Stir crazy

Yeah… we bad. We bad.

Actually, we bored!

Lily is ready to get back to school. She’s been sobbing intermittently for the past few days. Likely because she’s been cooped up and is missing her friends.  Or maybe today it’s because she’s not peed in over 18 hours.  There’s a lot of calculated guessing when it comes to figuring out what’s going on with her.

Anyway, it was pretty apparent when she came home to me yesterday evening that she wanted to go outside.

This is how she tells me she wants to go out… she stares at the doorknob wishing it to open

But as it’s currently hovering around 15 degrees Fahrenheit and she has zero body fat, there was no chance that we were going to venture out in the dark last night.

So today I planned a day of activity and fun! The American Museum of Natural History followed by lunch at her favorite restaurant Playa Betty’s.

Our first 20 or so minutes at the museum were tense. She was not pleased. But we finally made our way to the Native American section which she loves; she eventually perked up – her favorite music, Snapchat filters and bead displays helped. Lily spent about an hour roaming about looking at furs and feathers while I played bodyguard, blocking her from other museum patrons.

So the museum was mostly good, though exhausting as I had to carry her for much of it. And the other half was spent chasing after her.

Next on our agenda – lunch! The restaurant was 4 short blocks from the museum so I decided that we should walk. I mean… she was busting to get outside last night, right? Well it turns out that Lily likes the cold and snow even less than me. After about a half a block of walking/carrying, she burst into tears. Thankfully a taxi driver took pity on us and took us three(!) blocks to our restaurant. He was very kind and laughed along with me at my kids over-reaction to the snow.

Thankfully she ate her lunch – in between sobs – and I got mine packed to go. We braved the short block and a half to our home – amidst the sobs – and now we are home. And it’s only 2pm.  And she’s still not peed.

Wish us luck.

This is what she currently thinks of winter break.

The holidays

Lily was so excited about Christmas Eve that I couldn’t keep her still for a photo. She was literally squealing with joy. I was pretty excited too as we got to spend it with the Darlings, our beloved cousins.

I had forgotten how fast Lily can be. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her move like this. And she’s gotten taller. So it now takes about two steps for her to dart out of a room and down the hall. I got a lot of exercise chasing after her that night.  And I was so grateful.  Watching her run around giggling felt like a Christmas miracle given how she was doing last year at this time.

She was adamant about having her hair up in a bun with a silver hair tie.

Christmas Day she was feeling a little hungover from the previous evenings excitement. So we took it easy. Opened presents. Ate pancakes (courtesy of Stephen). And opened more presents. For lunch we went to Benihana. I think Stephen and I were more excited about it than Lily. We didn’t even realize that there was a Benihana restaurant in Manhattan until we started researching places to eat. Lily enjoyed the flying shrimp and the onion volcano, but not as much as the adults did!

Christmas day: Hibachi fun!

The rest of the day we chilled out at home – playing with our toys, reading our new books, wearing our fabulous new jewelry and feeling very loved.

Wearing her favorite bracelets (courtesy of Auntie Angela) while chatting with Grandma on Christmas Day.

For New Year’s Eve, we will likely have a crazy fun party. In mommy talk this means popping popcorn, watching High School Musical and in bed by 9. A pretty perfect sounding evening for me and my girl.

To everyone who showered my girl with love this holiday season: thank you! Lily felt so very special.  And so did I!

Big hugs,

C & L

Baby Animals

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Dreaming of having a pet bird

Yesterday morning while having breakfast, Lily told me that she wanted to look at baby animals – birds, cats, guinea pigs and dogs. So I pulled up some YouTube videos and we had fun watching these furry little creatures move around. She was especially fond of the kittens and birds. She eventually told me that she wants a pet kitten and a pet bird. I wasn’t surprised to hear that she wanted a bird. Last week, she fell asleep in school and was giggling in her sleep. When her teacher asked what it was she was giggling about, she said she was dreaming of having a pet bird!!!

 

Some of you may remember that we experimented with a pet cat back when we lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Quelle disastre.

This mommy can’t take on any more responsibilities so instead of getting her a pet bird or pet cat, we will be taking her (often) to the pet store to visit her animal friends there.