And now July...

Now that it is February, July already feels like an eternity ago. But now that NYC is cold and dreary, it is fun to be a little nostalgic.

Ava giving me a little 'tude while making a flag for July 4th

We were at a park EVERYDAY

We snuck up to the roof with Tiff and Gib for some awesome fireworks views.

July 4th parade-at the end the firemen let the hoses go wild

This parade about fifeen blocks away from our apartment felt like it was in the suburbs!

Arden enjoying her ramen

Another ramen picture. This family really loves ramen.

Free soccer class at Riverside Park.

Arden enjoying herself in a parade at the park after another free music class. I'm telling you, you don't have to spend a penny in the summer.

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"Anything Goes" was fantastic!

This is how I do my Trader Joe runs. I take up most of a subway car.

Washington Square Park is where all the kooky people hang out

Best summer ever! Let's start with June.

Let's ignore the fact that it is Thanksgiving and only now am I blogging about our super summer. But I have to blog about it otherwise it will seem like it never happened. Now that Blogger made it a little easier for a technophobe like me to upload pictures, I have no excuses. 

It was a really great summer. Yes, I was constantly sweaty and gross while pushing my double stroller. Yes, I felt like I was being baked alive in my sauna of an apartment (the air conditioner loses the battle against the sun, the dryer, and the oven), but summertime in NYC is great. I really love it here! In some ways this city is perfect for me. I don't have to drive, so I am confident in my abilities to get somewhere either by walking or by public transportation. And I am not a hazard on the road. It is a win-win situation. Extra bonus of living in the city--you don't really need a gym membership. Walking everywhere and carrying strollers up and down subway stairs is a good enough NYC mommy workout.

I think it is impossible to do everything NYC has to offer (at least with two kids). I already have a list of things that I must do next summer since we missed out on it this summer (Shakespeare in the Park, going to the Dragon Boat Festival,  etc). But I must not get ahead of myself.

Here are some memorable pics from this summer. Starting with end of May/June:

Arden and I at Jones Beach on Memorial Day. David was in Switzerland for work.

Ava and Lillian J. having a blast at Jones Beach

Ava's dance "recital". She is on the far left. I think she could be a ballerina some day, but I may be biased.

Ava and cousin Grant at the Central Park Carousel. 

Michelle, Terry and Jaden come for a visit and devoured donuts.

Michelle and Jaden with my girls and I on the ferris wheel at Toys R Us. It is nice to do some touristy stuff sometimes. I still feel like a tourist in NYC--I'm all about staycations these days. 

People thought Jaden and Arden were twins. 

Michelle babysat so David and I could see Wicked on our anniversary. Good times.

Michelle and Ava at The Cloisters. It's gorgeous up there. Not the most kid and stroller friendly place. But we ended up getting free food from the cafe because their registers weren't working. Score! 

Pretty Ava (although slightly disheveled) at Central Park Zoo

At the bouncy house at the Rainbow City exhibit of the Highline Park

Rainbow City!

Ava and Grant at Madison Square Park after a kids' concert

At the Curious George exhibit at the Children's Museum of Manhattan

At the Bronx Zoo. It is such a trek to get up there but it is a great zoo.

Ava's Princess birthday party

Of course our little Ava wanted to have a princess birthday party. It was on a beautiful Saturday (September 10) and we had it on our third floor outside lounge. I actually baked a cake but it completely fell apart when I wanted to transfer it to a tin-foiled piece of cardboard (talk about classy!). With twenty or so minutes to spare before the party started, David raced down to Whole Foods to buy a sheet cake. The last minute scrambling wasn't that enjoyable but once the guests started arriving, I was just glad that everything came together. Lesley was so kind to take some pictures before she had to go to a photo shoot. She even did a blog post about it here! It started raining a few minutes after the last guest left, so we really lucked out.

 A little pin the nose on the clown action

This was taken on Ava's actual birthday on September 5 at Alice's Tea Cup. We also hit up MacDonald's right before this. It's not too hard to please a four year old!

Book Buddies-a year in review

Ava finished Book Buddies preschool (2010-2011 school year) more than two months ago, but it definitely warrants a post!

Ava absolutely adored Miss Amy and all of her classmates (Lillian F. , Lillian J., Eli, Tucker, Brandon, Elliot, and Jeremy). School was Mondays and Wednesdays from 9-12. Rebecca, Lillian J.'s mom usually dropped the girls off and I would pick them up. Everyone had their own hooks to hang up their backpacks and jackets, and a communal shoe bucket. Miss Amy always had a Welcome Room with activities planned right when the children got to school. Then it was Circle Time, Center Time, Snack Time, Story Time and Big Muscle Time.

There was a different theme each month. These were the themes and highlights:
September-Safari
October-Treehouse Club. I went along with the kids to go apple picking. There was also a wonderful Halloween celebration.
November-Harvest/Nutrition. The children learned how to make vegetable soup. There was a "Thanksgiving feast".
December-Christmas and people we care about. Ava wrote a letter to the grandparents.
January-I forget the theme
February-Our Community. There was a Valentine's Day Party and they learned about policemen, firemen, and mailmen.
March-Dinosaurs. Ava made a cool fossil necklace.
April-Rhymes and Rhythms. Focused on nursery rhymes. They visited the Bronx Zoo at the end of the month.
May-Bugs and Insects. They watched the crysallis turn into cocoons, then into butterflies. They had a field trip to Fort Tryon Park to release the butterflies.
June-More bugs and a Book Buddy Celebration.

Ava would always come home singing some song to herself that she had learned. One of my favorite songs was "Cobbler, cobbler mend my shoe". They would play the Cobbler game during dismissal time by sitting in a line, waiting for Miss Amy (aka the Cobbler) to pass out their shoes. Ava's favorite song was "Tootie Ta" and I always asked her to sing that silly song for me.

Ava got to do hide something in the Mystery Bag twice, which is basically a show and tell. The first time Ava brought a talking/singing Elmo and told everyone she was scared of it when she was a baby. The second time she brought a princess dress.

There were two parent/teacher conferences. Each time Miss Amy said Ava was up to speed cognitively, but sometimes she was a little timid with physical activities compared with the other children.

So basically that was Book Buddies in a nutshell. It was just a perfect year and Ava loved it all. At the end of the year Book Buddy Celebration, the children sang a few songs for the parents and presented Miss Amy with gifts. Thank goodness for the other moms and Miss Amy for taking lots of pictures throughout the year. Each child was given a photo album and one of Ava's favorite past times is flipping through it. Book Buddies was wonderful, so take that $20,000 a year private preschool!

Apple picking/pumpkin patch day (sad little pumpkin patch, isn't it?)

Ava came home with all sorts of goodies after the Christmas party. Arden's head is mysteriously missing.

Ava has a Body Book and a Bug Book she still loves flipping through.

This was my favorite project she brought home. I was impressed when she told me about a caterpillar making a chrysalis, and then turning into a butterfly. I don't think I've ever used the word chrysalis in my life until she schooled me on it.

Book Buddy Celebration. This song was about important people in the community. Ava was a baker. Who is more important than that?

Look who is doing all sorts of grown up things

Arden is sixteen months old now. Here are her fifteen month stats from the doctor's visit last month:

Height: 32 inches - 9oth percentile

Weight: 20lbs-10th percentile

According to these stats (90th for height and 10th for weight) Arden should look like Olive Oyl or something but she's still got her cute little pot belly.

Arden started walking a couple of weeks ago and she absolutely loves walking! I am relieved that she is walking now because crawling around on a NYC playground is very problematic. I adore her drunken sailor walk and hope it lasts for a while.

Due to David's awesomeness Arden is now sleeping through the night in the other room. After my sister Michelle left after her visit (oh geez, I still need to blog about that), David was determined to end Arden's incessant night wakings/nursings. We moved Ava into our room and David put Arden to sleep every night. There wasn't a whole lot of crying it out needed. But I have to say I have grown some thicker skin the second time around. A crying baby in her crib doesn't quite faze me as much.

Arden is a great little eater. But I've discovered she is allergic to peanuts (she got hives from peanut butter). Can I just have one child who is not allergic to something please? I'm still nursing her but I think I want to wean her soon.

A few of Arden's tricks:

-She can ride Ava's scooter

-Grunts whenever I say the word "poo". There is a lot of random grunting in our household since "poo" is a word I seem to use a lot. Not sure why.

-Arden says "Ow!" a lot. Especially since Ava is constantly torturing her by pinching, pushing, choking, and biting her. Seriously the bane of my existence right now.

-Arden can say one of the most essential words in the English language: "Elmo"

-Arden loves her daddy so much and gets so excited when he gets home. She shouts "Dada!"

-Arden loves her Ava too but calls her "Aya"

-Arden likes to play a coquettish game of looking at me and then turning away and I do the same

-shivers while clenching her fists and her teeth when eating sour, cold or hot things

-likes to fling her food off her high chair. She'll hold a morsel over her chair and give me a look while I say "no!". Sometimes she will listen but most of the time she looks at me like I am chopped liver.

-dances by shrugging her shoulders and wiggling around

-says "up" when she wants to get out of the high chair

-says "whoa" when she goes down a slide

-says "hi" to people all day long, says "baby", "hello", and "ball"

I've realized by going through old posts about Ava that Arden is getting jipped because Ava knew her animal sounds and Arden doesn't know any! Ava also knew some sign language and all Arden can do is "more". So obviously I am slacking on teaching Arden the necessary education of what a cow says. I hope I can make up for it soon!

I love these two pictures of Arden but they are the worst quality. I've caught up with the rest of the world and got an iPhone. So I've basically gone from taking lame pictures with a regular camera to taking crap pictures with my iPhone. But it's the best way for me to capture the moment!

Arden discovering her nostrils. She has forgotten about them since but I'm sure she will be a solid nose picker in no time (just like her big sis)

Arden scootin' around. Cutest thing ever.

3 and 3/4 going on 16

I started working on this post months ago and never finished it until now. Better late than never. How do you really capture what someone is like in a blog post? I have to try, because I just can't rely on my memory. I think about how quickly Ava is growing and it makes me feel like the time I have with her is already slipping through my fingers! It sounds strange and I don't really know how to describe it.

Here are some tidbits about Ava:

Ava truly is a girly girl. She loves dressing up and adores finding clothes to try on at any clothing store we go to. One time she made sure she was ready to get her fashion on by asking, "Where is the dressing room?"

Ava is obsessed with the concept of age, getting older and growing bigger. She likes to ask nice old ladies who talk to her "Are you an old lady"? Pretty embarrassing.

Ava likes to give me random kisses on my hand, arm, and leg. She says "Mommy, I want to go home and snuggle on the couch."

Ava always wants to go on Daddy-Daughters dates. David and Ava have an anthem when they go on one that goes something like this "Daddy-Daughter Date! Woo-hoo!" They've been on a couple, with their trek down to the Doughnut Plant being the most memorable one.

Ava will say one thing and say the complete opposite thing in the next sentence. So basically she's saying a lot of cute nonsense.

If David and I are having a disagreement (usually about the dumbest stuff ever), Ava will stop us and say "Why are you not being nice together?" Good thing Ava is around to keep us in check.

A few notable quotes:

"Thank you, cow, for this milk!"

"This is not good for our bodies, but it is so yummy!"

"Mommy, why are you still in your PJs, you should change into your day time clothes!"

While shaking her bottom, she'll say, "I don't need to go pee pee, I'm just shakin' my booty!"

"I'm not pretty because I'm not wearing a dress." She usually says this when we go to the playroom and she's not dressed up like she wants to be.

I opened our front door and Arden made a dash for the hallway. Ava called out "Arden come back! You are family!"


So Ava is for the most part a sweet, well-behaved girl, but I find myself losing my patience with her a lot these days. Ava likes to pick on Arden when she is bored or tired. Ava doesn't like to listen to us when we ask her to do something and I find myself raising my voice a lot. I know I need to work on myself a lot and just remind myself that Ava is three!

Ava got all dressed up for the Royal Wedding party that Lesley threw. Lesley did a great job celebrating Will and Kate's big day. The crepes were delicious!

I had to throw this picture of Arden in. She was enjoying herself at the Royal Wedding party too.

Ava all decked out in her rain gear. Thankfully we don't have much use for the gear these days.

The city girl riding in a "taxi". These mosaics are so cool at Grant's Tomb.

Ava with one of her best friends-Jan. Jan lives next door to us and has been a special friend to Ava since we moved to NYC. She used to take Ava to the park a lot, but lately she does story time once a week before bed.

Ava, the diva, and I at Highline Park.