for your very kind disregard.)
Party 2: New York City’s backyard (or, Central Park)
Or, the one where I actually remembered to give my child cake at his birthday (and take pictures of him). Or, the one where we learned that an entire birthday party can be transferred half a mile and up a hill with a jogging stroller and a laundry cart. Or, the one where we learned that one of the best decisions we’ve made so far as parents was to set up the party next to a big tree.
We used the same theme. Henry didn’t care.
And Henry ate way more strawberries than the caterpillar (and everyone else at the party).
But this is what he really did all day:
We did convince him to stop pushing the cart around for a few minutes to join in the day drinking.
Then it started raining, a weather event predicted by NO ONE. So we moved the table under the aforementioned tree, where we stayed perfectly dry. Thank you, Central Park.
But not before Henry had his cake.
Followed by a well-documented second piece of cake, as documented by our friend Jay.
And this happened:
This kid is the best.
Outing report: Little Orchestra Society
Posted: July 14, 2013 Filed under: Anecdote, New York City, Outing | Tags: Henry, Lincoln Center, Little Orchestra Society, mimosas Leave a commentUnlike the admirable promptness of my report of our previous outing, this one is, um, a few months late. But it’s still worth reporting on, because it was fun, and also because I need to document that we were cool New York City parents again. Congratulations to us.
In April we attended Little Orchestra Society‘s Fantasia live in concert. We went to Lincoln Center to watch the movie Fantasia while a live orchestra played the music from the movie. A friend from Lamaze class suggested the concert and it took me 1/8 of a second to decide we were going. Little Orchestra Society even offers pre-concert activities for the kiddos, but our group decided mimosas were a better pre-concert activity.
The one picture I took that day occurred during our pre-concert activity on our friends’ terrace, when the sun began shining on Henry’s lightly haired head that needed sunblock since we forgot his hat:
Lincoln Center is the one place we’ve gone so far that charged for us our under-two-year-old child, but it was worth it, even if Henry fell asleep after the first song. He woke up for the end, which he watched with Tim in the back of the theater since he wanted more space to dance and sing.
After the show was over, the woman sitting next to me asked if Tim and I were American born and commented that Tim was a very attentive father. She also confirmed that having only child was okay.
Measured in Weeks 