Perhaps you’re wondering how the NYC book-launch party for The Perfect Baby Handbook unfolded? The creation of which left me hallucinating bird-shaped cookies, and swearing never to make light of a publicist or party planner’s labors again? Thanks for asking!

It was a terrific success by most standard measurements, with over 100 of Manhattan’s brightest, best, and most expertly potty-trained citizens in attendance including: Media luminaries from Elle, People, New York Magazine, and Us Weekly; sinewy French people; sinewy French children; surprise arrivals from Los Angeles; implausibly well-rested Tribeca mommies; couples in matching retro horn-rimmed glasses; and one youngish man who made me dedicate a copy of the book to his nieces, “who model regularly in Vogue Bambini.”

But my favorite part was probably the flowers, which accompanied us back to Perfect Baby Handbook Worldwide Headquarters on Montague Street afterwards in a car driven by my assertive friend, Anjali, who claims she wants her global positioning device to shout at her in a strong New Jersey accent “so I’ll feel at home.” (Thanks to Amanda at Seaport Flowers in Brooklyn Heights.)