Month: August 2012

A Much-Needed Vacay

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As I type this I am sitting first-class on a plane (we just happened to luck out with miles) next to my husband Jason. We’re California-bound with a stopover in Dallas. When we arrive in Cali we’re jumping in a car and driving almost two hours to Calistoga, a small town in Napa Valley. Yes, wine country! I cannot wait to have this time alone with my husband. But an even bigger reason to take this trip, and to justify leaving our kid at home with his grandparents to go taste wine, is that we are combining it with a visit to San Fransisco to meet my baby niece.

Diya Shireen Taha was born on June 6th. It is my first niece and I cannot wait to hug her, hold her and look for my sweet brother’s likeness in her eyes hair. Diya has her mom’s eyes and my brother’s dark curly hair.

Diya at two months

The last time I was in Napa with Jason was in the fall of 2009. We were visiting my brother and Sarita in San Fran. They rented a limo with some friends and took us on a day trip there.

I’ve been known to let loose and have some drinks from time to time. And my husband’s been known to be a bit of a wine-snob (although he disagrees about this). Knowing this is important because it explains why we thought Napa was a little piece of heaven on earth. We loved it. As the wineries flowed it was time to head back to the city. We reluctantly said good bye to the cloudless sky, rolling hills and buttery wines of Napa and vowed to return some day.

Ok, maybe there were a few clouds in Napa after all 🙂

Napa, Diya… here we come!

 

 

Happy 2nd Birthday Mylo, My Love

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I thought the first year of your life was the best year of my life. I thought wrong. This past year was even better. And so it will likely be that each year you get older, before you become an adventurous and defiant, testing-the-limits teenager, I will love being your mom more and more.

You amaze me with all of your developments, your likes and dislikes, and you make me smile regardless of what kind of day I am having. When you hit 14 months old I thought you were a handful. Walking, but not yet talking, you needed constant supervision. At 17 months things shifted and became more fun. You began showing signs of independence, such as feeding yourself with an adult-size fork and walking up the stairs to our first floor apartment. You were this age when you first uttered the word “Eee-dee,” your name for my dad whom we call Sidi and who is a big presence in your life. You said his name with such purpose and then broke out in a huge smile when we exploded with delight. Somewhere in your 21st month you went to bed and woke up the next morning with hair on your legs. You were 22 months when you first urinated on the potty. And even much younger when you became aware of your poop. Don’t worry, I won’t embellish on that one! You recently began chasing pigeons at the park. Not to taunt, but I’m not thrilled about it nonetheless. I love you bud, but no kid of mine will harass animals.

Your fascination with trucks and construction sites is a constant reminder that I am raising a little boy. You get a kick out of high-fiving and fist-bumping dudes whom you do not even know. You like to hide from me and get a rouse from making me look for things I need that you intentionally hide. You stop me in my tracks when you do these cute and mischievous things that show your big and emerging personality. I am in awe of you, and I love you.

Happy Birthday Budinsky!

My big boy on his 2nd birthday!

 

 

Mylostone – Choo Choo Train

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A couple of weeks ago Jason took the car and the dog out east to visit friends in Montauk and left me and Mylo home to fend for ourselves. We all met back up in my hometown on Long Island at the beginning of the weekend, which required me and Mylo having an adventure together on his first, real train ride. Subways he already has down pat, but a real choo-choo-type-train he’d yet to experience.

We walked from our apartment in Brooklyn to the Long Island Rail Road’s Atlantic Terminal to embark on a route that I had taken hundreds of times before. Prior to getting a car in 2007 the Atlantic Terminal (called simply “Flatbush Avenue” those days) to Northport, was a trip I knew all too well. I can’t say I’m a big fan of the LIRR and that I miss it one bit, but it was such a pleasure to see the joy in Mylo’s face as we rode through tunnels, sped past trucks and played peekaboo games with the commuters who sat in the seats around us.

A couple of photos from our memorable trip…

My curious kid.

Note to self: Never take a seat next to an Emergency Exit window with a toddler again. Ever.