Okay, so I’ve realized I can no longer keep up with a weekly update like I was doing for the last year and a half. For one, it’s time consuming, but I also want to focus on a different kind of writing – more like the last few posts. However, I’m not a scrapbooker and these weekly updates were a way to document this life here so I didn’t want to give them up. My goal this year is to do one recap each month instead of one each week. Feel free to hold me accountable!
Here’s a look back at January…
Big City {Parenting} Lessons Learned: If you’re curious about something, ask. If it means getting down on the floor to dig deeper, get down on the floor.
It’s no secret if you’ve met Norah or read anything I’ve written about her that she is an outgoing, curious little lady. This is never more evident than during our weekly trips to Trader Joe’s. She knows many of the employees now, and they know her by name or at least by remembering the details of a conversation they have had with her before. Like every other grocery store in this city, Trader Joe’s is usually pretty busy. We do our best to avoid the rush by going early. Norah knows the drill by now – if it’s too busy she has to stay in the cart, but if the aisles are fairly clear she can be my helper. She knows where everything is that she can reach so I usually just have to tell her what to get and she’s on her way. During our first visit back after returning from Montana, she saw one of her friends (how she refers to the Trader Joe’s employees) on his knees stocking something on the bottom shelf. She walked right over, sat down, and started asking questions. Of course he smiled and answered every single question she asked – because Trader Joe’s has the best employees ever. As I watched her I was thinking of how quickly she just asks a question she wonders about. She doesn’t stop to think about what other people will think of her by not already knowing the answer. Sometimes I think she does know the answer but the question is the best way she knows to start a conversation. She’s not afraid to sit down on the floor to get the answer she needs. This isn’t a deep reflection at all. It’s pretty simple really. I need to stop assuming I know the answer or stop assuming others will think I’m ridiculous for not already knowing the answer and just sit on the floor and ask more questions. We get so exhausted by the onslaught of toddler questions that we forget that’s the best way to learn. There’s a reason you learn so much when you’re a toddler. I think they realize it’s okay to not know everything, so they ask. Why do we stop wondering?

Best Thing We Ate: Restaurant Week date at Empellon Concina
Most of the time we go out to dinner it’s either to celebrate something (birthday, anniversary, holiday), to entertain visitors, or because we already have a babysitter for a concert we bought tickets for so we tack on a dinner to the night. But on a Tuesday night in January Brett and I made reservations at Empellon Cocina to take advantage of New York Restaurant Week. Brett came from work and arrived before I did so he had a drink at the bar while he waited for me. It kind of felt like I was in a movie – riding the subway to a hip neighborhood, walking the busy street with my scarf wrapped tight to shield me from the January wind, walking in to the restaurant to see a handsome man looking up at me and smiling from the bar. The food was delicious. I’ve started turning eating out in to a competition – and unfortunately Brett won this one. Every course he had was better than mine. The good news is that he’s nicer than me and was more willing to share than I am when I win best dish. I’m pretty sure their prix-fix menu is actually offered all the time – not just during restaurant week. So, if you’re in NYC it’s definitely worth a visit.

Music: Lyrics & Lyricists
Our friend Aaron was asked to sing in a really cool concert at the 92 Y at the beginning of the month. The concert series is called Lyrics & Lyricists. This particular show focused on well-known songs that were written in hotel lobbies while the musical was on tour or in the hours right before the curtain opened –resulting in the actors frantically memorizing the songs during intermission. The six performers for this show were wonderful and we just had a fun evening learning some Broadway history and seeing Aaron perform again.
Favorite New Place Visited: Museum of the City of New York
The Museum of the City of New York sits along 5th Avenue in the middle of Museum Mile. The NYC Marathon currently has an exhibit at the museum, and because Brett’s hospital sponsors the marathon all employees were given free admission. We had a great morning exploring the tenement exhibit, a few art halls, and a really cool folk music room. They also had activities for children on the weekends so Norah got to run her own obstacle course marathon and was rewarded with a snack at the end, so she had a great time. The exhibits at this museum change pretty frequently, the space is beautiful, and it’s just small enough that you can make it through most of the building in a few hours. We again left thinking we need to go back without a toddler so we can actually learn something, but we had fun anyway.
Falling (more) in Love with Central Park: Snow day
This year, when they said we were going to have a blizzard, we really did have a blizzard. We went to bed on Friday night with snow lightly falling and woke up to swirling winds and a constant downpour of white stuff for about 12 hours. When it finally stopped snowing it ended up being the second biggest blizzard in NYC history, with almost three feet falling in that one day. On Sunday morning we woke up, put on snow gear, and headed straight for Central Park. The snow seems to quiet this city and when it comes on a weekend it’s such a treat. Everyone smiles, everyone plays in it, and everyone walks down the middle of the streets because they’re shut down to traffic. It really is magical. Like these 8 million people are part of a secret winter wonderland. It’s almost Narnia like. Unfortunately, we left not one, but two pairs of brand new snow boots for Norah in Montana, so she had to settle for rain boots to play. She was fine with that until the walk home, when I’m pretty sure her feet were frozen. But the memory of being tossed in to snow piles that were taller than she was was worth some cold toes.

When you wake up to snow but you can’t run out to your back yard to play in it, you grab your hat & mittens and ask your daddy to make you a snowball from the accumulation on your bedroom windowsill.
Our view all day Saturday during the blizzard, after the snow had stopped Saturday night, and then when we woke up Sunday morning.
Only in NYC: Milk Bar & A Special Birthday Party
One of Norah’s little buddies had a birthday party at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum so we took advantage of our time there and had a family coffee date to Milk Bar before the party. We’ve started finding all of these Australian coffee shops lately and this was another one to add to the list. We don’t purposely seek them out, but they all have really good coffee and we do seek that out. This one also happened to have some delicious breakfast dishes and they call their steamers “babycinos” which won me over.
After our date we walked over the Children’s Museum to explore and celebrate. This was the first Korean birthday party Norah had been too and the family celebrated with a lot of traditional Korean birthday rituals. It was the little girls’ first birthday so she was placed on one end of a blanket in the middle of the room. There were several objects placed at the other end, each symbolizing a different fate (string = long life, coins = wealth, pen = scholar, bowl = never going hungry, stethoscope = medical career, etc.). Whichever object the child chooses is said to predict a part of their future. The family was all dressed in beautifully intricate Korean clothing. Norah kept calling my friend Ruth (mom of the birthday girl) a princess and was delighted when she was asked to dance with her. I love that Norah has friends from all over the world and is getting to experience so many different cultures. She had a great time at the party, but wasn’t a huge fan of the rice cake. We had to opt for a cupcake later in the day after realizing Norah equates a birthday party with birthday cake. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. 😉
For the Grandparents: WeBop & Ballet
Norah’s Tuesday mornings are perhaps her favorite day of the week. She starts off with ballet/tap class with her beloved teacher, Miss Angie. Angie has some kind of magic up her sleeve and all of the little girls in the class just adore her. Norah still practices first position and plies everywhere we go, but not she’s added some tap skills in to the mix too. After ballet we head up to Lincoln Center for WeBop class. I’m learning just as much as she is, but it is really cool to hear her take in all of these jazz greats. She saw a picture of Louis Armstrong when she was out with Brett one day and immediately knew who he was. Then she saw a woman singing on TV and said, “Mom, she scats just like Ella Fitzgerald.” And perhaps my favorite came this morning when a new character came on Doc McStuffins. He was dressed in a tuxedo and Norah came running down the hall and pulled me away from drying my hair to say, “Look! He dresses fancy just like Duke Ellington!” So Nama, Bapa & Grammy, thanks for the ballet and jazz classes. They’re a hit!
