Matt, Naomi, and I started a mini vegetable garden on our balcony over the weekend. We have never attempted to grow something on our own before, so we stuck with plants suggested by my mom as being particularly hardy. We got a couple types of tomato plant, some cilantro, and basil from a farmer's market, and some seeds for zinnias, pole beans, peas, sweet peppers, and scallions from Ace. The good news is Naomi had fun planting the seeds, and has been running over to check on the pots several times a day to see if "the seeds growed up yet". The other good news is something already has sprouted in the two zinnia pots that we planted only on Saturday. The packetsays it should take 5-7 days, and it in reality took about 3-1/2 for the first shoots to appear. The bad news is I don't know how to tell a zinnia from a weed, but I also don't know how a weed would make it all the way up to a 10th floor balcony. Is this possible? I'm also not sure the pots we got are really big enough, but they were on clearance at Ace, and we have a fairly low bar for what we'll consider a success as far as these plants go, so I think it's ok. In the future should I get bigger pots? We do have a bigger pot for the tomatoes.I know this is not a very flattering picture of me, but I have to include it to show that Naomi dropped the seeds in herself (and poked holes for them with her fingers....we are hoping quality control is not 100% essential for these particular plants to make it).
I present to you the second half of a quintessential Naomi story. This one seems to be inspired by Audrey Wood's "Alphabet Mystery" (in which a letter x runs away from his alphabet family because he isn't in very many words...marking the start of a very suspenseful mystery...!) I'm including my best attempt at a transcript for anyone not fluent in Naomi-ese. This includes myself, by the way. Here goes...
“…I ran away again. Got the little b” And then little p said “What you doing with that little b?” “I’m going out with it!” “But don’t go out with it. I will be sad.” “Don’t be sad.” “But I know you will be sad…[mumble]” What’s p doing? Me: What’s wrong with p? Um, p said “Don’t take b.....[mumble]” …and then the p said….p is just sad. Me: p is sad? How about x? No, x is happy. Me: x is happy? Oh, ok. And then later the M always [??] and the M will be so happy, and the little m will be sad too cause always the b and the o said…and the i said “What you doing with the M”, and the M will be sad. “And then you go with the S” And the S…I will show you…when the S do that, when the S do that, the S will be in a dress. Me: The S will be what? In a dress. Me: In a dress? Yeah. The S is wearing a dress? Yeah. “And then I know you would be…” Me: What are the other letters wearing, Naomi? Um…cute dresses. Me: They’re wearing cute dresses? “And then you [???} at the c.” The c is missing. Me: The c is missing? Oh no, where did the c go? It was in my tummy!
Do you like the last line? Me too. I think it's fun that kids at this age already have enough of a personal "style" to recognize their particular stamp on whatever they do. For instance, I always know which picture is Naomi's when I pick her up from daycare because she happens to be in a phase of drawing rows of either lines or circle-ish squiggles. Almost always. Typically with each row being in its own color. I have no idea why, but...it's fun.
My school puts on a community health fair in East Harlem (ie, right outside of the hospital) every spring. Last year I planned a health screening, but this year I just painted faces. Naomi and Matt came too, and Naomi ended up playing in the giant bounce house for almost four hours straight. At first she could not climb the stairs to the slide by herself (they were kind of hard), but by the end of the day she was really good at it.We were nearly the last people to leave (I wasn't very good at enforcing an end to the face-painting line). I'm not sure this picture really does justice to what a ragamuffin Naomi was by the end of the day. She had a blast.Last night Matt and I watched "Doubt". I don't think I would have liked it had it ended with any type of resolution; the fact that you are left not knowing what really has happened, and that both possibilities are so deeply chilling makes it just a phenomenal movie.
We also went for a very fun bikeride Friday afternoon, stopping off at Hescher playground near the end. This is one of our favorite things to do together as a family. All of a sudden all the trees have leaves here, and the blossoms in Central Park are to die for. I'd say that means it is finally spring! (Even though today we are back in the 40s).
PS--Only 7 more weeks until the baby's due date. I had a follow-up ultrasound that showed the placenta is still a little too low, but there is at least a 50% chance still that it will move enough in the next few weeks to allow for a normal delivery. Oddly this baby is projected to weigh only 7 lbs at 40 weeks based on ultrasound, though I don't know how accurate that is likely to be. There's nothing wrong with 7lbs, it's just so much smaller than Naomi would have been at 40 weeks that it sounds a little odd to me (especially since I really think I have gained about the same amount of weight as I had this time last pregnancy). We will see. The cutest thing ever, though? You can see this baby's hair on ultrasound already. Hair! Already! It's adorable.
The three girls:First of all, let me apologize for the fact that Matt is in none of these pictures. We really need to take more pictures of us as a family (a fact we realized when Naomi's teachers asked her to bring in a family picture for a unit they were doing on families...and we had some significant difficulty actually finding one). He was here (behind the camera). Sorry. We had a nice easter weekend, though!Sometimes it is difficult to get Naomi to look at me when I am trying to take a picture.I thought it would be fun for Naomi to make a hat like the girl in "Jennie's Hat" (an Ezra Jack Keats book about a girl whose plain hat is decorated with all kinds of elaborate things by some birds she has been feeding in the park), and then wear it in the Easter Hat Parade on 5th Avenue. I cut out the pictures, but she actually managed to do the vast majority of the gluing here. Easter turned out to be a little on the cold and windy side, but after playing up the parade so much, I really felt like I needed to follow through. So we went down....only there were *VERY* few people actually wearing hats. Maybe we missed the parade? Naomi kept asking where the hat parade was, which was a little sad, but eventually she bought in to the idea of a "treasure hunt" parade that involved searching for other hats......and all was remedied once and for all once we ran into a very, very friendly Easter Bunny. I wish I brought my video camera to catch Naomi copying the Easter Bunny's dance moves. It was cute.Random chalk drawing the other weekend at Carl Schurz:Hiding under the table to eat candy (resulting eventually in one of the three throwing up) at another, more sugar-infused, egg-hunt:I have mixed feelings about doing frivolous things on holidays. On the one hand, it is pathetic that in contrast to Jewish holidays, which are virtually 100% free of commercialization and obsession with candy....Christian holidays in America are about 95% focused on these types of things. On the other hand, it is fun to have fun. I guess I think there is a difference between frivolous and commercialized, and I am a little more down on excess of the latter.
Easter egg hunt with friends on a roof:Pizza Party (Nick's):Colorful Williamsburg graffiti:View of Manhattan:Brooklyn burgers: More graffiti:NOT graffiti:Somewhere in between. Because art, like music, belongs on the street for all to appreciate.
Naomi and I had another good day of free fun today. We rode the subway down to Union Square and did a little shoe shopping (we didn't end up buying her new shoes, because the shoes we found will cost 30% less tomorrow, but at least we picked some out), then walked over to Storytime Yoga at Karma Kids. This was kind of fun because the last time we went, Naomi was not big on listening to or following the teacher, whereas now it seems like she has really grown up in that sense. The only downside was I could do virtually none of the poses (see "No More Running" below). But it was fun. Then we walked over to Madison Square Park, had a little picnic, and played in the playground. Then it started to rain, so we walked over to City Treehouse, one of the many indoor playspaces (this one is mostly a water-activity place like you have in a lot of children's museums...or at least the ones in SLC and Manhattan, plus a big cave/treehouse with a slide) that offers a free trial first visit. This was also very fun. Then we headed over to the subway, dropping into the most adorable children's clothing store I have ever seen (I like to think of these Manhattan boutiques more as children's clothing "museums" given the pricetags) on the way--which bizarrely Naomi was just as loath to leave as every other seemingly more kid-friendly stop on our adventure. It was a fun day, not least because Naomi is (FINALLY) starting to be a good little walker. This is important because another thing I have sworn off is carrying the stroller up and down the stairs to the subway, which means that Naomi probably walked a good 2-3 miles today, on top of all her running around at the park and the indoor playground. Oh yeah, and no nap.
She went to bed a bit early tonight. :) 40 degree rainy weather aside, it was nice to be out. And surprisingly not very exhausting.PS--It turns out it is impossible to "rest" your symphysis pubis. *Everything* strains it. Everything. Just in case anyone happened to be wondering whether or not this would be a good body part to go ahead and injure. My advice is to choose another body part (I'd go with a non-dominant pinky). The current stimulus for persistent sharp shooting pain seems to be: lying on my side. Because you know, I should know better than to tax myself overly much by doing something so physically demanding. Annoying.
Matt, Naomi, and I started a mini vegetable garden on our balcony over the weekend. We have never attempted to grow something on our own before, so we stuck with plants suggested by my mom as being particularly hardy. We got a couple types of tomato plant, some cilantro, and basil from a farmer's market, and some seeds for zinnias, pole beans, peas, sweet peppers, and scallions from Ace. The good news is Naomi had fun planting the seeds, and has been running over to check on the pots several times a day to see if "the seeds growed up yet". The other good news is something already has sprouted in the two zinnia pots that we planted only on Saturday. The packetsays it should take 5-7 days, and it in reality took about 3-1/2 for the first shoots to appear. The bad news is I don't know how to tell a zinnia from a weed, but I also don't know how a weed would make it all the way up to a 10th floor balcony. Is this possible? I'm also not sure the pots we got are really big enough, but they were on clearance at Ace, and we have a fairly low bar for what we'll consider a success as far as these plants go, so I think it's ok. In the future should I get bigger pots? We do have a bigger pot for the tomatoes.
I know this is not a very flattering picture of me, but I have to include it to show that Naomi dropped the seeds in herself (and poked holes for them with her fingers....we are hoping quality control is not 100% essential for these particular plants to make it).
