We finally did it. We ventured out of our safe little suburb and headed into the big city with Kaylani. Sure we've been up there before to Bat Bat and Auntie Shannon's house, or even to Chinatown for a party, but we've never been up there to be tourists. Long story short, it ain't easy being a tourist in NYC. Well, not with a baby at least.
You'd think that we would be pros at getting around the city since we lived there for a year before moving to NJ. You'd also think that Daddy would be even more of a pro since he has an office in NYC that he goes to a few times a month. But if you really think about it, living in the city and traveling to the city previously has nothing to do with the trip we took. Traveling in the city before today didn't involve Kaylani. Traveling in the city before was just the 2 of us driving downtown, or taking the subway, walking the streets, or taking a cab wherever we wanted to go. Traveling in the city before was easy. Traveling the city now, is anything but easy.
Instead of driving into the city like we normally would, we took NJ Transit from Hamilton into NY Penn Station. Kaylani fell asleep about 30 minutes before we got to the city (or an hour after we got on the train) which you would think is a good thing. The problem is that she fell asleep in her stroller. Normally Kaylani napping in her stroller is great. But in the city, strollers are a pain unless you're above ground. And since we were not even close to being above ground, we had to do some searching around for elevators, which is no easy task in NYC.
We found a few elevators to at least get us to the subway to head downtown (conveniently, the elevators already smelled like urine so we didn't have to worry about Kaylani's diaper offending anyone). After making our way downtown, we ran into our first situation: no elevator. Sleeping baby in a stroller + no elevator = ow, our back. We carefully lifted Kaylani up as evenly as we could and headed upstairs. Luckily for us there were only 20 of them this time.
The next part of our trip was wandering around Canal St and Little Italy until we found a restaurant to eat at. NYC is great for people watching because there are tons of people around. NYC is not great for strollers because there are tons of people around. So after pushing our way through hoards of people, we finally found a nice restaurant to park at for a little bit. Surprisingly it even had a changing table (although we assumed they wouldn't and changed her in her stroller the first time).
Next was a walk uptown to From Rice to Riches (Mommy's favorite rice pudding place) and Pinkberry for some dessert, before we took the subway way uptown to FAO Schwartz. Another subway meant more stairs (and no elevator). This time, it was about 30 steps down so we just took the kids out of their stroller. That meant that Kaylani was free on the subway. While she was greatly entertained by all the people staring at her (and equally entertaining to them I'm sure), it also meant she was free to touch things. People, subway railings, walls, and other germ infested things. After making our way out, we wiped her down and were on our way.
FAO Schwartz was completely overwhelming and we didn't even end up buying anything (her 1 year birthday is too close). By the time we finished, it was after 5pm and Kaylani had fallen asleep in her stroller. We took another subway (down 40+ stairs this time), and an escalator (completely illegal with Kaylani sleeping in the stroller) before we got to Penn Station to catch a train 2 minutes before it was leaving (Kaylani was awake by this time). And since it was rush hour on a Friday night, the train was packed and we were split up. Kaylani and Mommy sat next to a guy who luckily didn't mind being poked and thrown Cheerios at by Kaylani, and Daddy sat nearby. About halfway through, we all got a row together and the rest of the ride went fairly well.
All in all, a day trip to the city turned out to be quite a long adventure (kinda like this post). We had a blast and I'm sure Kaylani loved it, but it was amazing to find out just how inconvenient the city is with a baby. No cabs, no elevators, no space, and no breaks. I guess that's the price you pay of living in the city. I'm not sure how people do it. I know plenty of people who love it (like Bat Bat and Auntie Shannon), but I'll take our SUV in our wide roads any day of the week. For us, the city is just fine as a day trip. Well, fine enough I guess!
Showing posts with label stairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stairs. Show all posts
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Out of the army
All that army training has finally paid off. After weeks of army crawling around the place, Kaylani finally realized that she can pop herself up on her forearms and knees and move just a little bit better. To be fair, she was pretty darn quick with the army crawl (and still is), but I'm thinking she's going to be a lot quicker now.
She actually still does the army crawl most of the time now. But every now and then she'll pop herself up and take a few awkward crawls from her knees. She hasn't quite figured out that she can just move one knee and the opposite arm, and then repeat that. Instead, she's decided that she'll still do the one leg push, just from her knees. So now her crawling looks more like a normal crawl with a straight leg limp. HI-larious!
The good thing about Kaylani mastering the art of crawling (whether it be army crawling or normal crawling with a straight leg limp) is that she is developing nicely and on pace (as far as I know). The problem with this is that she's getting herself into all types of trouble. Sure she's always been able to grab at an electrical socket (which has been covered up), and sure she could always make her way over to the humidifier and try and pull it over. She could even get herself to a drawer or a door and open it into herself. But now she does it so much faster, and that's not even the scary part yet.
Tonight while she was exploring the house, she made her way past the coffee table, into the hallway, to the doormat, even to the A/C vent on the floor, before she finally found what she was looking for...the stairs. Now, the top of our stairs has been gated off for over a year already (and not because we thought Kaylani would fall down the stairs while she was still in the womb, but more that we thought her cousins would). The bottom of our stairs is currently open access, not that Kaylani would have cared if it was or not anyways.
I finally realized why babies like playing on stairs. Stairs are the perfect height to use to stand up. She can reach the first stair and still be in crawling like position. Then she can even scoot a little closer and reach the second stair to stand up. Once she's standing up, and leaning over the first stair, that's when she gets stuck. Today, she plopped back down on her little butt, but soon enough she'll be putting one leg up on that first stair, and bam, we've got ourselves a climber.
So now we can add the bottom of the stairs to the list of things to babyproof in the house. I think we'll move it to the top of the list too, right in front of the entertainment stand with glass, the bar with exposed wine bottles, and the door stopper without the rubber padding. I'm sure there are a few other things, but those are the ones at the top right now. Ahh the joys of a mobile baby. Seriously though, wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! Well, maybe a mobile baby who stayed out of trouble.
She actually still does the army crawl most of the time now. But every now and then she'll pop herself up and take a few awkward crawls from her knees. She hasn't quite figured out that she can just move one knee and the opposite arm, and then repeat that. Instead, she's decided that she'll still do the one leg push, just from her knees. So now her crawling looks more like a normal crawl with a straight leg limp. HI-larious!
The good thing about Kaylani mastering the art of crawling (whether it be army crawling or normal crawling with a straight leg limp) is that she is developing nicely and on pace (as far as I know). The problem with this is that she's getting herself into all types of trouble. Sure she's always been able to grab at an electrical socket (which has been covered up), and sure she could always make her way over to the humidifier and try and pull it over. She could even get herself to a drawer or a door and open it into herself. But now she does it so much faster, and that's not even the scary part yet.
Tonight while she was exploring the house, she made her way past the coffee table, into the hallway, to the doormat, even to the A/C vent on the floor, before she finally found what she was looking for...the stairs. Now, the top of our stairs has been gated off for over a year already (and not because we thought Kaylani would fall down the stairs while she was still in the womb, but more that we thought her cousins would). The bottom of our stairs is currently open access, not that Kaylani would have cared if it was or not anyways.
I finally realized why babies like playing on stairs. Stairs are the perfect height to use to stand up. She can reach the first stair and still be in crawling like position. Then she can even scoot a little closer and reach the second stair to stand up. Once she's standing up, and leaning over the first stair, that's when she gets stuck. Today, she plopped back down on her little butt, but soon enough she'll be putting one leg up on that first stair, and bam, we've got ourselves a climber.
So now we can add the bottom of the stairs to the list of things to babyproof in the house. I think we'll move it to the top of the list too, right in front of the entertainment stand with glass, the bar with exposed wine bottles, and the door stopper without the rubber padding. I'm sure there are a few other things, but those are the ones at the top right now. Ahh the joys of a mobile baby. Seriously though, wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! Well, maybe a mobile baby who stayed out of trouble.
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