A site for global citizens interested in life, style and the nexus of the two from the POV of a six continent chickStrolling along, singing a song, side by side
For months Calvin has been eyeing (and borrowing) other mini-strollers. Finally he has one to call his own. That's thanks to an extended Sunday stroll through my ex-ex-neighbourhood on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
State News, a toy shop on E86th Street that I remember as being uninspiring, is more on the other end of the spectrum. I suspect that las less to do with a merchandising change than it does a significant change of perspective on my part. Having unsuccessfully sought a minature pram that was not a lurid shade of pink, we happily happened upon this one. The result, I think, speak for themselves.
A theme of the past few weeks has been movement. Moves, arrivals, departures, suitcases, boxes, luggage. Happily there remain a mere 8 boxes in our midst, all of which are heading off to storage. (To those who enquired, there were an estimated 150 boxes, but at some point we simp,y stopped counting! Out target is if we move from here, we will have less boxes!) Sadly, there are a number of suitcases and their owners who stayed only temporarily, but what a difference those visits made.
So instead, for your visual delight and care of dear CR, a photo of Calvin from a recent barbeque we attended. (Which I would have blogged about had I invented hour 25 of a day.) Suffice to say, warm summer afternoon, backyard and "Dogga!" 
You may have wondered why the blog stalled for weeks, but I can easily explain with a simple, three-lettered word: box. Or a four-lettered word (now, now): move. Happily, I can also report that all but about 10 of the former are out of our lives and that we have pretty much successfully achieved the latter.
Conventional wisdom is that youth today are adopting and adapting to technology ever younger and at an ever faster pace. Still, that didn't prepare us for the results of our technology fascinated not-yet-14-month old.
After a hearty family brunch at our local diner, we spent most of the day exploring Roosevelt Island. It's an incredibly family-friendly sliver of an island that lies in the East River, between the borough of Queens and the east side of Manhattan. There are approximately 12,000 residents, a good proportion of which are internationals working for the United Nations. The international community, urban planning and planned community aspects, and common good approach reminded me very much of some parts of Western Europe.
One of the best parts of birthday week is having Grammy come to stay. That means a week of treats from getting to celebrate a birthday together to shopping for new duds for spring. 
It's that time of year again. The smell of newly felled trees destined to stand tall and decked out in holiday finery in someone's home... The preponderance of foodstuffs from pasteries to coffee flavoured with peppermint, cinnamon and chocolate... The light plop as our holiday card -- virtual or real -- lands in your in-box.
For the past years, Jay and I have held a Christmas Tree trimming party. In the most recent years, we've battled a blizzard, a frozen tree, and a flooded tree, but this year was the most difficult battle of all -- the alternate tree.
The 12-storey high 
So who do I have to thank for the double jackpot experience come 2007? A certain AM. One text, a few calls, and we had our day in the sun. Literally. On a beautiful summer's day, while others were behind desks, our glee was multiplied by Arthur Ashe seats and a spectacular lineup that on the day, included Venus Williams, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and a bevvy of competitive Serbian players.
Don't ask how I managed to rationalize spending quite so much for a giant tennis ball. (It went something like 'little boys love balls, I'm sure if I amortise the cost over the years of play Calvin will get form this, $40 is a fair price...) But I can say in retrospect, it was more than well worth the look of delight and amazement when I presented it to him, as you can see. It has since become a firm favourite for testing various laws of physics, which at this stage, involve rolling it, on it, under and somewhat on top of it and seeing what happens.
Calvin may not be able to tell you what goes on in men's rooms, but he's had an all access pass equivalent into the ladies fitting rooms. 
On Monday, three generations of our family got to enjoy one of my favourite summer New York activities: a free Monday night movie in Bryant Park.
For some reason, I forgot the simple pleasure of relaxing with the Sunday paper. But that enjoyment has been rekindled on my weekly bike ride up the greenway on Manhattan's west side.
There is more food in our apartment than we've ever had before. We're eating regularly, on time, nutritious, home cooked meals and...at the dining room table!!! Who do we have to thank for the welcome sea change? Bobo. 
It's been a rushed fortnight since we returned, filled with settling back into the Big Apple, preparing to return to work and enjoying having family around. 
Can you believe that six months (okay, 24 weeks) of maternity leave is drawing to an end? It seemed like a ridiculously long period of time, almost half a year, but here we are down to the last few weeks. Time really does fly when you're having fun or furiously changing nappies. 
It's been exactly three days since we returned from our month-plus-long safari to South Africa. And while Calvin seems back on Eastern Daylight Time, I seem to have parted company with my brain and body somewhere mid-Atlantic. 
Just like the movies; first there was '28 days' and now '28 weeks later.' Well, I have to offer 'the wedding' and then, '365 days later'. Yup, I can hardly believe it either. On 27 May a year had passed since we got married.
A few weeks ago Calvin, my mom-in-law and I made a trip to the office to introduce the little guy to my colleagues. What I thought would be perhaps a two-hour stop turned our taking twice that time; so many good people, so good to see them, and the little guy is quite a charmer.
Sunday was the first, brilliantly sunny and brilliantly warm day we've had this year. Central Park was incredibly crowded, with every spare spot resembling Sheep's Meadow i.e. a body occupying every spare foot of lawn. 
We love Google's Maps and Google Earth. Especially now that both have evolved into much more user-friendly forms. 
On this frigid morning, Calvin and I bundled up and headed out to Fifth Avenue to view and be viewed at the Easter Parade.
It's 8:30am Saturday morning. My husband and six-and-a-half-week-old baby are blissfully asleep. I could be too. But instead, I am in our livingroom, coaxing the spoils of a number of Fashion District outings into a wearable egg-stravaganza.
Thanks to our neighbours R&B and their delightful daughter S, Calvin's wardrobe includes a funky T-shirt that ensures his street cred in our ever more popular neighbourhood of Hell's Kitchen. 
Has parenthood condemned me to fifth guessing every other Calvin-related decision? Take today, his 16th, for example. A frigid, snowy day, but one in which we decided to venture two blocks to a local coffeeshop. The lure? The promise of fellow newborn mommies-'n-the-Hell's-Kitchen-hood. 
Why this title for today's post? Simply because we've had ice granules raining down on New York and against our windows, for hours today. Not snow. Not Sleet. Perhaps frozen rain? 
So, how does one spend the first day of maternity leave? Hovering around the apartment 'just in case'? Lazing about and sleeping in late? Or a little more like Richard Scarry's Busy Busy World (one of my favourite childhood books.)
Today it's got down to 25F and "feels like 14F." For those of us from the rest of the world, that's -4C feeling like -10C. Cold enough in anyone's unit of measure. And as recent weeks has had us New Yorkers plunging into the depths of arctic, we've tried out various coping strategies -- some conventional and others contrary.
The Stowaway and we are still reeling from the goodwill, good times and generosity shared by a brace of friends in New York at a surprise baby shower last Sunday.
One of the many reasons I'll publicly admit to enjoying my weekly dose of '