Author Archive
Adult Conversation
Me: “I need to buy a nail file. I don’t own a nail file.”
Chris: “How do you not own a nail file?”
Me: “Do YOU own a nail file?”
Chris: “No, but I’m not a woman.”
Conversations with Natalie: June 14, 2011
I wanted to share two conversations I had with Natalie today, one that made me feel incredibly guilty and one that made me realize that everything was going to be ok.
The first one happened on the long subway ride home from Madison Square Park. We’d seen a concert with Josie and Tam, then had lunch with Chris and Kary.
Dancing to the Dirty Sock Fun Time Band at Madison Square Park
Shake shack!!!Sitting on the bench on the subway, Natalie took off her shoe. I noticed there was some stuff in it.
“Natalie, what’s that in your shoe?”
She handed her shoe to me and I when I looked up close, I realized that there were about 20 tiny rocks in it. We’d just walked a few blocks and down a bunch of stairs into the subway.
“Rocks! That must have hurt so much to walk on! Why didn’t you tell me that you had rocks in your shoes?!?”
“Well, I didn’t want to complain. You always tell me not to complain.”
I gave my poor child a hug and we had a long talk about the difference between complaining/whining about things that we can’t control (like the temperature outside or having to walk uphill) and speaking up about something that’s easily fixed—like stopping to dump rocks out of shoes.
Later, after dinner, Natalie was getting ready to take a shower and was cold.
“Mom, I need to get in the water right away. I’m so cold I have goose bumps! I even have goose bumps on my butt cheeks!” (giggling)
“Oh really?”
“Goose bumps on my butt cheeks!!” (laughter)
“Ok, honey, enough with the butt cheeks.”
“BUTT CHEEKS!!!!!!!!” (more laughter)
“Natalie, did you ever know that you are a rascal?” (trying to hide my amusement)
“Mom, did you ever know that your name is BUTT CHEEKS?!?!?!?!”
The two of us both had tears running down our faces from laughing so hysterically. I stopped feeling guilty.
Mother’s Day 2011
I was a little sad this mother’s day because it’s the first year we didn’t go to Sayen Gardens, which had been our mother’s day tradition since Natalie was a baby. I only let myself be sad about missing the azaleas for a little while, then we decided to make a new Brooklyn tradition: a visit to Brooklyn Bridge Park! It was a bit of a trek to get there by subway—mostly because Natalie wanted to ride her bike, which meant that we had to carry the bike, plus Miranda and the stroller up and down the subway stairs. And also because before we got on the subway we walked down to S’nice, our favorite vegetarian cafe on 3rd street. Natalie did a lot of good practicing riding her bike and the girls were totally engaged by the park. And we didn’t even go to the playgrounds! A lovely Mother’s Day indeed.
Throwing Rocks
Daddy holds Miranda back
"Look where we live!"
Under the Manhattan Bridge
Mama and her girls
Ice cream under the Brooklyn bridge!
Under the Brooklyn Bridge