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I get a lot of great blogging opportunities that sound like they will be fun for the kids, but unfortunately, they don’t always play out that way. Like the time I was supposed to do a craft tutorial with Mazzy and Harlow wouldn’t stop clucking like a duck. Or the time Julianne Moore came over and Mazzy got a black eye.

When Cole Haan said they wanted to film an entire day with Mazzy and me “just doing our thing”, I was a bit hesitant.

Don’t get me wrong— I love Cole Haan and have been buying their shoes for the past 15 years. The platform sandals with the pewter straps that everyone always compliments me on? Cole Haan. The animal print slip-on sneakers I often wear on Mazzy’s commute to school? Cole Haan. The black heels with the gold studs I wore to a wedding a few weeks ago? Cole Haan.

I was hesitant because I wasn’t sure how Mazzy would behave when faced with a whole day of filming, especially if there was a lot of direction involved.

But the film crew assured me they just wanted to follow us along on a normal day, doing whatever we do for fun around the city, without any real direction. And Mazzy got excited about the prospect of video, which she suddenly appreciates way more than regular photos.

This also meant we got to pick out shoes for the day. I selected shoes from Cole Haan’s fall line and Mazzy got to pick a pair from their new kid’s line.

Shockingly, she chose shoes that weren’t pink.

On the day of the shoot, I stacked the deck in our favor by picking Mazzy’s favorite NYC haunts— Davey’s Ice Cream Shop on 1st Avenue, Dinosaur Hill Toy Store on 9th Street, Strombolli’s pizza for lunch and the fountain in Washington Square Park.

I am pleasantly surprised to say— Mazzy and I ended up having the absolute best day. And unlike most rare perfect moments with your kids, I have it all on video.

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It was wonderful to have an entire day to spend just the two of us and the cameras were so non-intrusive, we barely noticed them. I don’t know if Mazzy and I have had such a stretch of one-on-one time since before Harlow was born.

It was much needed, I think.

At the end of the day, Mazzy and I both sat in the grass of Washington Square Park because we didn’t want the magic to end. “Do we have to finish up?” I asked the film crew. “No, we’re good,” they said, as they captured Mazzy running around collecting wild flowers, leaves and twigs and delivering each of them to me individually.

“I love bringing you beautiful things, Mommy,” Mazzy said.

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Instinctively, I looked at the sound guy. Like I needed to make sure someone else heard the lovely words coming out of my daughter’s mouth so I would know the moment was real.

Thank you, Cole Haan for capturing this perfect day with my daughter. It serves as an excellent reminder that I need to create special time with my first baby, even when the cameras aren’t rolling.

I’d just like to add that a few weeks after we shot the video above, but before we saw the cut, Mazzy and I were looking through my photos on Instagram. I always try to keep the number of photos I post of both Mazzy and Harlow even, so neither feels slighted one day. But Mazzy only wanted to look at my videos and I realized they are all of Harlow dancing. I could not have been happier when I received this video in my inbox the next day!

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This post was sponsored by Cole Haan, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. You can see their new kid’s line here!