11211 Love

Williamsburg, 2013

Maine was festive and gorgeous, but it's been lovely getting back into the groove at home. After fighting naps and meals for a week, Axel is back to sleeping and eating well, go figure. When we got home late Sunday night, he seemed to really know he was home, and gave me a contented smile when I put him to bed in his familiar crib. It was like, "Ahhhh, my home turf."

One of the struggles of being out of the city was our daily nap conundrum. Lately, Axel seems to do one nap only, and if it's 30 minutes in the car, that's all you get. So I found myself petrified of going on any short trips with him for fear that that he'd pass out in the car seat and that would be the only rest he'd get (and by extension, we'd get) all day. It's all but impossible to transfer him from the car seat to crib without waking him up (we haven't mastered the skill, at any rate.)

Staying home from 1-4, just in case he'd sleep, was equally befuddling. At home, if we have stuff to do that happens to coincide with naptime, we put him in the stroller and he sleeps really well there. But in Maine it was too cold to be out for terribly long. I'm sure if you live somewhere where you have to drive, you figure all this out. But it reminded me that we are city folk and totally confounded by the idea that naptime ties you to your house or that you have to pack your errands into a certain window of time.

Anyway, while we were gone, there have been a few new developments in the neighborhood.

We may miss it because of a birthday party this Sunday, but this kids' concert at Brooklyn Bowl on Sunday sounds very cute (apparently Santa will be dropping by.)

My favorite bookstore is moving into the Bedford Mini Mall!  Idlewild Books' main shop is in the Flatiron, and they have the best selection of travel books and memoirs I've ever seen. Before we were married, Will and I took a few evening French classes there, and I'm thrilled to be able to do the same closer to home.

In the last month or so, it feels like a ton of new coffee shops, bakeries, and breweries opened their doors. There's Bread for the Eater, Crema, and Dirk the Norseman. So many spots to try over the weeks leading up to Christmas.

On another 'Yay Williamsburg!' note, I recently happened upon this post by Michele Demont, who writes about why she's moving her family of five out of the suburbs and back into the city at Exit Strip Mall Left.