Have baby, will travel..NYC...Day 7-9

Though finally home now, there were a few more choice lessons to be had from our time in New York.

Day 7: The zoo at Central Park.

Lesson 1: The movie Madagascar grossly misrepresented what the Central Park Zoo experience would be like. Just about the only thing that looked familiar was the Delacorte clock.

That said, young toddlers can greatly enjoy the Tisch Children's portion of the zoo.

Lesson 2: No matter how diligent you are in your week of preparation to get your little one to go to bed well the night you plan to go out...they won't. Man. Little dude did so well every night except the night I was putting him to bed where I wasn't in my jammies already. He knew. He KNEW. Once he has out, however, he didn't stir until we returned.

Lesson 3: Baby will always, ALWAYS (not matter if you're at home or on vacation or whatever) sense that you've JUST gone to sleep after having a good time out and rouse himself so as to rouse you and then sleep in spurts for the rest of the night.

Day 8: Heading north to the Bar Mitzvah

Despite this being a rather uneventful day I had one lesson.

Lesson 1 (and only): As young as 14mos, you're child can and will be an angel with anyone who is not you.  My little man has a great disposition with me, but I'm still his parent so he has to push.  He was out with my friend for the afternoon and evening while we were out. She took him to a birthday party and it appears he was extremely charming and well behaved and only ate healthy the whole time.

Sigh....that's the sound of Mommy pride.

(Oh, and a repeat of lesson 3 from the day before once we got back from the Bar Mitzvah)

Day 9: Heading home

Lesson 1: On the day you really, REALLY need the baby to take his morning nap, he won't. Or he'll try to fall asleep five minutes before you need to leave. Then he won't sleep in the car either. Or he'll fall asleep five minutes before you arrive.

It was ugly while in transit. Yet, despite sleep deprivation, he was VERY good mannered while we visited people.

Lesson 2: If you pack TWO changes of clothing in your carry-on bag, it's likely you're dooming yourself to needing them.

Looking back I don't recall any signs of an impending stomach bug, but shortly after checking our luggage, baby barfed after trying to swallow a whole grape. We managed to get things cleaned up and boarded the plane.

Baby slept through 90% of the flight and woke 30 minutes prior to landing with just enough time to have a small snack and then barf all over Mommy.

Fun.

Despite all that, he was tired but in good spirits.

All told, this will go down as a successful trip. We were busy every day and baby was as flexible as he could be given his age and the time zone shift.

Number one thing I take away from this: I'd rather pay for the extra seat in coach, than fly First Class with a baby (or even on my own). It just didn't make sense.

Peace,

A Pink American