Month: April 2012

We spent the weekend in Niagara Falls for a bus trip extravaganza with Jay’s family. They do this organized, packaged trip deal every couple of years. It was a little overwhelming, obviously, with a toddler in tow. We made it through and it was nice to get away and spend time with some of Jay’s family. We flew to Cleveland Thursday evening and woke very early Friday morning to catch the bus with everyone to Canada. Theo did well this weekend considering the crazy sleep schedule and just the general out-of-comfort-zone feeling of the whole weekend. He went from a plane on Thursday night to a bus on Friday morning and then to an eight hour car ride back to NYC on Sunday. It was not without whines, meltdowns, sharing issues, and terrible eating habits. But, like I said, all in all he was a happy boy. He got to spend some time with his cousin, Estelle, and he managed to nap and sleep in a bit since the bedtime was much later. The biggest struggles for him (and I presume most toddlers?) is eating in restaurants. We don’t do this very often at all here, and when I do, it’s usually a quick lunch. It’s a tiring event. We got through, though, and he really loved spending time with Yia Yia and Papa Hankie (who he just calls “Hank” for now). We got in some swimming in the hotel pool, some running around the game room, and he got to see the falls (the most wa wa! ever seen!). Here are a few pictures.

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We started a new swimming session yesterday. Same place we went last year, Camp Olympia, at John Jay High School in Park Slope. He loves the water, but yesterday he was a bit weary of the class. Honestly, I think he was a little freaked out by the teacher and her bright yellow swim cap. He was looking at her all crazy and touching my head. Since the class is on a weekday afternoon, there was also a lot going on because there were other classes happening simultaneously with bigger kids. Last year we did the Saturday morning and nobody else was there. It was kind of crazy loud. He clinged to me like nobody’s business and wasn’t too interested in trying the tasks we were supposed to be doing. The teacher did manage to dunk him and he was fine. Of course when it came time to leave, he freaked and was screaming and crying… wa wa! wa wa! It was also quite a challenge to get us dressed afterwards. He kept running to the door and looking at the pool, wa wa! wa wa! The boy loves some water. He’s going to love Niagara Falls this weekend. Anyhow, I hope next week will be better. I tried to explain to him this will be our new weekly class so hopefully he gets more familiar with it and excited about it.

First it was the rubber ducky that Theo was insisting on sleeping with, now it is my hairbrush. He, of course, has his monkey lovey, but, before his nap, and before bedtime, he reaches out and says, “bush! bush!”. I give him the brush and blow him a kiss and he says, “bye!” Silly little monkey.

Theo and I spent some time on Friday, early evening style, with my friend Shia and her daughter, Ayla. We don’t get to see them often because Shia works a lot and she lives a bit of a walk away. The whole way to the playground Theo kept saying, “Ay – LA!” He was very keen on using his tongue to accentuate the “LA”. Here she is digging in the sandbox:

This playground is great because it has a sandbox (not that Theo has played in it, yet) and also fun water sprinklers in the summer. It’s also nicely shaded because it’s one of the many playgrounds that are inside of Prospect Park. I figure we will go there a bit once the weather is hot.

Here is Theo running through the fun jungle gym maze:

We also spent some time this weekend at our usual local playground, Underhill, which is a block away. Theo and I have become staples there. Weekends are always nice for spending good quality family time. The weekend crowd changes, of course, and there are mostly Dad’s there. I love our weekend morning walks, playground runs, visits to the farmer’s market, bagel eating/coffee drinking times together.

Theo loves sitting/riding in this truck:

On Sunday, we stopped by the annual Prospect Heights Craft Fair.. Mostly because Mil’s Trill’s (ukelele playing lady with an amazing voice) was performing and I figured Theo would have a blast. He stayed close to us, as usual, but he was clapping his hands, tapping the tambourine, and bouncing up and down in his little dance style.

Before:

After:

Why do they always look so much older when they get a haircut?

We did our first tour of a Pre-School yesterday. It’s called the Co-op School and it’s pretty great. It’s in Clinton Hill, which is about a 10-12 minute walk from our place. Not too shabby. Of course we have to apply now and hope that we can get Theo in for the 2013/2014 school year when he is 3 years old. They don’t have a traditional waitlist, first-come, first-served sort of a thing so it’s basically whether your scheduling needs match up with what becomes available each year. They decide in March. It would be great to get him in next year because then if he ever has a sibling they would have an automatic in. AND, another plus, is that they recently added pre-K and Kindergarten in a sister facility down the street and will be adding Grade 1 – 5 in the next couple of years. The tuition for the preschool is very reasonable considering other places around here and you can do anywhere from 2 – 5 days. There are, of course, other membership fees since it is a cooperative model so they kind of get you there. Anyhow, it’s three floors and has two rooftop playgrounds, which is awesome because so many day care places and preschools around here seem so depressing because they are all so small and have tiny outdoor spaces. Their program is appealing to me and I love the co-op model where at least one parent in involved with one of their 10 ( soon to be 8 ) committees. Anyhow, I’m not putting all of our eggs in one basket, but I do think this will be our top choice for next year. In the meantime I will tour a few other places in the Fall for the following year, as well. It’s insane here and because I didn’t start this sooner he won’t be starting preschool until he is 3, which is completely fine with me.

This afternoon I was doing our dishes from lunch and I peeked into the living room to see what Theo was getting into and I saw this:

He looked over at me and said, “hock!”

This morning we were walking around the neighborhood on our way to Underhill Playground and we stopped to smell the beautiful spring flowers. I can’t hide it, I’m not a winter person… I’m loving this weather.

I always see toddlers pushing their little baby strollers. I wondered if Theo would have any interest. Last week he discovered one at the playground and was just going all around, back and forth. Then he found one at the park this weekend and the nice family let him stroll it all around the grass where we were sitting. So, naturally, I went out this morning and bought him one. He was so excited! When we got outside he said, “thank you!” Well, more like, than yooo! We walked lots and lots around the neighborhood. It’s very sweet. So funny how kids get interested and obsessed with the same things. I understand it’s the way it works developmentally but I still find it fascinating. He is also debuting his summer sandals. It’s hot out there today!!!

Theo and I took a trip into the city today to meet Jay for lunch, and just to bum around. I decided napping in the stroller and enjoying bopping around Manhattan for once ain’t such a bad idea – albeit tiring as all hell! I scheduled myself a little bang trim for our first stop and then we walked many, many blocks to meet Jay near his office. For those who know the city, we walked from Astor Pl (E. 7th and 2nd ave, just south east of Union Square) to 23rd and 10th ave in Chelsea. Theo had fallen asleep so I took the opportunity to avoid the annoying subway trek and enjoy the beautiful day we had today. About an hour later, we met Jay, picked up take-out and popped up to the Highline. The Highline is an awesome park that was an old freight train track that has since been restored to a very cool park 30 feet above Manhattan. It runs from just south of 14th street to 30th street, I believe, on the West side of the island (about 11th avenue). After Jay went back to work, Theo and I stayed and frolicked for awhile. Here are some photos I snapped today (and yesterday).

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