August 25th

Dear Elle,

This was your first weekend living in Manhattan. We had to move out of the house we were renting and our new house with your pink room isn't ready yet so Daddy's company is hosting us in a little apartment on West 58th street, just about one block from Central Park. Daddy will walk to work and we will get to spend lots of time with him since he won't spend any time commuting. We will get to have breakfast and dinner with him everyday for the next 4 weeks at least. It's very exciting.

Yesterday we moved in and we took a long walk at the park, you and I. We saw Elmo and Big Bird (Big bird was the puppeteer for Elmo which was kind of strange to watch). We saw Hello Kitty, a man making giant bubbles, and a man dressed up like the Statue of Liberty. When you saw a person dressed up as Hello Kitty you said, "That's big..."... which made think that all this time you thought the real Hello Kitty was "cat-sized", not the size of a small Asian man. It makes sense.

This morning we all slept very late, I have a feeling the city is going to do that to us, take lots of energy from us with all the noise and sights and different faces and smells. We have seen at least 20 different horses all dressed up for carriage rides in the park and I can't imagine what that's like for you since you've only ever seen one actual horse. And we live in the country! The city has everything.

We went to the Central Park Zoo today which was very nice but I think you were just, "meh." You were more interested in the statues of the animals, which you climbed on and poked at their eyes and mouths. Then we came back to the apartment and you had a nap and then you and I spend a good long time in bed, talking and snuggling. It was my favorite part of today. You sometimes say, "let's get in mommy's bed and get nice and comfortable" and that's what we did. I try to sing to you but you reach up and pinch my mouth closed by my lips, so I just keep quiet and kiss the back of your head.

Daddy then got us to rally and go back out and we took you to FAO Schwartz and it was like the most wonderful place you could have imagined. You squeezed up every stuffed animal and rode on everything that you could get a leg over. You danced on the big piano from the movie "Big" like you knew all about it. You owned that piano. 

Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.
Love,
Mommy