Sweet Fall at Last

Lucy loves fall. Everytime we hit JJ Byrne she spends at least five minutes wading through the new piles of fallen leaves. Mommy thought she'd share these videos of Lucy rustling, though she swears her voice can't actually be as high pitched and cloying as it sounds - viewers beware!



Lucy is becoming increasingly independent and crawls or cruises off on her own at every opportunity. Thanks to intensive training at the tot lot she scales stairs, slides and bystanders' legs with ease.

Two Ciocias and One Wujek

Last week Lucy was thrilled to host two of her ciocias and one of her wujeks. On Friday, we made our weekly pilgrimage to the federal courthouse to see Daddy at work and to admire the superb view from the 13th floor. Although Lucy has made this trek four weeks in a row she still exclaims every time we round the corner from the elevator and the Manhattan skyline comes into view.

We managed to drag Daddy away from the courthouse for an hour or so to eat lunch with us at Grimaldi's, a super local pizzeria. Victoria and Max joined us for lunch and then suffered an extended visit from our entire crew at their comfy DUMBO pad. Lucy was especially pleased for this extra opportunity to play with all of Max's toys and to crawl around after Gaston, the cat. Inevitably, the afternoon in DUMBO ended with hot chocolate and ice cream cookie sandwhiches from Jacques Torres.

The next day we went for another great walk in Prospect Park and visited the zoo again. This time Lucy formed a special bond with one of the baboons.



That night we tried to film Lucy clapping while singing Happy Birthday to Lolly (ever since Lucy started clapping she claps whenever someone sings). Apparently she was too confused by the other clappers to clap herself...

Bring Back the Grandparents (Days 2 and 3), Ancient Post Revisited

Never deterred by foul weather, Lucy led her grandparents on a grand tour of her beloved Prospect Park on chilly Saturday morning. She started, of course, with the Garfield Tot Lot where she showed off her totting skills on the microslide and tiny platforms. We then wandered over to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and Grandham took amazing photos of the waterlillies and ducks. Afterwards, we worked our way through the greenmarket at Grand Army Plaza, munching on Concord grapes and fresh nuts-and-bolts bread while procuring baby greens, Macoun apples, turkey sausage and butternut squash for our dinner.

On Sunday, we awoke to a beautiful sunny day and decided to explore more of Prospect Park. At the Ninth Street Playground Lucy demonstrated how to hold on to your hat while enjoying a good swing.



We then took a long and rewarding walk to the Audobon house via the Peninsula and Lullwater trails, enjoying lovely fall views of bridges spanning lilly-covered ponds framed by small trees with newly red and yellow leaves. Grandham took lots of pictures and Lolly read placards about phragmites. Meanwhile, Lucy shunned her stroller, preferring a higher perch...

Before Lolly and Grandham headed to the airport, we all went to brunch at Belleville, the bistro on our corner. As you can see, a good time was had by all, especially Lucy.

Blogging Blues

After working on the second installment of Gruntle's adventures with Lolly and Grandham for an hour and then losing it all (for the second time!), Mommy is officially angry with blogger.com. Or maybe it is just our internet service provider. In any case, Lucy's nap is over and there is no time to try to recreate the post! But to tide you over, here is a photo of Lucy Bear and her Daddy, resting after a full day of fun with Aunt Susan and Uncle Pat (notice the excellent new Pony Girl outfit from Aunt Susan!).

Bring Back the Grandparents! (Days 1 and 2)

This past weekend Lucy, Mommy and Daddy had the great privilege of hosting Lolly and Grandham in Brooklyn. Lucy pulled out all the stops and took her grandparents on a very thorough tour of her new neighborhood. The first day, she showed them her literary side at the "Babies and Books" hour of the Park Slope Public Library. As soon as the reading started, Lucy sat bolt upright and listened intently for the appropriate places to punctuate Karen Katz's "Ten Tiny Tickles" with her own ad lib of "duh-da, uh." Afterwards, having plied Lolly with an almond croissant at one of the neighborhood's many excellent patisseries, we strategically visited several baby boutiques. In a blink Miss Lucy was outfitted with a very zen organic cotton pajama that brings out her Buddha qualities. Thanks to her grandparents' generosity, Lucy also gained some very practical footwear and thick, cheerful tights for the cold months ahead.

Soon we were off to see Daddy's office at the Federal Courthouse and to walk on the Brooklyn Bridge. The cold, windy day made the bridge feel even wilder and Lolly's stomach was doing flips. Lucy meanwhile tried to prove that she is a hardened New Englander by removing her warm hat at every opportunity and attempting to send it down the East River.

We followed the bridge expedition with hot chocolate at the famous Jacques Torres in DUMBO and then headed back to Park Slope so Mommy could get ready for a NIGHT OUT! with Daddy and his co-clerks.

Lolly and Grandham bravely started out the long night in charge of Lucy with a trip to Stone Park Cafe, where Lolly and Lucy spent most of the time at the bar watching the Yankees game. In fact, by the time Mommy and Daddy came home, Lolly had still only managed to take about two bites of the hamburger she had boxed up. It seems that little Lucy kept her grandparents very busy that night. From the looks of this bathtime photo, Lucy had no idea that she was giving anyone a hard time :) If only we had a pre and post photo of the heroic grandparents!

My House Too

Now that she is physically capable, Lucy has decided to do a little rearranging in the apartment. She chose to start with her books. It remains to be seen whether she prefers to order them by size (like her Daddy) or subject (like her Mommy).

Little Girl, Big City

This past weekend Mommy, Daddy and Lucy hopped on the train to Manhattan - well, make that 4 or 5 five trains. As it turns out, getting from Brooklyn to Manhattan on the weekend is no small feat. G trains mascarade as F trains and F trains run on C tracks, but only between certain stops. And, just so you know, the 6 train only goes downtown at Bleeker Street, so go ahead and ride it to the very end where you will then be able to get back on going in the right direction.

To make matters worse, Mommy forgot to bring the camera on this Big City adventure, so little Lucy's trip to the Met and Central Park went undocumented - almost. Somewhere out there a Japanse tourist has a delightful photo of Mommy and Lucy beaming outside of the men's restroom near the European Sculpture Garden. The photographer had come to our rescue after Mommy (a stroller novice) unseated Lucy and then watched in horror as the weight of the baby bag hanging on its handles caused the stroller to flip over. He spoke very little English: "baby cute, baby photo?" Afterwards he showed us the photo and even let Lucy taste the screen of his excellent little camera.

Though we have no photos to illustrate, the highlights were watching an outrageous rollerskate/rollerblade dance party in the Park and hearing Lucy exclaim about the view from the Met's roof terrace. The lowpoint was getting trampled by Manhattanites at Dean and Deluca while trying to buy a red pear for Lucy ($1.20).