Finally - a Brian playdate

We've been trying to get together with this family since we met at Macki's for Break Fast. It became a bit of a joke because first Brian was sick and then I was sick. But finally they came over last week and we had a really nice time. Brian and Katie played wonderfully, they all liked Meadow, and Brian's dad even put Katie's balance bike together correctly (I'm not handy and not ashamed to ask guests for help if they are!). We hope to see them again soon.

Anna visits!

Anna came to Dallas last weekend and we were lucky to have 2 playdates with her. Her parents and grandparents had a party to go to so she spent part of Saturday evening with us. We took the girls out to Grimaldi's for pizza. They give the kids pizza dough to play with and the girls loved it, though we have to say we are glad that Katie has not imitated Anna's current phase of "potty mouth" - you can guess that the dough had some creative uses in her hands. Grimaldi's began in Brooklyn, so it's kind of funny we took Anna to a NYC restaurant. The pizza's good, we're just not used to having 2 preschoolers out for dinner on a busy Saturday night.

After pizza, we played at our house. The girls played dress up and played with Meadow and I captured a priceless picture of Katie falling on her head! Katie was fine.

Bear Week

Well most of you know I love bears. Last week was bear week for the Sammy Spider class and I really loved it. The class studied winter and hibernation and each child brought one of their own stuffed bears to school. The bears also brought a blanket so that they could cuddle when they slept over. When the kids got to the class on Wednesday, the bears had had a party! There were bears eating pizza and chips and reading and playing with blocks. Katie brought her bear named Seattle and Seattle was coloring! All the kids loved this. Here is Katie and Seattle at the writing center in their classroom. Katie's friend Henry is there too. Henry is Katie's crush of the moment and I have to say it's really cute to see them hold hands and do things together.

I loved the bear week curriculum. Liz traced each bear and the child colored the bear in and they hung the pictures on the bulletin board in size order. And one day they got back to classroom and the bears had escaped and they had to go on a bear hunt all over the school to find them. Katie proudly told me that Seattle was with Miss Yvonne.

Seattle, by the way, is named that because there is a picture of Seattle on his tummy. He was a present to Katie from Laina and Jed when we went to their wedding in July '07. Seattle usually spends his days in Katie's toy box and he was happy to go to school. You can see Katie with Seattle in this picture at the Pike Place Market. It's a funny coincidence that Jed actually does some work in Dallas and has visited us here twice already.

Cake person

Yes, I'm a cake person

I didn't do too many taste tests before ordering this cake and it turned out beautiful and delicious. I imagine I will look more closely for Katie's birthday.

We concluded my birthday with dinner out with my parents and my inlaws - a yummy Italian place downtown. Yummy Italian is not an oxymoron in Dallas; but yummy everyday affordable Italian (on the realm of Gennaro is). Then we went back to our house for cake.


Katie and Papa (and Meadow) were waiting for cake.

Dima & Dipa at the Nasher

We went to the Nasher Sculpture Center in the afternoon. It was beautiful day and my parents loved the art. Katie loved being outside with the art. Here they are with "Walking to the Sky."

Here are Katie and Peter lounging on art

And here's Katie walking through art. What's so nice about the Nasher is that it is so accessible.

Katie and the Miro

Happy Birthday to me!

Did I mention that my birthday is in January???

You wouldn't know it from this picture... after spending my whole life bundled up for my birthday, what a treat it was to be outside. We brought in deli from our new favorite ny deli (since our old and more convenient favorite closed) and we ate outside. We even had to put the umbrella up because it was so sunny.

Meadow and Dima share some affection, but we know Meadow really wants the food.

Happy Birthday Brian

I spent my birthday morning at Pump It Up for Katie's friend Brian's birthday party. We like Brian and his parents and a highlight for us was meeting parents we hadn't yet met from the preschool (Brian is in a different class). Katie played with her twin friends Jack and Emma who she knows from her after-school classes and they played together the whole time.

Daddy comes to the rescue when Katie's in the obstacle course.

Dima & Dipa at the Arboretum

My parents came for my birthday. Yes, it was a big birthday and yes I'm not too happy about the big birthday. It was so nice of them to come (their next visit isn't until April). The weather was beautiful and on Saturday and we ate outside at a restaurant for lunch and then went to the Arboretum. We've since been asked what was going on at the arboretum that we went to go see it in January. The answer is nothing. Katie likes to explore the arboretum like it's her own Central Park. There are little trails and a pioneer Texas village - it's a perfect place for her to explore whether there are flowers out or not.


Katie and Peter in the covered wagon

"Dipa, are you sleeping?"

Play date

Katie had her friend Ellie over for a playdate. Ellie and Katie were in ballet camp together and though they are not in the same class, they have a built a friendship on the playground and in their shared after-school day. I was so happy that Ellie liked Meadow. Because my parents were coming, I suggested to the girls that they help me give Meadow a bath. They got into bathing suits and had a great time! Here they are getting a "manicure."

Swimming with clothes on

It was the last swim class of the session and it's officially "clothesline day," meaning that kids get in the water with their clothes on to feel how different it is than swimming in a bathing suit. Katie actually loved it and didn't take off her clothes.

Katie rolls onto her back with Miss Rebecca. She makes a pillow with her arms under her head

Snow Day in Dallas

Katie's teachers sent home a note that they wanted to have a special winter wonderland for their class that doesn't often see snow. They were told to dress warmly with hats and gloves. The class met outside the classroom so they could open the door together for the surprise.

Here's what the classroom looked like

The kids played in the "snow" and buried each other in the snow. Of course Katie was the only kid who ever lived in snow and her teachers commented that she knew it wasn't really like this.
And they played with the polymer snow, which I have to say was very neat.

They also had tubs of ice to play with the cars on. For snack, they had hot cocoa and powdered donuts.

Meadow - in her seat

If you ask Meadow, she was meant to drive. She climbs into the car and without fail goes right for the driver's seat. When she was a puppy, she once climbed into my mother's lap while she was driving down Route 4 and after that we got a seatbelt. You all probably know that I'm pretty car safety conscious, so it's probably not surprising that even my dog wears a seatbelt. Problem is that none of the dog seatbelts are that safe so Meadow usually rides in the back of my car protected by the Volvo designed and installed dog cargo barrier. I wouldn't want her being a 68 lb. projectile for Katie. Okay, off on a car safety tangent, what a shock...

We decided that Meadow needed a change of scenery. One thing I feel bad about here is that she gets to spend a lot of time outside, but she doesn't interact with people and dogs like she did in NYC. So it was a special treat to go to Nana & Papa's house. She hadn't been there since we moved out. And of course she wanted to go outside, presumably to swim, but we said no.

Playground with Nana & Papa

Katie had a sleepover at Nana & Papa's on Saturday night. It was great for us because we had a date night - dinner and a movie! Katie had a great time, as usual. She helped make the salad for dinner and had a bubble bath.

On Sunday morning, I slept until 10 am, which I think was record breaking since about 2004. Peter wasn't so lucky because Meadow got him up early. He doesn't think that Katie is as smart as Meadow because Meadow knows which parent is more likely to get up and pay attention to her in the morning.

Katie went to the playground with Nana & Papa on Sunday. I thought this pictures were cute.

Katie-isms - Jan '09

Like all kids, Katie comes up with some funny things. Her favorite activity lately is playing DJ with her CDs and the CD player Ania bought her. It's great that she can control her own music, but the CDs tend to get a lot of wear... then I'm thankful for having uploaded them to itunes. And of course she loves "storing" them all over the floor, which makes our house look like our less than neat nyc apartment.

Katie's been talking a lot about New York lately. Tonight she told me she missed Gourmet Garage and her white room. Gourmet Garage is only missed for the treats the cashiers always gave her. She also commented out of the blue the other day, "Mommy, in New York we only had 2 rooms. In Dallas, we have so many!" [Technically we had 3 rooms, but I too am continually amazed by the fact that we have rooms we don't use on a regular basis].

The other day Katie told me her life plans. At the age of 3 1/2, this is what she said,
"I'm going to live near you in Dallas. But I'm still going to go to New York because that's where I growed up. And I'm going to have twins - a boy and a girl. Max and Ruby or Amelia, or maybe Emma and Jack." [there are b/g twins in her school named Emma and Jack. And her friend Ellie has a little sister named Amelia. Max and Ruby are cartoon characters].

On Sunday Peter made dinner - chicken piccata which is a Peter specialty. Katie said to him, "Daddy, you cooked and it was inside!" She's obviously more used to seeing him as the grill master of the family.

Pump it up party

Katie's friend Julia had her birthday party the day after Ryder's. Katie's class is mostly kids born in September through December, which is partly how she is the youngest in her class. So we had a lot of parties for December birthdays.

I was feeling a zillion times better so I made it to this party. I enjoy talking to the other parents and it also reminds me of what a small Jewish world Dallas is. Yet again there was someone I had randomly met and didn't know she knew Julia. And this party had pizza - a staple of NY birthday parties, it's the first time we saw it in Dallas.

Above is Katie going down the big slide with a whole bunch of kids. I actually went down the slide this time. It was pretty big.

Happy New Year!

We had our usual quiet New Year's at home. It's what we like to do. By January 2nd, I had 103 and strep so I wasn't very happy nor well able to parent. I'm thankful for play care and a wonderful husband who left work to take me to the doctor. Play care is a neat thing in Dallas where you drop your child off and they play with all the other kids whose parents dropped them off. They have computer games, movies, climbing equipment, a housekeeping center. Katie has a great time and we love that we can pay by the hour and have little commitment. They'll even give the kids lunch or dinner. Peter says that Katie is mastering the Jewish guilt because when he came to pick her up, she said, "I was waiting and waiting and I didn't know when you'd get here."

Above is Katie at her friend Ryder's birthday party. Almost all of the parties she's been to have been either at this gymnastics place or the inflatable bounce house place. Katie's decided that gymnastics is more her thing. Peter took her to this party and said she participated fully and had a great time. So we've booked her birthday party here for when my parents come in April. She still has time to change her mind though.

Snow

There was a lot of snow on the ground when we got to NJ and it melted by the time we left. But we wouldn't want to leave without some memories of what we're [not] missing in NJ. It started to snow the morning we left. Not enough to mess up traffic or the flights, but enough so that it looked pretty and Katie could admire it.

Katie was really excited to see snow. And when she returned to school, I asked her if she told her friends about her trip to NJ and NY. She told me she didn't want to talk about it "because I didn't want to tell my friends I saw snow. It might make them feel bad."

Katie, in action

Some of my favorite NJ people came for dinner on Tuesday night. I'm lucky to adore my parents' friends and a few came over to see us. Debby (above) is the director of Jewish preschool in NJ. She and Katie had a lot to talk about. I thought it was really cute how Katie described her class and all the fun things she did at school.

Four Generations of Women

We went to a diner and then to visit Oma on Tuesday. I showed her pictures of our house. It was really nice to share these with her, because obviously she'll never see it in person. But what I liked most is that Oma said, "I love to see that you're using my things." She recognized a lot of her things in our home. I tell people that our furnishings are basically NYC apartment and Grandmother. We have Oma's dining room set (which we did have in our 2nd nyc apartment), her couch in the living room, her dresser and night tables in the guest room, and lots of beautiful paintings, particularly from my mother's great uncle Milo. Of course Oma also said that we need furniture. I'm actually happy when she makes such more typical Oma comments.

Most people my age do not have grandparents left, so the fact that 4 generations could gather (even in a nursing home) makes it particularly special.

Morning with Dima

With much prodding, we occasionally got my parents out of bed in the morning to spend time with Katie. We were up too, it's just with various plans the rest of the day, mornings were the best time to catch Katie awake and ready to play and not fall asleep as she wanted too in the evenings. Here are Katie and Dima working in a book Dipa bought for her. My mother, the consumate teacher, was trying to teach Katie how to hold a pencil. We'll keep trying at this one...

I don't have too many pictures left of our week long trip to NJ to blog. Monday was special for me because I got to Elizabeth. The stars aligned so that me in Dallas and Elizabeth in Paris could meet and chat for 2 hours at Newark airport. I couldn't have been happier! Peter was a great sport and took Katie to the Liberty Science Center so that we could have some girl time. He didn't want to bring the camera. After that we went to the city and spent time with Kelli and had dinner with Donna and her family. I felt sad for Meadow that she was missing out on our dinner with Kobi. Kobi had a great trick of closing the doors on the tv armoire when he wanted them to pay attention to him and not watch tv.

All cousin dinner!

After our busy day with Ania, we went to cousin Illyse's for an all cousin dinner, including cousins Jill and Matthew. What I loved is that my sisters and my cousins all wanted to get together while we were in. I appreciate this so much. The company was great and it was so nice to relax with them and look and old pictures and things Illyse had of my grandparents of which I only had vague memories. Katie and Robin had a great time coloring and wearing their other matching outfit from Dima and Dipa. So thanks a lot to Illyse for hosting and we hope to see you again soon.

Hippo Park!

After a yummy lunch at the UWS's new Shake Shack, Katie wisely decided she didn't want to return to the museum. "I want to go to Hippo Park," she told us. Okay, why not? So Katie and Ania were reunited with their old favorite hang out. It was a little strange to see Hippo after living here. First of all, it felt small. Now Peter's said since last summer that Katie's outgrown the park and I don't think that he's completely wrong. But with all the trees without leaves, it felt very bare. And small too - bigger than our backyard but by less than I would think.

It was a really warm day for a NYC winter - high of 63. Though it wasn't sunny in the slightest, it was still nice to be outside and warm. It was fun for me to see a glimpse of the life that Katie had in NY, the special games and jokes she shared with Ania which I never saw. Katie loves the red swing and would pretend to sleep and Ania would keep pretending to wake her up. It's a joke they've had for a long time.
And as a special coincidence, Katie's friend Grace happened to show up at Hippo. The girls had a great time running and playing on the slide and climbing things.

A day with Ania!

We met Ania on the steps of the American Museum of Natural History. The museum was part of Katie and Ania's regular routine once Katie turned 3, so it seemed fitting that we meet there (we're still members, after all). We were all so happy to see each other. And while we were waiting for Peter to find parking (a typical NY day), Ania did Katie's hair on the steps of the museum! And Katie stood there so patiently, like she always does for Ania and never for me!

We spent almost all of our time in the museum in the Discovery Center. It's Katie's favorite place, especially with Ania, because it's hands-on and you can touch and search for different things. She must have spent an hour being a paleontologist, digging through sand for dinosaur bones with Ania at her side. The play protective glasses are kind of cute.
Of course it's Christmas time and the museum is incredibly packed, mostly with tourists. So we leave after a little while (the good thing about being members) and go for lunch. It's the funny thing about living in NYC, you can spot tourists immediately. Our old neighborhood had tons of European tourists staying at the illegally converted hotel so you see them when you go to Starbucks or go on the subway. I really wondered if one day I'll be pegged as a tourist. It really made me feel like it was such an honor to live in a place people want to visit. I know I'll never have that feeling in Dallas.

Aunt Lesley

We had lunch with Aunt Lesley and Matt at one of our favorite UWS brunch places. The funny thing is I realized that Nice Matin seems to be a Bogdanow Family place - we had separate meals there with cousins Linda and Don, Aunt Sarah and Uncle John, and Dell. Katie's appetite was unusually impressive because she ate all of her adult portion waffle. And she loved playing with Aunt Lesley. We went to Zabar's afterwards and Katie could care less while Lesley and I were admiring the espresso machines. Considering I couldn't take much home, I skipped the downstairs section I love so much.

A Day with friends

We spent Friday visit lots of friends in NYC. It was pretty much 2 hours at one apartment, then walk to the next so it was a little rushed, but a perfect way to spend the day. And all the dads were home, something that never happened when we lived there. Above is Katie and her friend Jamie.

I was impressed with 2 things about Katie. First, she did a ton of walking - from 105th and West End to 94th and West End to 88th and CPW - that's about a mile and a half. And second, I loved that she immediately started where she left off with her friends, especially with Olivia and Erika. That was really special to me that she still feels a bond with them.
Katie and Olivia

Katie playing dress up with Erika

Erika and Katie and Grace

Day with Robin

We went to the movies with Aunt Debbie and Robin on Christmas Day. It's a good Jewish tradition. We saw "The Tale of Despereaux" and Katie will tell you that she didn't like it. The Queen dies in the beginning (and no, this isn't a spoiler) and the kingdom grows dark and Katie hated it until it was light again at the very end. But the girls looked cute in their matching outfits. Conveniently, Pete and Mitch went to another movie in the same theater with their dad.

After the movie, we went to visit Oma. Peter read the girls and Oma a Chanukah story, one with lots of Yiddish names and Oma loved it. Again, cute girls in matching outfits. And then we took Robin back to my parents' house with us to play and have dinner. Peter drove Robin home and got to check out the boys' Wii.

New Jersey!

Katie had so much fun in NJ. Here she is lighting Chanukah candles with Pete and Mitch. Each child had their own chanukiah to light that night.

Dipa and the Chanukiyot and happy to have all his children and grandchildren there.

Cousins Reunited!