I Heart NY

'Tis the season to fall in love with New York all over again -- and as a matter of fact this is the first time I've been in the city for Christmas since I moved here in 2001! As my friend Michelle so aptly put it, "it's so much fun to see the city with her evening gown on."

I just got a little thrill when I saw this aerial photo series of the Bryant Park ice rink being festooned with a giant "love" decal (via OhJoy). Read more great reasons to love New York in 2007 here:

SMOOCH!

Shopper's high! I just ordered this fab Andy Warhol *kiss* plate from CB2. And for only $1.95!!!

Sometimes He's Hard to Edit...

So I'm bombarding you with the pure, unadulterated happiness that was playing on the bed in pj's this morning while listening to Christmas music on the radio. You're welcome, Grandmas.

Hangin' Wit the Cuz

An adorable picture from last Monday, when Isabelle Moon paid a visit to spend some quality time with the Kiddo:

OK, What Tha--

I recently ran across two of the creepiest products that I have seen in a while, and I couldn't resist posting them. If you're an attachment parent, prepare to have your skin crawl.

First up, the "Zaky," (I saw this on the Birth With Confidence blog) which is described thusly on the site that sells it:

If you’ve ever wished for a “hand” to leave behind so that your baby would feel as if you’ve never left the room, your prayers have been answered with the Zaky.
The Zaky is an ergonomic infant pillow designed by a mom to mimic the size, weight, touch, and feel of her hand and forearm to help her baby with comfort, support, protection, and development. The Zaky can help calm your baby and help your baby sleep better through the night...Your baby will feel reassured as if you’re touching him, which assists in his need of feeling protected. The size and weight of the Zaky simulates the hand of a mother, so you feel as if you’re leaving one hand with your baby – and your baby feels as if you’re still there touching him...If you haven’t given birth yet, the Zaky is great to bring to the hospital when your baby is born. Scent it with your own scent beforehand to help your baby when he/she is in the bassinet next to you or give it to the nurse when your baby is taken to the hospital’s nursery. This way you give your baby “your hand” with your scent, and the nurse can use it to support and position your baby. Also, because your baby smells and feels something constant from birth, the Zaky helps the transition to going home.

Next, we have a charming little device, called the Time Out Pad (as seen on Ohdeedoh):
Here's how the makers describe the way it works its discipline magic:

Simply set the built-in timer to the desired time-out duration (usually one minute per year of the child's age) and sit the child on the pressure sensitive pad.

If the child gets up before the end of the programmed time, an alarm sounds to alert the parent or carer, and the countdown will pause until the child sits back down.

Once the full time-out countdown has elapsed, the finish tune is played to let everyone know that the session has ended. The child should then apologise and be rewarded with a big hug!

And from the official website, a few gag-inducing, glowing testimonials from parents who found the device helpful:

"Fantastic! This product really has stopped my little boy being a little monster!"

“This is a useful disciplinary tool as it does show the child where they have to be and how long they have to wait. 5 minutes can seem forever if they do not know how long they have already been sitting down. If you ask a child to be quiet for 5 minutes it is an almost impossible task for many.

"This also means that you can leave the child and know if they will get up for those parents who cannot spend their entire time watching the child and telling them to stay still and for the rebellious children as knowing exactly where they have to sit and having a timer can help them know their boundaries."

“We've had the Time Out Pad for a few weeks now, and have had such good success with it, our son rarely goes on it any more - just threatening sitting on it usually defuses the situation, rather than him having to sit on the naughty step, which he had to do quite often before. We think this is because he HAS to stay on the pad, and it makes it more of a discipline thing than just staying on the step to calm down. It also means you can leave the room safely, which means he cannot argue or beg with you, missing out on the point of the exercise."

Half Birthday Fun

Tuesday was the Kiddo's six month birthday so we decided to celebrate by taking our friend Everett up on his offer of free tickets to the Hall and Oates concert at the Beacon Theatre. Everett was actually performing with the dynamic 80's duo -- percussion and backing vocals -- so he provided us with VIP backstage passes (I stuck mine onto the Babyhawk!) and awesome seats. It was the Kiddo's first-ever concert and we got a kick out of watching him take in the sights and sounds...he seemed to really like the parts that he was awake for! It was pure 80's fun for us as well, and we enjoyed seeing Everett rocking his heart out.

One Good Reason To Babywear

This is the view:

A Little About Liz

This is me and the nestled-in-and-sleeping-cozily Kiddo by the waterfront in Williamsburg last weekend. The photo is by our friend, Liz Rubincam.
Liz is an amazing photographer and an all-round fantastic person. I have known her for less than a year, but I feel bonded to her for life as she was one of the few people present at the Kiddo's birth. We met Liz through our Midwife, Cara Muhlhahn, and developed a relationship with her as she sought to learn more about the dynamics of home birth for her documentary photo project. Originally, I was very adamant that I did not want photos of my labor and the baby's birth, much less an extra person in the room snapping away, creating a distraction and infringing on our privacy. However, as I got to know Liz, those concerns fell away. She is very passionate about the issue of birth and she has an intense respect for women, as well as a huge heart to go with her impressive talent. It didn't take me long to know that her sense of compassion and empathy would come before her interest in getting a particular shot, and that her sensitivity would ultimately inform the photographs themselves. For weeks before the birth, Liz attended and recorded the prenatal visits at our apartment, and also spent time with me and T as a couple, taking photographs of giant-bellied me in Central Park and really getting to know us. By the time I went into labor, we not only wanted her to be at the birth, we were really excited about it! Liz ended up recording the entire day beautifully, as well as bringing a wonderful energy to the event, and many times really helped out as an attentive friend and caretaker. A great example of this is when Liz left us briefly to go to Blockbuster and pick up two of my favorite movies...this led to an unforgettable couple of hours of the three of us watching Say Anything on T's laptop, punctuated by my ever-more-frequent contractions!

The birth experience ended up being so incredible, and my sense of personal achievement and pride (not to mention happiness and love) in the wake of bringing Kiddo into the world is so great that I am immensely thankful to Liz that that day was captured so fully and artfully on film.

In the months since Kiddo was born, Liz's photos have received exciting recognition, as Liz was Highly Commended in this year’s Ian Parry Scholarship -- an international photographic award -- and in connection with this honor a selection of images from Liz’s birth series Day One was exhibited for two weeks at the Getty Images Gallery in London, UK in connection with the Ian Parry Scholarship.

So, in a relatively short period of time, I went from being squeamish and shy about having the birth photographed at all, to being completely comfortable and indeed proud to know that images from the birth were displayed in a fancy-schmantzy gallery in London. I guess that says a lot about how much childbirth can change you, but it's also a testament to a very skilled artist and a good friend.

Pantone Love

If you're wondering what Christmas gift to get for that special design-geek in your life, allow me to suggest a Pantone mug in their favorite color...

Decoration Update

I just wanted to share a few glimpses of the continuing Christmasification of our apartment. I decided to festoon the tree with all-edible, mostly biodegradable, handmade items, and this is what I have so far: Copious strands of cranberries, popcorn, and golden raisins; and little "ornaments" fashioned out of clementines that I stuck whole cloves into and finished with gold ribbon bows. Not only is the tree very pretty, it smells delicious!

I am also working on making a bunch of little paper snowflakes. If I end up with enough, I'll string them together and add them to the tree.

Next up: Gift wrapping!

Babywearing 101

There are plenty of helpful babywearing demonstration videos to be found on YouTube, but I have to say this is the sweetest one I have seen (via ohdeedoh):

Oh, Schiaparelli!

Two days ago the Kiddo and I headed out in the snow to visit the flower district (28th Street, between 6th and 7th Aves.) to round up supplies for decorating our little Christmas tree and otherwise bedecking our halls (more on this later). On our way there, we stopped in one of my favorite museums in the city, the Musuem at the Fashion Institute of Technology. A couple of fantastic exhibits are up right now, with plenty of couture crack for fashion addicts like me. Here's my favorite piece from Chic Chicago: Couture Treasures from the Chicago History Museum:

Elsa Schiaparelli, evening ensemble, 1937, France
photograph by Irving Solero

Gizmo Love

My new Lomo Diana Camera just arrived...I am looking forward to taking some atmospheric holiday shots over the next few weeks. Of course, I'll post them if they turn out well!

Daily Dose of Cute

The Kiddo mugging for the camera with his buddy the sock monkey...

Daily Inspiration

Oooh, I just stumbled upon the website PurlSoho. Perl is a great little shop in Soho specializing in beautiful yarns a few doors down from its sister shop, Perl Patchwork, which stocks an array of yummy fabrics. In the past, I have loved getting an eye-full of Purl's colorful wares as I strolled down Sullivan Street, but I had no idea they had such a comprehensive and easily navigable website. You could get lost in the cyber-swatches for hours contemplating a thousand creative projects! I for one have several home projects looming (curtains, chair and bench reupholstering, pillow making) and I think this is just the source to spur me to action...we'll see! Here are a few fabric designs that caught my eye at PurlSoho:
Left: Denyse Schmidt, Sunflower Bows,
Center: Etsuko Furuya, Turquoise Cheetah Landscape
Right: Tina Givens, Raspberry Petals

Two Days, Two Museums, One Snowfall, and a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, Pt. II

On Sunday, we awoke to the first flurries of the Kiddo's life! He was mesmerized by the sight of the snowflakes falling outside our bedroom window, so we rushed to get ourselves all bundled up and out to the park. Alas, by the time we made it out the door, the Kiddo was asleep in his trusty Mei Tai, oblivious to the wintery wonderland surrounding him:
After grabbing brunch (including the inaugural hot cocoa of the year, heck yeah!) we decided to head over to the Museum of Natural History for an afternoon of Prehistoria and Paleo-fabulous exploration.
For the most part the Kiddo napped, but T and I had a great time looking at the exhibits and getting lost in the museum. It really struck us how exciting and magical it will be in a couple of years when the Kiddo is old enough to be interested in the sights and sounds there -- talk about an incredible unschooling resource! T and I decided that we learned more science in one afternoon than we did in our school careers combined, and had fun to boot :) A highlight was standing in the enormous Hall of Ocean Life with the Blue Whale hovering above -- the largest animal ever to live on the planet, it's the size of three school buses. Totally gave us goosebumps! As we left the wilds of Africa (OK, they were just dioramas, but still) and headed back outside into the snowy New York night, we were filled with that cozy yuletide feeling that we could only increase our happiness in one way: that is, with the acquisition of a Christmas tree. And so we hiked to a nearby curbside evergreen vendor and selected a tiny but spirited little Nova Scotian tree (the salesman called it "a little Charlie Brown tree") which T hauled home and I bedecked with lights. Our first Christmas tree! I am plotting the creation of various and sundry ornaments with the zealousness of a sculptress who has been out of the studio for the last seven months. Stand back Martha Stewart! Stay tuned as that plot unfolds...

Two Days, Two Museums, One Snowfall, and a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, Pt. I

Well, the Kiddo and I made it to the opening of the New Museum after all! I decided to take my chances and head all the way downtown just in case there were any extra tickets to be had, and we were in luck. After standing in a long but fast-moving line we got in and headed straight for the elevators. I always like to go to the top of a museum and work my way down. Here we are on board the enormous, neon-green elevator (note my extremely figure-flattering method of using the BabyHawk not for the baby but for all our other crap):When we got to the fifth floor, we were released into a pulsating, Target-sponsored, DJ'd dance party. Naturally, the Kiddo was all about getting in the mix, so I put him on the dance floor and watched him and the other club kids have at it:After we'd had enough of that, we strolled around and took in the grand vistas of the LES, which were framed somewhat jarringly by enough corporate insignia to bring to mind Times Square rather than Tompkins Square...Eventually we migrated with the throngs of people to the lower levels to take in the actual art exhibits. Here's a glimpse I caught on film:And a parting shot, as we reached the street level and looked out over the crowds to the delightfully still-grungy Bowery:To Be Continued...

Daily Inspiration

Wow, I'm loving these groovy sculptures made from books by Jonathan Callan! (Via Haute*Nature)

Film Aficionado in the Making?

Yesterday the Kiddo and I went to see Enchanted at the Regal Cinema on 42nd Street. I've taken him to see several movies since his birth in June (Rocket Science, Ratatouille, Hairspray, Sicko, The King of California, Michael Clayton) and for the most part he slept and nursed through the films. If he took any notice of the larger-than-life sounds and visuals, it was usually a fleeting and casual glance away from my boob long enough to take in a fraction of the scene before letting out an unmoved grunt and cuddling back in for a nap. I guess the last movie I took the Kiddo to was over a month ago, and since then he's gotten so much stronger, more active, and more vocal that I was starting to think that the two of us going to movies could be a thing of the past. But yesterday I just decided to give it another whirl with Enchanted. And I'm so glad I did! He LOVED it. He actually watched a good portion of the movie perched sitting bolt upright on my knees, wide-eyed and enraptured. He actually yelled at the screen when it went dark in between the previews, as if to ask for more. Every time I had to assure him there was another one coming while the green ratings screen flashed up. It was SOOOO cool!

The movie was a perfect parent-kiddo diversion, just the right mix of sweets, smarts, and sillies. My favorite character was New York City itself, which was shown off in all its grit and glory, giving me the occasional thrill-induced chill bumps of "I actually LIVE there!" My very own personal fairytale.

New Musuem UPDATE

Alas, the Kiddo and I have hit a kink in our plans to attend the grand opening of the New Museum today! It seems that the free tickets were all snatched up online a few days ago, leaving us woefully empty-handed. I am all the more disappointed by this unfortunate turn of events, in light of the fact that the hotly anticipated museum opening was preceded by rave reviews of the new building and exhibits in yesterday's New York Times (the building was described as being the sort that "renews your faith in New York as a place where culture is lived, not just bought and sold"). Check this out to read more of the hype.

Style Craving

Lately I've been tiring of the ubiquitous fedoras that have overrun the city. But what jaunty, not-yet-played-out hat might one don instead? I've heard rumblings of a bowler resurgence, as observed and documented over at Refinery29: However fresh this topper may seem right now, it just strikes me as a tad forced. Not to mention too evocative of A Clockwork Orange for my taste. And so I turn my attention to a possible smart alternative, the porkpie, shown here as worn by Johnny Depp in Benny & Joon:
A nice one is available here for $39.