Ice Cream: The Perfect Solution!

When your tired, little girl refuses to nap because she wants to play with her brother?  You stick her in the stroller and walk and she falls asleep in a nanosecond.

When your tired, big boy needs an incentive to join you on the above mentioned walk because you need it to be a long one and he might rebel at simply zigzagging the streets of the neighborhood?  You offer ice cream as the destination of the walk and he is out the door in a nanosecond!

So, it has been determined, ice cream is the perfect solution.  It can make your 18 month old nap and your 4.5 year old walk 45 minutes each direction for his sister to have the nap!

This is a picture of Leighton enjoying a scoop of Rocky Road outside Baskin Robbins.  Roy and I spotted it a few weeks ago (as Leighton explained it to Roy tonight, "You know that day you and Mommy went to that meeting for you to become American?"), and I wondered at the time if it was walkable for Leighton, so I compared it to the distance he walks to Wal Mart and Goodwill on googlemaps and was pleased to see it is a similar distance.

So we had a fun walk in this new direction today.  We pointed out lots of different plants in yards that we haven't seen yet, got excited when we saw a man selling mangoes and coconuts on the side of the road just like in NYC, and rewarded ourselves with ice cream at Baskin Robbins.  Before we got there, Leighton had decided he wanted chocolate chip mint, but when he was faced with the plethora of options at a place like Baskin Robbins, he was swayed by the fancy titles and bright colors to sample some new flavors.  In the end, he chose Rocky Road.  He confessed later on that he just couldn't pass up the opportunity to have marshmallows!  I had butter pecan.  It's usually my go-to flavor and rarely disappoints.

Along the way, we also stopped for Leighton to pick a couple loquats (it's okay, we had no idea what they were either until we found a tree in our yard!).  I usually do not let him pick flowers or fruit from other people's yards, but this tree was between the road and the sidewalk and the fruit seemed to be unwanted and mostly past the peak of ripeness, anyway.  And, the squirrels and birds ate all the fruit off ours before I remembered to go back with Leighton to pick some more for him to eat after he had some several days in a row a couple weeks ago, so I was able to make it up to him!

As a side note, we took Riley for her 18 month routine Dr appointment this morning.  We went to a new pediatrician recommended by one of Roy's colleagues.  The office was very professional, efficient, and welcoming.  The Dr was friendly and approachable and seems like a good fit for our family.  I am still mourning the loss of proximity to Dr Weiner, the most amazing pediatrician, and possibly physician, on the planet.  When we started talking about the move to Houston as a possibility, I even asked Roy if we could make annual visits to the Bronx for the kids to see Dr Weiner for their check ups! 

Riley has, once again, followed in her brother's footsteps and has rocketed to the top of the charts for height.  People have been commenting on how tall she is (she's the same height as some new friends' 3 yr old son!), but I kept saying she's only average on the charts.  Well, that has changed!  I had her in a dress today that my Mom made her.  I didn't take a picture, but should have so we could see just how much she's grown since the first time she wore it.  Just for fun, here's a picture of her in the dress and of Leighton in the matching shirt in August.