C is for cookie

Sophie has finally had her first cookie :) Giving her any kind of baked goods has always been tricky because of the whole milk/eggs/butter business and she didn't even like the vegan cupcake we got her for her birthday last year. It's not something essential to her diet and she never asks for it, and so we don't feel like we need to push this one. I gave her a slice of zucchini bread a couple of weeks ago and she liked it well enough that I felt inspired to find a good recipe (this one comes highly recommended), but apart from that, she's been perfectly happy with her huge snack trove of crackers, pretzel sticks, rice crackers, fruit, and cereal.

But after swim class today, as we wandered around Mark's Carts like we always do, we thought it might be nice to get Sophie a cookie from The Lunch Room, a vegan food cart that we've heard really good things about. That everything is completely vegan meant we didn't have to worry about possible traces of egg or butter in things or cross-contamination even when some non-vegan vendors claim things are dairy-free. We chose a classic chocolate chip cookie-- I mean, if it's going to be her first cookie, why settle for anything less?

Her first bites were a little tentative, like she wasn't quite sure what to make of the texture.

But a couple of bites later, it was like she's been eating cookies all her life:

In the words of our friend, Jenn, it was like she's was drunk on cookie!

You can't really tell, but the cookie was literally the size of Sophie's face, if not larger, and our daughter obliterated it entirely by herself in under 10 minutes. If not for the fact that a crumb fell on my lap, I don't think either Jude or I would have managed to snatch a taste. It was really quite yummy- a little chewy like a oatmeal cookie with a nice molasses flavor. It didn't taste vegan at all and I wasn't surprised that Sophie demolished the whole thing in one sitting (and still had room for her usual post-swim soy hot chocolate after. And all this BEFORE lunch...). Since Sophie took to the cookie so well, I asked Phillis, the owner if they made cakes or cupcakes in anticipation of Sophie's birthday in August. They haven't officially sold any other baked goods apart from cookies and gingersnaps but they have been planning on putting cupcakes on the menu for a while so that's something she can definitely help us with! Yay!

Happy birthday, Dada!

It's hard that we're not celebrating your birthday with you but it helps to know that you'll be back tomorrow! We miss you and love you!

Random Daily Daycare Report #13

1. How much fun do you reckon our little water bug is having?, 2. Just letting the water shoot up her back ;), 3. Sitting "on" the sprinkler, 4. Sprinklers rock!

Sophie had so much fun doing water play today. She walked over and stuck her hand right on top of the sprinkler and got herself soaked! And that she decided it would be even more effective if she just sat on the sprinkler :) Such a clever girl. Then, of course, she went directly to the sand box afterwards.

How to end a vacation

I saw a dolphin today. Leaping out of the sea.

At sunset.

It was beautiful. And special. And I love that I got to share that moment with Jude and Sophie.

Exactly how much fun are we having on vacation?

Just ask Sophie :)

"Sophie airplane... excited!"

If you ask Sophie, she'll tell you that we'll be spending the next four days on an airplane. Flapping our wings. And flying. That's what she thinks "going on vacation" means. It's hard to explain a holiday to a 22-month old, what with all the packing, and going to the airport, and air travel and hotel and stuff. So we just told her we're going on an airplane. And so that's what she thinks we're going to be doing. For four whole days.

We'll actually be on Captiva Island in Florida. Jude has a conference there starting Monday and we thought it'll be nice for Sophie and I to tag along for a short family vacation before that. We'll be staying at the South Seas Island Resort which from what I gather is one of those self-contained vacation locations where you pretty much do everything onsite- beach access, multiple pools, biking tracks, boat tours, kayaking, and all manner of kids activities.


I'm actually really looking forward to this break- to just relax and take things slow and easy. No itinerary, no schedule- just us, the sun, sea, and sand. I love visiting cities-- San Francisco, Chicago-- but this time, I'm ready for something less intense. I just want to hang out lazily by the beach or pool all day, play with Sophie to her little heart's content (I think she has grand sandcastle plans a.k.a Olivia...), unwind in a pretty hotel room, take a nap whenever she naps, and maybe squeeze in a couple of umbrella drinks or two ;)

I also think it might be the first vacation that will make any kind of impression on Sophie. I don't think she remembers much of our summer in the Bay Area or Christmas in Chicago with my family, but I suspect this trip might stick with her for a little while just because in the last few months, she's been really thriving on and blossoming from all the things she's been seeing, hearing, and experiencing. It's like she's going through some kind of exquisite cognitive explosion and we can't wait to see what she'll pick up over the next four days :)

I don't always have to smell nice

As I was singing to Sophie before she fell asleep tonight, she half-sleepily looked up at me and said, “Mama smell nice… Mama pretty.” And I viscerally felt my heart clench a little. Like I literally felt the muscle tighten. It had nothing to do with the fact that our daughter had just paid me a compliment- I don’t even think she knows what it means to be pretty (she learned it from Jude who taught her to say the word whenever he points to a photo of me in our living room); it was more about how adoring she is now of me, and of Jude. At this moment in her life, we are perfect in her eyes- we smell nice, we look good ('nice' and ‘good’ as defined by a 21-month old whose daily wardrobe invariably includes some kind of food stain, spilled juice, and sand), and we do things she wishes she can do- drive, climb down the bed without holding someone’s hand, eat cheese. As far as Sophie is concerned, her parents can do no wrong. To her, we rock.

And it scares me.

It scares me that I’m the model to which another person is looking for how to be a good and decent human being. My every word and action has the power to influence the kind of person into whom she will grow. I must embody all the virtues and characteristics I want her to inherit- compassion, grace, fortitude, wit, gumption, tenacity, love. I want to be perfect. For her.

But at the same time, I don’t want her to think of her parents as infallible. I want to show her that it’s okay not to be awesome all the time, to learn how to fail gracefully and fabulously and to learn from that failure. Sophie should know that her parents aren’t perfect- they get impatient with people who annoy them, they’re not always gracious about losing, and they procrastinate. But then sometimes, it’s our imperfections that make us us. Our quirks are what make us special. And beautiful. She must also realize that to be a good kind soul doesn’t mean smelling and looking good all the time.

I'm not sure what the point of this post is- I guess I want to give these thoughts some form or another for the year 2022. That’s the year Sophie will turn thirteen and undoubtedly go through a sullen, belligerent phase (it *will* just be a phase!). She will, at that stage in her life, invariably think her parents are about as awesome as gnats. Then, I’ll look at this and remember that yes, we really were once the center of her world and that no, I didn’t make it all up.

I'm stealing this from Jude’s Facebook, which brilliantly captures the essence of this all:

And, although I’m confident that I will always think my daughter is The Greatest Thing in the Universe, I’m also all too aware that this feeling will not always be reciprocated in quite that same way or with quite that same enthusiasm that we both enjoy right now.

She won’t always run to my bed in footie jammies.

I’ll only get that particularly noisy and personalized wake-up call for a little while. And, I only get a shot at it once a day. At almost exactly 6:00 AM Pacific Time.

Then one day? I won’t get it any more. It will be gone.
- Merlin Mann

The ice pack cometh

I'm driving home and this is about 2 minutes after we've left Gretchen's House...

Sophie: Oh no! What's happening?
Me: Huh? What? What? What's happening? Are you okay, Sophie?
Sophie: Oh no! What's the problem?

At this point, I'm like, 1) Sophie can say "problem"?? Since when? Yay! 2) Wait, should I be stopping by the side of the road? Is she in pain?

Me: Sophie, are you okay?
Sophie: Lucy fall down! Lucy crying.

Oh...

Me: Did Lucy fall down in school today?
Sophie: Yah. Sophie help.
Me: Did you help Lucy when she fell down?
Sophie: Yah. Ice pack. Lucy crying. Sophie ice pack.
Me: You brought Lucy an ice pack? That's so nice of you.
Sophie: No, ice pack mine. Sophie ice pack.
Me: But Lucy was crying. Did you help Lucy?
Sophie: Yah. Sophie kiss boo boo. That's all. [after a 5 second pause] No Lucy, no ice pack. Sophie ice pack.

So there. Our daughter. The good friend. And the denier and hoarder of ice packs.

As noted by her teachers:

I love Sophie's love of ice packs. This morning, she slipped in the living room, landing very softly on her bottom. Right away, she stood up and said, "Ice pack! Ice pack!" :)

Random Daily Daycare Report #12

Sophie had me cracking up today (what's new? :)) We were in the Railway living room and she and Izzie were hiding in tunnels. I didn't notice her hiding at first until I heard a little voice inside the tunnel saying "Where's Sophie? Where's Sophie?" Then when she came out, she was pretending to be a puppy :) Oh Sophie!

Of trucks and a mini-rant

Can I just say how much I adore the fact that our daughter loves trucks? With a passion. Which is why she was overjoyed at Touch-a-Truck Day last weekend (I know, it doesn't quite seem that way in the photos- right now, I think it's still more a conceptual affection...) Held in the back parking lot of the mall, there were all manner of trucks on site and seeing the sheer display of vehicles, I thought Sophie would pass out from awe. There were two fire-trucks (her favorite!), two school-buses, a tractor, a recycling truck, a (clean) garbage truck, two ambulances, a few police cars, a U of M Blue Bus (which Sophie is well familiar with and loved running up and down in), and a few others I blanking out on right now. But the point is that Sophie was surrounded by trucks and she was just beside herself with glee. She was even patient enough to wait 10 minutes in line (an eternity to a toddler) just so she could sit in the driver's seat of the fire-truck. Like I said, she doesn't look very enthused in the photos, but I think that was more from everyone looking at her (all the parents were just beaming at every kid sitting in there because it was such a thrill seeing how happy it made them) and how dwarfed she must have felt by the fire truck. Until today, all she can talk about is how "Sophie sitting fire truck!" :)

Also (warning: mini-rant ahead), I'd like to also say that on top of being a huge fan of trucks, Sophie also loves earthworms and dinosaurs. With a ferocity I don't think I possessed for anything before the age of twelve. And if that makes people uncomfortable (??!!) because they have some hackneyed notion that girls should only be playing with pink ponies and brushing the hair of dolls, then I feel sorry for their children. I feel sorry that their children will not get to enjoy all the world has to offer them or explore all things that pique their interest just because of their parents' narrow gender stereotypes. Sophie is a child. She is curious, adventurous, and endlessly excited about everything around her. Why anyone would try to curb these natural instincts at such a young age by dictating "gender-appropriate" activities flabbergasts and mildly outrages me. (Okay, mini-rant over now...)

There's a land that I see where the children are free
And I say it ain't far to this land from where we are
Take my hand, come with me, where the children are free
Come with me, take my hand, and we'll live

In a land where the river runs free
In a land through the green country
In a land to a shining sea
And you and me are free to be you and me.
- "Free to Be... You and Me" (The New Seekers)

A taste sensation, a joy, a celebration in a bun

Sophie loves the Pigeon books by Mo Willlems, whether it's the classic Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! or The Pigeon Loves Things That Go!. Her latest obsession though, is Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!- since last week, it has had a permanent place in our bedtime rotation of books and there have been nights-- like tonight-- where I've had to read it multiple times in a row. There's something about the cheekiness of the banter that Sophie really enjoys, I think and she giggles every time The Duckling makes a wisecrack (or she could just be laughing at the affected voice I use when I read The Duckling's lines). But the funny thing is, I'm not sure how she's appreciating the basic premise of the story when she's actually never eaten a hotdog, or seen one, come to think about it.

Now, not that I'm in a hurry to usher Sophie into the particular world of processed meat in tube form (in the words of Anthony Bourdain), but when we were invited to a friend's son's first birthday party this weekend and were asked to bring something for the grill, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to make an "event" out of this whole hotdog business.

And so before we left for the store on Saturday, we read the book a couple of times and I told Sophie that we would be going to the store to buy real hotdogs for dinner. I'm not sure if she completely comprehended what I said, but she seemed suitably eager and excited. On the car ride to the store, I reminded her that we would soon be just like Pigeon and The Duckling, holding a hotdog in our hands and enjoying how "yummy, yummy, yummy" it would be, and she responded by going "Yay!" and "Hooray!" whenever I mentioned the word hotdog. Okay, so far, so good... We get to Whole Foods and I let her choose the sausage (all-beef) and the buns (honey wheat) and we even contemplated fixings like relish, ketchup, and mustard. But I figured 1) what's a grilling birthday party without condiments?; and 2) for Sophie's first hotdog, we should stick with the plain and pure.

So we get to the party and by this time, Sophie's *really* excited. She's playing with all the different toys strewn everywhere for the little ones, there are balloons galore, she got to enjoy a juice box all by herself, and most importantly, Mama here had promised her a tasty morsel of hotdog just like Pigeon and The Duckling shared! We watched together as as the guy manning the grill heated the sausage up just enough without getting it too charred and warmed the bun up a little too, just to make it just right. I mean, when I put the thing together, it was about the most perfect plain hotdog you can imagine- the edges of the sausage just peeking out the ends of the bun, the bun warm to the touch but not too toasty, and the sausage glistening from the grill but with none of the jarring grill marks. Folks, it was the Platonic hotdog, the kind of hotdog you'd put on the cover of a Coney Island menu, a hotdog that looked about as close to Mo Willlems' illustration of the hotdog in his book as you can envision. I couldn't have done better if I tried.

I showed the hotdog to Sophie with so much fanfare, you'd think I was presenting her to the Queen of England. We found a nice spot on the deck, I sat her across from me, and I reminded her again that we were about to eat a hotdog. She even said to me, "Pigeon! Hotdog yummy!" At that moment, I was so exceedingly proud of myself- I made something Sophie had read real for her! I fused her literary world with her real one! I scaffolded her learning with practical examples! I involved her in the various steps of putting together a hotdog! Everything was totally developmentally appropriate! Who's the awesome Mom? I am! I am! I split the hotdog into two, took a long deliberate bite-- "Aaaaaaaaaah"-- just like in the book, declared it a truly exceptional specimen of a hotdog (it was a little salty for my taste but I wasn't about to spoil the moment), gave Sophie her half, and watched expectantly at her mind about to be blown.

She bit into the sausage, made a face, spat out what was in her mouth, and ran away...

Richard Simmons would be proud

Why is it that our daughter can dutifully-- and happily-- follow the instructions of her favorite PBS characters, but when we ask her to do something-- like clean up her toys-- she pretends she doesn't understand us?

Surprise!

We are available for all your surprise party events at a reasonable hourly rate. Reliability and timing of the talent cannot be guaranteed. Payment in pretzel sticks expected at point of arrival, set-up, and departure. Please note: services are non-refundable.

Mothers' Day means...

Sleeping in till 8.30 because Sophie, who obviously knew it was both a weekend and Mothers’ Day, decided to sleep in herself, giving me almost an extra two hours of shut-eye.

Spending the morning playing hide-and-seek where Sophie's idea of hiding is to crouch in the same corner of her room every time. And she's still always thrilled that I manage to find her (a lot of pretend not-seeing and feigned oblivion is involved...)

Involving Sophie in Sunday morning laundry. It was the load with her clothes which made it doubly fun (on top of being allowed in the basement which she almost never gets to go down into). She successful helped to unload the dryer, although there was a slight delay when she grabbed the crib sheet and blanket she uses in school and tried to take a nap on the basement floor. I would have gotten her to help me separate the colors and whites for our load but she got distracted by a box of her old toys and so that was the last I saw of Helpful Sophie for the day.

Trying on hats at Target. Because that’s what mothers and daughters do on Mothers’ Day. I dare say, we look fabulous- Sophie does anyway.



Doing our own little Mothers’ Day brunch at Panera where Sophie had chicken noodle soup and I had a cobb salad. She happily fed herself so that I could enjoy my salad without fussing over her. So thoughtful, this one…

Watching Sophie fall asleep smiling because she asked, “Mama kiss Sophie?” and I planted two fat ones on her cheek and nose.

Zipping through a chapter of Tina Fey’s Bossypants while Sophie napped. The woman is funny as hell and clearly a wonderful human being. Her ‘Prayer for a Daughter” is itself worth the price of the book. Note to self: must remind Sophie that her parents always painstakingly cut her grapes in half.

Enjoying the afternoon at Gallup Park- pushing Sophie on the swing, helping her fill her bucket with sand to build "snowman" (Sophie's all encompassing term for any structure built with substance found on the ground), guiding her down the big-girl slide by herself, and beaming with pride as she held her own in the sandbox. She was generous in sharing her sand toys but assertive, persistent, and polite in asking for them back.

Missing Jude because even though it’s Mothers’ Day, it’s just not quite complete when Dada is at a conference 3 time-zones away in a different country.

and…

Saying a huge Happy Mothers’ Day! to my wonderful mom, without whom I wouldn’t be half the mother I am to Sophie today :)

Working girl

I started at my new job last month. It’s been three weeks and it’s been going really great. The work is stimulating and challenging in all the good ways-- lots of awesome data to dig into and incredible projects to work on—and the people have been amazingly nice. I even get my own office (with TWO windows no less!) so that’s been sweet. I can almost unreservedly say that I look forward to going to work.

It occurred to me a while ago that I’ve never had a regular 9 to 5 job. Between being a teacher and then a grad student, my days, nights, and weekends constantly bled into each other, whether it’s grading, prepping, reading, analyzing, or writing. But now, because of the secure data I work with that’s stored on the office server, I literally have no choice but to leave work behind when I walk out at 5.30, which has been really nice. So these days, I get to spend nights after Sophie goes to bed catching up on chores, prepping meals (more on that later), guilt-free (relatively) TV, and right now, helping Jude proof-read his dissertation draft chapters.

But there’s the trade-off of course, mostly the flexibility of time. It’s not like I can take a break from grading and go get a haircut, or schedule a dental appointment in the middle of the day, or have a leisurely breakfast with Jude. From the moment we get up in the morning, it’s a pretty mad rush to get everyone ready so that we can drop Sophie off at daycare, and then Jude at school, and then be at my desk before 9.00.

It also means I've had to give my my Thursdays with Sophie. I know it's just one day, and I still have the mornings (no matter how brief), evenings, and weekends with her. But Thursdays have been our special day together for so long that I was a little wistful that first Thursday away from her. Jude takes her these days and I think it's been nice for her to have her Dada all to herself for a whole day. I'm not sure how cognizant Sophie is that her daily routine has shifted somewhat. We used to be able to take our time getting ready in the morning even if it means dropping her off at daycare late-- reading an extra book, rolling around in bed a little longer, singing one more silly song-- or picking her up early because it's a nice day out and then spend the afternoon at the park. These days, we're out of the house by 8 and she doesn't get picked up till 5.30. Thankfully, she loves being at daycare-- loves her friends and her teachers-- and is doing so much good growing that I don't feel as much guilt as I thought I would for keeping her there so many hours a day.

And then there's the working parent conundrum of meals and chores. Between Jude and I, I think we do pretty well in terms of keeping the house clean and neat. Sometimes it takes a while for the laundry to get folded (and let's not even talk about ironing), but hey, as long as it's clean.... Cooking has been a little trickier. Gone are the days of experimentation where I can spend a couple of hours in the kitchen sauteeing, simmering, or stewing. These days, it's whatever I can whip up in 20 minutes like a quick pasta or a steamed/roasted one-dish meal that I prepped the night before. I also try to make large pots of soups over the weekends (miso, chicken and veggies, minestrone, etc) and the leftovers keep really well. Which is also why our freezer has been my new best friend... Of course, we've been eating out or ordering in quite a bit more lately but that's mainly for Jude and I- because of her allergies, Sophie still almost exclusively gets homemade food, even if it means her sometimes getting four different permutations of rice porridge in a week (not that she's complaining...)

It's been an interesting 3 weeks juggling parenthood with a full-time job, and I have newfound respect for people who've been doing this successfully for years. I want to think it's forcing me to be more conscious and protective about how I spend my time- at work, with Jude, with Sophie, even with myself. It does feel a little overwhelming at times, but also strangely rewarding when things fall in place exactly like you want them to (Everyone out of the house before 8! With matching clothes and socks/shoes! No phone calls from daycare! No work crises! Dinner meets daily carbohydrate, protein, and fibre requirements! DVR works so I can watch Modern Family after Sophie goes to bed!).

Sophie asks a question

I'm putting Sophie down for her nap this afternoon- she snuggles into my arms, looks up at me, and asks, "Mama, you happy?"

Yes Sophie, Mama is happy. Sophie makes Mama very happy.

Random Daycare Daily Report #12

Sophie had a lot of fun playing with and eating play dough (No worries, all the ingredients are edible, though I can't imagine it tastes good!). After we told her the play dough wasn't for eating, she crouched behind a toy shelf and ate some anyway. Sneaky girl... I love it! Sophie also loves to play silly games with me. While I was patting some of her friends to sleep, I could hear her across the room saying, "Erin, Erin, Erin!" I turned around and said, "Sophie, Sophie, Sophie!" Then she laughed and said, "funny!" What a great sense of humor she has :)

Reward

And because a girl can always do with a pair of red patent ballet flats.

You wish you could rock an outfit like this...

I personally don't think I can pull off orange shoes and purple striped socks with such aplomb...

Ride Sophie Ride

We don't take Sophie to the mall very often- for one, her Mama and Dada prefer online shopping in their PJs from the comfort of the couch, and two, there isn't anything at the mall that vaguely interests her. Until now...

So I had to bring my laptop in for servicing last weekend and brought Sophie along because Jude needed some time to grade. She was on her best behavior at the Apple Store and sat quietly waiting while I got my stuff done (Ok, so it helped that she was sitting in front of a ginormous iMac that was playing a Winnie-the-Pooh story...)As a treat, I decided to take her to the kiddie area where they have a large play space and several of those coin-operated rides. Sophie had never been on one before and had no idea how it works. So I put her in one of them just for fun, not intending on putting any money into it at all, and she was perfectly happy. But then a little boy came by with his mom who looked like she was more than ready to throw in 4 quarters just so she could have a minute of peace to herself and I didn't want to be that party-pooper lady who yanks her daughter off a ride the moment another child comes along. So I let Sophie stay on to see what would happen.



Let's just say for a whole hour after, all that came out from Sophie's mouth in various permutations was Mama put money, ring-o-round-a-rosie (the song that was playing), coins, Mama waving, round and round, Sophie driving, and Sophie choo choo.

Oh, and did I mention that she sat in it two more times after?...

Because you can never say it enough...

Thank you, my love...

"Sledding, Mama?"

That's what Sophie quizzically asked me as we looked out the window yesterday morning after she woke up.

Yes, Sophie, it looks like you can go sledding, doesn't it? Mama totally understand why you're so perplexed. We were just building sandcastles last weekend when it was 78F and now it's snowing. This is what we call a cruel joke. You thought winter was over, didn't you? So did Mama. Mother Nature is saying, Gotcha! She likes to toy with people's emotions like that. How are you supposed to learn about the seasons this way?...

Okay, I didn't really say that to her but you get the point. You think after being here for 8 years, we'd be used to this freaky excuse of a spring that Ann Arbor has by now. But no, every April, as if our memories were wiped clean of the disappointments of years past, it takes just one nice sunny weekend and we all foolishly believe again that winter is over, that we can finally put away our boots and down jackets, and bust out the flip flops and tank tops. And every year, we can almost always count on it to snow one more time before May arrives.

Just look- this is Sophie at daycare last week:

[Painting with fly swatters in the sun]

And this is her yesterday:

[Snowball fight in the middle of April anyone?]

I rest my case...

Dearest Sam...

Your niece has something to say to you on your 18th birthday:



We love you!!

When is a cup not just a cup?

When your daughter can drink from it without spilling water all over herself.



There is much irrational pride... :)

Sophie is ready for summer

And so is her Mama :)

Kite runner

Literally, I didn't know what to do with myself (and Sophie). After all the cold, snow, rain, and hail we've been getting since November, faced with a gorgeous, sunny 78F day, I was dumbfounded.

For the past few months, we've spent Sunday afternoons either at the Hands-on-Museum, the Museum of Natural History, some bookstore or another, or one of the indoor gardens. It was like I had forgotten how to enjoy a sunny day. But thankfully, my husband didn't. He had the foresight to get us a kite a couple of weeks ago and yesterday, with a good strong wind blowing, into the blue, cloudless sky, we launched our $7.99 Toys R'Us kite. And it was magnificent.





We tried to involve Sophie in setting the kite up and flying it, showing her what it means to hold it up against he wind, and the mechanics of tugging at the string lightly to keep the kite in flight...







...but no, the little imp was more interested in running after the other kite that was being flown. In fact, she was just happy to be running, period.



I don't think it mattered to Sophie very much what her parents were doing-- or how much fun they were having with the kite-- she was just happy to be able to be run around outside as fast and as far as she can without 1) stumbling into snow; 2) being encumbered by a down jacket and three layers of clothes underneath, or 3) one (or both) of her parents chasing after her hollering at her to keep her glove/hat/socks/boots on. It was a truly beautiful, beautiful day. Oh, and made even more special by the fact that Sophie saw the moon (sort of) for the first time! It was such a perfectly cloudless sky plus it was probably close to 6pm so you could just barely make out a hint of the moon in the sky. It occurred to us that after reading about the moon, seeing pictures of it, and singing about it, Sophie has never actually seen the moon in reality.



She was transfixed.

Who are you? I'm Sophie.

I'm 20 months old today.

I run everywhere. Walking is for wimps.

I don't understand why you would make crayons so bright and colorful if you're not supposed to eat them.

I never walk away from a puddle.



If I was queen of the house, I would eat plain boiled pasta and blackberries for every meal. Everyday.

I believe that throwing myself on the floor crying is a perfectly legitimate form of self-expression.

I do a mean impression of an elephant.

I see furniture, play yards, and safety gates as merely challenges to be overcome.

My parents think I'm fabulous.

Got milk? (Part deux)

Sophie is finally weaned.

It's been about a week since we first started trying and while she went all Tasmanian Devil on us those first couple of mornings-- our daughter is not one to let things go without a fight-- I think she's finally come to realize that the only milk she's going to get from now is coming from a sippy cup.

Mind you, she wasn't nursing very much past 15 months or so, just nights and mornings by that time so it was just a matter of getting her to drop those feeds when she felt like it. I've been agonizing over this whole weaning thing since Sophie turned one and I just didn't feel ready, and I knew neither was she. It was something we, and only we, shared and I wasn't willing to let go emotionally even though rationally, I knew she was old enough to move on to soy formula exclusively. I told myself that between her allergies and all the cold-related illnesses she might be getting exposed to at school, keeping up the breastfeeding was the best thing for her. There just didn't seem to be much sense in weaning before either one of us was ready.

But then this semester, I started teaching in the evenings and pumping got too time-consuming, so we decided to try dropping the night feed and have Jude put her to bed with soy milk. She wasn't happy initially of course but she was old enough by then to realize that I wasn't around and often too tired to put up too much of a fight anyways, so that was that. But she clung tenaciously on to the morning feed like her life depended on it. We think it has less to do with milk at that point but more the warm comfort of me holding her close after an entire night alone in her crib.

So I let her take her time and it was another couple of months of just morning feeds before we decided last week that it was time for her to drop it completely. My milk production was tapering off and Sophie was getting frustrated at that, asking for more even though we were done nursing and us having to make her extra soy milk anyway. So it was just a matter of by-passing the breastfeeding altogether and just giving her the formula when she woke up.

I'd be lying if I said I'm not a tad sad that this aspect of mothering is now over but I'm glad we got to nurse this long at all so that comforts me a little. I guess a part of me believed that I would lose some kind of special bond with Sophie once I weaned but thinking back, it was probably the hormones talking. I'll always be her Mama and a sippy cup isn't going to get in the way of that.

This post is not about Sophie

It's about bacon.

Specifically, thick-cut Applewood-smoked bacon. The kind of bacon that rouses you from your sleep. The kind of bacon whose scent still haunts your house at two in the afternoon long after breakfast is over and the dishes are done. And whose flavor lingers longer still, in your mouth and in your mind, making you stare lustily at remaining two pieces in the refrigerator contemplating if there is such a thing as too much bacon in a day. The kind of bacon that's so thick, four slices weighs just over a pound. Yeah, that kind...


After a quick jaunt to the farmers market yesterday-- even though it's technically Spring, there weren't that many vendors out and it really was a little too cold to be strolling leisurely outdoors for produce-- we came home with huge bags of organic pea shoots, spinach, and a spicy bitter greens mix (arugula, tatsoi, baby spinach, & mizuna). And thanks to Sparrow, we also got some fresh duck legs (for duck confit- another day, another post...) and the above-mentioned bacon that Jude developed a sudden craving for.

Between us getting ready for work and prepping Sophie's breakfast before bundling her off to daycare, weekday mornings are always a blur and we're lucky if we have time for a bowl of cereal or a slice of toast before we fly out the door. And so even though Jude had a morning meeting today, there was still some time to put together a nice semi-leisurely breakfast. And honestly, by roasting the bacon, the only thing I had to dirty a pan for were the eggs, which aren't that big a deal. Add to that a quick balsamic vinaigrette and some shaved Parmesan, breakfast was done in under 20 minutes.

[Roasted thick-cut bacon, farmers market spicy greens (dressed with balsamic vinaigrette), fried eggs with shaved Parmesan, and a slice of Roadhouse bread]

It also cost us less than $5 each which pleased me immensely knowing that something similar would have cost us at least $20 or more outside... If you ask me, one should never have to pay that much for eggs and bacon, thick-cut Applewood-smoked or not...

How a 19-month old blew my mind on the sidewalk

Dear World,
Let it be known, Sophie knows her alphabet.

Ok, that's all.

-Us



[By the time I got over myself and whipped my phone out, she'd reached G...]

Criss-cross applesauce

We all have odd physical traits that we exhibit without ever thinking about it- quirks that have been a part of who we are for as long as we can remember. Like the fact that I cross my feet when I'm in my most relaxed, natural state- whether it's sitting at the desk working (ok, so not the most relaxed or natural, more like unthinking...) or lying in bed falling asleep.

We don't often think about how these little habits come about- are they the product of learned behavior or genes passed down over which we have no control?

I think I might have an inkling now... :)

Say what you mean; mean what you say

With five words, Sophie made an observation, drew an inference, and issued an imperative:

"Slide broken. Closed. Fix it."

The center cannot hold

Things were great while it lasted- Sophie had no qualms climbing up the structure all by herself, coming down the slide on her own, laughing when she fell, and picking herself up after. But things started to fall apart after about 15 minutes and we had no choice but to leave...

So on the recommendation of one of the mommies in our mommy group, I brought Sophie to Jungle Java, an indoor playground, yesterday afternoon. It's one of those places with a large labyrinthine play structure into which you can let your kids loose. They also have a designated toddler area with climbers and a slide that are more size-appropriate for the little people. It sounded so promising conceptually- the kids get to play in a safe, enclosed area while parents sit back and relax while enjoying good snacks and coffee. But the combination of the time of the day (Sunday afternoon), time of the year (cold and wet so the kids are all wound-up from not enough outside time), and Sophie not having been exposed to such large play situations just got a little overwhelming for the poor girl. The big kids were running recklessly in and out of the toddler area so there were children every which way you turned, many not even watching where they're going and almost trampling on the little ones; the bigger play structure was really distracting for Sophie and she kept wanting to make a break for it to join them; because it's indoors, every sound is amplified so the whole place was just ringing with noise; and many parents basically treated the area like a baby-sitter and left their toddlers alone while they went and enjoyed their coffee- unsupervised, rambunctious toddlers are sometimes not very nice to other toddlers, even those with their mommies with them.

And so there Sophie was- excited, (over) stimulated, enthralled, but also a little frightened and anxious. Fifteen minutes after we arrived, 4 or 5 trips down the slide, and several failed attempts to dash to the big kid area later, Sophie threw herself onto the floor in a puddle of kicks and tears. I think there was simply too much going on. And so I scooped her up, put on her shoes and jacket, and walked right out. The cold, bracing air was such a relief and we just sat in the car for the next 10 minutes, letting Sophie cool down with some milk, crackers, and The Innocence Mission on the car stereo. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Nicola's Books where Sophie and I were the only people in the store. She was perfectly content.

Here are some videos of when the going was still good:

Spring is for...

Running outside in the sun,


swinging on swings,


sliding down slides,


feeling the wind blow across your face,


hanging out with friends,


and chasing after leaves while searching for water fountains :)

Delicately

[Lunchtime. Damien Rice's "Delicate" playing in the background]

Me: Sophie, this is one of Mama's favorite songs. One day, you'll love Damien Rice just like Mama, okay?
Sophie: Oh-tay.
Me: Say delicate?
Sophie: Oh-tay.
Me: delicate?
Sophie: Puff puff?

We need to work on this... :)

Random Daycare Daily Report #11

Sophie is definitely an independent thinker :) Today, several of her friends were making a "messy painting" (finger painting with paint and shaving cream). Sophie took one look at it and decided she wasn't interested in getting messy today. Actually, I think she was more excited at having all the toys in the room to herself while her friends were pre-occupied with something else. Smart girl!

The birth of a word

If you have or know a child under the age of three, you must watch this video.

Coming out of the Media Lab at MIT this is an astounding study of how children learn words- what the role of the caregiver and context is, and how we can visualize that information. As a parent and early childhood researcher, this blew my mind. Since Sophie spoke her first word, I've been keeping a record of each word that has come after and the approximate date of its acquisition. Call me obsessive, but like I tell Jude, "It's data!" How else would I know that what was "ta-too" in September last year finally evolved into "crackers" two weeks ago. But this study takes that obsessiveness to a whole other level, with 140 000 hours of audio and video data. The visualization of the data is stunning but more importantly, what Deb Roy presents in this video barely scrapes the surface of what the study can potentially tell us about children's vocabulary acquisition and what we can do to support their learning. There's still so much we don't know about how children pick words up- learning how to speak is a natural and instinctual process but it is also one that is profoundly complex and mysterious.

I'll let the video speak for itself. Really, watch it, and feel yourself tingle when you hear how "gaa gaa" evolves into "water".

Lunch epiphany

At lunch today, we taught Sophie that instead of eating her minestrone soup and bread separately, it is entirely acceptable to dunk her bread into the soup first as another soup-delivery mechanism. Let's just say that was the last we saw of the spoon this afternoon.



You may count her mind as officially blown...



Lip-smackingly good :)



After Dunk #2:



And the final verdict?


"Awe-suum!"

Random Daycare Daily Report #10

Sophie cracks me up with the things she says. She'll do something silly and then say, "funny!" She knows she's a comedian :) Sophie had fun making a special painting today for Month of the Young Child. It will be on display at Cafe Marie in early April!

Sophie, meet bubble wrap

If we knew then what we know now about what best captures young toddlers' attention, we wouldn't have bought Sophie all those toys that now populate her play yard, no matter how developmentally appropriate they're supposed to be. Instead, I would have invested our money in stacks of stickers and rolls of bubble wrap. Next to her books, these are the only things that will occupy her (well, YouTube and TV too, but we won't go there...), which when it comes to Sophie, means getting her to sit by herself quietly for at least 10 minutes.

She discovered bubble wrap yesterday when an extremely heavy textbook arrived for Jude covered in the thing. After that, it was hours of endless fun spent popping the bubbles and hearing Sophie go, "bubble pop!" over and over :) It took a while for her to get the whole mechanics of squeezing the bubble and initially, she'd just try to gnaw at it to get it to burst when squeezing failed; but after a while, she got the hang of it and wouldn't let me near it to help her. And because the bubble wrap we had are the ones with the larger bubbles, Sophie could actually feel the air release in her face with each bubble she burst- watching her reaction the first few times was priceless...

[I really do love Sophie's pudgy little hands]

[Developing intense effort and concentration]

I've had the iPhone/iPad bubble wrap app for a while now but Sophie's never been interested in it. I'm not sure if having discovered the real thing is going to make her like the virtual one better or not...

Day at the museum

1. Excited flapping hands :), 2. How big a mastodons leg is, 3. "Row, row, row...", 4. Kneeling for a better look at the wild-life dioramas. , 5. Dada showing here where on the globe we are, 6. Sophie wanted to touch the owl badly

I don't know what took us so long to finally make our way to the Exhibit Museum of Natural History which is right on central campus and a ten minute drive from us. I guess we thought Sophie wasn't big enough to appreciate the exhibits. But oh is she ready now...

Ever since downloading all the various Night and Day Studio apps for the iPhone/iPad, Sophie has come to know her animals very well. She can pick them out in a group, name them, and most of the time, imitate the sound they make. Add to that her odd penchant for dinosaurs (it started with an episode of Harold and the Purple Crayon...) and you have an 18-month old who was raring to go when we told her we were going to the museum to see dinosaurs and animals. All the way to the museum, she kept saying "dinosauce, dinosauce" (that's how her dinosaurs comes out) over and over... until we actually walked into the dinosaur exhibit area where she promptly clammed up, grabbed our hands, and refused to let go for the longest time. See, the thing is, methinks our daughter likes the idea of animals; it's an exciting notion, conceptually. But bring her anywhere near them (or in this case, their skeletons or a stuffed version of them) and she gets a little nervous... For all her hellion bravado, she's a little scaredy cat inside :)

She did eventually warm up though and had just a fantastic time scuttering from one exhibit to the next. She was enthralled by the large dinosaur displays but was probably still a little intimidated by them to appreciate their spectacular majesty (truly, they were awesome...). But she absolutely loved the wildlife dioramas-- from squirrels to ducks, rabbits to owls-- she wanted to look at each and every one (and touch them too of course, failing which, kissing the glass panels was the next best thing).

Sophie's not going to remember much of what we did today-- not in the long run any way-- but we'd like to think that we gave her something to see, think and talk about today and maybe tomorrow. And for an 18-month old, that's probably more than we can ask for.

[Rest of photos here.]

Happy 107th birthday, Theodor Seuss Geisel!

Sophie's still a little young for the Dr. Seuss books (although when the mood strikes, she will listen to the entirety of Fox in Socks...) but one day, she will discover and hopefully fall in love with the Wockets, Whos, Grinches, bunches of Hunches, Bar-ba-loots, red fish, and blue fish who populate the Seussian world. It's Geisel's birthday today, and to celebrate the odd, fanciful, and wonderful books he has shared with the world, here are some of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes:

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.”

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”

What's your favorite Dr. Seuss quote?

Puddles of fun

**Update: It would seem that Sophie's obsession with puddles is not lost on her teachers. Her report from school today read:

Sophie had SO much fun outside today. Immediately she was drawn like a magnet to the puddles of melted snow. She couldn't wait to jump in and splash in each and every one. Sophie wasn't satisfied until she'd completely soaked both her mittens and her socks :) Speaking of, Sophie will need some extra socks in her cubby :)

Sophie loves puddles.

She loves looking for them, she loves us walking through them when we're carrying her, and most of all, she loves stomping in them on her own. And so yesterday, with the temperature creeping up into the 30s and the snow starting to melt, I bundled her up in her snow suit and boots (less to keep her warm than to keep her dry) and brought her on a puddle expedition.

We started out with a nice puddle outside our house (see video below) and then I put her in her wagon and we systematically visited as many puddles as we could around the neighborhood. Every time we saw a puddle, I'd take her out and she'd stomp in it to her heart's content, saying to herself over and over, "stomp, stomp, stomp" :) Sometimes I'd miss one and she'd yell for me to stop. A demanding one, our offspring... Along the way, I'd talk to her about icicles (she wants to touch and break them all the time), how slippery and dangerous black ice is, and why she can look at geese from afar but not try to chase after them (which she did of course and promptly got goose poop all over on her gloves and boots...)

Spring's going to be fun- puddles are really going to be everywhere by then and we'll have to have to get Sophie a pair of proper galoshes for all the puddles she will undoubtedly be jumping into :)