SATURDAY, JULY 31
A wonderful day. It was so good that I’ll go ahead and give it [+4 cool points] and submit it to Mommy Poppins for the Awesome Days of Summer contest.
Up until now, our weekends have been spent sequestered in the apartment (we have an infant and a toddler), or at most, going on short trips out. But on this mild and sunny Saturday, we made downtown ours. The whole Cool Fam took a bus down to the East Village. Cool Mum and I debated over a suspicious drink bottle in the back of the bus.
We ate at my favorite breakfast spot where Cool Baby and I can usually be found for Daddy-Buddy Breakfast on most weekends. We left and CB had to go pee-pee (after he denied having to go at the restaurant), so we hit a Starbucks only to find a line of 5 guys ahead of us for the restroom. There was also a kinda crazy lady behind us lamenting that she was “going to go #2 all over herself.” I wrestled with letting her go ahead of us or letting CB go #1 all over himself. Fortunately, CM found a bathroom at a swanky boutique shop (Mart of K).
"Do I look like I have to go pee-pee?"
We walked to Washington Square Park and indulged in what was touted as The World’s Best Brownie at a street fair. It was good, though I am not experienced enough to know what The World’s Best Brownie should taste like (but I’m working on it). Cool Baby played on the playground while us old farts rested our feet.
We walked back east and Cool Mum bought a cheap nifty dress. We had a falafel salad and grape leaves at Mamoun’s and red velvet frozen yogurt (uh-mazing) at the self-serve fro-yo joint next door. Then I really took a leap of faith and bought a hat (more on that later).
We took the bus back north, the same one with the sketchy bottle, and hosted our friends for a BBQ. They brought over Nathan’s cheese-stuffed hot dogs. Whoa.
We need more Saturdays like this. We plan on getting them.
We were pleased with the happenings of the day.
Yeah, it’s time to once again check our weekend and assess our coolness. As if Mondays weren’t bad enough. Instead of making this a long post, I’ll split it up accordingly.
FRIDAY, JULY 30
Friday afternoon, I found out that Irish folk rock duo The Swell Season was playing for free in Prospect Park, a large park in Brooklyn, as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn! concert series. Cool Mum and I have been fans of the group after seeing the movie Once, that starred the duo, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová.
I was pumped to find out about the free show, but reality set in about 0.47 sec later, when I realized that it would be impossible for us to go. There was just no way for us to get the two boys (3 y/o Cool Baby and 7 week-old Cool Newbie) down there. The reasons:
- It was a 45-min subway ride to get down there.
- CN is too young to get on a crowded subway car.
- CN would probably cry during the tender moments of the piano and acoustic act, enraging our fellow concertgoers and leading them to believe that we were Manhattanite members the Desecrate Brooklyn! movement.
- It was way past CB’s bedtime.
So, we missed out on the super-cool thing to do in NYC that night, but we were actually fine with it. Instead, we spent a quiet evening at home, talking to each other in relative peace. This is something that we rarely get to do with a crying baby and constant flow of friends hanging out (which we love). So, while talking at home on a Friday night might cost us [-4 cool points], it was totally worth it.
Jennifer Garner went out for a stroll with her two girls in New York the other day. I wish I could say that I ran into her. I also wish that Cool Baby would stop waking Cool Newbie up from his naps. But seeing this article on Jennifer made me wonder if I’m still cool now that I have two kids. Let’s see –
1. THE LOOK
JG can wear an LBD that short because she has a nanny to help her out. If you’re by yourself and you’re always bending over to help the kids, you’ll earn a bad reputation on the playground. That’s why I often opt for the black nursing tanktop and maternity jorts. [-5 cool points] At least I was cool enough to wear a similar LBD on a date night when I was 9 mos pregnant.
2. THE STROLLER
JG’s three-wheeled stroller, Bob, could easily be friends with my Phil & Ted. [+2 cool points]
3. ENTOURAGE
JG’s entourage includes Victor Garber, an award-winning television, movie, and theater actor that played her father in Alias. Perhaps because some guy named Ben Affleck couldn’t make it that day. My entourage includes, um…Cool Dad? [-3 cool points]
NET CHANGE: -6 COOL POINTS
I’ll point out that Jennifer Garner has a little more experience because her kids are older. My only excuse is that I’ve only been a mom of two for six weeks, so sometimes I sacrifice cool points for the sake of just getting by.
***UPDATE 7/25: I went to church today with my infant and toddler, without Cool Dad or any kind of entourage, and wore a different little black dress! I did it! A couple of close calls with Cool Baby about to lift my dress. Other than that, I was okay!
