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Tu-Tu Much: Ballet With Eloise At The Plaza

July 3, 2014 / Cheese, Manhattan Munchies, Midtown, Midtown East, New York Food / 4 Comments

Ever since I arrived in New York, I’ve been dying to take my little girl to one of the special Eloise-themed events at The Plaza Hotel. The Plaza pays homage to its most famous “resident” with a special Eloise suite, an Eloise afternoon tea at the Palm Court, and a series of special events run out of the Eloise Shop.

The Eloise shop is one of my favorite drop-ins when I’m in the area with my own E. It has the most adorable Eloise merchandise (that’s a given), but it also has a lovely Eloise tea room with tiny chairs and tables; and another room with a stage, surrounding mirrors, pint sized grand piano and dress up tutus, wands and shoes. (Needless to say, we are frequent visitors at the shop.)

I’ve always thought my E was too young for the events, but when I saw the special ballet event, Creative Ballet with an Eloise Twist (for ages 3-5), I just couldn’t resist. The events are on the pricey side (this one was $75 for adult and child, for a one hour event), but I thought it could be a special outing for us both. The ballet event included a 45 minute lesson followed by pink lemonade and treats, and a “mahvelous” ballet-inspired gift bag.

So on a rainy grey day, we dressed in our ballet finest (or one of us did, anyway), and joined other Eloise-loving ballet fans for a special class à la Eloise. The class was completely adorable: Two teachers led a bevy of ballerinas through stretches, tendues and twirls, encouraging their imaginations with a fantasy journey through Central Park and flying like a butterfly.

At a couple points during the class, my E had an attack of shyness (or nerves?) and freaked out a bit when she moved around the room and couldn’t see me anymore, which is so unlike her. The teachers couldn’t have been kinder or sweeter with her, gently encouraging her to join them, holding her hand, and including her in everything even when she was hiding in my lap.

Following the ballet class was snack time. Usually this is held in the tea room within the Eloise store, but today it was booked for a party so we had our snacks in the main restaurant in the hotel instead. The atmosphere was just not the same, sadly. The kids were seated at too-tall tables and large, uncomfortable chairs that were totally unsuitable for little kids. We were surrounded by adult diners enjoying their lunches, which meant that the kids had to sit still (uh-oh!), talk quietly, and stay put (which, frankly, is very un-Eloise-like).

The snacks were nice and simple, however: The menu included strawberry lemonade, fresh fruit skewers and sugar cookies. As we left, we were given our gift bag, which included a cute Eloise tee and water bottle.

Before leaving I let E have a run around the Eloise store. She adores the baby grand piano — as do a lot of aspiring Eloise’s!

Eloise At The Plaza Hotel
1 W 58th St
Manhattan, NY
Phone: (212) 546 5460
Get Directions

A Rawther Fancy Tea Party With Eloise At The Plaza

June 9, 2014 / Cheese, Manhattan Munchies, Midtown, Midtown East, New York Food / 2 Comments

Something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time is take little E to an Eloise-themed Rawther Fancy Tea Party at the Plaza Hotel. The Rawther Fancy Tea Parties are part of the special events run under the Plaza Hotel in the Eloise store. I ADORE the Eloise character and have been so excited to share her with my own Miss E. So it happened on a steamy, rainy Friday that the Little One and I found ourselves at the pinkest tea party that ever might be.

Our host, Stephanie, made us feel extremely welcome. Stephanie ran the tea party for us, providing us with pink lemonade as well as real tea (E and I both had citrus chamomile). It was E’s first “real tea” and she flipped out when I gave it to her, because it made her feel like such a big girl to be drinking adult tea with mummy.

Our afternoon tea delights arrived on a three-tiered platter of illustrated Eloise plates. The bottom plate held fruit skewers, the middle plate had sandwiches (egg salad, cream cheese and cucumber and peanut butter and jelly), and the on the top plate, sweets (mini cup cakes, chocolate brownie and choc chip cookies). Please excuse the terrible photo of the tea platter. E was SO EXCITED when it was placed in front of her that she photobombed me and I laughed so hard the camera shook.

The Rawther Fancy Tea Party was held in the party room in the Eloise Store, which is under the Plaza Hotel, next to the Plaza Food Hall. We’ve visited the store before on many occasions and E has always been attracted to the tiny chairs and tables — a perfect size for this little one to feel like a big girl, while at a very special tea party with kids her age in mind.

E tried a little of everything, but particularly loved the mini cupcake and the fruit. I happily ate the sandwiches (LOVE me some tea sandwiches) and can report that they were delicious. The fruit was super fresh and tasty (they didn’t taste like the fruit had been sliced hours earlier, languishing in a fridge), and the baked goods were all kid-friendly crowd pleasers (it is hard to go wrong with cookies and brownies.) As often happens with me and tea, we couldn’t eat all the sweets so we had them boxed up to take home.

Our fellow tea party goers were girls of similar age, along with their mum or mum plus an out of town friend. After our tea party we all wrote letters to Eloise. Stephanie told us that Eloise always writes back, so we’re very excited to receive a special letter in the mail. Miss E “wrote” her letter in some beautiful swirly drawings, at the end of which I added that we loved our tea party and wished Eloise had been able to make it.

The letters were all posted in the appointed Eloise mail box, ready for delivery upstairs to the Plaza’s most famous resident. E loved posting the letter so much that she took out everyone else’s letters and reposted them all several times.

Next came story time. Stephanie read two shorter Eloise books to the party in the back room of the Eloise store, while we lounged on the bright pink ottomans.

And then the party was over! Each child received a gift bag containing an Eloise pencil, postcard, mints, gift voucher to the store, and a book.

We shopped around, said “hello!” to Eloise, and went home. We love, love, love a tea party! Thanks Eloise and The Plaza!

Rawther Fancy Tea Parties are held on Friday at 4pm at the Plaza Hotel. Cost is $100 for an adult and child pair. Reservations are required.

The Plaza Hotel
Fifth Avenue at Central Park South,
New York, NY 10019

Eloise Starts School

September 10, 2013 / Cheese, Family, Kids / 0 comment

Today was my little Cheese’s first day of “school”. And by school, I mean her 2s programs, which are nursery schools (she’s doing two programs – each one two days a week for a few hours at a time).

I wasn’t sure how she’d go at her first class today – I was pretty confident she would be fine, but you never know till it’s time to let go. The first of her two programs is where she has attended other classes with me since she was six months old, so she knew the space and teachers already.

At the gate, she was a bit confused as to what was happening, with so many adults and kids all stampeding in – I put her down, pointed out the teachers she knew, and off she went, without looking back. My big girl.

I was able to spy on her during one period of the session (we were asked to stay onsite for their first session), and it was a joy to see Cheese running and playing and interacting with the teachers and kids, happy and at ease. At the end of class she came running to me with her artwork, telling me about her day (“Moooo” – there was a cow puppet – and “YYYYY” – the letter she learned).

Even though her 2s programs aren’t “real” school, it feels like a big step we’ve taken today – from here on in, little Cheese is going to be in school. I feel so proud of her for how outgoing she was today. Myself, I am feeling super emotional about this big first step my little girl has taken towards developing her own, beautiful life.

Eloise’s 2nd Birthday Party

August 28, 2013 / Cheese, Family, Kids / 1 Comment

Since Missy Eloise is such a lover of climbing and running, we decided to throw an easy party at a playground close to us. For the theme I decided on a pink and green safari, since she loves jungle animals so much. Photos by the awesomely talented Kristy May Photography.

Eloise had such a blast at her party! All her friends came and jumped around in the sprinklers, then stuffed their faces with cupcakes by Georgetown.

Invitations, sign, banners and thank you cards all from Eclectic Note Cards.

Fondant safari animals from the Cupcake Stylist.

Balloons, gift bags, plates, cutlery, table cloth from Party City.

Happy birthday darling girl! We’re so glad you enjoyed your second birthday. We love you, crazy little lady!

In Which The Very Tricksy Cheese Turns 2

August 22, 2013 / Cheese, Family / 2 Comments

Today was Missy Eloise’s second birthday. We started the day reminiscing about the day she was born – what we were doing that morning, how labour had started the night before. It then dawned on me that I’ve completely forgotten the majority of that day. I have highlights that burst into my brain when I think back (not appropriate for this blog post however), but when I think back on the day really hard, I can’t remember much about the c-section, after the operation, and the following 5 days when I was in hospital. In my head, it seems like it was only a day. Where did those memories go? Is it PTSD?

Me: “Alec, I only remember that I vomited on the anaesthetist during the cesarean.”

Alec: “It’s probably good that you don’t remember the arc of blood that spurted over the screen and hit you in the face.”

!!!!!!!

I digress.

Alec and I often joke that Eloise knows it’s a special day and does her best to … I wouldn’t say ruin it, but she certainly doesn’t make it easy to relax and celebrate anything. For her own birthday, she didn’t nap. Instead she stood in her crib shrieking like a banshee for about two hours. While I was desperately trying to prepare for her party that afternoon, Alec took her out in the stroller to try for a stroller nap. After half an hour of wailing, he was blessed with a half hour nap. Not exactly a win.

So with a pretty manic and irritable toddler, we kicked off the party celebrations with Eloise’s dearest little friends. Her buddies, thankfully, were all in fabulous moods. It was such a blessing to be surrounded by our loving friends – both big and small. Eloise’s mood was turned around by all her little friends too – she definitely enjoyed her party and playing with her friends. I loved watching her agilely climb play equipment and throw herself down slides, and then splash in the sprinklers with all her buddies. The sweetest moment was seeing most of the kids all jumping in the puddles together, dancing and running and laughing. Pure toddler bliss. Beautiful.

Age age two, Eloise is showing a lot of signs of the person she is growing into. Physically she is so fast and agile, it’s astounding. Considering her gene pool of sprinters and sportsmen, it’s not very surprising. We will be putting her in some sporting environments over winter, like soccer, to see if she enjoys it.

She’s also really smart. Her problem solving skills have suddenly exploded. She can count items up to four, sings songs (she loves “Wheels on the Bus” and “1,2,3,4”), loves puzzles and books.

Verbally, Eloise is pretty entertaining. While her vocabulary is huge (I’d say she knows over a hundred words, minimum), she only says the first syllable of most words. Sometimes we need a translator. She can name a huge amount of objects and animals, including the sound they make. She really enjoys doing things like standing inside the fridge doors and naming everything in the fridge, pointing to the things she doesn’t know the name of. She often asks what something is, or where someone or something is.

What I’ve enjoyed the most during this past year is the development of Eloise’s personality. She’s fun and funny, and just enjoys life so much. She loves exploring everything in her world, from pebbles to flowers and the rain. She gives us spontaneous hugs and kisses when she’s happy, and oh, don’t we know it, when she’s not (NO SHOOESSSSSS!)! She loves “cooking” in her kitchen (“chop chop!), “pat pat”-ing dogs (and naming their body parts – watch out for the eyes!), and kicking a soccer ball. She adores her friends, even if she doesn’t quite understand how to play with them yet, and she’s showing empathy – wanting to know why someone is “sad” (read: baby crying hysterically).

Our little lady is a non-stop ball of energy. Go, go, go from she wakes till she crashes asleep. So many things to explore and learn about. So many dogs to pat, pictures to draw, ladders to climb. Her enthusiasm is amazing (and exhausting to follow!).

Happy second birthday to our darling girl. We love you, we love you, we love you, you crazy, impossible, adorable kid.

Hopes And Dreams For Eloise

April 29, 2013 / Cheese, Family, Kids / 0 comment

I like to joke about wanting Eloise to be a dancer, or a software engineer, but the truth is I don’t care what career path my little girl takes. What’s most important to me is the type of person she grows up to be. I have a lot of dreams for her – and I hope that I will be a good enough mother to help her become the kind of person who people will love and admire.

So here’s my advice to my baby girl, on what I’ve learned so far is the path to happiness, peace of heart, and love.

Be kind. To everyone, even people you don’t like. Be kind to animals, be kind to your elders, be kind to people you see being picked on.

Be patient. You already show signs of my impatience, so this will be hard for you. Slow down, take deep breathes, control your irritability. I promise you if you can master this, it will serve you well throughout your whole life, and you will regret your behaviour far less than I do. Good luck with this though, as you’re already a little spit-fire.

Know the consequences of your actions. You’re only one person, but everything you will do through your life will have reaching consequences, even if you can’t see them. A flippant comment to someone you don’t know might ruin their entire day.

Be empathetic towards strangers and people who do you wrong. This is something that I’ve also struggled with a lot – not empathy towards friends and family, which is easy, but trying to keep my temper in check with people who aren’t in my immediate circle is really hard for me – and for you too, if you inherit this trait from me. Someone who is unkind to you might be having the worst day of their lives, you just don’t know it. When someone is a complete A-hole and steals your seat from you on the subway when you’re pregnant, imagine their hardships before assuming the worst. Try your hardest, anyway, and then tell them to give you the goddam seat.

Value all life. If you choose to eat meat, know that an animal gave its life for it and think about that before you dig in.

Stand up for yourself and what you know to be right. Note: this will not make you popular. But it will make you someone who is true to themselves, and not a sheeple. Please don’t be a sheeple, both your dad and I can’t stand them. Learning to act for yourself, especially when it’s against what everyone else is doing, is so hard when you’re a teenager, and even in your early 20s. People like people who are like them, and find comfort in it. If you’re different, it will start out hard, but will be ultimately rewarding as you find your true path in life. Standing out as a true individual will help you in ways you won’t be able to imagine when at the time all you can see is your friends at a party pressuring you to smoke something nasty. When you want to succeed in life, being an individual will help you step above the general masses to land jobs, be offered opportunities, and also help you to be truly happy with the person who you are.

Go with love. Love as hard as you can – your friends, your family, your animals, your hobbies, and, hopefully, a life partner and then children, if you decide to have them. Love every day you wake up to, love the details, just love, love, love. It’s the most fulfilling pleasure you will have in life.

Peace as I know it comes from acting kindly, patiently, empathetically and with love. When I do something like snap at friends, or take out my frustration on people who don’t deserve it, a few hours later I always feel bad. If it’s a particularly bad things I’ve said or done, I’ve felt bad for YEARS – in some instances I still feel bad whenever I think about it. Please learn from me. Make your own mistakes, don’t repeat my thoughtless ones.

Little girl, I love watching you grow, learn and attack the world with joy. I hope I can guide your footsteps while you’re learning to run, skip and hop, and watch with pride in your shadow as you take flight into your own, beautiful life.

Eloise – 18 months

February 23, 2013 / Cheese, Kids / 0 comment

I turned around and suddenly my little squirmy noodle hit another 6 month notch.

Since turning one, Eloise has developed into a real little kid. Running everywhere at top speed, dancing, play pretend with her dolls and her toy kitchen. She’s so physical, and is getting really agile. She loves walking on the balance beam at kids club and swinging on the parallel bars like a little gymnast. Put on music and she taps her feet, sways and shakes her head to the beat. The independent streak she’s shown since she was born is still at the forefront of her character – she’s so physically brave.

One of the best developments is the physical affection. We now get hugs and kisses and real interaction. It’s so magical. Eloise understands so much of what we say to her now, following directions and replying to questions we ask her. She also speaks! Lots of words where she says the first syllable, like cheese, water, milk, duck, more, cheddar bunnies, dog, ball. Some words she can say two syllables, like bubble and baby. She’s also started to string words together, like “hi dada”, and “bye becky” (becky is a butterfly).

Eloise has gotten really attached to a little toy mouse, who she’s called Mimi. If she can’t find Mimi she gets hysterical.

All of her baby teeth have come in, with the exception of the 2 year molars. We had a brutal few months while they came through – hopefully now we’ll get some sleep again. Eloise’s sleep in the past few months has been terrible – a big remission to waking multiple times a night again. Bad, bad news.

Eloise has started to love drawing with crayons, and particularly loves books. From when she wakes up in the morning to when she goes to bed, it’s all about “books, books, books!!!”. She likes to have them read to her, and also likes sitting in the armchair in her bedroom looking through the books herself, particularly books with animals in them. If we point to animals she can either make the noise they make, or says their name. It’s co cute! She also refers to herself as “Cheese”, which is a parenting fail, but incredibly adorable.

She’s also started to play pretend with her toys – feeding her dolls, making us tea in her kitchen. It’s so adorable, even if she’s making some dubious recipes like carrot-flavoured tea.

Eloise’s 1st Birthday Party in NYC

September 2, 2012 / Cheese, Family, Kids, New York Life / 0 comment

For our little girl’s first birthday, we threw a party at Jane’s Carousel, Dumbo. We were blessed with a gorgeous day, with everything coming together beautifully for our little baby’s big day.

Welcome to the party! All stationary via Bekkah Little, Etsy.

Sugar cookies in the shape of ballet slippers from SugarFairies, Etsy. Photos of Eloise taken each month and assembled in a row.

Strawberry lemonade cupcakes from Betty Bakery, Brooklyn. Ballerina toppers from Annie’s General Store. Tutu cake toppers from JeanKnee, Etsy.

Vanilla cake with dulce de leche filling and pink vanilla buttercream, from One Girl Cookies, Brooklyn. Ballet slippers and sign from Crumby Art, Etsy.

Tutu!

Eloise’s headband by Devon Evenson, Etsy.

With birthday buddy, Clementine.

Lunch was bagels from Mocha Bagels, Brooklyn.

Carousel ride!

Cutting the cake.

Cupcake face plant.

With Daddy.

Happy birthday to our dearest love. We love you more and more every day, little Cheese.

Photography by Raquel Frechette.

Eloise’s 1st Birthday Party

September 2, 2012 / Cheese, Family, Kids, New York Life, USA / 0 comment