NYC Part 2: The Kids Had a Blast

Quynh:

While on Spring Break in NYC, Quynh learned to wave. While walking through Chinatown, she waved at anything and everything from her perch on Minh's back in the ergo. At dinner one night, the waiter came over and said hello to her. She stared back at him. Then, 30 seconds after he left, she waved emphatically in his direction. Waving? yes. Timing? not so much.

Quynh also realized, while on vacation, that diaper changes are a stupid boring waste of time and she won't stand for them anymore. Gone are the days when she'd be still for changes. And gone are the days of cute little wriggles -- feeble attempts to get away. This girl now means business and it takes 2 adults and a toddler to get her into her PJs at night. Oy.

Quynh enjoyed two swims in the hotel pool, though her pleasure was derived largely from the disturbing behavior of constantly trying to drink the (inexplicably) salty pool water. Yech.

While in NYC, Quynh had her first: scallops, dim sum, ice cream, and cheesecake. Not a bad haul.


Tai:

At the Bronx Zoo, Tai's refrain was "what's gonna be the next am-ma-mul?" The second we arrived at any animal, he asked what was next. This is in stark contrast to last September at the National Zoo, when he was content to look at the pigeons for 15 solid minutes.

The trip to the zoo did, however, mark a major milestone in Tai's life. He took his first ride on a carousel not sitting on the Lame Stationary Bench. Up until now he's always been afraid to ride on the horses. But this carousel wasn't horses. It was bugs--all manner of bugs. Tai asked to sit on a red ladybug, but they were immediately taken by all the little girls. So we had to settle for a white spotted beetle, which we assured him was just a different type of ladybug. This big step paid off, and he was brave enough to ride on a horse at the Central Park carousel the next day. This is awesome because Minh and I were sick of sitting on the damn bench.

Tai's impressions of Manhattan? "There's a lot of stairs in New York City!"

What was his favorite part of the trip? "The subway because it's loud and goes super-duper fast!" Clearly, he would have been content to ride the subway (standing, holding onto a pole, of course) for hours. Who needs to go to a museum? We could have entertained him all day for a mere $2 in subway fare.

We did, however, go to the Museum of Natural History with several of his buddies from school. The kids were interested in the exhibits for about....10 minutes. The rest of the time was spent on snacking, pottying, and jumping off benches while the adults were all too tired to intervene. Near the end of the museum trip, Tai started begging to go back to the hotel and nap. Sorry kid, the hotel is in Jersey and it took us an hour to make our way into the city this morning.