Henny house

Even though it's been several weeks since we were in New York, Devon continues to bring up our trip there regularly. One of the books that she's taken to recently is called "Knuffle Bunny" -- Walt and I had bought a lot of children's books a while ago and only recently unpacked them. Knuffle Bunny is an interesting looking book; it's got photos with crudely-drawn cartoon charaters superimposed over the photographs. Knuffle Bunny is set in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which is Cass, Henry and Jim's neighborhood, and a laundromat on 6th St. (very close to their house) features prominently in it. During one of our readings, I pointed to a brownstone where the characters live and said, "That looks like Henry's house." Now every time we read Knuffle Bunny and get to the brownstone, Devon says, "Henny house, that Henny house!"

She also brings up occasional incidents that made an impression on her in New York. Tonight we were reading a book called "Corduroy Goes to the Beach," about a bear and his friends on a beach trip. At one point they go to the boardwalk by the beach; in previous readings, I had mentioned that it looks like the boardwalk at Coney Island, where we went with Henry and Cass. Tonight as we got to the boardwalk part, Devon said, "Beach, Henny." She doesn't seem to associate the term "Coney Island" with any of it (which I supposed could be any place to her), but she definitely remembers the beach. It's really interesting how many things she remembers, even though much if it seems kind of random to me (in other words, I don't see any theme between remembering Henry's soccer game, which made a huge impression; and Coney Island, which I would have thought would have made a huge impression although she can't remember much about it at all).

Devon finally went back to Elaine's today after being out all last week. I think she was excited to go back and see her friends there; she was certainly chipper when I came back from work. Walt also picked her up on the bicycle, which she loves. A while ago he had purchased a child bicycle seat on Craig's List, but there were problems with getting a rack for it (this bike seat has to have a rack to sit on). Walt finally found the right rack a couple of weeks ago, and now the bike seat is up and running. Devon really likes it, although I've found that she tends to get antsy and want to get out after a little while. The trick for me is to take some raisins or something else with me so when she starts asking to get out, I can give her a box of raisins to divert her attention. The ride to Elaine's is short, so I think Walt avoids this problem.

I think overall this might be the bad side to not using a stroller. Devon has never really used a stroller (except for her brief fling with it a few months ago), and I think one of the unintended consequences of it is that she doesn't sit willingly for more than a few minutes. Even if she's in the bike seat or in a backpack (something that might, theoretically, be more interesting and interactive than sitting in a stroller), she gets squirmy and wants to get out quickly. I'm now wishing we had used the stroller more, because sometimes it's really a lot easier if she just stays put rather than always wanting to get out (or off) and run around.