The best words of all

Sofia has been uttering a few choice phrases lately. But late last week she said words I will remember forever.

"I love you, Sofia," I said as we played in the living room.

"I love you too," she replied.

Just like her first smile at me was the best smile I'll ever see, just like the first time she kissed me on the cheek was the best kiss I'll ever get, that little sentence in that little voice was the best thing I'll ever hear.

You’ll never guess what Sofia did…

On Halloween, she dressed up in her pumpkin princess costume (an orange tutu with a green leaf collar and orange hat with green sprout) and went out with her mama. She learned the phrase “trick or treat” and a crucial word that she will use the rest of her life: chocolate.

her highness 
The experience was a positive one for her: never before had she realized that if you simply dress up, go house to house and say “trickortreat” (all one word) that random strangers will happily give you candy, and make a fuss besides.
As for us: Use of the phrase “trick or treat” is now forbidden. Uttering it causes Sofia to go find said costume and ask to go outside.

The week after she got over her first cold, it was as if deadbolt holding all words she had been storing in that little brain had finally been let loose. Soon after waking up one morning about two weeks ago, she saw that the birds outside her window had left and said “Birdie go bye-bye.” A few days later, she was outside with me as I was finishing up some yard work and she told her mama, “Dadda raking.” The new words haven't stopped yet.

The road to the shopping paradise that is Route 44 in Avon takes us past the Conn. Governor’s Horse Guards and Sofia likes to see the horses. “Neigh” she says as we pass the horses. I’m sure it annoys the drivers behind us as we slow down to see these lovely animals …. too bad. (The first couple of times, she said "moo." Cute.)

Anyway, last week on our way to get our Thanksgiving turkey, we passed the farm, except it was dark. “The horsies are sleeping,” I told her. On the way back, I repeated this … and she started to shush the horses to sleep. “Shhhh. Shhhh.”

Thanksgiving came and she shoed the breadth of her food vocabulary, sing the words turkey, pie, chocolate and, most tellingly, “no.” At one point one of the grandparents had the brainstorm that she might like food if it had chocolate on it, and so dipped a piece of turkey in chocolate… to which she said “no way.”

We are Nutmeggers!

Moving is such an ordeal. But I have to say, things have gone pretty well, so far. I am still in the company suite at the residence hotel for tonight. I am alone and loving it. I resting up for tomorrow. For when we MOVE INTO OUR NEW HOME!!!!! WOOOOOOOoooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Let me share some of the finer points of the ordeal:

Tuesday afternoon: Movers talk to H and tell him they can't deliver our stuff until Monday, that they don't have enough crew to make the run. My H is pissed since he made arrangements for this weekend and everything. I am stressed about having no one watch Sofia.

He makes a call to The Ones In Charge and they tell us we are still on for moving in on Sat. Then the lawyers call and they have made the closing for 2 pm on Friday. Yikes! that ruins our plans, as now the movers will have no time to unload the truck. We are back on for delivery on Monday. I am upset, but I am coming to grips with it.

Wed: We were told the packers would come anytime between 8 am and 10 to start packing. They show up at 6:45 am. No lie. I met them in my jammies (I was up.) Greg had gotton home 2 hours ago, and poor guy was running on fumes. So, all the last minute things I was going to do before they got here, like throwing things away and stuff, no go. All the trash got packed. The phone got packed. (Good thing we had our cells.) I swear, if it wasn't nailed down, it was put in a box. Those guys were thorough.

Thurs: The moving van shows up. 3 movers come out and start hauling our stuff into the truck. Now these guys weren't that big but I swear they were carrying 2-3 boxes on their backs at a time. And I have never seen such efficient packing of a truck before. It was like fitting peices into a puzzle. That truck was stuffed too. It's official, we have too much shit. Ah well, I decided if we are not going to put it out, I am selling it on eBay. No more storing crap.

Thursday night was bittersweet. It was hard saying goodbye to our neighbor and friend. She has been such a good caretaker of Sofia. The best sitter a person could ask for. I know her 4 yo daughter is just heartbroken too. They made us dinner. And I let "MayMay" cuddle Sofia for a long time. I could tell she was trying not cry, I was trying not to too. Kitty, her daughter, took special pride in presenting Sofia with a box of all of her favorite toys and books that she played with while she was there. I am going to miss spending daily time with Kitty too. She is such a special little girl.

I told them they could come visit us any time they want to. I hope we see them soon.

Driving to CT took us forever that night. Highway delays and construction. We got to the Residence Inn around 11.

Fri: All of us sleep late (incl Sofia.) My sister and neice show up around 10:30. Sis will be watching Sofia all weekend. Although we no longer needed her for Sat and Sun now, we let her stay with us.

The actual closing was kind of anticlimactic. After signing about a bazillion papers, the lawyers asked for the bank check.

I reached in my purse for the envelope and said "Uhoh."

The lawyer says, "After all this time, now is not the time for you to be saying 'Uhoh'" H says, "What's wrong?" with a panicked look on his face.

"The check is stuck to the envelope," I say.

It turns out it was okay, but we freaked out. Both the realtor and the lawyer thought that while the check looked messed up, none of the important info on it was ruined.

Note to self: Never put a leaky sippy cup in your bag when you are carrying important papers.

At 3:30 pm. we became the proud owners of cute little Cape.

We went back to the house to check it and bumped into the sellers as they were picking up their cat. What nice people...they bought another house in town and I hope we can be friends with them. They invited us over to their new place already.

H and I go back to the hotel to get Sis and the kids and we got out for dinner.

Sat: We all go to the house. Sofia loved her new room. And going up and down the stairs and chasing her cousin. She loves her new swing and slide a picnic table the previous owners left behind. (They have two little girls, too.)

We spent the day cleaning and making a list of things we need to get right away. After getting lost (twice) my sister, the girls and I finally make it to Target. I dropped a load of cash there (and stuck to the list!)

We were exhausted, but we get back and order pizza.

Today we went to a fair and hung out and tried to relax. My sister took Sofia overnight (I miss her so much!) and my mom will watch her tomorrow so she won't be in the way with movers here. Sis and Mom and kids will come back tomorrow night.

H is at work and I am here by myself. I plan on watching lots of bad TV and eating bad food.

I will post pics soon, but I can't guarantee when, because I may not have DSL connection right away (gasp, not dial-up!)

A room of her own

In less than a month, Sofia will have her own bedroom. Yes, we are moving. We are leaving our tiny one bedroom apartment near Boston, to live in the Connecticut suburbs.

I can hardly wait. We will be homeowners. Sofia will grow up having a yard to play in and go to good schools.

She is almost running these days.

She loves the ocean and all bodies of water, and loves playing dress up and acting like a princess.

She misses her daddy, while he is away in our new locale. She (and I do too) are looking forward to the day when we can be together again in our new home.

she walks!

She did it.
She walked last night. On her own. Without help.
A big step, then a few little steps, then she falls ... and gets back up and takes a few more steps.
We'll post or link to the video later today. I watch it over and over ... I see her looking at her feet in concentration, her arms up at her shoulders for balance, as she takes tiny steps. I see her look up and cautiously rise from a crouching position to standing, and try over and over again
We are so proud. So very, very proud.
My girl. On her own two feet. Walking.
And oh, the places she'll go...

Give me three steps, mister

Well, she did it! She took three unassisted steps last night before realizing that nothing was supporting her. I saw the whole thing.

She crawled over to the couch to get her stuffed turtle. She held the turtle in her hands as she turned and took three steps without holding on to anything. Then she got a surprized look on her face (probably because I was shouting to her dad to come see) and she grabbed the chair she was next to. She then crawled the rest of the way to me, all the while holding the prized turtle ("durdoo") in her little hand.

Vroom Vroom

Sofia wants her own car. Really.

She has proven she knows how they operate. She pushes her Little People minivan back and forth while making car noises. "Vroom Vroom," she says.

You wouldn't think it's possible that a 13 month old would have an imagination so real. She takes the Mommy out of the car and picks up the baby from the back seat and with some help from me, makes the Mommy push the baby in its carriage. Then she loads them back into the minivan. So what if the baby is in the driver seat and the carriage is riding shotgun. Wait! Mommy's gone and there is an alligator in the cargo space.


Vroom 

Sofia is speaking volumes these days. She can ask for Cheerios (Chee-ros) and a banana (nana) or for a drink. She reminds you to say thank you (Ankyooo). And my favorite new thing is the for-real kisses she gives, complete with lip smack.

Happy Birthday, little one

Editor's note: The following was written nearly a month ago. Due to the insanity of everyday life and the author's own misgivings it was not posted promptly in time for Sofia's birthday as planned. The author, frankly, didn't think it was good enough for publication. But that's what editors are for. So better late than never, we offer you, dear reader, a letter to Sofia on her first birthday.

April 17, 2005 5 a.m.

Dear Sofia,

Hey little one. You can’t read this just yet, but someday you will.

Tomorrow is your first birthday. And despite the fact I am paid to be a writer, I can scarcely put into words how much your mom and I love you, how amazing and wonderful and sweet you are and how much you have changed our world for the better.

About 20 or so people are coming over today to celebrate with us. We’ve gone overboard, really, but it’s worth every penny. Do you know why your birthday is such a big deal? Because celebrating it means celebrating the very fact that you are here with us, and that we are so glad you are! Someday when you’re bigger, I hope you will always feel the same way – that it’s a day to say “I’m glad I’m me and I’m glad I’m here!”

It’s extra special for us because it’s the day that you came into our lives and made us a family.

It’s hard to express how a year has flown by – how you have gone from a pudgy little baby bug to a beautiful little girl with such a strong personality and an innate curiosity about the world around you and a spark in your eyes that defies description. And yet it is as if you have always been with us; that despite the fact you are still relatively brand new in our world, we have known and loved you our whole lives.

It’s amazing what you have done in this, your first year with us.

You started off a year ago just slightly bigger than a loaf of bread – a little wonder, with lots of black hair and pudgy legs and pinchable, munchable cheeks. I still remember so clearly the moment I met you, wet and shouting at the end of your trip from your innerspace world to us, how we knew we had chosen the right name for you just by looking at you. I remember how we sat in our hospital room with the TV off, amazed, just watching you sleep.

How you reminded us of so many of our relatives at once – your mom and dad, of course, but also your grandmas and grandpas and even Uncle Mike. How you captivated the hearts of everyone you met, relatives and complete strangers alike. We took so many pictures … shared so many phone calls about your exploits … told anyone who would listen how remarkable and special you are. (It’s less a choice and more a compulsion, you see. I just have to tell the world about you.)

We drove you all the way to Buffalo and listened to you wail half the way back. We went to the ocean, to the city, back home to the Berkshires, anointed scores of honorary uncles and aunties. You made friends everywhere you went with that wide chubby-cheek smile of yours and that cute little laugh – grinning at the face in the mirror at Auntie Kate and Uncle Carl’s house, playing peek-a-boo and patty cake with your Grandmas and Grandpas, charming the ladies down the street at the laundry and the pharmacy, playing with the other boys and girls at the Quincy Library.

And whatever day it was, the best moment of that day was always seeing you smile at us when you woke up, or feeling you fall asleep, warm and snuggling on our shoulders.

And how you grew! A year later you are crawling all over the house and getting ready to walk on your own two feet. It seems every day you’ve learned a new phrase that knocks us off our feet, or show us a new dance move. You have made new friends for us, our neighbors Lanny and Maryann and Kitty, who loves you like a sister, and gotten to know our friends too.

Better: whether you’re hugging or kissing us or your bears or sharing a Cheerio or a stuffed animal, we’ve been so pleased and gratified to learn you have a kind and giving and gentle soul. And I know deep down that somehow your great-great grandmothers in heaven – women, some of whom never met each other in this life, who had far more in common than they could have ever known -- looked down upon you with love and asked God to bless you, and bestowed upon you a gift worth more than all the earthly treasures you or I could imagine. They gave you a beauty you cannot see or touch, but is an essential part of every bit of you.

I’m not going to tell you that it’s all been easy, Sofia. Being a dad is a bigger challenge than I ever imagined, and I had imagined it was a big one. You cried, a lot, the day we got home, and we couldn’t get you to stop crying and we wondered if you were OK, or if we were just doing the whole thing wrong. But then you fell asleep, soft and tiny and beautiful, and we knew it was going to be fine.

It’s been hard figuring out what I should do, what I should be, where we should live. And it matters so much to me because I want the best for you always and I want us to live somewhere we can be a happy family, somewhere we can be healthy and safe. But every day I come home, you’re here.

But it has all been worth it. Because we love you so much. You, our little someone.

I can’t wait to see what you’re going to do this year.

Love forever and always,
“dadda greg”

stand in the place where you live

She's a whirlwind of activity, our little girl.
When she's not busy standing up or crawling off to somewhere, she's surprising us with the words coming out of her mouth.
Try this: The other day, when Sofia bumped her head, we were sitting in the recliner after the crying and the washcloth in ice water (Ever try holding ice on a baby's forehead? I tried. Good luck), and I asked her "are you feeling better?"
I wasn't expecting a reply in a little voice.
"Yeah."
This is not a joke. Nor was it the only time she has replied to a question thusly. On Sunday, waking up, Michelle asked Sofia if she needed her diaper changed. "Yeah," she said.
I'm guessing that she has picked up the context -- that the inflection rises at the end of a question, and that "yeah" is a common reply to these kinds of sentences. All the same...
And there's more. Sunday, she gave me a little stuffed bunny and said "hereyougo."

On the physical side, Sofia's favorite activity is now standing. Yup, that's it. She likes to walk, with assistance of course, but more than anything she wants to pull herself up into standing position at every opportunity, and once there, she wants to stay there. Funny, I thought the pack and play "prison pod" would be most disagreeable to her, since it is. well, a pen. But no, she likes it, because she can pull herself up and stand for long periods of time in it, and that makes all the difference.

Baby Photos - Our other Sofia site

We have become lax in our updating. Our apologies. To view some recent photos or to check out the site if you have never been there before:

The Chronicles of Princess Sofia Sweetpea

Sofia's been busy this month. March madness, indeed.

Keep on Movin'

Sofia is on the move. And we were worried. P'shaw. She can wiggle, roll, creep and almost crawl. Her method from traveling from point A to point B is a bit odd, since she usually goes backwards to go forwards, but she eventually reaches her destination.

Her newest feat is dancing to every song she hears. She is improving her moves, she dances like her mom, but her style is very much her own. See for yourself:

Dancing Baby

Sharp Pointy Teeth

Two more teeth have appeared, making a total of six pearly whites. I guess we should start enforcing good dental hygeine. Have you ever tried brushing the teeth of a baby? It's laughable.

The Quack Stops Here

"Quack quack"

Is there a duck in here? No? Oh, it's Sofia! She now knows what a duck says and will tell you repeatedly. Make way for ducklings, indeed.

Super Sofia

The game hasn't started yet and I can name today's MVP.
It's not that Brady guy. Or Full-Tilt, Full-Time Tedy Bruscchi, or Automatic Adam Vinatieri, or Clock Killin' Corey Dillon.
It's one Sofia..
Why?
Well, just a few minutes ago, she was playing with me on the living room floor, enjoying her brand new Fisher-Price Swirling Sounds Gumballs, when she decided it was time to see Mama, sitting nearby, for a nice snack.
She at first attempted her various crawling and rolling maneuvers, which have met with only limited success to date. After a few minutes of that, I put her up on her feet and Michelle said "let's see if she wants to walk over here."
She held up Sofia by her little hands.
She took a step. Then another. And another. Until she had traveled the short distance between me on the floor and our living room recliner.
"Did you see that?!"
I did. And my eyes teared up a little, because daddy's a big mush, but you all knew that anyway.
This little girl just amazes me to no end. And I'm sitting here typing as Sofia and her mom play with her new toy on the floor -- which Sofia has already just about mastered, less than half an hour out of the box -- and I have a piece of music I have enjoyed my whole life on the computer, the first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 in F Major. It's a piece full of natural wonder and inspiration and altogether fitting for this little girl, who is also full of natural wonder and inspiration.
It would be one thing if it was just saying words, or dancing to music, or feeding us Cheerios, or rapidly developing both gross and fine motor skills, or just generally being a spark of light in our lives. But she's all of that.
I know I gush a lot about my girl. But what can I say? She's growing so fast and so smart I can barely keep up. There really is new news about her every day. And I do want most of the world to know.

That I can do!

Dancin', Dancin' DANCIN' .. dancin' machine!

She's talking up a storm, folks.
At least a dozen glorious words that we're aware of. Words!
And not at random, either. We're talking real-live honest-to-goodness, I-see-it, I-know-what-it-means, it-has-a-name cognition.
Excuse me while I brag about my daughter....
We're up to dadda, mama, bath, book, bear, cat, baby, bye, may-may (as in Maryann, our sitter) milk, pig and greg. (I think she got that from our sitter's four-year-old daughter, who is very bright and calls me by name.)
The amazing thing isn't the words. It's seeing her know what they mean.
She gets into the tub and say "bath" and splashes happily, as previously noted. She sees her stuffed bears or stuffed pig and says "bear" or "pig," hugging them with a warm grin on her face.
More amazing: She sees a picture of a baby in a magazine and says "baby."
Even more amazing: Asked to point to the baby's nose, she does it, over and over.
My girl is smart.
This intimidates me. I am charged with nourishing and cultivating this young learner to the best of my ability ... me, academic basket case. Me, chronic scholastic underachiever.
Some of you out there in the know might think this is quite ironic and funny. But I don't think so. Not because I don't have a sense of humor about it -- I do. Because like any parent I want the best for my child and want her to have all the advantages her smarts can offer.
But for the time being, I will enjoy the spark of recognition in her eyes when we sing "if you're happy and you know it" that leads to her clapping her hands.
Did I mention she claps her hands?

The winner (we hope)

Thanks to those who took the time to vote, either by email or by leaving a comment. The results were a tie! With all of them! Every photo got two votes, so that didn't make things any easier. I decided to do a reshoot and got this one:


Beautiful Baby

We hope this one is a winner...what do you think?

Please vote!

Hi, if you are here, you are voting on a picture to send into a Beautiful baby contest. I know, I am partial to my kid, I am having a hard time deciding because I think she's cute in all of them. Do we have a chance of winning or even placing? I don't know. But I want to try. Winner gets to be on the cover of Parents magazine and $5000. Runners up get $500 each. Pictures will be on the Regis and Kelly show too.

Vote and wish us luck. Our entry needs to be in by Feb 4.

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Thank you!

Splish, splash...

Last night, I got a phone call at work.
"Guess what your daughter did."
What's that?
"She said bath."
Wow.
I stopped to impart the news to my co-workers. "She said bath!"
As we've noted before, Sofia likes bathtime. Really likes it. Enjoys splashing and playing with floating toys. Wants to stay in her little tub and play, even if she's visibly cold. Occasionally cries when taken out of the water.
So last night, upon being brought to her tub, she said "bath." And proceeded to say it over and over again. We didn't drill her on the word; she learned it from context and knows what it is. And it sounds distinct from the other B-words she tries to use -- bear, book and just plain ba ba ba ba ba.
I can't wait to see this for myself.
When bathtime is over, mom's sweatshirt is wet and the kitchen table is soaked. This is of no consequence to us.
Someone's going to be getting swimming lessons....
I think about this and the fact that she is getting to demand feeding herself and moving from sitting to crawling position. It amazes and dumbfounds me.
This is the fun stuff: watching her learn and explore her world.
This is the scary stuff: she's learning so fast I wonder how we're ever going to keep up.

Shake your groove thang: Sofia and I have been dancing since she came home from the hospital. Except now, she dances to her own steps. Really.
Sitting at the computer, I hold her under the arms and stand her up, and she moves her feet up and down, moves her body, grins and every so often give me a happy squeal.
This also tuckers her out near naptime - so let the music play!
When it comes to her requests from the house DJ, Sofia is partial to the O'Jays and ABBA. I wonder: Is exposing your child to too much disco grounds for state social agency intervention? (Don't worry grandma, she's getting lots of Bach, too!)

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

The holidays were great for our girl!

She got lots of neat loot, of course. Peek-a-blocks - complete with block-eating hippopotamus, which I think is the accessory that no home should be without. A spinning top which she is starting to enjoy nearly as much as her dad, who pretends he's delivering the lottery numbers with each spin. And tons of toys for her favorite time of the day that doesn't involve food, bath time. Like this zany car wash. And lots and lots of cute outfits, including a sweater her Great-
Grandma Parker made for her and the teriffic gnome hat Jan got for her. There was so much more, of course.... thanks so much to everyone.

She was full of surprises, too. As mom alluded to earlier, she can clap now -- we've been trying to get her to do that for a long time, so we're really pleased about that. And her use of words is growing by the day -- not just mama, but dadda, bye-bye, and what sounds to us like "bear."

It's said that you regain a sense of the magic of Christmas when you see it through a child's eyes. It's so true. Even though her level of understanding is that it's fun to rip the shiny wrapping paper, the magic is there all the same.

Happy New Year!

Can I have some? 


Please? 


Ok, this looks good! 

No, she did not get any. She did, however, have some more milk.