more from the east coast

Emmett and I have now developed a pattern which is probably not that different than what Andrea and he do when I am at work. Emmett wakes in the morning for a snack just before Andrea heads off for her conference, goes back to bed for a while and then is up at around 9:00. I am pretty much standing by his crib at this time with his clothes in hand as I know that we have a 1.5-2 hour window of awake time which we have been filling by going to the park most days, or to get bagels across town today. We return for the long nap, which yesterday was 2 hours and today is already at 1 hour as I write. Then E and I have our big outing which yesterday consisted of Lesley, Emmett, and I going to get pickles and doughnuts and today will have Emmett and I heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Yesterday was a pretty muggy one and Emmett was spent by the time that we made it to the Doughnut Plant for the doughnuts. This place is pretty famous with pictures of the cast of the Today show and Regis and whoever-he-is-with these days on the walls eating the doughnuts, and as Emmett was starting to melt down there a little, the owner (or at least who L and I were assuming the owner as he is always there) was doing all kinds of tricks to try and get Emmett happy again as we ate our doughnuts...hopefully the place will still be pretty famous when Emmett is older and we can tell him that the person we thought was the owner tried to entertain him for a while.

Emmett was really starting to go to town with the crying as we left, so the three of us found a patch of grass and I stripped Emmett down once again, which really worked to get him to settle (and he peed on a tree, too, in the heart of manhattan). Once settled Lesley walked with him for a few blocks until he got really cranky, then she traded pickles for baby and I loaded him up in the baby bjorn (we have been trying this carrier, too...not as comfortable as the Ergo, but he can look out, which makes him happy). Emmett really was crying by the time we reached the train so everyone on board got to hear Emmett really let loose. It is funny that the trains are air conditioned so are normally pretty comfortable temperature-wise even on the hot days, but there is something about your kid crying in your lap and people staring that makes even a cool train painfully hot.

Once Emmett was fed by Andrea back at the hotel, all was fine in his world. Last night we went to a nice dinner with Belinda and Nick, and Emmett slept through pretty much the whole thing. We didn't get him to bed until around 10 again, but we weren't so lucky with the long night's sleep---Emmett was up at 4 and 6.

This morning Emmett woke for his 1.5ish hour period at 7:30 so immediately after Andrea fed him, I headed out (8:00) for bagels the midtown on the east side or whatever they call it here (52nd and 2nd). I decided to take a train over and walk back if I thought that there was enough time to make it back by 9:00---my cutoff for when I knew he was going to be back again. Well, who would have thought that they put three extra-wide blocks between 3rd and 5th avenue (and no 4th?? what gives??)? Well, we arrived back at 9:15 and on the way back (Emmett in the bjorn facing out) Emmett fell asleep at almost 9:00 on the nose, and unfortunately I didn't notice right off so I couldn't take and preventative measures. Well, he slept until we got back to the room, and I have realized that Emmett is now convinced that as soon as he wakes up from a nap, no matter its length, it is time for him to get up and play so there was no putting him down on our return from bagels. I tried for about 20 minutes and finally just played with him for an hour or so until the eye rubbing set in. Now he is napping and all is happy.