sweetest way to end the week and get ready for the weekend

It’s great to start early with weekend routines, so off we went to drop off our 3 year old for her dress rehearsal… YES! Today is the big day - she’ll be a growling fierce and furry lion in her school play… run some beginning of the month errands and enjoy breakfast out before engaging in our daily responsibilities.

We’ve been curious about this small cafe on Clinton and 26th, called broder, a Swedish restaurant, which is on a regular basis packed!

The place has a cool, happy vibe; nice decor, with subtle detail that adds in perfection to the set atmosphere and good music.

(our 10 month old chilling can testify to the relaxed environment:)

The food? Well, although these are shot from an iPhone, and unintentional, I think they can talk for themselves… (but just in case they don’t…. DELICIOUS! Perfectly prepared and in perfect portions, hitting the spot just right:) I <3 breakfast!

aebleskiver (danish pancakes): it was hard to choose just one item from the menu, so we started off with a half portion of their danish pancakes, served with their lemon curd and lingonberry jam

lefse (norwegian potato crepe): I ended up going with a veggie version of their potato crepe (stuffed with goat cheese and mushrooms)

florlorade agg (lost egg): hubby’s choice of “lost egg” of the day included anchovies and dried tomatoes.

We’ll definitely be showing off broder to our Summer visitors.

starter: homemade flatbread (tomato sauce, feta, parsley, truffle oil and provolone)

main course: mushroom and radicchio cream sauce over rigatoni

dessert: organic rasberries and sliced banana drizzled in honey

I was at a playground with my kids, maybe a month ago, when I first noticed a little girl with blue highlights in her hair. As much as I was having mixed feelings about it - Was it dye? Why mess with a kid’s hair like that? -  I was loving it…! This little girl was such a site and,  in a completely unnatural way, it was all so organic. Maybe there’s something about a child with bright colorful hair which makes them that much more a child.

Since then, I’ve been seeing kids all over the place with pink, blue, green and other bright colors in their hair - apparently a trend I was unaware of up until now.

So, being fans of fun and color, Emma and I, we chalked it!

Uncertain of what Apple, Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter, had done to her hair, which has been mentioned here and there with a certain tone of negativity - she too is sporting bright highlights, hers being pink (and quite fun and cute, btw) - we just chalked it! How?  Just dampen a piece of colored chalk and run it in a strand of hair. Apparently, you can lock in the color for longer with a straightening iron (which we didn’t do) as seen in Momfluential.

post by: peá roo

Ventriloquism as a means to get your toddler to do and confess to things came as a total surprise - yet another perk of having a second kid. 

How to: Hold up your infant child, sit him/her on your lap, project your best babyish-like voice and ask away!

Amazed with how efficient it is! Its magic does wear off though. Try it and use it while it lasts :D

post by peá roo

“Come and see my OCEAN, Ti Tanya!”

So, earlier this week, I posted a conversation I had with my 3 year old regarding her teeth; a recent obsession due to the tooth fairy, rather than the actual teeth. This made me want to write an additional post; one focusing on her teeth this time, rather than the tooth fairy, who, by the way, she swears having seen at the supermarket just the other day (I still have no idea what it was she sited, but we did go on a quest to find it).

So, both my kids have gapped teeth as a feature - known in dentistry as diastema - it’s especially strong in Emm; ALL her teeth are gapped! More times than less, her teeth are a topic: we’re asked who she got it from, that she’ll probably need braces and the one that just really get’s the best of me ”they are said to be liars’ teeth!” 

Well, just look what I found out about diastema:

- a gap between the front teeth, associated with lustful characteristics, especially in women, has been, since the Middle Ages, a popular assumption in folklore… hum, OK…

- it’s considered, in some African countries, attractive and a sign of fertility… OK, then…

(next, is where I wanted to get to) 

- in France they are called “dents du bonheur” (lucky teeth),

- Emma’s dentist said… Guess what?… she has a better chance of having perfectly straight teeth, because she’ll have enough room for the new, bigger ones to come in!

(and, also)

- it’s been a fashion trend, having some people get diastema created through cosmetic dentistry, and 

- there are quite a few gapped teeth beauties out there: Vanessa Paradis, Jessica Hart, Anna Paquin, Georgia May Jagger and, my personal favorite, Lauren Hutton:

I don’t have gapped teeth, but I was told to smile with my mouth shut, for a picture, at around the time I was getting my new teeth, because it looked funny (missing teeth, some shorter than the others and all which is associated to growing new teeth). I have been conscious about it ever since. 

Emma has the greatest smile and the last thing I want her to get is a complex.

As I mentioned earlier on, my post the other day was about a conversation Emma and I had when I went to pick her up from Art school… She was ecstatic…! She ran to me with a smile from ear to ear as soon as she saw me walk in and said: Mommy, Bijou (a friend from school) said two teeth ‘falled’. I didn’t get it at first so I asked: “What fell Emma?” “Two teeth, Mom!” And I got a smile (1. she was beyond excitement,  2. she wanted to show me what had fallen, needless to say her gaps were mistaken with spaces with missing teeth and, 3. in her head, she was finally going to meet the tooth fairy) and, as usual, I surrendered to it, I was captivated - one of the only moments I have no other thought flowing through my head :) And, although I am talking about my own daughter, the power of a smile absolutely amazes me :)  

(Emma)

peá roo

“Look Ma, I made a cow!”
She did…