Falltime for Phoenix: Saturday

The weather here has been absolutely stunning, but after a few days spent outdoors at the beginning of the week, Phoenix has requested a Lot of time at home. I suppose if I was a brighter person I would have waited to construct his wee house until some snow was on the ground...

We were able to coax him into the sunshine today after a morning of playing cars, cars and more cars. Ethan and Uncle Seth found a mexican restaurant on the lower east side yesterday that E was really excited to share, so off we went. We bravely left sans stroller (meit tai tucked in our bag tho) and it was so soothing to see P traversing the city with ease on his own. Hopefully our comfort with his independence won't be his demise, knocking furiously on wood here, but he really seems to have figured out his safety zones. He barrels down the sidewalk (we just Had to live at the top of a hill!) on his tractor or toes and stops at the last squinch of safe space before the crosswalk, but he stops! He watches for the "go guy" and gets which direction his subway will come from. We've really struggled with our nerves and his need for autonomy on the subway, combined with everyone else's need for comfort :) But today was one of those smooth days that make you smile. He gaily pushed through the turnstiles and waited on the platform without trying to dangle off of the edge and actually sat on the sub seat for a while.

After some guac and fajitas we hit a playground and P ran and jumped and climbed and played ball with a sweet little boy. Whole Foods was a block away and P LOVES health food stores so we went there to explore for a bit. The pumpkin pile thrilled him, along with all of the produce. There were 30 open baskets of coffee and Mr. Nose carefully smelled half of them, describing his thoughts. (Fave: decaf French Roast) The seafood section featured a beautiful display of whole fish that captured him in conversation for 10 minutes, but his fascination with death is a whole nuther blog entry...

After the store we played in the dark in another playground. P was in heaven, owning the place with all of the other tots in bed already. There was a pink trike that was just his size and he worked on mastering pedaling, kissing it goodbye when we left for home.