I took her out. It was a Friday night.

Amy has been inundated with requests for babysitters as our business grows, and she's only to happy too oblige. As long as a sitter is available, that is! Weekends have become our busiest times yet, with Friday evenings and Saturday mornings leading the pack of our most-requested days and times. Nothing turns our smiles upside down more than turning down a parent in need, especially when the little Explorers we sit for are so darn cute to boot. To that end, beginning in April we are instituting regular weekend drop-off babysitting at our playspace in Prospect Height sat 186 Underhill Ave. On two Friday nights, April 16th or April 30th, make reservations for your little one(s) for one of our Movie Date Nights. Go out for dinner and a movie while you tot stays in with us for the same! The $40 fee per child includes a pizza and juice dinner, supervised play in our playspace, and a G-rated, family-friendly movie viewing, all in the comfort of our Prospect Heights space, and under the watchful supervision of our Bag of Tricks Babysitters from 6pm-10pm. Bring your peanut in pajamas and pack a sleeping bag for an especially drowsy tot! Then stop by on your way home from your date to pick your child up from his! Saturday morning options include April 10th and 24th, and run from 8am-1pm. The $40 per child fee for Saturday mornings includes a bagel breakfast, Saturday morning cartoons, and admission to our playspace, again under the close supervision of our wonderful sitters! Siblings are always %25 off of all of our programs. Unfamiliar with our sitters? For a chance to meet them prior to scheduling your weekend drop-off sitting, attend our Meet the Sitters event this Thursday, April 1st at 7pm. Stop by 186 Underhill for a chance to get to know some of the ladies and gents who care for Brooklyn's cutest, and to book a sitter of your own. Contact Amy Yurcan at (718)809-6486 or ayurcan@nycityexplorers.com for details!

They are the dancing queens, young and sweet, only...

... 2 or 3! You haven't seen cute until you've seen our Tuesday afternoon Explorer's Club tots don tutus and pirouette into the bright and spacious studio of Brooklyn Ballet. Last Tuesday's class, which began with each child being gifted a container of bubbles, reviewed the basic dance positions and taught the little ones to arabesque in a way that would put Martha Graham to shame! The tiny tots skipped, twirled and leaped their way through the dance moves as they pretended to pop bubbles in the air, grow bubbles bigger with their arms and gallop like a Pegasus. Little Reza, who is such an involved participant in Explorer's Club that no one would recognize him as the baby who cried his way through his first month with the crew, gets a little shaky when confronted with the noise of the trains running underneath the studio. While he did twinkle his little toes to the music here and there, he spent the majority of class listening to the engines running underneath him and keeping an eye on the action from the sidelines, leaving little Lev to be the lone danseur for the bulk of the session. Judging by the tutu around his waist and the smile on his cute little face, Lev didn't seem to mind one bit!
It's never a surprise for Brooklyn kids to be natural performers, and considering how many of our Explorers' parents are artists themselves, it's no wonder these little babies are especially talented! Looking for your culture fix this weekend? Keep it in the NY City Explorers family and show your support for Lili's and Simone's dad, Alexander Gorlizki, as he celebrates the opening of his new show, "The First Time I Heard You Blink" at the Greenberg Van Doren Gallery. For details, see: http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Exhibitions.asp?gid=79&cid=189353.

And the award goes to...

...Keyanna Murrill, for excellence in business ownership! Well, not exactly. While Keyanna does an amazing job as co-owner of New York City Explorers, along with her old college roommate, Kisha Gandsy, the real prize came late last week when she was the recipient of the Congressman Elijah E. Cummings Congressional Achievement Award!
Keyanna, who participated in the Elijah Cummings Youth Program as a high school student, was presented with the award by the Congressman himself for being a "Legend Among Us" amongst her peers in the program. As a member of the program, which is designed to cultivate leadership, Keyanna participated in workshops in leadership development, donated countless hours to various community service projects in her Baltimore community and participated in a trip to Israel. In Israel, Keyanna's leadership training continued with lessons in group dynamics, appreciation of cultural diversity, and team-building, even as she and the other future leaders enjoyed tours of such sights as the Jordan River and the Dead Sea.
As a successful business owner in New York City, Keyanna epitomizes the program's values. Congrats to the lovely and talented Keyanna on her accomplishments and on receiving this honor!
Our Explorers may not be as accomplished as Keyanna yet, but we have no doubt that they will be soon! What they already are is bright, cute and artistic, and at the end of any given day of the week we still adore each and every one as much as when they arrived in the morning. That level of adorable deserves just as much of an award as any of Keyanna's accomplishments do! To that end, on April 2nd we will honor our Explorer's Club tykes with a Jazzy Tea Party, complete with our very own awards ceremony. Grab your tot, pack him or her a fancy-pants outfit, and join in the fun. Festivities begin at 4:00 pm for all Explorer's Club members and families.

Here's the sunshine!

A generous dose of beautiful weather energized Brooklynites last week, making up for some of the time change-induced exhaustion that seemed to have taken a toll on Sunday and Monday. As kids piled out of the apartments they had been nestled into all winter long and streamed into the city's playgrounds, it was also time for all of our Explorers to head into some fresh air.
The 2: Cool for School Crew arrived on Wednesday morning in plenty of time to embark on the morning's trip. Even Tommy arrived bright and early, if only to gobble some of Blue Marble's delicious chocolate chip banana bread, which he had been promised by his father in exchange for heading out the door with a quickness. Amy, with the help of Yamileth and Anderson's chaperon, Lisa, lightly bundled the tots and led them out the door for a walk to the Brooklyn Museum. Since Amaya, Thelonius, Tommy, Anderson and Jackson arrived with their teachers before the doors were even unlocked, they had plenty of time to explore the exhibits before snack time, including Egyptian jewelry, African funeral rites costumes and a display of children's artwork in the education wing.
While the 2s were ensconced in the ancient world, Gayla, with the help of Bag if Tricks Babysiter Melissa Bayer as a chaperon, treated the cutie pies at Explorer's Club to a more modern morning at the Transit Museum. The museum, which was closed for renovations over the winter, has finally reopened in time for the warm weather that brings crowds of little ones with it. Their fellow New Yorkers from Upstate may enjoy monster truck rallies and hay rides, but the city slicker tots in Explorer's Club can't get enough of the underground transit system!
The boys and girls in each of our enrichment programs love going on neighborhood trips, but soon they won't have to go far from home base to get a taste of the outdoors: our backyard at 186 Underhill Ave will be spruced up for the season and open to all of our visiting Explorers any day now, so check our website at www.nycityexplorers.com for details, grab a Stevia-sweetened iced tea from Blue Marble and head out to the ( safely fenced-in) great outdoors. A tree does grow in Brooklyn after all!

Presenting the amazing Isaac!

Saturday evening found Amy sitting for Isaac Westlake for the first time since the barely 2-year-old climbed out of his crib for the first time last week. In an amazing feat of baby-gymnastics, Isaac slung his leg over the rail of the crib and was out of his bedroom faster that most tots can say, "Got milk?" While no babies were harmed during the telling of this tale, Amy was still glad to hear that Isaac has been bed-trained! Congrats to his parents on such a speedy transition! In fact, the only drama that evening was Amy's alone, as she was almost blown over by over-zealous winds on her way to Isaac's home.
For those parents, like Isaac's, who also want to enjoy some weekend fun sans children, our Bag of Tricks Babysitting service is only one of several fantastic options. Not only will April be filled with showers (and baby showers for two of our friends at Blue Marble!) but it will also be filled with weekend babysitting alternatives for neighborhood mamas and papas.
Need some time for Saturday morning errands, an extra hour of sleep or a brunch free of the children's menu? Drop off your Explorer at our Prospect Heights playspace at 186 Underhill Ave from 8am until 1pm for a bagel breakfast, Saturday morning cartoons, a playspace full of toys and friends and a belly full of lunch in the afternoon! Space is available on April 10 and April 24, for only $60/child. Sibling discounts are available at a rate of %25 off of the full price for all of our programs. Not a morning person? Let your tyke enjoy dinner and a movie as you so the same! Book your Explorer's spot at one of our Movie Date Night events, currently scheduled for 4/16 and 4/30 from 6pm-10pm. $60 fee includes a yummy dinner and kid-friendly movie viewing at our Prospect Heights playspace.
Both Sleep-In Saturdays and Movie Date Nights are led by one of our fantastic CPR/First Aid-certified, back-ground-checked, fun and experienced Bag of Tricks Babysitters. For more information or to book your little one's adventure, see our website or contact Amy Yurcan at ayurcan@nycityexplorers.com or (718)809-6486.

"Class"y Babies!

It's a new season full on new beginnings for the tots at NY City Explorers' full-time enrichment program, Explorer's Club. In addition to the new Savvy Scientists, Mathletes and World Culture Club classes being taught by resident teacher Amy on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Brooklyn's Cutest began two new outward bound classes this week. Tuesday afternoon saw the group walking down Schermerhorn to Brooklyn Ballet, and yesterday morning the kids headed to the studio of local artist, Nephrii Amenii. In addition to being an author and local artist who works with clay, mask-making and puppetry, Amenii teaches in New York City public schools and in the Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation's Arts in Education department. Amenii's teaching and art draws inspiration from ancient African philosophy and spirituality. On the Explorers' first visit to her studio, the group enjoyed hearing a reading of a book authored by the artist, Memories of a Little Elephant followed by an elephant-inspired movement exercise session and a craft where glitter, paper, plastic and imagination were used to build an elephant's memory!
Most of the little ones were ready for a visit from Mr. Sandman after such an active morning,which also included Hip to the Hop class with Vino, but Laudan spent only a few minutes tossing and turning before deciding that nap time was just not in the cards for her that afternoon. What was in the cards? Lunch with Gayla, which the 3-year-old cutie spent sitting at a table asking about the ingredients of Gayla's veggi-ful soup! Laudan was particularly curious about the seasonings Gayla added to her soup. Not a big surprise considering the amount of time she spends in the kitchen cooking with Grandpa, whose Persian-inspired menu often includes more vegetables in one dish than most of us eat in a week!

Spring has sprung!

2: Cool for School was off to a tearful start this morning, as the adorable Jackson had some uncharacteristic separation anxiety form his mama and baby brother Cade! The always adorable Jackson has been adjusting to life in a new house over the past two weeks, though, and while any move has its challenges, a mid-Winter move in New York City can take on a life of its own, so Amy, Yamileth and Lyouba were happy to cut the usually jolly tot some slack.
While Tommy and Jackson were engaging in their daily ritual of trading toy car for toy car (or in this morning's case toy tow truck for toy Hummer), the twos, threes and fours at Schermerhorn's Explorer's Club were involved in a more academic pursuit. Keyanna, along with the help of our rock star interns, gave the group a lesson in finances---Or at least coin recognition!
After a stimulating lesson that included shopping in a faux food store and ended with coin-recognition bingo, the older kids were more than happy to join the rest of the group for some time outdoors. More than an hour of climbing, yelling and jumping that included a foot race between Laudan and Liliana to test out each girl's new sneakers. What's that? Running outside without fear of slipping on ice? Dare we say it?..."Hello Spring!" It was impossible not to be in great spirits as the sun shone on the group. Spring is known as a time for growth, and Shelton was outshining the budding trees outside as she grew from baby to teacher's assistant this morning, trying with all of her might to push baby Teddy on the swings as Gayla and Brittany looked on in delight!
Spring flowers aren't the only new arrivals we're waiting on during the next few weeks. The Underhill location of Blue Marble Ice Cream, with which we share our Prospect Heights location, has two new Mini Marbles on the way. Jenny's little boy is due to arrive any day now with Dominique's new daughter hot on his trail. Good luck to both new mommies as they make final preparations for the new arrivals!

A festival of lights!

Wednesday morning the members of Schermerhorn's Explorer's Club belatedly celebrated the Chinese Lantern Festival. Recognized for over 2,000 years, the Lantern Festival is thought to be the birthday of the Heaven Officer, who, according to Chinese tradition, blesses human luck. Sharon, from Lango, the fantastic company that partners with NY City Explorers to teach our Explorer's Club tots Mandarin, arrived with stories and craft supplies in tow. A discussion about Chinese New Year, followed by the making of paper lanterns, had the kids alight with excitement through lunch time!
While riding their imaginations to China is the farthest form the country that most of the Explorers have been since the winter holiday season, Marlow returned just over one week ago from a jaunt in Mexico. While a multitude of Brooklynites chose to staycation over New York City schools' February break, with many exploring New York while attending our fabulous winter break day camp, Marlow joined her parents and older brother, Will, with big plans that included finally being able to wear her pink sunglasses in the middle of the winter. Much to the movie star's disappointment, however, foul weather kept her and her sunglasses indoors for much of the vacation! It's a good thing Marlow looks as fab in a rain jacket as she does in a bikini!
Today's weather may not beat that of a beach in Mexico during the summer, but it sure beats New York City in January! Spring is in the air, and if the crowds in our neighborhoods' play grounds today are any indication, the tots of the city have been suffering from cabin fever just as intensely as the adults have been! Our favorite intern Ka Yiu has felt so cooped up this winter that she's threatening to fly the coop entirely, all the way to Hong Kong! Our amazing Explorer's Club assistant has big plans for big shopping when she visits her home country next, which purchases including a new lap top and a new wardrobe!