My favorite weather in the city came back for Mother’s Day: sunny, temperatures in the lower 70’s, and a nice breeze – no humidity. How European! We spent all afternoon in DUMBO near the waterfront. Mika rode her bike both ways, enjoyed wearing her (still a bit too large) summer sandals, and spoon-fed Tobin ice cream. Tobin surprised me in the morning by calling me “Mami”, loud and clear, after saying either “Mama” or slurring “Maa-iii” for the past months. Happy Mother’s Day everybody!
Yesterday was an early Mother’s Day celebration at Mika’s school. The mom’s were treated to a second breakfast (including kid-baked mini blueberry muffins), given a hand made T-shirt, school-grown flowers, and got serenaded with a lovely “You Are My Flower” song. Unfortunately, the video of that song didn’t turn out so well, so i am adding another soundbite of the kids going nuts over the “Rock” version of the ABC song.
Note the family trees? Gaang included Mika in his family :)
Two of my favorite pictures of our kids – both taken at about 18 months. This seems to be the age when they stop being a baby and the big kid personality (and complex thoughts) start to show. And then they blink and are all silly again…
We hope you had a nice Birthday today. Mika made a card for you that we’re sending in the mail as well (see above). It’s you, Mika, and Tobin playing ball in your garden. You’re on the left (short hair), Tobin is in the middle (the small kid), and Mika on the right side (with extra large hands to catch the ball). The ball has dots and she drew a flower and some grass as well. Here’s a key to the writing:
HAPYE BRFDAY! = Happy Birthday!
I LUV PLAUAG ET UR HAWS = I love playing at your house
Temperatures plummeted back 20+ degrees to seasonably fresh spring weather, but we were lucky enough to catch a few more sunny hours of stunning cherry blossoms with Bruno and his parents yesterday. The weather for the rest of the weekend, including the official Sakura Matsuri Festival, doesn’t look so good. It’s already raining heavily tonight!
We made a quick after-school visit to the BBG to experience the “peak bloom” cherries on this last day of the heat wave. It felt like the best of Summer and Spring coming together and during our 90-minute visit, even Tobin felt a bit less sick.
Tobin woke up a bit under the weather this morning, but it seemed just like teething combined with an oncoming cold. We spent most of the day outside, even seeing a spectacular flowering cherry in Prospect Park (the Botanical Garden is closed on Mondays…). Towards the end of the day, his temperature crept up a bit more – keep your fingers crossed that he’ll sleep it off tonight.
I took Mika to a concert at St. Ann’s church today: Jacob‘s mom and dad performed in Händels “La Resurrezione (The Resurrection)’. It was a bit ambitious to take a 4-year-old, since every word is sung in Italian and the whole oratorio is two hours long. The quality of the performance was amazing though, especially Jacob’s mom’s voice! Mika was intrigued and did a great job being quiet. Still, i decided to leave after one hour during intermission because i didn’t want to push her over the limit…
Today, Tobin was invited to Elijah’s first birthday party in Prospect Park. We were lucky he took us along and enjoyed our first absolutely perfect summer day outdoors. The temperatures climbed to 88°F (31°C), but sans the humidity that we get later in summer. Just in time, Mika’s shiny pink sandals arrived in the mail…
PS: Happy 1st Birthday to Roman as well! We couldn’t make it to NJ on the same day and Tobin did end up napping exactly during Roman’s party hours…
Although temperatures have been nowhere near tomorrow’s heatwave forecast of 85°F (29°C), we had one of the nicest spring days in a long time. Kai and Sango met us at school to pick up Mika. With perfect timing, Eton started their shaved ice season of 2009 this week, so we had to allow the kids to get their tongues dyed. Last time we went, Sango wasn’t even born yet!
The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging: Kai had skipped his nap to make this play date possible, and the other kids didn’t have much energy left either. Good thing it’s the weekend and Daddy came home early!
Bruno and Tobin checked out the first session of Early Childhood Music Classes at the brand new KinderHaus, a German Immersion Playschool in nearby Park Slope. They met fellow bilingual kids and seemed to have a lot of fun so we’ll be back for more. The day got rounded out with pre- and post nap runs to playgrounds where they continued the musical theme of the day as well as … going about their daily business.
Another trip to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum … this time on a field trip with Mika’s class. Tobin came along as well, but wasn’t big enough to ride the bus without his car seat, so he and i used our own transportation and met the kids at the museum. On the program today: African and Mexican folk art and crafts, and dances from around the world.
