I just got back from a fantastic weekend in New York City with my mom and 5-year-old daughter. We planned this trip mainly so we could see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular, because my mom had seen the show with her own grandmother when she was young and wanted to continue the tradition. (Apparently, the spoiling of small children with lavish trips to great cities skips a generation. But that's OK, Mom. I have a lot of "character" instead.)
It was such a nice getaway. And take it from me, if you are ever looking for a way to spend a relaxing weekend with the family and escape the stresses of everyday life, spend a couple of hours with your young child in Times Square during the holiday season.
Ha. Ha. Ha. I really had you going there for a minute, didn't I?
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You'd think that in five years of parenting, I would have learned the delicate balance between creating excitement about an upcoming event and committing to something from which I cannot back out. Which means that when I promised in advance we would ride the Ferris wheel at the Toys R Us in Times Square, I had no idea that setting foot in the store would immediately make me want to flee to the nearest monastery and enlist for a couple of years of blissful solitary reflection. Seriously, I had not seen such a sweaty mass of humanity since I bumped into the Naked Cowboy a block earlier. (Thanks. I'll be here all column.)
However, because the trip was for my kid, I did stand in line to purchase tickets, and then stood in another line to actually get on the ride. This followed standing in line for 20 minutes to use the restroom at the store. I imagine this was very similar to what living in communist Russia must have been like. If the breadline ended in a My Little Pony rainbow car, that is.
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Surprisingly, my daughter who is usually bashful when she walks into any type of situation involving more than a couple of people, loved the chaos that is New York City. Throughout the course of the weekend, she'd hop out of her stroller on busy city streets to help carry it up and down stairs; she chatted up servers at the diners we went to; and she even stood next to us and mimicked our motions when we hailed taxicabs. She was so much fun and such a trooper throughout the weekend and really just seemed to thrive on the energy of the city.
It almost makes me feel bad that I lied to her about the American Girl doll store being closed.