dolphin park: a new favorite

In all our searching for the new places in the city to take toddlers, I had no idea that the best one would be right in our neighborhood! Dolphin Park has everything the kids (and mom) are looking for in a playground:

* a jungle gym (that's low enough to the ground to not be constantly worried about safety)

* a sandbox (with buckets and shovels provided since ours were left in some other park, somewhere)

* a dolphin statue that sprays water (entertaining the kids for hours on end)

* and the freedom to move from one thing to the next (while still being contained so I can easily watch both babies do their own thing... and it's all in the shade!)

It's only open in the summer, so we went for the first time on Monday, and ended up going back two more times this week!

Isaac, NOT EATING SAND, hooray!!

(Wow, I guess they really do grow out of old, gross habits. Thank goodness.)

Ellie!

Isaac likes to get wet, then get sandy, and then go down the slide, in that order.

I'm sure all the other kids (and moms) appreciate it.

Bethany likes to hang and swing, then slide.

She's becoming quite the adventurer--must be taking tips from her brother.

Our neighbor, Zahra (on the dolphin), has been such a fun friend for these babies.

We've loved running into her and other new neighborhood friends at Dolphin.

Buckets!

Bethany and Ellie make a splash.

Isaac sees what the big kids are up to.

I'm so glad we found such a great place to run around and keep cool, just in time for the hottest days of the summer.

And I knew this would happen... I'd fall in love with the city again, just in time to leave. (I'm getting ready to talk about it...)

permabruise

This little boy has earned a reputation for always showing signs of head trauma, usually in the form of a bruise on the forehead. His coordination is--how do I put this?-- just not quite as developed as his enthusiasm. My friend Leslie nailed it when she nicknamed him "Permabruise."

Well, two weeks ago Isaac took this Permabruise thing up a notch. He was running around the kids' room when he tripped and hit the edge of their little toy kitchen counter, landing right on the bridge of the nose. Right between the eyes. Ouch. That was on Monday.

The double black eyes appeared on Tuesday (and then a flower-face attack on Wednesday)...

And then on Friday, Permabruise struck again! While some friends and our kids and I were enjoying a lovely afternoon in the garden, Isaac fell into a bush of thorns from about 4 feet up! (We were trying to barricade the area with our strollers, but he climbed up a lightweight stroller and it toppled over with him on it, launching him into the thorn bushes.) I pulled him out right away and saw that his face, arm, and part of his leg were all covered with little dots of blood and several good scratches. He looked like he got into a cat fight and was used as a pincushion at the same time. It was such a sad sight.

He let out a good cry for a minute (I wanted to cry, too), we cleaned and kissed his boo boos (thank goodness for prepared mommy friends and Neosporin spray!), and then he was back to trying to climb again. That boy!

The best pic I have of his scratches. There were more on his right cheek, scalp, arm and leg. :(

Oh, Isaac. I do love your enthusiasm. A lot.

i love lamp

I love Lamp. So does Jared, and Isaac, and especially Bethany.

We loved her the moment our friends Miggy and B said they were expecting a baby. We loved her when they when went in to find out her gender but also learned that her limbs weren't developing as expected. We loved her when we finally got to squeeze her at just 4 months old in Ohio. And we especially love her now, at 11 months, with her big voice and sugar sweet personality.

It was for those reasons that we fell in love--in part because she belongs to some of our favorite friends, in part because of her physical differences, and now, more than anything, because of just how fun she is to get to know and how rewarding it is to see her smile and make her laugh.

Last week, Lamp & fam were visiting NYC and we were lucky to get lots of their time. Bethany and Lamp were too cute together. Whenever she was around, Bethany and Isaac would both go to say hi, but then B and L would spend the next 5 minutes waving at each other. I'm excited for these kids to be buddies for life.

Miggy has a great blog about all kinds of things, and she's shared some really inspiring thoughts and experiences with Lamp (nicknamed while still in the womb by her big sister). Check out the Baby Lamp links in her sidebar! Get ready to love Lamp enough to want your own t-shirt.

shop Mignon!

My friend Miggy has an etsy shop. You'd think she's some sort of magician--she takes these pieces of fabric, "puts sewing on it" (as Jared says), and voila, adorable things appear! You should check it out and buy things. But only if you're into pretty things made of fabric and sewing and magic.

For example... Isaac and Bethany were recently spotted around town sporting these toddler bags! A boy messenger bag for Isaac and a super cute tote for Bethany. They looked good and they knew it.

Isaac finds wearing his over the neck both stylish and practical.

Pushing the Alarm button, of course. Cute baby alert!!

Bethany pairs her tote with boots and oversized shades.

She picked out her boots, by the way.

And I loooove her pose, by the way.

One day I might have Miggy make me one of these playtents--as soon as I have the space! My two would have the best time playing hide-and-seek in there.

And also some of these magnets--as soon as I have a fridge!

Okay fine, I have a fridge.

children's museum of manhattan

Our CMOM trip was part of our big bucket list week but I'm posting about it separately to avoid photo overload. (Yes, I do try to be conscious of that, believe it or not.) I've wanted to go to this museum for a while but admission is $10 per person, and I wasn't feeling like shelling out $30 or $40 for our family when there is so much great free stuff to do in the city.

So we waited until it was free! There's no charge on the first Friday of every month from 5-8 pm, and the whole world knows it. It was pretty crazy, but I'm so glad I went! We met up with a few friends and kids, and between the 6 of us moms (Whitney, Jen, Jen, Erin, Jess and me) we didn't lose a single one of the 9 kids who were with us.

Bethany and Isaac had sooo much fun. SO much fun. The 3 of us only stayed an hour and we spent the entire time on the 3rd floor, which was just perfect for toddlers. The kids made towers out of squishy blocks, drove an MTA bus and firetruck (Isaac's favorite), shopped for (/tried to eat) plastic groceries at the market, fed letters to the massive plastic lizard (I didn't get a chance to look at this one enough to understand it), and best of all, climbed all over and under the carpeted castle! I even managed to snap a few pics with my phone. A success all around.

We're here! (It's not an easy commute if you're double stroller-bound.)

Figuring things out

Squishy block tower expert

Isaac could have spent all day driving the MTA bus

...or the firetruck

...and he's back on the bus, with Bethany & Ellie

Bethany, Ellie, Isaac & Arden at the wheel

Isaac peers into a mini diorama under the castle - my favorite part

Bethany on the lookout from her tower in the castle

Now I know why the CMOM costs $10--because it's worth it! I'd even pay double that in a NY winter!

so much fun, so little time

It's hard to believe it's actually June. June 2011 is a month we've anticipated for a long, long time. Coming up this month, Jared will be graduating his very last graduation, we'll be moving across the country, and we'll be celebrating our 10th anniversary! Wow, it feels weird to just out and say it like that--each of those things is such a big deal to us and I hope I'm able to write about each one on its own, but just in case I can't get to it... there it is. Plus, I'm in a little bit of denial about the move right now. Definitely bittersweet.

In the meantime, our days are numbered in this city and the kids and I are determined to make the most of it! There are still so many places we want to go and this week we were able to check off a few. Of course, my NYC bucket list is a bit different with toddlers than it would have been pre-kids, and now consists of mainly playgrounds around the city that are near stroller-accessible subway stations. But my great little travel buddies just make everything more exciting. Going to all these places with good friends made it even better.

Here's where we went this week...

Fri/Sunday: the garden

Monday: J. Hood Wright Park, our regular spot

Tuesday: Downing Street Playground* & popbar

Wednesday: Washington Square Playground** & A Salt and Battery

Thursday: back to J. Hood

Friday: Bennett Park followed by Children's Museum of Manhattan

Any downtime in between: spending as much time as possible with our good, good friends Miggy, B, Sassy Pants & Lamp (fake internet names, obv), visiting from Cincinnati!

And here's how we looked doing it...

Alright, I don't want to break Blogger, so CMOM photos are coming up next!

*Downing St became my new favorite toddler playground!

**...until we went to Washington Square! The area for little tots is PERFECT--everything is low, enclosed and shaded by big trees. There's no dirt or trash. I could actually sit on the bench with my friends and watch the kids play and explore on their own. It was the best!