Category Archives: English

Sunday’s Are Back

It’s hard to make up for Sunday’s in New York.  Great brunch scene, shop until you drop, traffic free central park (if you ignore the bicycle maniacs), museums and galleries galore, and even my favorite bodega style tailors on the Lower East Side are open.

Today we started out hitting a new brunch spot, Cafe Nola’s am Weinberg, a Swiss ski-chalet themed cafe in the middle of a park.  It was a beautiful crisp winter afternoon, sun bright, air fresh, Kai pleasantly sleeping in his Bugaboo.  Arriving a little late, we still were warmly welcomed and even got to bring the stroller in next to the table, even though the cafe was almost full (and was within 30 minutes packed to the hilt and overflowing to the tables outside).  The brunch was a well prepared smorgasbord of savory bites — dozens of cheeses, quiche, eggs, yogurts, muesli, breads, not to mention both buttermilk AND potato pancakes — plus hot lunch entrees like curry and pasta.  All chilling in the sunshine lit space for hours.  We just couldn’t break away.

Finally, we realized that Kai would need to eat soon, so we took a stroll over to the Museum Island to visit the Bode Museum.  Inside, we were escorted to a secret changing area hidden behind a green door in one of the halls. After a bit of roaming about with Kai, everyone was completely exhausted so we decided to make our way home.

If every Sunday was like this, NYC could be under some serious pressure for the best Sunday city.

Date Night is Now the Day Date

The idea of going out together on a Friday or Saturday night is a bit of a surreal concept these days.  Even if Kai were sleeping on his own at 8pm, neither of us would have much energy to do anything let alone get dressed up and run around the town.

But you accommodate, hence the “Day Date.”  Once in the stroller, Kai can go up to 4 hours in no/low maintenance mode.  So we decided to splurge a bit more for lunch at the Fischkutter @ KDW — the Harrod’s of Berlin.  In a food court, but one of gourmet proportions which also happens to accommodate large strollers.  Freshly prepared seafood, a glass of wine, leisurely dining.  It was a nice afternoon.  Oh, and I didn’t even mention the massage appointments in the morning 🙂

Strong Grip

Kai has been giving us the firm handshake for some time now, but mainly it was us who initiated. Now Kai seems to have crossed into the world of self-actualization. I see it, I want it, I grab it. Going to be getting more interesting.

Rollover Mastered

Practicing was not my favorite activity (and much money and time and parental frustration was invested uselessly into piano lessons for me). But luckily Chika has passed on her “diligence” genes. After the very first time Kai rolled over (shortly after the last video), he was at it again almost every chance he got. When he woke up, when you put him down, the next thing you knew he was on his stomach.

Which is a great and wonderful achievement and important development step and then an impending sense of terror that we can never leave Kai unattended unless behind bars (i.e. the crib) or strapped down. But really, we are very happy and proud of Kai.

Rollover in Progress

While not ready for commercial release, Kai is making great progress on doing the rollover on his own (which I discovered a few days ago when I turned around and he was practically on his belly). I expect full completion sometime this week (not putting any pressure on Kai, but he has a good track record).

Kai Starts Playing With His Toys

Every day Kai seems to evolve more. We’ve been putting him on the playmat for probably 2 months now, but his engagement required one of us performing a puppet show. Tonight Chika made a lovely steak dinner, and we thought just maybe if we put him down on the mat he would give us at least 5 minutes to enjoy eating together. What surprised us tonight was how he started playing with the toys all on his own — reaching out and grabbing them. Not just one, but multiple. And he was completely engaged by the experience.

Not only did we get to enjoy the majority of the dinner, a present in itself, but Kai is already making us proud parents. I can’t believe he actually grabbed the giraffe. It might have been the “blind squirrel that stumbled across the acorn”, but it didn’t matter to us. We are happy to believe all the smart things Kai does are on purpose.