6.30.2005

Fireworks fans rejoice!


If you like fireworks, you are in for a great weekend. There are fireworks displays scheduled in around the area all weekend: from Friday night in Hamden, to Saturday in Orange or Wallingford, to Sunday in West Haven, culminating in a Monday night celebration at Long Wharf park in New Haven. And if you miss all those, Guilford's celebration is scheduled for next Saturday, July 9.

What we know:
"The City of New Haven presents its annual fireworks display in New Haven Harbor with an Independence Day celebration for the entire family on the waterfront of Long Wharf Park. There will be free activities for children, a diversity of live musical performances on two stages and food from local restaurants and vendors. Fireworks begin at dusk.Monday, July 4th, 2005 .
Long Wharf Park
Long Wharf Drive
New Haven, CT
203-946-7821 "

There is live music scheduled from 6:30pm.

Lots more information is available:
http://www.kc101.com/fireworks.html
http://info.med.yale.edu/chldstdy/parentsfirst/calendars/calendar-familyevents.html

6.28.2005

UPDATE: The Carillons AREN'T coming....

OH NO!! Thanks to a kind email from a kind carillonneur (Thanks Christina!), we found out that there will be no carillon concerts this July; Harkness tower is under renovation.

We did get some scoop on a great event next summer:
"From June 20-23, 2006, Yale will host the annual congress of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, a professional organization of carillonneurs. The event will feature many concerts by respected carillonneurs as well as talented young performers. These will all be open to the public. This will be in addition to the resumption of our annual summer series, which will begin at the conclusion of the Congress. A detailed schedule for the Congress will be posted as we begin scheduling events this year at www.yale.edu/carillon/gcna2006."

Anyone else have some free time on Friday nights all of a sudden? Carillonneurs, we'll miss you!

6.27.2005

The Carillons are coming....


This Friday, July 1, marks the first carillon concert of the summer by the Yale University Guild of Carilloners.
Newhavenbaby had a great time last year, and we were hooked after hearing Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain echoing off the walls in Old Campus.

Here's the official scoop:
The 2005 Summer Concert Series begins on July 1 due to the renovation of Harkness Tower and the Yale Memorial Carillon. Please contact the Summer Carillonneurs, Christina Meyer and Tiffany Ng, with inquiries. All concerts begin at 7 PM. They are free and open to the public, and last approximately one hour. Seating is not provided, but audience members are encouraged to bring blankets and lawn chairs to the listening area in the courtyard of Branford College, on High Street between Chapel and Elm. An indoor listening space will be available in the event of rain.


Our modus operendi:
After grabbing a program guide at the official listening spot in the Branford College courtyard, we usually head back outside the courtyard in the grassy area right underneath the tower, so newhavenbaby can run wild without disturbing the more serious carillon listeners. We usually bring lots of treats, inlcuding a bottle of wine for us and a sippycup of milk for newhavenbaby. Or if we laze away our Friday afternoons, we stock up at Gourmet Heaven or Au Bon Pain on Broadway and head over. Newhavenbaby inevitably ends up staying out a little later than usual, but we bring his pjs for the walk home. When we're lucky he is asleep in the stroller by the time we get back.

We hope you like it too. Stop by and say hi. We're the ones with the toddler who is up past his bedtime.

6.25.2005

Do-it-yourself-baby signs

I've recommended these books to so many people I think it might be time to recommend them here as well.



Newhavenbaby was a little late getting started with the baby signing thing, but I think we must have introduced them just in time. We picked the bedtime book up at the library downtown when newhavenbaby was about 14 months old. He looked through it on his own, and when I sat down with him about 5 minutes later, he was showing me the signs that the babies in the book were doing. I think it is the real photos of the babies that got his attention, but whatever it was, it worked. We bought the other versions soon afterwards.
He has started talking now, so the signs have disappeared from his communication efforts, but he still loves to make the animal signs along with the babies in the book.

6.22.2005

Arts and Ideas---our favorites

Newhavenbaby is really enjoying the Arts and Ideas festival downtown.

Our favorites so far:
Tuesday's Les Julian concert on the family stage
Oil Drum Art Workshop

Today we had pizza and sat (and danced and ran and crawled) on the Green during the lunchtime concert. There are also afternoon concerts on the family stage, but they are during newhavenbaby's naptime so we have only been to one.

The Oil Drum Art Workshop was a lot of fun, and we are supposed to get an invitation in the mail to see newhavenbaby's drum on display this fall. (:

6.20.2005

Toystore on Audubon


wedgits
Originally uploaded by mamaholly.

We were thrilled last week to meet Suzanne, one of the head honchos at the Toystore on Audubon across from Neighborhood Music School downtown.

Newhavenbaby's 10-month old cousin, babyRyan, was also thrilled that we met Suzanne, because he loved his new toy: a set of Wee Wedgits. Newhavenbaby played with these at the children's museum in Austin, TX. They are colorful and fun and smart; newhavenbaby's engineer uncle had a lot of fun figuring out what he could build with them.

The best part is that they are soft and chewable, and babyRyan loves to chew.

6.17.2005

Father's day weekend

There seems to be tons to do with Dad this weekend!
We are headed to the oil drum art exhibit on the Green this afternoon to paint on an oil drum, and then heading North for the weekend, but the New Haven Register has a great list of things to do if you are going to be in town.

MoKa is also having a special $1 breakfast sandwich deal for dads on Sunday.

Happy Father's Day!!
love, newhavenbaby

6.13.2005

Shop til you pop

Newhavenbaby's shop directory is now up!!
Check it out for local baby shopping, and please let us know if you have a favorite we have missed.

For the latest in baby fashions, the daily stroll from thrifty chick is the best place we know. Plus the thriftymama blog rocks (contributing editor bias aside).

6.09.2005

Orange Street Market

East Rock mamas---this post is for you.

Our daily after-park shopping destination is the Orange Street 'Miracle Mile.' Romeo's is tops for last minute dinner shopping, Nica's we love for pastries and special treats, the convenience store by the park is a little eerie but has a great selection of popsicles. Then there is the Orange Street Grocery starting to nudge its way into a special place in our hearts.

An in-the-know newhavenmama on Cottage St. pointed out that they have the best price on half-gallons of organic milk. With all the milk that goes into newhavenbaby every week, every penny (or quarter in this case) counts. We think the meat case in the back of the store is better than most too. Plus there is something quite comforting in knowing that if you need a plain old can of baked beans, or a bag of crispy, greasy potato chips, or a plastic-wrapped loaf of soft sandwich bread, there's a place to find it on the Orange Street 'Miracle Mile.'

And the tables outside are nice and shady and perfect for stopping and sharing ice cream sandwiches on sunny afternoons.

6.07.2005

"Totsticks"

Our favorite downtown restaurant to go to with newhavenbaby has to be Thai Pan Asian on Chapel St. Yum!

Newhavenbaby loves to flirt, and he always gets plenty of chances with the waitresses there. They are super-helpful about stashing strollers, too: and really set themselves apart downtown for being so considerate. Newhavenbaby's own special basket of sticky rice rarely shows up on our bill, and the lunchtime buffet is super-easy and always delicious.

Last weekend, newhavenbaby watched us with great fascination as we ate our Pad Thai with chopsticks. Since then, he has tried his best to make "totsticks"---his word, not mine---out of anything and everything: straws, IKEA coffee stirs, crayons, toy drumsticks.

After a hefty ebay search, we found some great chopsticks sized for kids (6'' long, with grooved ends to help pick up those slippery green beans) at the Hong Kong Market on Whitney St. They are at the end of the aisle by the cash register. They come in pink and blue with various cartoon characters and ninja warriors. And you really can't beat the price at $1 /pair.

6.06.2005

Language Acquisition

In my email today, with a request to spread the word:

Are you the parent of a monolingual infant ages 8-16 months? Yale Child Study Center is looking for infants to participate in research on child development. Your child would come to our office for 1 hour and listen to sounds while lights flash. Your child will receive a toy for participating. Please call contact Kate Elliot at ann.elliot@yale.edu (203) 764-7597. HIC #22634

6.03.2005

Girl's night out

I had a wonderful night out sans newhavenbaby recently. Thanks ladies!

We had a whole theatre to ourselves at the Criterion to see the mid afternoon show--- "Look at Me" was a great movie---and Mel at Pacifico downtown set us up with a swell table by the window.

The service was good and very friendly (although I did get a ice water warm-up to my San Pellegrino), the atmosphere was perfect for our night out, the appetizers were delicious, but my Churrasco a la Parilla was only so-so. It seemed like something that conceptually would have been delicious, but in execution was mediocre. Kind of like the results you get when you are trying to make Chinese-restaurant stir fry at home---a little soggy and the sauce is always a little off. Oh well.

I was thrilled to have a nice dinner out where the only mouth I had to worry about putting a forkful of food in was my own.