Skipping Town

This morning, as Andrew and I excitedly announced to Lucia that we had to go out to the living room to see what the Easter Bunny brought, it occurred to me that we may as well have told her the Green Bowl, or the Happy Goldfish, had delivered gifts. Lucia has never seen a picture of the Easter Bunny, and I’d never mentioned the Easter Bunny before this morning. It was complete gibberish. What does the Easter Bunny look like, anyway? I have a picture in my head that must have come from a children’s book—a man-sized rabbit wearing a blue coat and bowtie, pretty frightening if you think about it—but as of right now Lucia has no frame of reference. For next year, some Easter Bunny books must be procured. Anyway, this was the first time we’d really done anything with mysteriously delivered gifts. She’s been too little to really understand the past two Christmases, and last year we went through Easter without even one plastic egg entering our house. But this year, because I had so much spare...

I have been alone with Lucia since Wednesday afternoon—easily the longest stretch I’ve ever been by myself with her—and Andrew doesn’t get back until late tonight. Having had these days, I’m newly struck by the vastly different speeds at which time can travel when you spend days alone with a toddler. Thursday, for example, flew. Lucia woke up at 8:15, we had breakfast, we joined friends for the egg hunt, we ate lunch, Lucia took a two-hour nap, we went to the playground, we had dinner, and Lucia went to bed. It was the fastest day I’ve had in ages. Yesterday wasn’t unnaturally fast, but it was okay. Lucia got up at 7:30, we went to Target, went to the playground, Lucia ate a good lunch and had a decent 1.5-hour nap, and we ran a specific errand in the afternoon—small trinkets for her Easter basket—that turned out to be 100 percent successful. I set out to find a small bag of farm-animal figurines: got it. A new, larger ball: got it. Total expenditure: $4. Nice. I was tired at the end o...

This morning, some friends and I got together for an impromptu Easter egg hunt for our toddlers. I have to admit I was filled with some degree of anxiety over this. Cute as the idea sounded, I worried that Lucia would be left behind by aggressively egg-searching little ones and fail to find any eggs. I needn’t have worried. All the toddlers took a lackadaisical approach to the hunt, wandering here and there. It took Lucia little while to understand the point wasn’t to find an egg and then sit down to play with it, but she soon got the idea, spotting and pursuing eggs with enthusiasm and dropping them into her little corduroy bag. A mom much more together than I am (I, who bought a bag of plastic eggs on the way to the park) had even filled some eggs with chocolate eggs and stickers. The hunt was a hit for Lucia, who left the park with stickers on her hands, holding eggs in her lap. I have no pictures of the egg hunt. But here are a few from Mom’s visit over the past few days.

Though it wearies me to deliver yet another COMMENTARY on Parenting , I’m able to do so this month without taking valuable time away from other things because Mom is here to entertain Lucia. So this month I will not be sacrificing crucial baby-rearing time to provide my withering critique. And withering it is. First, though, a bright note. Perhaps someone, somewhere, is reading these missives and taking them to heart: for the second issue in a row, there is no “Modern Parent Handbook” (i.e., the series of sidebars peppered throughout the magazine without rhyme or reason or note in the table of contents), and this month the Style section has also gone by the wayside. No more baby or mama fashions, and, more importantly, no more suggestions on where I can buy clothes so my baby can dress like Gwen Stefani’s. Perhaps one day Parenting will get rid of all its fatuous content. Of course, then there would be no magazine. And fifteen minutes of my life every month would once again be mine. Bu...

Dear Little One, A year and a half old! After today you’ll be closer to two than to one. You’re so cute these days that Daddy and I both agree this is our favorite age yet. You’re so personable, so funny, so engaging—you’re a fun little baby to be around. You make us laugh, and you laugh with us. Eighteen months in, I believe you’re still the cutest baby in the world. I’ve become That Mother—smiling indulgently as you push your little stroller down 5th Avenue, swerving in front of other pedestrians; looking around at others to confirm your cuteness when you scream and bark at dogs on the street. You saw a dog when we were walking the other day, and I asked the owner if the dog was friendly and if it would mind a little pat. She frowned at you in a I’m-doing-my-best-to-be-nice-to-this-scourge way. “You little toddlers are unpredictable,” she said. I convinced you to just wave and blow a kiss to the dog. I wanted to explain to the woman that you are extremely gentle with animals, always ...

This afternoon I bought Lucia a huge bag of kids’ books for $5—someone just doing a little house cleaning was off-loading them, and I snapped them up; about twenty books were in the bag. I plan to bring them up to NH this summer to cut down on the things we have to pack when we drive up. Anyway, I had some of them in the bottom of the stroller when we stopped at the playground at the way home to meet up with a friend. After playing for a while, Lucia wandered back to the stroller, where she spotted the books, pulled some out, and promptly sat down on the (damp, chilly) ground and began turning the pages. Ah, familiar territory , I could see her thinking. Lucia’s new toy discovery is the pull-ability of a polar-bear backpack a friend brought her. She hasn’t quite gotten the idea of wearing it yet, but for the past couple of days she’s been enthralled with the realization that if she hooks one of the straps around her ankle, she can pull it around the room. This evening, as I prepared so...

We finally got a new camera, one we hope will keep up with fast-moving Lucia; so here’s a little recap of the last week or so, with some pictures. While Andrew was in Mountain View last week, and Kris came to stay with us for a few days. We had lots of fun at the playground (on the days it didn’t rain) and having ice cream when Marion and Peter came for the day from Albany. Thursday was cold and rainy, so I finally made Lucia a ball pit. She became hysterical as I blew up the pool, but quickly recovered and fully enjoyed herself. The ball pit lost its novelty by the next day, so we put it away for the next time we need a rainy-day diversion. Today was a beautiful day. We went to the farmer’s market (little there but applies, potatoes, and leeks—ah, California, with your spring bounty in full bloom!), where Lucia had fun walking around, scavenging pieces of our bagel sandwiches, and barking at dogs. It was so nice out we didn’t even need coats when we went to the play...

On Monday, Lucia suddenly began saying “Hi.” We were in an elevator with a mirrored wall, and Andrew was holding Lucia. She looked at her reflection and, out of the blue, grinned her toothy, wrinkled-eye grin and said, “Hi! Hi! Hi!” She is thrilled with this new word and uses it often. She greets me periodically throughout the day. When she’s in her stroller, she twists so she can look up at me through the “sunroof” and says “Hi! Hi!” She says it to children at the playground. She says it to people we pass on the street. This morning I heard her saying it in her crib when she woke up. It is exceptionally cute. Lucia had a wonderful time today in Music Together. She was very focused on the various instruments (sticks, resonator bell, a variety of “kitchen instruments”) and enjoyed the dance portion of the class. I was holding her as we danced, and she suddenly squirmed to be let down; I put her down, she looked up at me with a small, mischievous smile, and she then spun around two times...

Lucia has been a giddy bundle of baby happiness for the past several weeks, doing cute baby things, saying new words (both comprehensible and in-), playing joyfully with her toys. We’ve done some fun things lately, too. Tuesday we went to the New York Aquarium at Coney Island with friends, and Lucia had a splendid time. She hurried around, squealing and giggling, rushing up to the tanks, blowing kisses to walruses. She loved it. And I loved it too, both because aquariums are fun and because it was great to realize that the beach—a real beach!—is only half an hour away by subway. If winter ever ends, we will be able to enjoy it. Andrew’s been in CA all week, but fortunately his mom arrived Wednesday to keep me and Lucia company. She was able to come to our Music Together class with us, which was fun; and it was sunny and nice enough Wednesday afternoon to go to the playground, where Lucia kept Granny on her toes with her determined attempts to steal another child’s large blue spiny ball...