Little Monkey and Friends

Busy times indeed. Monkey channels his inner Keith Haring and experiments with the chalk medium.



Chalk on pavement can produce some interesting results. Like this. Our efforts, though less impressive, still managed to keep the monkey amused for the time. And it was yet another opportunity to get messy! Hurray!

All right, I admit, I enjoyed it too.


And the other monkey?



Miss Mina's version of artistic expression is limited to a range of facial variations and dramatic vocal bursts of sound. Confusion...contentment..what will she come up with next?

This was the last weekend before Monkey Sr.'s return to work. In between my list-of-things-for Jeff-to-do, we got in as much fun time as possible. This included the following:

Trips to Liberty State Park for some zero-gravity moments. Ground control to Major Tom?




Dining al fresco and au naturale, in the shade. (I flashed my girls for the entire Manhattan skyline! Top that, Girls gone wild!!)



We also hit an old-school Brooklyn Block party. Block parties are a great opportunity to connect with friends and neighbors. Here Oscar demonstrates by cozying up to his buddy, Cookie - an around-the-way girl, from back in the day.



And Jordan and Charlotte learned that, in fact, a (tomato) tree does grow in Brooklyn. A big thanks to Michael and the folks on Gotham Ave. for making us so welcome. We had a blast.




Lest you think the weekend was all fun and games, we also had some educational instruction thrown into the mix. Learning can be fun, people! Especially when you have blocks.


So, anyway, it's back to the grind for Monkey, Sr. In the interim, Monkey Sr.'s mom. aka, Grandma H. shall be visiting for a few weeks to lend a hand. How shall she fare amidst the chaos and reconstruction?

Stay tuned.

Yesterday, at the pool, Jeff and I had the following conversation:

J: "Keep Jordan away from that kid. He's a total bruiser. Just look at him, the little punk. He slammed Jordan's hand in the door of the play house."

S: "Ohmigod, did you say anything?"

J: "His mom apologized and everything, but the kid just looks like he's a punk."

S: " I love that you've learned which kids to stay away from on the playground. That's such a mommy thing to know."


As Monkey, Sr.'s paternity leave winds down, I've been reflecting on what this experience has been like for him. I don't think it's turned him into more of a "mommy," (ala Mr. Mom) nor can I say it's made him a better father. He's always been a great father; he didn't need paternity leave to improve him. What all the extra time may have provided is just that - extra time to spend with the monkeys, and all that the opportunity entails.

I daresay it's a rare thing to take a full month off for paternity leave. In this respect, we've been lucky that Monkey's firm offers this as an option. From my perspective, it was a big help having the old monkey around to tend to the care and feeding of the brood. But apart from the basics, he also got a chance to spend a lot of one-on-one time with the little guy for hours during the day while Miss Mina and I got to know one another.

It's not easy spending long stretches of time with a very active toddler. Sure, there are fun moments - hearing the little guy laugh, watching his face break out into a huge, delighted smile when he splashes in the sprinklers, listening to him as he practices singing the A-B-C song. Those are some seriously cute moments.



But ... there are also some seriously not-so-cute moments that can try the patience of even the most dedicated parent. Those hours during the day have to be filled with some activity; and coming up with new and exciting distractions takes creativity. For much of the month, the heat wave kept us away from the parks and swings, while we sought the sanctuary of air conditioned bliss. But little monkey can only tolerate so many hours in his playroom, and only so many renditions of Baby Einstein's vocabulary drills. And then it gets ugly. In fact, it gets FUGLY. The toddler foot-stomping tantrums, the molars-coming-in fussiness, and the general malaise that descends upon any kid forced to spend too long indoors can cause a parent to pray that the bedtime hour comes soon. I know. I've been there. And there have been nights when 7:30 could not have arrived a minute too soon.



Added to the equation is the element of sleep deprivation brought on by Miss Mina's constant need to eat. While I wearily get up and attend to her never-ending appetite, the Old Monkey awakens too. He'll get me some water, he'll take the baby for a burp and diaper change after her meal, or he'll simply scoot over a little more on the already too small bed, and make room for the new monkey to lay between us. That's her favorite spot to sleep (just like Oscar!) and a sure fire way of getting her to go back down, which is critical at that dangerous 4:00 am hour when day and night become one and the same.



So, given the amount of work involved, I would hesitate to call this experience a vacation. There have definitely been fun times. There have definitely been trying times. I know I would have had a hellishly more difficult time adjusting to a newborn without Monkey, Sr. here to help. So, for that alone, I am thrilled we've had this month. I'll leave it to the old monkey himself to express in his own words, any other thoughts about the experience. I can honestly say that I wish it could have lasted longer.



Miss Mina's fists of fury will take on any punk that messes with her big bro.

-Sadaf

With record temperatures scorching the country, staying cool (and entertained) is a priority. Little monkey spent his afternoon at the playground with rainbow sprinklers.

He also helped water the lawn, which has been starved for moisture. Little monkey has been making himself useful as he learns how to manipulate the garden hose.


Back in the house, Miss Mina has been living the life of leisure, awakening every 2-3 hours for another feeding. As you can see, this round the clock schedule of eating has taken its toll on her jawline. Time to cut back on the carbs, girl.

With all the drama of our ceiling collapsing on us, I almost didn't get around to what I really wanted to talk about - namely the arrival of the most kick ass stroller ever ... (drumroll) ...

...the Phil & Ted's E3 Explorer Buggy. We waited a long time for this baby to grace our happy home. The UPS delivery guy's arrival last week was (almost) as joyful an occasion as the birth of the second child who necessitated the purchase in the first place.


Most first- time parents (read neurotic, urban yuppies) spend a disproportionate amount of their consumer spending hours worrying about the perfect stroller to use to cart around their pampered tot. Rational individuals, on the other hand, begin their journey in a straightforward manner, utilizing the functionality of a travel system like the Graco Snap & Go. This is the perfect stroller/carseat combo for the newborn who spends most of his time sleeping anyway, so no one really gives a crap what they can see or not on a trip. It's more about making life easier for the sleep deprived parent who forces herself to get out of the house every day with said bundle of joy, for some fresh air and exercise. We were lucky enough to inherit a Snap & Go from friends who gave us theirs. (Score! Money saved!!)

The difficulty arises when said newborn suddenly develops head and neck control and has the audacity to actually want to see the world from an upright position. So, the quest begins to find a stroller that combines ease of use, good design, and reasonable cost. There are those who have fallen prey to the siren song of the Bugaboo, in all its $700-$800 glory (Lord, help them see the error of their ways). There are those of a more practical bend, who favor the MaClaren. And then there are the mavericks like us who fell for the charms of the Inglesina Zippy. Heck, we figured if it was Grace's stroller of choice, Jordan could live with it too. And we got a really cool orange one, so that satisfied our urge to feel unique amidst the sea of Bugs and Navy Quests.

Although strollers are yet another commodity used to gauge one's hipness quotient, there is absolutely nothing on the radar yet for those poor souls like us who have to purchase what is known as a "double stroller." Double strollers are the provence of those sad saps that have to cart around more than one child/baby at a time. Overly fertile fools like us, who tempt fate and wind up with "two under two" deserve to be saddled with frumpy, shlocky strollers that can barely squeeze through doors ...strollers that take up entire sidewalks...strollers that require Herculean muscles to lift into and out of cars ...err..minivans. My only consolation, is that I won't be pushing around one of these bad boys.

Not in this lifetime, anyway.

So, we resigned ourselves to frump-ville. Until, I learned about the Phil & Ted's E3 Explorer, that is. I can't take credit for this. I was lucky enough to be steered in the right direction by a good friend, who actually does the research on these matters, despite carrying the burden of full-time mommyhood. Thanks N! The beauty of the Phil & Ted, apart from the throwback-to-the 80's movie, is that the stroller was designed upon the premise that it would grow with you as you added to your family. I love that it capitalizes on people's urge to procreate.

Basically, the single stroller - which is cool enough on its own, allows you to add a doubles attachment to accomodate another kid. Perfect!! It's designed to take up as much space width-wise as any single stroller, it has turn-on-a-dime manueverability. It folds up easily. And it comes in sweet colors too! The only difficulty we encountered was getting our grubby paws on one in the first place. The company is located in New Zealand (shout out to Dallice's peeps, yo!). And unfortunately, we had to deal with a whole lot of nonsense from the folks at Buy Buy Baby. (Don't shop there people.). Finally, fed up with crappy sales service, I ordered the stroller from Baby Bungalow, got it in two days, with no sales tax, and free shipping! (Love this site! Loved the customer service, which featured real humans, trained to answer actual questions! And they return phone calls too!)




Monkey, Sr. put the stroller together in record time. And we were off! To Shea Day that is - where Phil & Ted (and baby Mina too) made their first Excellent appearance. It took people a minute to realize we had two babies - one of them tucked safely away in the secret compartment. Nothing like squirreling away your happy, little bundles of joy.

Just kidding. I love this stroller. Seriously. If you must add to your family in record time, and cart around two infants incapable of walking distances on their own .. this is the stroller for YOU!