Tis the season...sort of.

I just noticed the Christmas decorations are already up over Queens Blvd. which means it must be the beginning of the holiday season. Luckily, the temperatures have been very mild this fall and despite a few chilly days, we haven't really seen much bad weather. So this weekend, we went for another long walk around the city, taking in some neighborhoods we usually pass through too quickly. We ended up at Madison Square Park and later around Union Square and then south towards NYU and all the buzz of Washington Square Park. On our way, we had encounters with two different strangers which were both funny and odd. One was a photographer who stopped Nacho to inquire about his camera and lens and another, an older woman at the shoe store I went into. Both seemed to talk freely and have all the time in the world for us. I guess since having Elisa, I am more comfortable chatting with people in the city because it feels like we get into conversations all the time just based on her interactions with people. On the subway, we can hardly make it through a whole train ride without someone commenting on her or having to play peek-a-boo with happy onlookers. Seeing her bright smile and how much she loves to garner attention, I find this as no surprise. And I think Nacho mainly enjoys it for the "chick magnet" effect that fathers toting babies seem to elicit (sorry, I had to, honey). But in all, I guess it's been a slight adjustment to being the "mom" and watching Elisa engage in this environment and all it offers.
Whether at the park or on the train, Elisa likes to observe as much as interact and sometimes, she just chats away to herself (see photo below) as if she alone can understand the world.
Fortunately, sometimes we share a moment of understanding like when I know she's getting tired and scoop her up. There are times she does not fight this and actually sinks into my arms and lets herself just be.
Or when we go out to eat and she joins us at the table, making conversation and snacking away...like the big kid she wants to be.

Oh, Elisa, I'm so excited to see you celebrate the holidays this year. It feels like everything is the "first" this year even though you were around last year (just not allowing anyone around you to fully function). Knowing that Nacho is off work on both Thanksgiving Day and Christmas has perhaps made it more festive too. With his constant travel and the back and forth I do with work, it's extra nice to know we will be home together this year to celebrate a wonderful time of year.

1st Annual Baby Thanksgiving

Instead of our usual Thursday playgroup this week, one of the moms (thanks, Kristin!) suggested a Baby Thanksgiving potluck lunch. Without skipping a beat, we had volunteers bringing stuffing and pumpkin muffins, roasted root veggies and cornbread, not to mention about a dozen other wonderful sides and desserts. It was all delicious and the kids enjoyed grabbing fistfuls of food while running around and generally keeping us all on our toes. Here are the kids getting some playtime in before the meal...
Oliver and Jessie phone home...
Ella and Elisa run wild in Juliet's room--no toy is safe!
This is part of the group (the early eaters) taking a moment to commemorate the festivities...

Over the past year, I have really come to look forward to our Thursday gatherings and have found a lot of support from the fact that others are going through the same stages and frustrations (and okay, joys) that I am. It's also a great way to see how Elisa interacts with other kids and to bring out that social side that she loves to engage. Just seeing how she tries to hug Oliver, pat Ella on the head, and run down the hallway with Juliet is proof enough that she is a bona fide toddler with a mind of her own. Somehow that feeling of separateness--that Elisa is her own person with thoughts and ideas and ways to engage others--has become a real pleasure and comfort to me. I guess after all the dependency of the first year, I'm relieved to feel that she can do things on her own. I think the idea of bringing us all together before the hubbub of the holidays begins was a great start to the season. Here's to hoping next year Elisa can help me bake!

Lovin' spoonful

We've been working on our spoon skills this week with varying degrees of success. Since Elisa likes to do things herself, lunchtime has taken on a whole new focus. Mainly, I try to keep my composure while she flings and smears food everywhere. If she's still attempting to eat, that's usually encouraging. But she often pauses, stops and then loses interest. Here she is with rice pudding making a fine mess.

True Colors

In case you didn't know we are a red, white and blue family. Not the red, white and blue of the American flag--that's not our style. No, the red, white and blue of Nacho's favorite Spanish soccer team--Atletico Madrid. Even though he doesn't get to spend many weekends at Nevada Smiths in Manhattan watching them play on TV like we did pre-baby, Nacho is still a diehard fan. It's just in his blood. So naturally, I knew Elisa would inherit some of this fascination with her Papa's team. When she received a personalized Atleti jersey for her birthday, I thought it fitting that she would start out cheering for a team she can't even pronounce yet. And when I walked in after work last week and saw her dressed in the team kit for the first time, I had to laugh. Here she is showing her full support for the game.
From the back, it's even better...

Practicing her deep squats for the warm-up, I'm sure.
And smiling even though they lost. Because if there's anything that Atleti has taught me in 10 years of knowing Nacho, it's that they LOVE to lose. Really. Nobody does suffering like Atleti. Hopefully Elisa won't mind.

Playing with her food

These days you never know how Elisa is going to do with lunch. Most days she has a bite of this, a bite of that and then TONS of fruit. I guess you'd say she's a good eater, because she tries almost everything. But then again, the same food on a different day can get a totally new reaction. So I have been trying to think of new foods for her to try (grapefruit, rice pudding, risotto) and not just fall back on my standards (green beans, cottage cheese and grapes) which are too easy. Here she is enjoying some blackberries and spreading the love all OVER her face.



(And one pic to prove she cleans up well!)

Watch out world!

This past week Elisa and I tried a few new things. Like the organized playgroup at St. Teresa's church on 45th Street and 50th Ave. This is a pay-as-you-go loosely structured group that draws a mostly 2+ age group on Mondays and Thursdays. I knew as the weather cooled off that we'd be looking for stuff like this and since I never know exactly how the week will go workwise, I thought this week was a good chance to give it a trial run. It's a good 20 minute jaunt over there, which once it's really cold and/or raining, I'm not sure how fun that will be, but the bonus is that my favorite Colombian bakery (Chipichape on 45th Street) is on the way home, so how can you go wrong there?

We met up with Jessie and Oliver and had a good time letting the kiddos run around. Because it's in the church basement, it sounds a bit like an echo chamber with LOTS of background noise on top of Elisa's occasional shrieking. I was a little surprised at how well Elisa took to it, just diving into the mountain of toys and tricycles without needing me at her side. She seems to be a natural at that thing we call "independence." Here she is in all her glory pushing that bike around and around and around. Never gets old.

Marathon weekend in NYC

This Sunday was the 40th annual NYC Marathon throughout the 5 boroughs. And in a way, it was also a marathon weekend for Elisa and I. We were traveling last week to deal with some estate matters for my late Nana and flew home on Halloween. We'd spent a very restless night before the travel day (Elisa actually joined me in my bed, if that tells you anything) and when she woke at 5:30am for no apparent reason, I knew I was in trouble. Despite that, I dressed her in her pumpkin smiley face jumpsuit and hoped for the best. Dumb. It was probably the worst flight for Elisa to date. Just when you think she's getting the hang of something, you get a "oh, HELL no" and realize that yes, you have a long way to go before our mother-daughter communication is understandable. I was tired, out of games, and just plain sorry to have put her and our fellow passengers through the ordeal. But what can you do? She (finally!) fell asleep on the landing at JFK and I sat holding a snoozing, peaceful baby as the passengers deplaned and probably wondered if I'd strangled her after all that fuss. Good timing, kid.

But luckily, we were home and resting by 7pm on Halloween. No trick or treating. No fun parties (we had two invites!!). But the beauty of seeing Elisa wake up refreshed on Sunday was well worth it and we headed out to watch the runners whiz through Queens on their way into Manhattan. The area around where we live is the half way point for the marathon which I think is kind of cool. Since Nacho's best friend Felipe flew all the way from Madrid to compete this year, we had another reason to go and cheer the runners on.
Elisa loves a crowd and she was screaming along to make some noise for the runners!
Afterwards, we met up with Felipe and the whole Spanish crew on the Upper West Side near the park. I think Elisa was impressed with his medal.
Here are the lovely ladies celebrating the end of the race.
Finally, on the way home, we hopped on a bus and Elisa got to dig into her snack--a whole apple. The girl goes NUTS for apples. She gets the silliest grin and smiles with her eyes. Who knew happiness could be bought with so little? Now, if that only worked on airplanes...

I feel like I'm fallin' for fall...

Okay, I stole the title from a Moose A. Moose song (commercial really) on Noggin. Yes, Noggin. I refuse to call it Nick, Jr. Re-branding for toddlers? Really, is this necessary? Anyway...today we got out of the house for a post-nap stroll through the colors of Central Park. It was a beautiful autumn day with just a slight chill in the air and lots of sunshine.

As we neared our favorite walk, I let Elisa out of the stroller to enjoy the leaves and all the colors up close.
She made it part of the way on her own, before having to get picked up. And let's just say, she wasn't a fan of the carrying. It took about a minute of screaming, flailing and generally trying to sit down in the middle of the path, before we got the bottle in her mouth and she calmed down.
There she is post-meltdown, with almost a smile. Ah, yes, the joys of having a diva in the family.
Bigger smiles for Papa. Elisa loves her time with Nacho. She has started laughing with him in the most exaggerated, deep-belly way. It's hysterical to watch.
There isn't a better time to visit New York than October when it's sunny. I mean, can you beat this??

Two mommies

I just returned from the local park with Elisa and had to record a conversation I had with another little girl there. Her name was Ella and she wandered up to us while I was putting Elisa in the swings. With the kind of bravado only city kids have, she quickly made friends with me, asking for a helping hand into the swings and telling me about her sister. Ella is 6 and I reckon she's about at that age where life is getting complicated--school, siblings, the usual. Here's how she explained:

Ella: Guess how many brothers I have in India? I have 10 brothers in India.
Me: Wow, that's a lot of brothers.
Ella: And I have 5 brothers in New York.
Me: Really?
Ella: Yeah, and I have two mommies.
Me: Two?
Ella: One that plays with me, and one that does the dishes.
Me: (Speechless)
Ella: But I only have one dad. And he never does the dishes. He just sits at the computer and doesn't do anything.
Me: Yep, that sounds like a dad.

I don't know exactly whether Ella was exaggerating here or not, and I suspect the word "brother" meant both brothers and sisters to her. In this city, with the mix of cultures and kids, you never know what language or family model kids get at home. But something tells me Ella is an astute observer of her home life in a way that only a kid can be. Since I never saw her mom(s) or dad around the park, I guess I'll have to wait til our next run-in to see this family in action. I guess in theory having two mommies would be ideal. Lord knows I feel like both sometimes--the playful, fun mommy and the cleaning, straightening mommy. And now this mommy is going to go nap.

A lovely day in October

Here's Elisa today at the park during our weekly playgroup meetup. There are a ton of old toys, bikes and scooters laying around so naturally our girl gravitated towards one. Here is Nacho giving her a guided tour.