A chronology of play

Oh, to be a kid. Your day's work is all about play.

On our way back from visiting Long Island, we stopped by the new Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 6. Three playgrounds -- one is an extravaganza of sprinklers, one's a mega-sandbox, and one (for older kids) is a climbing wonderland.

We mostly hung out in the sprinkler section, since it was such a hot morning.




Those blue floors are actually made of spongy pellets. Perfect for spazzy toddlers.

And this cool climbing area is something for Kiki to look forward to in her old age (5+ yrs)


We spent last weekend at a co-worker's house near the Hamptons. He has a fantastic pool that this pregnant woman found to be very relaxing.

Kiki did a lot of running around, but took a moment to plant her dirt-covered shorts onto these pristine white lounge chairs.

Biggest. Volleyball. Ever.


On July 4th, we escaped the 100-degree heat by ducking into the NY Aquarium, along with 10,000 other New Yorkers who shared the same brilliant idea.




June was "let's find air-conditioned playgrounds for Kiki" month, so we joined the Brooklyn Children's Museum. The toddler section is great. Totally enclosed with activities geared for the 5 and under crowd.

Sandpit...

Puppet theater...

Make-believe...

Toddler section (18 months & under)...

Clang, bang, boom wall...

What a lucky kid. Little does she know what's coming around the corner in a few weeks...

Hot Times in the City

Kiki at our local playground.

She's grown so much (though not her hair). Here's a picture from last July.

A week at the beach in the D.R.

It was hot. Really, really hot. The sun was blazing and the humidity was near 100%. Good thing the frozen coconut drinks and sodas were all part of the package.

This was Kiki's first experience with beaches. She was hesitant at first, but she soon dug right in.


The water was beautiful. Not an oil slick anywhere....yet.



Unfortunately, we couldn't say the same about Europeans and their Speedo's.


The pool was a nice alternative to the beach. Minimal sand, perfect for wading in with Kiki. And closer to those frozen drinks...

I was pleasantly surprised with the resort. Clean, pretty and comfortable.


They even put in a few nice touches.


My biggest complaint was that nearly all the restaurants on-site were not air-conditioned. Nothing like having soup...or sushi...in 90-degree heat. Mmmmm.

There were a few A/C'ed restaurants, but they were considered "upscale" and it felt weird to bring the cranky Kiki.

On the bright side, the open-air eateries were nice and casual, and random servers would often go out of their way to smile and say hi to Kiki, sometimes dancing for her, which she LOVED. (She'd wiggle along in her highchair.) The Dominicans really love kids.


Thanks for a great vacation, DR!

Kiki meets her Halmoni

Kiki spent a quiet morning playing near her halmoni. I think they both enjoyed it!

First walking, now talking

These days, Kiki wakes me up every morning by pointing to her nose and saying, "noooooooo" which means nose. Then she points to her eye and says "aye", her ear and says "eeeeee". Every morning. So weird that that's the first thing she thinks of every day.

Scott said she went up to him this morning, handed him her shoe and said "here is a sock". I'm convinced he was hearing things, because I don't think she really has sentences down yet.

She is still very attached to her pink hoodie. On the day she went to the playground without it on (it was in the wash), she kept grabbing for all the other babies' pink things. I guess she felt something was missing...

Kiki's walking!

Kiki started walking last week!

And right around that time, she started INSISTING on wearing her favorite jacket that Lisa Eemo gave her and carrying her little Easter basket all over the apartment. Sometimes, she wants to wear her hat and shoes, too, like she's always ready to head out the door and do a little shopping.

Oh, we're doomed.





(Sorry for the bad images -- camera phone is the best I can do these days.)

Here's a pic of Kiki wearing a cute tank sent by our babysitter's mom in Canada, her very own fashion fairy godmother. As you can see, Kiki still doesn't have a lot of hair, but what she has is getting longer. At least she's finally getting a couple of new teeth!



After getting her 12-month immunization shots (at 13.5 months--oops), we decided to hang out on the front stoop with the other babies in our building. (Of the 8 apts in the bldg, 3 of us had babies in one year...and now 2 of us are pregnant again!) Cecilia (the girl next to Keeks) is 6 months older, and Jacob (in front) was born within minutes of Kiki. Amazing!

Time to pick up the laundry.