Toby the gourmand

Three-year-old Toby loves food. Loves loves loves. I've never had to worry about a picky eater, thankfully—although I almost worry about him not being picky enough :)
When we put him to bed, he'll often roll over and ask, "What we havin' for dinner tomorrow night?" And yesterday morning, while eating breakfast, he asked, "So what we havin' for brunch?"
And this is a common sight in our house, the little scamp! I showed my friend this photo, and she sent me this clip...
That's Toby in 15 years.

P.S. French kids eat everything, a baby-food realization, and how to get your kids to talk at dinner.
P.P.S. "What about elevenses?!" Still laughing :)

How to cut a child's hair

For the past three years, I cut Toby's hair myself. But I had no clue what I was doing! He would end up with shaggy hair and Dumb-and-Dumber bangs. Thankfully, this weekend, my friend Reagan, a hair stylist, agreed to teach me...Read More >

Conversations with a three-year-old

Have your little ones said anything funny recently? Three and a half is such a sweet age! Toby's imagination has ramped up so much, and half the time I swear he must see our living room filled with monsters, bears and bearded bus drivers. He cracks us up constantly with the nutty things that come out of his mouth. For example...

“Mama, who is in the living room?”
“Daddy and Anton.”
(Peeking out cautiously.) “Any bears?”

"What you reading, Mama?"
"The Goldfinch. Want to see a photo of the author?"
"Is it a bear?"

“O-tay."

"Chitten."

"Be fwy-ette."

We’ll play I Spy in taxis, but he doesn’t quite get how to give clues. He'll say: "I spy with my little eye...the door handle!" "Is it the door handle?" "Yes!" "I spy with my little eye...the driver!" "Is it the driver?" "Yes!” The game goes quickly:)

Toby has a bunch of alter egos. Whenever he pretends certain things, you have to call him by the corresponding name. Tom is a bus driver. John is a musician. Kevin is a boy with a babysitter. Sam is a chef. Dennis is a dancer. Booliballa is a librarian.

"Where are you going, Mama?"
"I'm meeting my friend to get my toes painted. What color should I get?"
"Blue."
"Light or dark blue?"
"Minivan blue." (No further explanation was provided.)

One morning, out of the blue: “Are you just a lady with lips?” “Yes.”

He asked our babysitter, "Are you married?"
"No."
"So you just like adventures?"

And he's starting to have crushes!
"Toby, did you nap at school today?"
"No, Mama."
"What did you do?"
"I just lie there and look at Gabby."
"Dennis" the dancer! :)

P.S. Toby in conversation as a two-year-old and a (younger) three-year-old. And I can't believe he was ever this little :)

(Top photos by Julia Robbs for Cup of Jo)

Two birthday revelations

This past Friday, Alex threw me a 35th birthday party. He invited friends over for wine and Prosecco, and we ate our weight in Trader Joe's appetizers. It was so much fun! And I also had two big revelations...
1. Do you have a scary age? I don't usually get nervous about birthdays, but turning 35 was throwing me for a loop. It just felt so adult, so official. Although I'm still figuring things out—work/life balance, how to stop worrying so much, how to layer eyeshadow—35 felt like an age where I should have it firmly together.

But then I got a birthday card in the mail from my mother-in-law, Joyce, who is turning 80 this summer. It was one of those lovely Hallmark cards with flowers on the front and a scripted poem inside. And on the bottom, she had written, "Happy Birthday, Joanna. 35. What a wonderful age."

And suddenly I felt really lucky and excited to be 35. Through Joyce's eyes, 35 seemed so young and full of adventure. It completely changed the way I had been thinking about the age—I realized that we're actually living "the good old days" and I should stop worrying and enjoy them. :)

What about you? How old are you? What's your scary age, if you have one?

2. Alex's other brilliant idea: The evening of the party, our kiddos spent the night with their beloved babysitter! We loaded them up with travel cribs and backpacks, and they were SO excited. The next morning, Anton got to chew on his very first bagel, while Toby and his sitter did yoga to soothing music...
Go, Tobes!

Meanwhile, Alex and I got to sleep WAY in and just hang out quietly that morning. It was surprisingly romantic and wonderful to have our apartment to ourselves—like it was before we had kids! It felt like a mini vacation for all of us. Thank you so much to Alex (and our sitter)!!!

Have you ever farmed your kids out to their babysitter's house for the night? :) Or a relative? Did they enjoy it? Thank you also for your sweet birthday notes!

P.S. Gold candles, and birthday cheese.

(Thanks to Jason for the photos)

Have the most unbearably sweet weekend you can't even stand it.

The other day, Toby woke up from his nap crying (bad dream, maybe?) so Anton went in and held his hand and they both fell asleep for an hour. I love how the teeny little brother is taking care of the strong big brother. It feels like the true beginning of a beautiful friendship. My heart was bursting times a million. Anyway, hope you have a wonderful weekend, and here are a few fun posts from around the web...

Love this bear tattoo.

Dress like you're in a movie.

A cheese trick.

Peek inside food.

I snuck out for a pedicure this week and discovered the sexiest color: Lacy Not Racy.

Painted business cards.

Dinner parties nowadays.

Woman Takes Short Half-Hour Break From Being Feminist To Enjoy TV Show.

George Clooney played a prank on Matt Damon.

Shoes for warmer weather. (Can't wait.)

For the love of money. Makes you think.

A smart take on the Lena Dunham Vogue photo shoot.

Who else secretly wants to take ballet as a grown-up?

Those crazy pants from the movie Her are actually for sale.

Finally, would anyone like to have bangs? We're doing a tutorial on February 8th and are looking for readers who don't currently have bangs but would like them. If you're interested, please email cupofjobeauty@gmail.com with a snapshot of your haircut. We'd love to hear from you! Thank you so much, and have a great weekend!

Mama/kid sleepover!

This weekend, to help cheer up the cold winter, my friends Sharon, Kendra and I decided to have a mama/kid sleepover! We figured it would be like taking a trip together but without having to leave town.
So, one afternoon, we all piled into Kendra's house uptown (her husband was on a work trip). As we arrived armed with travel cribs, backpacks and rowdy kiddos, she joked, "This is either going to be the best idea we've ever had or a total disaster."
After playing and exploring the neighborhood, that evening we made pizzas. Kendra's awesome tip: Buy fresh dough from your local pizza place! Smart, right? It was easy, cheap and tasted great.
The kids each made mini pizzas with sauce and cheese...
And we made some for the mamas, including one with cheese and grilled red onions. Delicious.
(Eeks! Those cheeks!)
But the highlight was the Nintendo Wii dancing game that Sharon brought. Have you played it? You try to do the same moves as the dancers on screen, and the game somehow tracks you to see how well you do.
Nailed it.
Here are the kiddos rocking out. They did it for HOURS while the mamas talked and ate cookies in the kitchen (and sometimes peeked in).
The next morning we had bagels and bacon. It was so much fun; I can't believe we had never thought of it before! We could really relax and hang out without having to rush home for naps and bedtimes. The only catch is that we got approximately zero hours of sleep that night:) But it was worth it.

Would you do this? Do you already have grown-up sleepovers? Or travel with friends? I'm so into it!

Vacation photos: Palm Springs and L.A.

For the holidays, we went to Palm Spring and Los Angeles for two weeks. It was great to get a blast of California sunshine, and a few funny things happened during our trip...Read More >

Our very first Christmas tree!

Ever since we met six years ago, Alex and I have talked about getting a Christmas tree for about three minutes in December, and then decided against it. We go to California for the holidays every year, so buying a tree in New York first felt sort of unnecessary. But now that Toby is three—and totally into all things Christmas—we wanted to get a tree for him to decorate and start some family rituals.
So one night last week, after the boys were in bed, Alex snuck out and got a tree from a stand down our block. It was the perfect Goldilocks size: Not too big and not too little. When Toby woke up the next morning, we told him we had a surprise in the living room, and he walked out slowly and completely awestruck. "A tree," he whispered, eyes big as saucers.
We made a plan to decorate it together that evening, so after school, Toby and I went to CVS to buy ornaments. I told him he could pick out whatever he liked, and he chose red bulbs, plastic pinecones and a gold garland. (CVS nailed it!)
But the pièce de résistance was this "Best Teacher!" apple ornament. When we were at CVS, Toby loved it so much and carried it all around the store. I explained that it said, "Best Teacher!" and was really for teachers, and he thought it over for a moment and then asked, "But the pinecones are for boys?" I nodded. So we put the apple ornament back on the shelf, and bought the rest of the decorations. For the rest of the day, however, he kept talking dreamily about the apple ornament and how beautiful it was, so as I was putting him to bed later, I said, "Toby, even though that apple ornament said 'Best Teacher!' it was also so beautiful. Maybe we should just get it, what do you think?" And he said, with the cutest nonchalance, "Yeah, Mama, you know, maybe we should just get it." And so Alex went back to CVS the next day and brought it right home:)
So, that night, we cranked up cheesy Christmas music, and invited our two friends down from the 17th floor to drink spiked egg nog and eat pistachios.
We wrapped 300 tiny white lights around the tree...
...drank too much egg nog...
...and hung the ornaments.
Anton stayed up late (until 8pm!! rock star!!!) to be part of the festivities.
It was such a great night, and I'm excited to start traditions for our family, like always drinking egg nog and eating pistachios, and always giving the boys one special ornament each year. What other rituals and traditions do you have? (People's awesome rituals were so inspiring last year.)
Side note: Now we're just wondering what to put on top of the tree. Do you have a star? An angel? Something different?
Hurray!!! Now that we've seen how awesome it is to have a tree, WE CANNOT BELIEVE WE WAITED THIS LONG!!!! What were we thinking all those years?!!! It makes the house look so cozy, and even getting up for a glass of water in the middle of the night feels festive:) Do you have a Christmas tree? What do you celebrate this time of year? Hope you're having a really wonderful holiday season so far.
(The finished tree from this past weekend:)

(Thanks to our friends R&K for taking most of these photos)

Awesome shades

One final post about our place before you're totally sick of it! :) A few people asked about the window treatments, and they're really really awesome. The apartment had old blinds when we moved in, and we were nervous about the cords with the boys. So we got shades from Decorview, which Emily knew about–they basically come to your place, measure everything, help you pick out colors and textures, and then come back and install it all. It's so easy. And the coolest part is that they're motorized!!! You just press a button on the wall—or a remote!

Here's a video we took with the boys in the morning, where Toby is basically speaking a different language the entire time. Haha, three year olds:)

P.S. Toby talking about Indian food, and becoming a New Yorker.

Home makeover: The nursery

Thanks for your comments about the living room makeover yesterday! We were also really grateful to work with Emily on the boys' bedroom. Here are the before-and-after photos, if you'd like to see...
Read More >

Have a lovely weekend.

What are you up to this weekend? Our friend is throwing his annual holiday party tomorrow, so we'll be dressing up and going out! I can't wait to feel like a grown-up:) Next week we'll be sharing photos of our newly decorated apartment (here are the "before" shots). Excited to see what you think. Hope you have a good one, and here are a few fun links from around the web...

Google Street View goes to Venice! Employees wore 360-degree cameras while walking around and riding gondolas to capture all the secret paths and canals.

My friend Abbey told me about this awesome restaurant in New York that serves only steak, fries and salad. That's it. When the waiter comes, you simply tell him how you like your meat.

A year of parenting. Made me laugh.

Pie chart: What's in your suitcase?

The effortless fame of George Clooney.

Yesterday I went to hear a talk by George Lois—he was the real Don Draper—and he was hilarious and inspiring.

This weekend I'll be rereading this brilliant book.

Philippines typhoon relief: A good list of ways to help.

The (very different) bodies of Olympic athletes.

Whoa, these pants are sexy.

The essential Thanksgiving guide.

Colorized historical photos make the past seem incredibly real.

These braids are insane!

A cute holiday video.

And, finally, I can't stop thinking about Kate's beautiful essay. Thank you again for all your amazing and heartfelt comments. Have a good one. xoxo

(Photo of Toby with his beloved violin)

Toby the giraffe

Happy Halloween!!!! Toby was excited to be a giraffe, but when the costume arrived, he thought it was "a little bit scary." We had his old baseball costume from last year ready to go, but this morning he woke up and was super giraffe-ready. We took these shots this morning on the way to school (excuse the spilled juice box on his belly:)
(Doing a giraffe dance, naturally:)

And this evening, we're going trick-or-treating around the 27 floors of our building and are hoping to meet some nice neighbors!

Have a wonderful Halloween!! xoxo

Happy birthday, Alex!

Alex's birthday was this past Saturday, and I thought I'd share a few photos...
Last year, I was the worst since we were traveling on his birthday and I completely forgot to get him a cake (!) so I wanted to make up for it this year. Alex loves cheesecake, so I ordered one from the fancy French bakery Lady M, which is known for its ridiculously amazing cakes. This cheesecake had a cinnamon graham cracker crust and a thin layer of sweetened sour cream on top. Whattup!
We invited our friends over, along with their two kiddos. (Toby and their daughter have been best friends for years.) They had a tough time waiting for the cake to be cut...
Finally, we sang "Happy Birthday," Alex blew out the candle and we dove right in. It was delicious.
The little foursome! Love how Anton is trying to be part of the action. "Hey guys! Back here! How fun is this, you guys?"
The next day, Alex was running errands, so Toby and I dressed up like him and text him the photos as a joke. I think we kind of nailed it, though? Haha.

Hope you guys are having a good week! Happy birthday, Alex!!! We love you!!! xo