Baby friendly discoveries

I recently joined an online community of mothers (there may be some fathers in there but I don't know yet) that are based in downtown Manhattan (Tribeca, Battery Park City) and the West Village. Online there are discussions about getting kids to sleep, nannies, medications, etc., there is a classifieds section and there is a calendar of events like playgroups for different age groups, lectures, and free events in the area. Through this I was introduced to my local library which has an Early Childhood Resource Center. It's a huge room with the usual library components of books, movies and CDs, but they also have toys and play equipment for children from infants to toddlers. They have story time for kids and other fun activities and today was a "Baby's 1st Library Card" party. So, I took Theo over and he got his first library card. We checked out a couple of CDs and played in one of the exersaucers they had which he thoroughly enjoyed (time to get one of those. Now that he has good neck strength he's getting bored of lying on his back on his playmat and wants to stand all the time). So, I am happy to know there is a place to go that offers a change of scenery for us, it's about a 10-minute walk down the street and it's right next door to a playground that will be lots of fun when he gets older. All in all, joining this group was a smart move on my part. It's opened up the mysterious world of New York City parenting to me and will hopefully be a great resource. Oh, and the West Village group just started a book club. I'm going to miss the first meeting because I'll be in England but I am looking forward to checking it out. I miss my book club back in Seattle and I miss being held responsible for getting some reading done. I'm getting sucked into the world of parent magazines which has it's place but can be limiting for one's conversation skills!