XOXO, New York City

New York. You are a city of one million surprises. A vivid, bubbling pot of activity and culture and ideas and sights. I love taking my kids to you, slipping them into your busy stream and laughing out loud at what we encounter and learn about and wonder at.

 

 We are lucky to be neighbors, you and I, New York. I talk you up around town. I know plenty of people aren't sure that you're all you're cracked up to be. Dangerous? Overpriced? Stinky? I think you're a jungle gym of a place, all wild with the foment of hopeful, industrious, imaginative humanity. And I hope my boys feel your lovely hum in their bones in the same way I do.

 

 

 

I guess all I'm really trying to say is that I love you, New York. That's all. <3 p="p">

P.S.
New York...I think The Highline is totally bananas! One of your best inventions yet. I'm a fan.

And Then He Was Four

 Well, it was a positively gorgeous weekend, blazing sunshine, honest-to-goodness hot weather at points and bright blue skies. Not a bad way to celebrate turning four!

We went into the city and strolled around, enjoying the cheery feeling of New York in the spring, took in the circus, bought sidewalk churros and "smelled the flowers." (just like Ferdinand)

Then on our way home we stopped at the local skate shop and A won Coolest Dad of the Year by buying Ru a genuine skateboard, deep desire of his heart for a year or so now. He was a pretty happy boy.

We rolled into our own parking lot in front of our unit and found birthday packages on the stoop to carry indoors with us...and then on to birthday cake, music, present opening and jolly well-wishing birthday phone calls. He slept pretty deeply that night.

And now he's four! Four! I can't believe it! For his birthday he got a camera, a skateboard, a pair of sunglasses and some gardening tools (among other things).

I have suddenly reached the point at which my children start accumulating their own "stuff." We've largely been free of that until now. There are assorted toys and books but nothing of any great quantity belongs to either child, just their special animals they sleep with pretty much. I am going to have to figure out where individual kids special belongings can live. I am not prepared for this...time to mentally and physically re-arrange for the kid stage instead of baby/toddler world.

Fresh Air + Sunshine = A New Kind of Mania

Downstairs on the counter I have five altaulfo mangoes, sitting in the sunshine on the countertop, just waiting for me to make the coconut sticky rice pudding I was to dice them over (Thank you, Chinatown!). The sun is pouring in on the solarium floor and frankly, overheating the place. So much warmth and brightness all of a sudden. We played outside this weekend, stirring things in the garden, tossing our jackets on the wicker bench seat and pushing the strollers through Chinatown and the maze of trails in Central Park, frankly kind of dizzy from the sunshine and fresh air.

There are many little things that are lovely about New York City but, one of them is the fact that its always a little warmer there than it is here (this bonus only applies in the cooler months...not in July) and  there is little that is more festive than all the city shop doors propped open in the sun and teens squinting into the sun while they wait for the light, snapping their gum, no coats at all...just ballet flats, leggings and a pashmina...the ever ready NYC accessory. Such a wonderful stroll through town. We had a lot of fun visiting with A's fabulous Rainforest Adventuring Cousin too...who wouldn't love her? She enjoys great food, long walks, sticky kid hugs, and rambunctious dogs. How much better do people get?

All weekend, every time dusk hit and the sky turned to the color of the inside of an oyster shell, the boys and I would spot the silhouettes of ducks whisking past through the trees, over the horizon going north, north, north. Seemed like they were always in a hurry, not much left between them and spring nesting now...just a little push of the wing further on. Every night after the sun sank, we'd see them again, working their way north in packs, heading off to those of you in cooler climes. They're on their way! And spring is coming too! May there be many ducklings in your neighborhood ponds.

Its the time of year when children lose their shoes outdoors, jackets get left hung on fence-posts and mud is everywhere (Ru insists that the neighbors have a better yard because they have more of it) and I'm smelling, looking, hoping for the sight of some new green thing. The snowdrops are blooming and the skunk cabbage is seductively raising its mottled maroon cups through the leaves, all through the swamp.

I'm starting to get the itch to finish up my inside organization because I can feel that there won't be much more indoor energy left in me once the forsythia is blooming and the pussy willow is exploding poofs of chick fuzz over the back deck. My indoor time is waning and I can feel it dripping away from me, ever swiftly.