Sleepover

I can not believe it, but Delilah had her very first sleepover. It happened like this: I got a call from my dear friend, Laura, whose daughter (Lyla) is best friends with Red. Lyla had been very brave at the dentist and Laura had promised her basically whatever she wanted. She was not expecting Lyla to ask for Delilah to spend the night. She told Lyla that she had no idea if it would be okay with me, but she would call and ask. With mixed emotions, I hesitatingly said yes. We decided we would have a family playdate with everyone at Laura's house, and then Chris, Noelle, & I would leave after dinner. I figured that since they only live on the 5th floor, it would be an easy way to test the sleepover waters.
When we left, I gave Delilah a big hug. I wanted her to know she could come home any time she wanted, but I also didn't want to plant a seed of nervousness in her because she seemed totally fine. Here's what I ended up saying: "Delilah, have SO MUCH fun tonight. If you need ANYTHING at all, even if it's the middle of night, just go tell Miss Laura and she will fix it."
We left and it was such a loooooong night. I slept on the couch because I knew I would be tossing and turning and I didn't want to bug Chris. I wanted to be able to hear a knock on the door, the home phone ringing, my cell phone buzzing...anything. I think I even thought I could hear Delilah from 5 floors away if she started crying...moms are like that.

Miss Laura made Red so comfortable by letting her know that she was just as excited as Lyla and Delilah were!

Cheers for milk!

Precious girls

It should be noted that Laura was texting me until 11pm because the girls were too excited to fall asleep. They finally crashed around midnight. I think I slept a total of 20 minutes, but I was surprised by who this was really the hardest for: Noelle!! After we left Red and went back to our apartment, she kept asking where Delilah was. And when she went to sleep, she kept asking where Delilah was. And when she woke up, she started asking where Delilah was. I realized that she doesn't know a bed time or a morning without her big sister! Poor puddin'.
Delilah came home smiling, and talking of Mickey Mouse pancakes. The first slumber party was a hit! (And next time, Noelle and I will snuggle and comfort each other!)  :)

Valentine's Day

Delilah gets excited about holidays and looks forward to them for weeks. So she has been wishing friends, family, and strangers alike a very "Happy Valentine's Day" since January. Finally the big day was here. We spent a couple hours the night before carefully addressing every valentine for her classmates and taping lollipops to each one. I was very dismayed the next day to find out that this holiday is apparently either not a big deal in NYC in general or at her school in particular. Only 2 other kids brought valentines!! Not to be discouraged, we invited a few friends over for our own mini-party. :)

Sweet, sticky lollipop joy!

Alexa, Noelle, Lyla, and Delilah. Valentine's Buddies!

Guggenheim!

Chris and I realized that we have lived in NYC long enough to be falling into that dangerous trap of no longer taking advantage of all this fabulous city has to offer. It's so easy to become complacent and think "we'll do that next week". I was also falling into the dangerous trap of longing for what we used to have...namely, a backyard. But we bucked up and decided that instead of moping about expansive green lawns, we would go visit one of our neighborhood museums. It just so happens that by living in upper Manhattan, our neighborhood museums are places like the Guggenheim, MOMA, etc. We live 5 blocks away from a stretch of 5th Ave known as Museum Mile, for heaven's sake. It's a crime that we haven't been going more often!
So we loaded up the girls one Saturday morning and headed to the Guggenheim. It's a modern/contemporay international art museum and the installation right now is Gutai: Splendid Playground. It's all about a movement that happened in Japan in the 1950's that sought to explore new art forms by combing performance, painting, interaction, etc. A significant part of the movement focused on getting children to participate in art, so this was perfect to take the girls to!
As with most museums, we weren't supposed to take any pictures, but I did sneak in a few.


Not a great shot, but the center of the museum is a giant spiral up to the ceiling. They periodically change the exhibit featured in the space. Right now, it's a series of giant plastic tubes with colored water running through them. The girls loved it.

Inside a giant red cube. People were encouraged to go inside it and try to make shadows on the walls.

Noelle loved being inside the cube. Could have stayed for hours.

Delilah was especially intrigued by this red timber piece.

So she decided to sketch it.

Here is her sketch of "Red Timber". Whenever she found an exhibit she liked, she would sit down and start drawing it. As she put it, she was "sketching just like a real artist, Mommy!"



Graffiti Wall



Delilah getting a boost from a nice man (Daddy was getting our coats from the coat check)



 

We had a blast. Noelle is still a little young so there were a few meltdowns because she wanted to touch all the art. We certainly got a few dirty looks. But we also got several encouraging looks--people who were happy to see children being exposed to these sorts of things. More than one adult stopped to kneel down next to a sketching Delilah and ask about her art...so sweet. So happy we decided to get out this morning!!

Noelle's First Ballet Class!

Noelle has wanted to take her own ballet class ever since she first saw Delilah walk into hers. But she's been too little! The ballet academy they attend doesn't let girls start until they are two, and you have to be two by the beginning of the semester. So we waited and finally were able to start this year!! The two year old class is a Mommy & Me class, so I get to join in the fun. I am THRILLED to be doing this with Noelle. It's so nice to have something that's all ours. No matter how the week is going, I know that on Thursday mornings I will get to have 45 wonderful minutes in a ballet studio with my baby girl.
She LOVES the class. She is outgoing and outspoken and out-everything. She is the first to answer every question the teacher asks, and the first to volunteer. If we get there early and have to wait for the previous class to leave, she'll stand by the door and turn to me and ask, "What are we waiting for, Mommy? It's time for Ba-yay!!" It makes everyone else waiting laugh, too. She walked into class last week, went straight up to the teacher, Miss Caitlin, and said, "Good Morning! I love ba-yay very much".
As always, pictures say it better than my words ever could. So, without further ado, here is Miss Sassafrass herself on her very first day of "ba-yay".

 

Oh, sweet Noelle, your dad and I are so excited to see how your joy and your sass will shape your life's journey. Love you.