Ari's New Ride

After our trip to Governor's island, it was apparent that I could no longer push my stroller. You see, one of the back wheels of the Maclaren Techno XT (circa 2000) had fallen off. My sister-in-law kindly gave us this stroller, and let me tell you, this baby is a veteran. She strolled around town with my niece in the Techno XT when she was a baby. My niece is now almost nine years old. Considering it's age, it lasted a long time! We've had the Techno XT for over a year!

Even though I was exhausted from the trip, I called my dad, and asked if he wanted to accompany me to Maclaren repair store in Soho to get the back wheels fixed for $40. My dad agreed to come along for the journey. Ari was thrilled to re board the "choo-choo" with Grandpa.

When we arrived at Maclaren, we saw this:

Beneath it was this:

Wait a minute? I thought to myself. I'm going to pay $40 for new wheels, when I can get a NEW stroller for $100? My dad I talked it over, and we decided that it made more sense to buy the new stroller.

Maclaren even gave me 10% off because I opted to donate the old stroller to them to recycle. So the new stroller ended up being around $95!

Ari loved his new ride.



We were so excited about the new stroller, that we decided to celebrate with some falafel at one of my favorite falafel joints: Mamoun's.

Eating at Mamoun's brought back memories of my college days when I was at NYU.

If you are interested in purchasing the Maclaren Triumph, they still have a ton of them in boxes at the Maclaren store which is located here.

Governor's Island: An Artsy Adventure

This morning Ari and I rushed around getting ready for his pre school's trip to Governor's Island. I was so tired that I decided to wear the same clothes I wore yesterday, even though I had a giant peanut butter stain on my pants.

We managed to get out the door, and onto the subway. We were late, as usual, so I frantically asked the subway booth person which was the closest handicapped accessible station to my destination. I did not want to carry my stroller up several flights of stairs. She kindly handed me this:

How nice! I thought to myself. Now I actually know which stations have elevators! To think I've lived in New York City all my life and this is the first time I've received this information.

We got on the train, and Ari started freaking out.

Why was he so upset, you might ask? Well, he wanted to sit in an actual seat. So I obliged.


Things were okay after that. We got off the train, and I got lost several times in Battery Park before we arrived at the ferry to Governor's Island. We were just in time!


We arrived at Governor's Island.


Upon entering Governor's Island, we walked straight to the Children's Museum.

But it was not yet open. So we walked around enjoying some of the scenery. Ari played with some leaves.

Then he ran away and found a stick.

In a little while, the Children's Museum opened, and there was a big arts and crafts fair. At the fair, he was introduced to flubber.

But, he was unimpressed.

Here are the things Ari did at the fair:

We tried to make a "dinosaur egg," (which means putting paper mache material on a balloon to re-create an enormous egg) but Ari loves balloons so much that the thought of putting paper mache on a balloon made him very mad.

So we let that one go. That's okay. Ari made a friend named Rebecca.

And then he ran off to play with an enormous bulbous blue balloon-like structure.

Then he became one with it.

He had some chocolate ice cream, which made him very happy.

Then we hitched a ride with an Island security guard back to the ferry. I told him I was pregnant and tired. He obliged.

And he went on his way.

We made it on the ferry back to Manhattan, but Ari was exhausted. I couldn't even get him to look at the camera.

And then he...

Unfortunately, I could not join him.

What Ari Does at My Midwife Appointments

Here's what Ari does at my midwife appointments:





Good thing it's a family friendly practice!

GreenPan Cookware Review

Recently, I was contacted by a PR firm with a list of potential items for review. After scanning the list, my eyes lit up when I saw "cookware." I read over the description quickly, saw "non-stick coating" and got irrationally excited. My current pots and pans are stainless steel and all they do is hang on to food.
Then, I panicked. To my knowledge, many brands of non-stick cookware are known to be toxic because they contain PolyTetraFluoroEthylene or Teflon. I called my best friend Mint, who is more eco-conscious than I am. She asked me to find out the name of the non-stick cookware I would be reviewing. I scanned the email from the PR firm, and found the brand name.
"GreenPan?" I asked tentatively.
"Yes! GreenPan is good." She confirmed. She went on to say that she was excited I would be reviewing this particular product, as she was strongly considering putting a set of GreenPan cookware on her wedding registry!

GreenPan is an eco-friendly alternative to teflon-based cookware.

Instead of Teflon, GreenPan uses Thermolon, a mineral coating that is derived from sand that contains no toxins. For more information on Thermolon, click here.

I was so excited to test out this frying pan, I decided to make some scrambled eggs. After I washed out my new pan, I added some olive oil.

Then I put in my scrambled eggs concotion: eggs, milk and cheddar cheese.

And I cooked.


And gradually, my concotion became scrambled eggs.


I was ready to eat, so I added some salt, pepper and hot sauce.


I gobbled up my scrambled eggs, and boy were they delicious! It was time to wash out my GreenPan.

Here is what it looked like after cooking:


So I washed it.

And here is what it looked like after the wash.

Pretty impressive, no? No eggs stuck to the pan. I barely had to add any soap to clean it. Mint, I would go ahead and add this cookware to your registry.

If you (or someone who cooks for you) are interested in learning more about GreenPan, click here.

Internet Mom Dating

Please note: the names of the characters in this story have been changed so that I can talk about them freely. They are, however, real people that I did meet.

I was at the playground today trying to "pick up" some moms. For those if you that don't know what that means, it means I was trying to make new mom friends, which is a process that is much harder than actual dating.

I met this one mom, we'll call her Angela. Angela had a two year old girl named Wendy and a baby named Grayson. Remember fake names. The minute I saw Angela, I thought "Here's a lady who I could relate to. She has a two year old and a baby who it turned out was five months.

I tried folks. I tried to relate to Angela. But she wanted nothing to do with me. She gave me monosyllabic answers to all the questions I asked her. In fact, the only time she chose to speak to me was when I was engaged in full on conversation with another mom of a two year old girl. Her name was Delia, and she had recently moved to NYC from the south due to her husband's job. She mentioned that she was looking for a two's program for her daughter, Olivia. I told Delia I couldn't afford such a program for Ari.

Immediately, Angela piped in:
"You know, those programs are very competitive. You need to sign up like a year in advance."
Delia was shocked.
"Oh really. Okay." She said looking rather anxious.
Delia and I exchanged emails before she left the playground.

Soon after Delia left, Angela's friend Naomi showed up. Angela could not have been chattier. I managed to intercept the conversation long enough to ascertain that Naomi was from Israel and was moving back there with her sons Ben and Abe. Ben was two and Abe was three months old. Angela and Naomi kept chatting away and it was clear that they had more in common between the two of them than I had with either one of them.

I made the mistake of asking if their babies were the same age. Angela shot me a nasty look like I was the biggest idiot alive and told me that Abe was three months and her baby, Grayson, was five months. Obviously there is a vast difference and I should have recognized it.

I asked these two love birds how they met. This is the best part of the story. They met on none other than Park Slope Parents. Well, I immediately told them about my fabulous experience with PSP. If you don't already know about that and are curious to find out, click here.

They also mentioned that they had joined the mom's group that I tried out and hated because it was filled with women like them. For more on that, click here.

After being ostracized for approximately 45 minutes, I'd had enough. Plus, I needed to move the car-- alternate side parking was calling.

This is just another example of how difficult it is to find mom friends.

The Truth About Smoking

Parenting dilemma:

Wil smokes. He wants to quit before the new baby is born, but in the meantime he smokes. He doesn't smoke in the apartment. He goes outside to the stoop of our building to smoke.

The problem is, when he leaves to go have a cigarette, Ari asks me:
"Where daddy go?"

And I don't know whether I should tell him "Daddy went to smoke," or not. So far I've been giving a generic response like:"Daddy went outside. He'll be right back. "

I don't know if it's the right thing to say. Should I be honest and tell Ari that his dad is out smoking? And how do I explain the contradiction that smoking is bad for you and his dad engages in it anyway?
Thoughts?