NYC Kid Lesson #578: If a local magazine states an event is “perfect for kids” that means everyone who’s spawned in the past 10 years and lives within a 100 mile radius of the city will show up at the event.
Such was the case for the Central Park Earth Day celebration - a little slice of misery among Humvee-sized strollers and environmentally “sensitive” parents (are those rubber wheels on your stroller? Hmmm). Funny how many “environmentalists” live in a city that seems to be 90% paved (talk about habitat destruction).
But alas, Grace is a rather social little girl and although she didn’t want to hang in the baby “mosh pit” at the Earth Day concert, she found her own little slice of nature. And to keep in the spirit of the day, she elected to neither shave her armpits nor use deodorant (just like her dad)
Breaking free from the purely New York City notion that one must, essentially, ignore one’s neighbors despite living practically on top of one another, Grace invited her friend Maya over. This could be the start of a long-term friendship as they both have so much in common - they both clap, high five just about anything in their sight, and say “dad” or “dah”(which means they already have more in common than Grace’s mom and dad).
Grace prepares to tell Maya just how fun playing with an egg timer can be:
Although Grace has been flirting with the concept for quite some time, we’re putting April 16th as the date that she finally broke free from coffee tables, chairs, walls and diner booths and took her first steps on her own! Some have described her walking style as Frankensteinian while others opine that she’s Penguinesque:
Unfortunately, we’ve been so excited watching her walk that we haven’t taken too many photos. So, while we work on that this week here are a few photos leading up to the big walk.
Here we see Grace in her Easter Bonnet with all the frills upon it (or with all of the no-frills upon it - Grace’s mom thought her dad dressed her like a bag lady (or is that Minnie Pearl) for the holiday):
For some Easter means religious holiday, for others it means a bunny and candy, for Grace it means donut:
The ‘bag lady’ look was short-lived as the extremely cold weather forced Grace to go “Ski Bum Chic” instead:
Grace also received a visit from her cousin K.C. the day after Easter:
There’s nothing quite like cheap airfare to get Grace to quickly hop on a plane and head to Pittsburgh (rumor has it that JetBlue does fly to Dayton, Ohio as well). Walking through the airport, one quickly gets the sense that hairstyle experimentation, for better or for worse, seems to be the norm. Duly inspired, Grace thought she’d give pigtails a shot … wWth her hair pulled up and away from her face, the collective wisdom is that she continues to be a clone of her Grandpa Jerry.
While in Pittsburgh, it seemed as though Grace finally gave into the peer pressure she experienced when she last visited with cousin Ted. Ted, a future Nathan’s Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Champion, taught Grace the true meaning of ingestion. Here we see Grace learning to appreciate her eating utensils:
And no visit to Pittsburgh would be complete without visiting Uncle Ed:
Upon returning home to New York, Grace thought she’d relax by listening to some of her favorite 80’s tunes. Here we see her demonstrating her “Flock of Seagulls” look:
