Lauren, Wyatt and Mom sharing laughs at a diner in the East Village
Mother and Son United in Plaid
Wyatt (with Finn in the background) at Madison Square Park
Fall in Central Park
Bundled Up
The first week of November, the family took a trip back to New York. I had a freelance gig lined up that week, so we decided the whole family should go back and see friends and have a good time. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the job was cancelled, like all jobs lately it seems, due to the crappy economy. In a way, it was fine. This way, we had eight days to just play and enjoy ourselves and spend time during my favorite season in New York: Fall.
As I mentioned in the last post, our computer crashed about a week after this trip, and along with it went all the lovely photos, but I'll try to remember some of the highlights. The phots above were taken in Central Park on our iphones, since that particular day, our camera's battery died (thank God) and we were forced to use back-up.
First of all, we arrived in New York on November 4th. Election Day. I was absolutely obsessed about what the outcome might be. I had voted early in Texas as I knew I would be out of town on Election Day. From the minute we landed in New York, I was keeping track of how it was going down on my iphone.
If you are going to be anywhere on election night, especially if you voted for Obama, New York is an exciting place to be. Unfortunately, I had gotten only 3 hours of sleep the night before, was fighting a cold, and had travelled all day, lay overs and flight delays not with standing. I really wanted to go to a local bar and be with the throngs of election junkies and Obama supporters and fellow New Yorkers, but I was simply too exhausted. We were staying at our dear friend Ann's apartment in the East Village and it is a television free zone. Therefore, getting all comfy on the couch and tune into MSNBC wasn't an option either. So we kept up with the returns on our iphones, and finally, at about 10:00pm when I couldn't stay awake any longer, the three of us curled up into Ann's bed and fell asleep. At 11:00 on the nose, we we're jolted out of bed to the sound of horns honking, car alarms going off, gunfire (yes, that's right, gunfire), fireworks and people shouting "O-bam-a!, O-bam-a! O-bam-a!" I turned to William and happily said, "Well, now we know who won." And then drifted back off to sleep. We woke up the next day and watched all the speeches on Hulu.
On this trip, Wyatt also had his 1 year exam with Dr.Hops. We love Dr. Hops so much, I have been in denial about finding Wyatt a new doctor in Texas. I can't imagine it will be very easy to find a holistic, integrative doctor who is open-minded about implementing a slower vaccine schedule and all the other cool things Dr.Hops is okay with. Not in the area of Texas we are living in anyway.
During his exam, Wyatt weighed in at 20 pounds on the dot and was how long??? I can't remember, but he's in the top 90th percentile for height. Pretty cool, but who knows if this is any kind of precursor for his height later in life. He got a vaccine while he was there and was tested for anemia and lead (and both tests came back negative, yay!)
Wyatt also got to spend some good quality times with his buddy, Finn. Finn had his first birthday 2 months before Wyatt, so Finn was 13 months old and Wyatt was 11 months during this visit. One day, we met Lisa and Finn at Madison Square Park and the boys played on all the equipment. Slides, tubes, swings, a big catterpiller. It was so amazing to me how much they've grown just since summer, when it was all about the swings and that's it. We also had a playdate at Christen and Michael's, where we were staying, which is only a couple blocks from where Finn's family lives. We also met Finn at story time in the East Village (it had been a traumatic day - Wyatt burned his finger when he opened up my suitcase and found my still semi-hot flat iron - OUCH! Luckily it went down in a few hours and never blistered.) Then, on the day of Wyatt's Dr.'s appointment, we met Emma and Finn down the block from Dr. Hop's office on 5th Avenue to watch the Veterns Day Parade. Now THOSE are the photos that I was particularly sad about losing. I love a parade and I am particularly partial to one where two little guys are dressed in their warm fall clothes and are waving little egg shakers and maracas and smiling at the marching bands and the men and women who have served our country. I get all choked up in these situations. I really do. We got a good view of Mayor Bloomberg as he walked down 5th Avenue, too.
We also went to a House-Warming-Obama-Won-Engagement party at Natalie and Josip's new apartment in Brooklyn. I was givin a button at the door by Natalie that said "OBAMA MAMA" and I wore it with pride. I was the only mama at the party. Wyatt was there, of course, and provided much entertainment for the guests. It was great to see so many of our friends all in one place.
A very heart warming moment on this trip came on Thursday morning, when Wyatt and I went to the Mulberry Street Library, just like we used to, at 10:15. We strolled up to the door, and Susie storytime was standing just inside, her face lit up and she looked very happy to see us. She asked if we were visiting and I said yes. Storytime started, and everyone was sitting in chairs in the semi-circle. As we went around the circle and sang the "Good Morning" song to each child by name, Susie stopped just before it was time to sing to Wyatt and said, "And next, we have a very special guest, Wyatt, who is visiting us from Texas!" I beamed. I just love that Susie Storytime.
It felt so good to be back in New York, I had second toughts about our move, of course. Still, it kind of felt good when we left, too. Perhaps thoughts of our next destination, San Francisco, softened the blow...
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