Date Night with your Newborn


Realizing that we were a little short on sustained conversation—lately our evening routine seems to involve a lot of dinner and bedtime hand-offs, screaming (side-glance at Skyler), or general toddler interruptions (“why?” “what doin’ mommy?” etc.)—Aron and I decided to arrange a babysitter for Hudson while we took Skyler out on a walking date. It’s basically a move from our New York playbook, as it’s how we got out with Hudson when he was a baby.

Anyone could of course shoot for a variation on this with a newborn sleeping peacefully in a car seat during dinner, but (at least right now) we’d have had to bring someone else’s newborn to have that happen. But Skyler’s pretty happy to sleep and let us do all the talking—as long as there’s movement involved. I thought I’d share some photos…


There’s a wine bar in town called Vini where you can get 2-oz pours (and stand at counter-height tables, if necessary). So we walked downtown and started there, continuing our stint of Bordeaux-sampling.

Of course, we’re both a little sleep-deprived, so after our wine we walked across the street for coffees.

Next stop was pizza by slice at Vito’s, which neither of us had tried before. (The tagline is “a slice of NY” and thankfully that meant that the slices are crisped in the oven with each order.)

We strolled toward campus and passed by the house I lived in during my last two undergraduate years at UC Davis. (We used to eat dinner on that porch and we had our first kiss on those steps!) It was so great living that close to campus. Funny side note: the babysitter who was with Hudson was my next door neighbor when I lived there. She was only four or so, and I took photos of her for my photography class!

date night-1

We made our second dinner stop at the Mediterranean take-out spot with the best schwarmas, just off campus. At this point, Skyler decided to join us. (Such a noisy third wheel! And doesn’t she look like Hudson in his hat that our friend knit?) After she ate, Aron bounced her a bit around the park until she fell back asleep.


Which meant that we sat down for crepes!


There’s not quite as much to do in Davis as there might have been in the city; stores downtown tend to close at 6pm on weeknights. So we ended our evening browsing the wine selection and the olive bar in the grocery store. Ha! We’ll have to try again on a night when galleries open for Friday night art walks. But honestly I’d also be happy with a couple of coffees and an evening of leisurely bookstore browsing.

date night-3

We didn’t stay out too late—just long enough to be sure Hudson was in bed—since we knew we wouldn’t exactly get to go home and sleep all night. It was the perfect way to have a date (and sustained, adult conversation with each other) at a time when we’re still not quite able to leave sweet Skyler behind.

Speaking of which, if you have kids, how old were they the first time you left them with a babysitter? What did you do for your first date sans baby? (This was ours, after Hudson was born.)

P.S. My initial thoughts on the concept of “date night.” And on seeing a movie on a date.

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