Bleu's No. 2

Here are my snaps from Tuesday. It was a sweet little celebration of our Bleu girl. I'll briefly caption photos below.


By the way, the last week has been a whirlwind of appointments, deadlines, meetings and play dates for both kids. Let's just say I. Am. So. Tired. And looking forward to a weekend of doing less and being together. Plus, there are a dozen drafts in my box just waiting to be posted. But not tonight.








Bleu and I went shopping on Monday after a mad dash to Buby's school, a 9:30 appointment at another school, and her 10:25 gym class. Not that we aren't always connected at the hip, but Monday felt extra special. I took her to a party supply store to pick out her own balloons, breakfast napkins and crazy head piece for Tuesday. She chose pink, pink and more pink. I was surprised she didn't go with blue, which she's been saying is her favorite color.


I also planned to buy her was a pair of birthday jammies. She's a pj girl at heart, so I knew she'd choose those over a new dress. We stopped by Marshall's, and she picked out a two-piece cotton set covered in strawberries. "This one. I like this one. Please Mommy." We don't shop for clothes often, so I was amused by her incredible decisiveness at every turn. Yet not surprised. She so wanted to rip 'em off the hanger and undress right there.


The next morning My Sweets and I made Bleu's favorite breakfast before catching our train into Manhattan. The menu consisted of heart-shaped banana pancakes {not from scratch, but organic buckwheat mix and sliced up fruit}, egg whites over easy, a small chunk of cheddar cheese, and a strawberry-banana yogurt smoothie {Stonyfield Farms plain low-fat yogurt, frozen strawberries and blueberries, two bananas, and a touch of OJ}. Yum.







I asked Buby and Bleu to hold hands the entire time we stood on the train platform. When given the option, she'll choose her brother's hand over mine every time.







Metro North trains are a huge deal to Buby. He often talks about taking the train into "Daddy's city" to go to the office or the museum or the theater for Lion King {which we're supposed to do next month.} We made sure to snag awesome window seats with mountain and river views.


The trip was fast and easy. All we brought for the day was one little black backpack with a few diapers, wipes, my wallet and camera, water bottles, emergency granola bars, leggings for Bleu, and two favorite children's books about NYC architecture.


Mini adventures like this are so fun now that the wee ones are 2 and 4. Good listeners and quite independent. It definitely makes me want to take them in A LOT more this summer before a newby joins the pack.







Bleu outside of American Girl Place. She had no idea there were more Bittys.








We had 12:30 reservations at American Girl Cafe. The hostess saw Buby was baby-less, so he gave him a boy to borrow. The doll looked eerily like Buby. People kept asking me if Buby minded being the only boy there. I'd say NO.


I think he devoured the experience even more than the birthday girl, who was the youngest diner by far. Plus: Dessert included chocolate mousse, a mini cupcake sort of thing and a butterfly cookie for each of us. We left stuffed and well over our sugary sweet quotient for the month.








We stopped by the New York Public Library for a good while. My Sweets and I lounged on floor cushions for {what seems like} ever while the kids carefully plucked titles for us to read together.


We knew Buby would be wildly impressed with the selection, but {to our surprise} so was Bleu. She ran up to me with a new book every five minutes, plopped onto my lap and begged, "Read me this one, Mommy. Read it to me."








Mostly we hung out in the 5th Avenue/Bryant Park areas. The city looks so pretty in this shade of spring green, doesn't it?







Riding Bryant Park's Le Carrousel more than once.







Oh my. The baby bump looks huge here.







And no birthday is complete without throwing pennies in a fountain and making a wish.







We were home by bedtime. Bleu had two scraped knees, and the kids ate cereal for dinner. When My Sweets suggested it, Buby's face lit up six colors of a rainbow. Cereal for dinner? I think it nearly made up for the fact that Bleu got presents in the mail and he didn't. Nearly.