Halloween was my niece's 2nd birthday so after a night of trick-or-treating we woke early Saturday to drive to Brooklyn and celebrate. We were supposed to go to a little Halloween parade in her neighborhood but the rain caused it to be cancelled, which turned out to be a good thing since a four hour road trip and a potty training toddler take a lot longer than usual.
Maddie did awesome telling us when she needed to stop and only had one accident after she told us a little too late, but not bad for her first few weeks of no diapers. I am pretty sure she loves this whole stopping at each rest stop situation because it means she gets to chat with strangers and get something to snack on (she sure is her Mama's child!).
We made it to Brooklyn with most of the day ahead of us so after a visit with our family we headed off, just the three of us, to get lunch at Momofuku Noodle Bar. I had so cruelly gone without my beloved back in March, so I really wanted to make it up to him and take him too, since I am sure that pork bun we brought back was just not cutting it. We took the subway into Manhattan, and though the cold rain in between wasn't super fun, Maddie had a blast comparing her city's train system to NY's :)
It was a little busy when we got to Momofuku so Matt and I took turns hanging out under an awning looking for taxis and dump trucks with Maddie. I tried to explain to her that it was really important for her to sit in her seat during lunch so that Mommy and Daddy could eat and that Daddy was really excited to be there so she needed to be extra awesome for him. We ended up having a seat at the bar, which made us a little more nervous than the prospect of a table, but we made do. I gave Maddie my phone to watch PBS, ordered pork bun appetizers and some soft serve and tried to include her in the experience as much as possible. She ended up doing pretty awesome for a toddler who had no nap and a four hour car ride and at one point I just looked over at Matt and thought "hell yes, we are doing this, we are nailing it even though it is super scary and shit could go wrong at any time and everyone here could hate us"! It is a crap shoot to take kids into certain environments and most parents don't even bother with it based on the disasters that could (and do!) happen, but I am always so proud of us for giving it a try and not letting parenthood equal never taking chances and doing awesome things. Maddie actually loved the noodle soup too, so that was a pretty awesome learning experience for future ramen excursions.
After lunch we made our way back to Brooklyn, stopping at a little toy store to get Maddie her "potty present" for doing so well for the week. She chose a rhino because, well, because she is Maddie and she is just kind of awesome like that. Then it was time to celebrate our favorite two year old with pizza, cake and presents! Maddie was really excited that her cousin was so into playing with her this and the two of them spent a lot of time running around being adorable together, which was awesome to watch.
After all of us were pooped and partied out we drive about 45 minutes to our hotel in CT (NYC Marathon plus late searching for an AirBnB means a Hilton in CT) and collapsed into bed. We had booked a suite hoping for a two room suite, but I didn't read the fine print and it ended up being a huge studio. We set up Maddie's travel bed but she was way more interested in snuggling the night away with us, which was just fine for us.
We woke up nice and early thanks to daylight savings, enjoyed a big breakfast and then hit the road back to Boston just in time for lunch, some warm weather accessory shopping (scarf season, how I love you) and even managed to get all our Sunday chores done. Not bad for a weekend!
Next blog I will be bringing you our gender reveal story....stay tuned!
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| Maddie loves taking pictures and snapped this on our way to NY. |
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| Potty stops at Dunkin' mean donut snacks! |
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| Noodles at Momofuku! |
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| She loved it, spicy broth and all. |
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| Home in time to bake bread for the week! |
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