Grace's Big Adventure

They say that your kids will surprise you, no matter how well you know them, and Grace did just that all day. This morning, despite recent tough behavior, I decided to take Grace on a special adventure: for a ride on the bus. I put her in the Ergo piggyback style and walked over to Fifth. On our way, out of nowhere, she exclaimed, "I love you, Mommy," which made me melt.She will occasionally hug my legs and say "so much," which is short for "I love you so much," but it doesn't happen all the time. Anyway, we hopped on the M1, and she loved it! Grace was pointing out everything we were passing, the park, the zoo, the horse and carriages, the library lions, everything. Every time the bus would stop, she'd say, "more riding please" to the bus driver. When we got off, we took a decent walk over to Seventh Ave, stopped for pizza (her request - as if she hadn't had enough in the past few days, but she smelled it from the street) and then went to Buy Buy Baby to look at gear and new strollers. I couldn't believe how good she was the whole time. She was in awe of every sight and sound along the way. It was amazing and shocking, especially since her recent behavior hasn't been easy, to say the least. We took a cab ride back uptown, where she reveled in wearing a seatbelt and going in tunnels. When we got home, she played nicely and took a nap. Who is this child? I have no idea. I'll keep her though! In the late afternoon we played inside, went to State News to play in the toy aisle and stopped to get "soup for dinner please."

Birthdays Galore

This weekend we celebrated three friends' birthdays - Phoebe, Sydney and Max. Grace was in heaven because 3 out of her 6 big meals consisted of pizza, cupcakes and/or cake. Not to mention, Elmo made an appearance at Max's party, and the kids went wild. We're talking people seeing Michael Jackson wild, people going nuts on Oprah's Favorite Things wild. Grace burst into tears when he left and the party was over. "More party, more party please," she asked. Week 94 Album.

Downward Dog with Aunt Dina

This morning Grace went to Three Little Birds and had an awesome time. She loves music class and was fascinated with the trombone. There are a ton of activities during each class, but towards the end every week the teacher introduces a new instrument. Afterwards we headed home, and Aunt Dina and Maya came to visit. Grace was all about her Aunt, riding on her shoulders and doing yoga with her. Downward dog is a new favorite expression and pose.

Manners

Grace is enjoying the use of her new vocabulary, especially the use of "please, thank you, my pleasure and you're welcome." She really milks her manners to get what she wants. This morning we had Parkbench, which is an hour and a half class that is similar to preschool, and then we went to lunch with Liz and Charlie. This afternoon we started our Music with Brett playgroup.

T in Town

Aunt Katie came by this morning to visit, and we went to lunch at Three Guys with Jill and baby Edie.

Terrible Twos

It's easy to make most of these posts positive because Grace does some really cute stuff, like what she's doing in this picture. That said, it's important to document that not everything is cute. As Grace approaches her terrible twos, she's definitely a handful at times. We have a lot of tantrums, crying, no napping...and today, we had one of my worst fears: throwing herself out of the crib. The noise was so loud, I thought it was the construction upstairs. I hope she doesn't remember how she did it!

Deodorant & Dinner

Every morning Grace watches Daddy get dressed and knows his routine. In particular, she loves when he shaves, deodorizes and brushes his hair. This morning she took off with my deodorant and tried applying some outside her pajamas. Here she is later in the day dining with Grandma, Maya and Daddy. Week 93 Album.

Headband Undercover

Every mom does it. Most days I put on my workout clothes, a headband and a hoodie to start the day off casually and comfortably - and make it look like I'm dressed for the gym - until I get a chance to shower. Whenever I put on a headband, Grace wants one too.

Coming Soon...

Forgive the delinquency in posting. There is so much to catch up on, but it's been tough to find time to post updates. The past few weeks have been busy and tough, mostly because Grace didn't nap for almost three weeks. It was exhausting. Anyway, stay tuned. I'll post everything I missed shortly! Thanks for checking in.

Chillin' at and in Max's Crib

Giddy-up

Visit to Philly

Grace had a great time hanging with Mom-mom and Grandpa, running around their yard, splashing in their bird bath, watching deer, drinking hot tea (she asked for it, got it and loved it) and eating smoked salmon off her Nemo plate there. Hmm...there must be something wrong with that last part, no? Week 92 Album.

Happy New Year

Good times at Aunt Enid's house. Princess Grace loves hanging with her family, especially Aunt Katie - who was in from Lancaster.

First Conversations

Grace has a great memory when it comes to faces, names, things we do, things we tell her, things she eats, etc. Recently we've been going to the Central Park Zoo. A lot. The woman who works the gate, Luz, knows us and doesn't even ask for our pass, and w/o fail, Grace says, "Hola, Luz" every time we enter. In terms of coordinating our visit, we go either on the hour or half hour because there is a "very, very special clock," as Grace would tell you. It actually is very special - monkey statues chime a huge bell, the clock goes off, and then a group of animals dances around in a circle to a popular kid song. The entertainment lasts about 3-4 minutes, and tons of babies, kids and parents line up for it. So we see the clock, watch the sea lions eat and perform around 4pm, visit the monkeys, polar bears, snow leopards and penguins and puffins and fit in a couple more clock shows. Although Grace is glad to see the animals, she asks to "see the clock...please" or to "see the monkeys." She knows what she likes.

What's really cool about this experience is that she always finds a way to bring it up afterwards, citing the clock, of course, first. "Saw a clock," she'll say. "Very, very special." To which we say, "Wow. You saw a clock? What else did you see?" "Saw monkeys." And then she launches on to list everything else. It's really nice to be having our first conversation/s. Clearly, the Zoo is "very, very special" to her. These are some shots from our visit with Charlie Winter today.

So Pretty

Grace has a lot of new words and adjectives. Lately she's been describing things as so this, and very that. Current favorites include: so pretty, so cute, very special, very tall, so silly, so delicious, so yummy and more. Another popular new expression: take your time, there's no rush. Her vocabularly is picking up so quickly.

Mom-mom Visits

Daddy went to Austin for Justin an Bridget's wedding, and we stayed in NYC. Mom-mom came to visit and kept Grace busy reading, playing, making pretend pizza and more. Week 91 Album.

Gracie's Guests

This morning Grandma came to watch Grace, and Grace couldn't have been more excited. She waited by the front door for her to arrive. Aunt Dina and cousin Maya came by too. This afternoon Lisa and Julie Brander - and Geoff - came to visit, and Gracie was taken with Lisa, after a little warming up. She went from telling them to "go bye-bye" when they arrived to screaming Lisa's name for attention.

New Sneakers, New Habits

It's been over a week since Grace gave up watching Dora on TV at home; unfortunately, she's trying to give up something else: naps. ERGH. I am not ready for that. In fact, now I fear naptime every day because the more agreeable she is about going down, the more likely she won't. She'll sit in the crib for a little while, then she'll disrobe (sometimes removing her diaper - awesome), throw everything out of the crib...and call me in to help her out. Hmm. What to do? This afternoon I took her for a stroll in the cool outside weather, and she took a snooze. When she woke up we met Ezra at the Zoo to watch the sea lions snack and perform before rushing home to see Daddy. Aaron stopped by tonight, and Grace was impressed - and a little smitten - and would giggle when we asked what his name was. Tonight Grace hung out with Daddy and wore her "new sneakers," which she is quite obsessed with. Loves 'em.

Labor Days

This weekend we went to Philly and NJ to visit Mom-mom, Grandpa and Grandma. In Philly, Grace played, swam, ate a ton of smoked salmon (one of her favorite foods) and enjoyed turning all the lights and fans on and off in the house.

On Sunday she rode the new tricycle at Grandma's, played with Aunt Katie's old Polly Pocket toys and enjoyed dinner at The Cheesecake Factory - taking a particular interest in Uncle Teddy who was singing and dancing. By the end of the meal, she was mimicking his moves.

Speaking of meals, Grace has become quite the food expert. She showed us tonight that she undoubtedly knows the difference between peas, lima beans and edamame. I am so proud. Week 90 Album.

WBWF

Grace wrestled Daddy to the ground tonight and had some pretty impressive moves: bodyslamming, elbow dropping, head butting. If only there were a Worldwide Baby Wrestling Federation. The girl's got talent.

Reading Quietly

Mmm: Applesauce

Bathtime & Pizza

Two of Gracie's favorite things.

Next Stop

Part II of our week: Westport, CT. We headed north to Liz's amazing house. Charlie and Grace continued to play nicely, and Grace's adoration of David grew even more. Whenever she went to do something we didn't like, we'd tell her, "David doesn't want you to do that" or "David said no." It worked every time! Just amazing. Over the course of our stay, the weather was either chilly or rainy. Grace took turns running in the yard, playing with the gate at the tennis court (no idea why that was of such interest), hanging in the playroom, lounging in bed with Charlie and Rocky (really!), whispering when Charlie was napping (he goes down before she does), running around the house and fine dining. One rainy day, we took an excursion to the Maritime Center in Norwalk - not a hit with Grace, at least not yet. She was more interested in the TVs, computers and gift shop than the dark rooms with fish tanks. Figures. Throughout our stay a good time was had by all, and we were very sad to head home on Sunday. Thank you so much to the Winter family for a wonderful time!! Week 89 Album.