Saturdays are for Slides and French Food

When we purchased our home on the Upper East Side we were unaware of the following:  1. that we'd be moving to SF in two years; 2. that we'd soon be sharing a bedroom with the world's loudest infant; and 3. just how useful it is to have a first-rate playground 50 yards from your home. 

We've been taking Mimi to the park every day and she's becoming more adventurous with each visit.  The park really is remarkable.  It was renovated just a few months ago and now includes fountains, a sand box, swings, jungle gyms, and enough variety of apparatus to keep children from 1 to 14 entertained.  There are even sufficient benches for the parents.  On Saturday we started off with the swings.  Mimi was really frightened by them on her first several outings, but now, all she wants to do is go a little higher.

From there we went on to the sandbox.  When Sumie was a little girl she refused to play in the sand.  She thought it was "dirty."  Mimi, I'm happy to say, has no such pretension and dives right in.  She's naturally industrious (which may be why she like Thomas the Tank Engine so much) and sitting in the sandbox really brings out her work ethic.  I'm not sure why the sand needs to go into the used ice cream container, but I'm not one to argue.

After playing in the sandbox we needed a wash, so we walked over to the fountains.  Mimi seems to like water, but is still a bit unsure when it comes to getting really wet.  For me, I can't even remember learning how to swim.  My parents had to put up with a little kid who immediately sprinted toward any body of water and then jumped in.  I was a bit like a golden retriever in this regard.  We haven't had a chance to put Mimi in a proper pool yet and I'm hoping that this solidifies a love of water for her.  We'll have plenty of opportunities for this in California, but until then, I guess we'll continue our fountain exploration together. 

The last section of the park we hit was the slides.  Mimi's reaction to this was a very pleasant surprise.  The first few trips down she was hesitant, but by the end, she was virtually sliding down all on her own.  She loves going fast.  The faster she slid down that slide, the bigger the grin.  Hmm, maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to turn this into a love of cars and driving.  And then maybe Sumie will let her learn to drive a stick shift (us fathers have to start planning for these kinds of things early).

The intense park outing was all part of our grand plan for the day.  That evening Sumie, Mimi, and I were scheduled to treat one of the Cornell nephrologists and his girlfriend to dinner.  He had been an amazing mentor to Sumie and we all wanted to thank him for the past two years.  We were just a bit nervous as to whether our thank you dinner would go according to plan.  Mimi is generally not the most congenial or cooperative dinner companion - unless you prefer that your guests scream at you without provocation, throw their food on the floor, and then demand a cracker.  And we were going to a nice French restaurant.  Thus, we planned ahead.

First off, we made sure that Mimi went down for her midday nap.  After that, we brought her to the park and wore her down so that she'd take her afternoon nap as well.  Sumie had called ahead and made reservations - for outside - at 6pm.  Quite early, but perfect for Mimi as we had a pretty substantial window of "good behavior" time.

Despite her history, Mimi was on her best behavior.  She started off by making her selection from the menu.  We had thought she'd go for the chicken fingers, but she surprised us with the more savvy choice of the fish sticks.

The fries that came with Mimi's meal had a hint of truffle oil, which I think helped to secure Mimi's approval of the establishment.  Her plate also came with a lemon wedge, which she found fascinating.  Rather than squeeze this on the fish sticks, Mimi took a more avant-garde culinary approach by banging it on the table, throwing it on the ground, and then rubbing the lemon juice into her eyes.  This, I'm afraid, didn't really work.

Over the course of the entire two hour dinner there was only one instance when I had to take Mimi outside to "cool off."  We spent this by walking up and down first avenue making silly noises (mostly "libble-libble-libble," made with hitting our forefingers against our lips), which seemed to entertain the 20-somethings in the bars we passed. 

By the end of the evening we were very proud of our little girl.  Nice work, Mimi!

Well, on second thought, I guess a girl named Mimi should know how to handle herself in a French restaurant.

-Steve