Amalia Fashionista Accessorizes

Since  she passed her second birthday and moved from Miami to Manhattan, granddaughter Amalia has revised and refined  her fashion vibe. 

 Leaving the bikinis and sundresses behind, she’s transformed her wardrobe for winter in the Big Apple.  And like Coco Chanel, whose ever-present pearls are an inspiration, Amalia believes, “The ability to accessorize is what separates us from the animals.”

Like many New Yorkers, Amalia often wears black.

Especially when working with penguins --one of her favorite animals.  She often visits them at the Central Park Zoo.)

This brown outfit needed something to make it pop—she decided to add her lime green owl backpack.

For eating a mini-cupcake in a diner, she wore her shiny red Minnie Mouse boots and a white hooded jacket.

She has to pick the right workout clothes for Tuesdays (hip-hop dance class) and Thursdays (yoga) at the nearby store “Sprout.”

This outfit was a favorite of her yoga partner.

For a casual Sunday brunch, she picks her cozy Hello Kitty robe, Dora socks and her favorite baseball hat—worn backwards.

Fake glasses add a note of gravitas when you’re playing doctor.

A new Poochie Purse inspired her “Snow fun” top and multiple necklaces.

For working on her I-Pad, Amalia chose black galoshes and her cupcake-topped tutu, but she felt there was something missing.

Her old faithful Dora baseball cap!

This outfit, with the matching knitted leggings, needed no embellishment

For baking and eating Valentine cookies, she picked her LOVE shirt with a heart on it.

Choosing the right purse for an outfit is critical.

Watching Dora videos on Yiayia’s computer called for some butterfly wings and a tutu, along with her penguin top.

On Valentine’s Day,  Amalia baked heart cupcakes and entertained Uncle Bob and Auntie Robin in a black outfit with hearts and a hat worn backwards for a cloche effect.

Last week’s storm, which caused havoc in New York, prevented some child models from getting to a photographer’s studio in the building where her Mommy works, so Amalia was pressed into service for a catalogue shoot. 

Here she is getting ready in hair and make-up.

She liked the outfit they put on her, but if she were accessorizing the photo shoot herself, she would have added a poochie purse and a baseball cap—backwards, of course!

Amalia's Art Deco Miami Beach Birthday

Granddaughter Amalia's second birthday was celebrated on August 25th in two cabanas of Miami Beach's art deco Raleigh Hotel with its famous swimming pool that seems to be perpetually waiting for Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire or Esther Williams to show up.

We tied some balloons to the palm trees so guests could find the party, but Amalia objected loudly to the balloons--not because she thinks they're too kitsch-y, but because she finds balloons scary.

She cheered up when a man named Bobby brought pitchers of lemonade and iced tea and red and white Sangria.  That's Abuela Carmen on the right.

He also brought some pizza to the cabana.  Amalia decided she would check it out.

It was so tasty that she ate the whole pizza before any of the guests arrived.

Amalia and the other little girls ignored the famous swimming pool and kept dipping water out of the pool with empty sangria glasses and pouring it on the sand so they could make sand castles.

Finally Mommy and Papi managed to lure Amalia into the pool to pose for a family photo.

Amalia was fascinated with one of her presents--a toy for making cakes and sweets out of play dough.

While the adults ate pizza and drank sangria, Amalia concentrated on the play dough.

Then Bobby brought some special ice cream that was a surprise sent by Amalia's Tia Marina who was in San Francisco and couldn't come to the party.

Then they brought the cake that Amalia had chosen with her Mommy from Epicure: it was alternating layers of chocolate and vanilla cake with strawberry mousse between the layers and butter cream frosting.  What Amalia liked best was the confetti on top.

Everybody sang to Amalia as she dug into the cake for her first bite.

Everybody waited to see how she liked it.

But after one bite she abandoned the cake and the fancy ice cream and went back to nibbling on the play dough cupcake she had made.

When it started to get dark, Amalia knew it was time to say good-bye.

 There were goody bags for the children.

And when she went home, there was another present -- a Dora tricycle that made noise and gave directions in Spanish and English. It was a surprise from Yiayia Eleni and Papi had assembled it.

After careening around the house....

Amalia ended the evening by dancing with her Papi...

It was her best birthday ever!

You Know You’re the Grandma of a Toddler When……..

…when you get undressed at night and Cheerios fall out of your bra

…when your arms and legs are embellished with bandaids featuring the Muppets and Dora the Explorer

….and your shoes, purse and glasses cases are embellished with an eclectic collection of stickers

….when you feel no qualms about plopping the little angel in front of the computer to watch multiple episodes of “Pocoyo” or “Elmo’s World” while you shovel food into her mouth.  (Quote from daughter Eleni—“Right!  I’ve always wanted to train my child to eat mindlessly in front of the TV.”)

…when you hear yourself coming out with conversational gems like: “Grandma has to go pee-pee in the toilet now.  No, you can’t watch.”

and….”If you go poo-poo in the potty chair, Grandma will let you watch another Pocoyo

…when you refer to your glass of sauvignon blanc as “Grandma juice”

…when, every time a camera is turned your way, you grab the toddler and place her in front of your less photogenic body parts

....when the pacifier falls to the ground in the middle of Park Avenue and you invoke the five second rule, wipe it on your sleeve and pop it back into her mouth.

…when you never leave the house without checking the contents of your emergency kit:  extra pacifier, juice box (make sure the straw is attached) goldfish crackers, baby wipes, extra diaper, Elmo band-aids, bubble blowing stuff.

…. when a temper tantrum in the middle of a fancy restaurant forces your ultimate weapon--you hand over your smart phone tuned to favorite episodes of Pocoyo.

…when you can recite “Mr Brown Can Moo, Can You?” by heart.  Not to mention “Goodnight Moon,” which you haven’t forgotten since you first learned it 35 years ago.

….and when your “Absolutely not!” can be transformed into “Maybe just this once” by those four little words: “I love you Grandma.”