What we're thankful for

Your fearless invincibility

Your laughter

Your loving nature

Your sense of wonder for all things around you

Your silliness

Your endless curiosity

We're thankful for YOU!

Mahna Mahna

It doesn't matter how old you are, the Muppets' Mahna Mahna will always be rib-ticklingly funny. Always.

Sophie watched this clip for the first yesterday and she laughed from the very first viewing (yes, there were multiple viewings, of course...). Because there's just something so intuitively delightful and joyful about the whole thing. There are no words, no narrative to parse apart, and it's not meant to teach you anything; just a simple, repetitive melody and a bunch of adorable muppets. Just hilarious!

As part of the publicity for the new Muppets movie (which we're seriously considering bringing Sophie to), Disney has rolled out a Mahna Mahna app on Facebook. Watch Sophie in action! Click here.

Be duly warned though- you-- and the toddler in the house-- are going to be humming the tune for hours after, if not days... ;)

Sophie_isms omnibus

Girl with Balloon

The firemen are going to the farmers market too! To buy some onions and pears.

I just woke up! I was hibernate. I slept for a looooong time.

Mr. Squirrel is hiding the acorns in the tree. He doesn't want Sophie to eat them.

Did you call me 'pumpkin', Mama? I'm not a fruit. I'm a sweet girl!

I want to be the owl. Then I can go hoot-hoot...

Cookie Monster's favorite food is watermelon.

Sophie and rubber duckie are swimming in the bathtub. We're going to Canada.

Bob Dylan gives Sophie a guitar. He has no guitar anymore. He's sad.

Random daily daycare report #19

1. Spreading the sauce, 2. Yay Erin!, 3. Erin flipping the pizza dough!, 4. Helping to slice peppers

Sophie was so excited to make pizza this morning. She spent a long time cutting up green peppers and mushrooms. Then she helped spread the sauce and sprinkle the toppings. She was very proud of her work and was excited to share her pizza creation with the other classes :)

Sophie reads Madeline

In an old house in Paris, that was covered in vines
Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines
In two straight lines, they broke their bread,
And brushed their teeth (and went to bed)
...
And the smallest one was Madeline
She was not afraid of mice,
She loved winter, snow, and ice
To the tiger in the zoo,
Madeline just said, "Pooh-pooh!

What a difference a year makes...

Earlier last month, I posted something about how stoked Sophie was for Picture Day at school. Considering the catastrophic FAIL that was last year's class photo, we were just holding our breaths that this year's would turn out at least half decent so we can frame a couple up for the grandparents.

Fortunately, thanks to the excitement drummed up by her teachers and her heightened familiarity with cameras thrust into her face (thanks to the bigillion photos her parents take of her), this year's photo was a resounding success. Have you seen a child more happy and adorable? No. No, you haven't.



Oh, and about that picture from last year... See for yourself.

Counting down 30 days

It's exactly a month until we arrive in Singapore.

And in preparation, Jude and I have been talking ourselves into a frenzy about the food we're going to be chowing down during our 3-week trip (as always...). It started with this list that he stumbled upon (which I barely agree with, but then again, we haven't been home in two years, so who knows what's come and gone in the Singapore hawker food scene?...) and then tonight, in a spur of inspiration, Jude decided he was going to make char kway teow, a much beloved fried noodle dish from home. Greasy, sweet, savory, and pungent- char kway teow encapsulates all things yummy about Singaporean hawker food. I was beside myself with anticipation...

We had to adapt the original recipe a little to suit Sophie and also the ingredients we could (or couldn't) find. Which means 1) no fresh cockles and 2) spaghetti as a substitute for egg noodles because of Sophie's allergies (no scoffing, you purists- it worked brilliantly). It was actually quite easy to find fish cake and preserved Chinese sausage so we at least managed to preserve the integrity of most of the main ingredients.

Chef Jude hard at work at the wok

Jude made two batches of noodles- one Sophie-friendly version with no egg or chili paste and the other with the works, i.e. extra garlic, stir-fried egg, and a pungent, spicy chili paste. And both were equally A-MAZING. I was literally standing right next to him, picking up the noodles with my chopsticks as he was still stir-frying... It was that delicious.

Our grown-up version

We weren't sure how Sophie would take to char kway teow- she hasn't actually had anything quite like it. But clearly, being a Singaporean foodie is in her blood and she practically inhaled the noodles from the moment we set it in front of her. When I asked if she could share her noodles with us, this was her response:

Shielding her char kway teow from her parents

Best of all, throughout the evening, Sophie called out several times, "Thank you, Dada for making me the noodles!"

Singapore hawker food, watch out- we'll be unleashing Sophie Yew on you!

The Flip!

It snowed today. Yup, first snowfall of the season. Brilliant.

And just in time for that, guess what skill Sophie learned at daycare today?



Our daughter is officially the coolest person in this house.

The week after Halloween

It's a little like buying Christmas wrapper on Boxing Day except that you don't have to wait a whole year before using it again. What happens when you walk into Target and find out that all Halloween costumes and candy are now going at 70% sale? Well, buy your daughter her own dinosaur costume to add to her dress-up collection, of course.

ROAR!

Winter's just round the corner and we have to find interesting ways to keep Sophie occupied during those snowy months when spending too much time outside will just become unbearable. If yesterday afternoon/evening was an indication, our new dinosaur friend is just the perfect thing to help with that- Sophie was so excited to step into the costume (even though it's still a little big for her) and was happy simply "riding" it up and down the living room and going about her normal play routine dressed as a dinosaur. She even kept the costume on as we read together on the couch. Best $9 spent!

And as for Jude and I, we were just happy with our bag of discounted snack-sized Kit-Kats :)

What is Dada good at?

At Oval Beach, Saugatuck

This afternoon, as I was changing Sophie's diaper, she suddenly declared, "Dada is good at changing my diaper." It was a funny moment- I wasn't sure if she was trying to make a statement about what now appears to be my less than stellar diapering skills or if it was just an observation about the things Jude is good at. So I asked her, "Sophie, what else is Dada good at?" And what did she come up with?

Poking my nose.

Shaving his pokey chin.

Rockabye baby (Sometimes, she still asks Jude to carry her like a baby in his arms.)

Do the dishes.

and my favorite...

Hugging Mama.

Bye bye Sophie the Giraffe

Over breakfast this morning, we introduced Sophie to Julianne by going through all the Flickr photos my brother-in-law has been posting. Sophie has known about Baby Julianne for as long as she could see my sister's growing belly and was so excited to finally see her cousin- "I want to see Baby Julianne on the compooter, Mama!". Sophie was of course adoring of Julianne-- "Oh Baby Julianne shooooooo cute!"-- and we're really looking forward to the two cousins "hanging out" more when we go home for Christmas.

Later, on the way to daycare, Jude asked her if she would pick out a toy as a gift to Julianne- not something new but something that belongs to her so that it would be special.

Jude: Sophie, when we get home tonight, can you choose one of your toys so that we can give it to Julianne as a present?
Sophie: Errr, ok.
Me: Pick one. Something that you play with.
Sophie: And then we can surprise Baby Julianne!
Jude: That's right, we can surprise Baby Julianne. What will you pick? Which toy?
Sophie: (after thinking about it for a while). Squeaky giraffe. I give my squeaky giraffe to Baby Julianne so that she can surprise. Yah, I can give squeaky giraffe.
Me: Are you sure you want to give Julianne your squeaky giraffe?
Sophie: Yah. I think she will like it.

At that point, I couldn't have been more proud of our sweet, thoughtful Sophie :) Not only did she not balk at the prospect of giving away one of her toys (although whether she will *really* give it up is still questionable, but still...), she chose one of her most beloved ones.

Sophie at 4 months with her Sophie the Giraffe

My mom bought Sophie her Sophie the Giraffe chew toy when she was 6 weeks old (we've actually never called the giraffe Sophie just because it would have been too confusing) and it has always been one of her favorites. The giraffe played a huge part in helping Sophie develop her grabbing skills, it was always available for her to gnaw, chew, and suckle during those dastardly teething months, and even now as she's outgrown it somewhat, Sophie the Giraffe is still a constant fixture in Sophie's play repertoire. Just yesterday, she set up a picnic with her dolls, stuffed animals, and Sophie the Giraffe and thoughtfully fed it a hunk of pretend steak. I didn't have the heart to tell her that giraffes are herbivores.

But now, she has decided that it's her cousin's turn to play with the giraffe and tonight, we'll put Sophie the Giraffe aside, give it a good scrub down, and put it in a bag for Julianne. My sister already has a brand new Sophie the Giraffe but maybe that Sophie will appreciate having a companion giraffe from real Sophie and Julianne will have double the grabbing, chewing fun :)

And because she's just that gorgeous, here's another photo of Julianne fresh off my sister's Flickr feed :)

Hush little baby

[Sophie the Giraffe got its own article in Slate earlier this year. Read it here.]

Julianne

And she's finally here! It took a little cajoling but my sweet niece, Julianne has arrived and she's beautiful!

I'm so happy for my sister, Sherri and brother-in-law, Piao Zhou! I can already see them being such loving, doting parents- Julianne is so blessed! And my parents and Sam were finally able to partake in the whole exciting anticipation of labour and delivery. Since we had Sophie here in the U.S., they never got to experience it firsthand. So even though Julianne is technically their second grandchild/niece, it probably feels like their first in a way, and I'm so happy that they got to share in that.

Welcome to our world, dear Julianne! We love you so much already, and can't wait to see you in December!

Sophie the Pig

We've been reading Olivia to Sophie for as long as I can remember. I used to read it to my preschoolers all the time and when our friend, Christine, got the book for us for our shower, I was more than thrilled. I remember reading it to Sophie while she was still in utero, those early months when all she could do was sit in her bouncer and stare intently at my efforts to read to her, and now, when Olivia makes a frequent appearance on our rotation of bedtime stories. The precociously sassy pig who loves building sandcastles, museums, and books and who tires out everyone around her - it's like Ian Falconer was describing Sophie :)

And so, during one of her more tenacious Olivia phases, Sophie and I decided that she would dress up as Olivia for Halloween. I wasn't about to pay an arm and a leg for a custom made costume, and so went about figuring out how I could put one together (see post from last Halloween- there was no way I would be able to sew the entire thing on my own). Thankfully, we already have a pair of black and white striped tights and matching shoes (not intentional); after much scouring, I found a plain red dress at our local children's resale shop (you can't believe how hard it is to find a simple red dress that doesn't make it look like Sophie's dressing up as Santarina); bought the ears from this lady who makes the entire outfit but sells the ears separately, and... wait for it... sewed the collar. By hand. I followed this tutorial and actually managed to make it work even without a sewing machine. Yes. I rock.

I'm pretty proud of myself- it's not exactly like the Olivia in the book, but for how much I spent on it (ears + dress + fabric from Joann's = $12, maybe? $15 at the most), I think it came together fabulously :)

Most importantly, Sophie had a WONDERFUL time. According to her teachers, she's been talking about dressing up as Olivia for weeks and today, she was so excited to go trick-or-treating, she sat so still and quiet as I put on the layers of clothing on her (it was really cold out), and patiently waited for everything to come together. And the moment we got outside and the parade started, it was like we couldn't stop her. Oh, she didn't bolt and run every which way like we thought she would. In fact, she was extremely purposeful and methodical, making sure she hit every house that had candy available ;) At the end of it, even though she could only have the lollies and gummies in her haul (which just means more chocolate for Dada and Mama...), she was such a happy little camper, I suspect we'll be talking about Halloween for a long time to come :)

1. Lolli!, 2. Pig on a mission, 3. Hanging out with Andrew before the parade, 4. Walking the parade with Dada

Birthday weekend getaway

To celebrate my birthday-- and because we found a Groupon for a bed and breakfast there-- we took a quick trip to Saugatuck this weekend just for the fun of it. It's about a 2.5 hour-drive away and right on the coast of Lake Michigan.

On Oval Beach

We didn't have a set itinerary and just wanted to relax and see something different, and it was different alright... Apart from gatecrashing the town's Halloween parade, the highlight of the trip was our little jaunt to Oval Beach. Consistently voted one of the most beautiful coastlines in the country, I hear it's a bustling beach in the summer. But being the end of October, it was pretty much empty save for us, a few hardcore joggers, and some other tourists who promptly bundled back into the car from the cold. This time of the year, it's probably not everyone's idea of a pretty beach, but Jude and I loved it. There's a sparse, stark beauty to it that reminded us a little of the Northern Californian coastline. Looking out across the expansive waters, it was actually hard to imagine that it's Lake Michigan before us and not an ocean.

And as for Sophie, she basically treated the beach as one giant sandbox that she didn't have to share with anyone. It didn't even matter to her that it was 38F (3C) with windshield- with a warm jacket and fleece hat, she was oblivious to the elements and more focused on the structural integrity (or lack thereof) of her sandcastle, of which she built several.

What's a bit of cold?

She also had fun climbing up and down (and sometimes, through) the smaller sand dunes surrounding the beach.

Sand dunes rock!

It was soft, fine sand and so we had no worries that Sophie would fall and hurt herself. Besides, honestly, it was so wonderful seeing her embrace the natural surroundings so fearlessly and gleefully that we didn't have the heart to stop her even after her nth climb. She probably carted half the beach in her shoes and backpack after we were done building more sandcastles, picking rocks, and chasing the waves but it was worth it seeing how happy that made her :)

Favorite photo of Sophie from the trip

See rest of photos here.

I know we're early, but...

I take my holiday cards very seriously. I used to make them by hand way back when chasing a two-year old was merely a speck in the horizon of my imagination. And there were no e-cards then and so sending and receiving Christmas cards in the mail was a huge part of the whole holiday ritual for me. These days, most people send e-cards or post on each other's Facebook walls when the holidays roll around, and I suppose that's the eco-friendly thing to do. And yet, mailing out paper cards is still something I hold on to doing. I don't handmake them anymore of course, but it matters a lot to me how the ones we send out look.

Before Sophie came along, I had (and still have) a soft spot for the letterpress holiday cards from Elum Designs (I love letterpress anything!). But since we had Sophie, we've turned to the photo holiday cards that are so popular with families here in the U.S. I guess they're a nice way of putting all your favorite pictures together and to send loved ones a holiday greeting while you're at it. There are tons of websites out there that do this, of course- Shutterfly, Snapfish, Tiny Prints (where we got Sophie's birthday invites last year), just to name a few. But this year, I discovered MyPublisher.

And what makes MyPublisher different than the bagillion other photo card sites?
- FREE shipping
- FREE envelope liners in a variety of colors and patterns
- FREE return address printing (which I love because this means I don't have to write our names and addresses over and freaking over again...)
- FREE deluxe envelopes
- FREE paper options — satin, matte or linen — and they’re all much thicker and luxe than most photo card sites. Some reviews have said they feel almost letterpress-esque (yay!)

Basically, it has better design options (colors, fonts, layouts) than any other site I’ve used. Here are some of my favorites:





I love the clean lines and uncluttered format- nothing too bright and fussy, but still festive and fun. Best of all, I found a discount coupon on a mommy blog. If you're interested, use the code Babble30 to get 30% off your entire holiday card order. This discount is only valid until Nov 5 for the first 1,000 readers of the blog so I'm not sure how many discounts have been claimed by now. I know it's still a full 2 more months before Christmas, but guess who's already put in an order for her holiday cards? :)

"May I have more chippy chip chips?"

My snack today

I'm not a natural vegetable lover- my family can attest to this. For the most part, I eat veggies because I know they're good for me, not because I love them. But today, for snack, I couldn't stop eating one of the sturdiest, heartiest, greenest, veggie-est of all vegetables-- kale-- not because I ought to, but because I actually liked it. A lot.

The reason? Kale chips.

Basically, you de-stem the kale, cut or tear it up, toss it with a bit of oil and bake till crisp. An amazing alchemy takes place in the oven where something densely leafy...

turns into something impossibly light, with a nice depth of flavor from the oil and salt. It was amazing...

Of course, the greatest test was whether or not I could get Sophie on board. We actually don't have problems with Sophie eating her vegetables (except maybe raw salad, which I can't imagine any two-year old getting excited about anyway), it's just that she has her days (as with all things toddler). On some days, she'll happily eat her green beans and broccoli as they are on her plate; on others, the only way I can get any vegetable into her is if I hide butternut squash in pasta sauce or drown spinach in her favorite miso soup. So who knows how well she'll take to crunchy kale?

Thankfully, well enough to ask for seconds, actually :)

Child labour

How do you make your toddler earn her keep?

1) Tell her you have a very special project that you need her help to put together.

2) Omit the fact that it's assembling a shoe rack.

3) Try to sound super enthusiastic.

4) Clap loudly and praise effusively every time she does something right, even if it's just handing you a bolt. And especially if she manages to hold on to anything without flinging it across the room or putting it in her mouth.

5) Watch her beam with pride when she knows she's made a real contribution to a tangible, usable product.

Seriously though, it was amazing to watch Sophie and Jude put the shoe rack together. There was no complaint, no tantrum and she intently listened to every one of our instructions. It sounds silly but it was quite a special thing to see. And best of all, she was *really* a great help to Jude who managed to put the rack together in less than 20 minutes. We were so proud of her and I think she knows it. And now, every time we get ready to leave the house, she looks at our shoe rack and declares proudly, "I help Dada do that!" :)

Pumpkin patch kid

Click for album

I guess we could have just walked into the supermarket and bought a pumpkin for Halloween, but what would be the fun in that? No walking amidst pumpkins of Brobdingnagian proportions in the blustery autumn wind; no watching Sophie try to stay standing on said pumpkins and then laugh at herself for losing her balance; and no seeing her try to hug, push, shove, carry, hide behind, and climb over those crazy giant pumpkins.

Visiting the pumpkin farm was as much an experience for Sophie as it was for us. She got to go on a hayride round the farm which she really enjoyed while Jude and I marveled at how incredibly ginormous the pumpkins were. I mean, Sophie could barely see over the top of some of the really big ones! At what point of the evolutionary process was it advantageous for pumpkins to grow this big??? All the better to be harvested and carved? I don't think Sophie appreciated the sheer size of those things- right now, I have a feeling that as far as she's concerned, those pumpkins are how real pumpkins look and the "regular" ones at the store are probably miniature in her mind :)

"I love you, pumpkin."

Random daycare daily report #18

Practising her "cheese!" for Picture Day today

Sophie sure was ready for Picture Day today. When I asked what we'll be doing, she said, "I say "cheese!"" And later, as we were waiting to have the pictures taken, Sophie turned to me and said, "Erin, we have to show our happy face!" Yes, we do Sophie!

Ballerina explorer

Don't you have one of them in your house?

I hear they come in particularly handy when one finds a safari in the middle of a dance recital. Because you know, that happens all the time...

[The costume's from the Olivia Dream It Be It Role Play Set Jude found at Target in the clearance section. Dada score!]

Random daily daycare report #17

With Uncle Piao's headphones when the family visited over Christmas

Today, we put some new noise-reducing headphones in our classroom. Sophie LOVED them! She put on a pair and I said, "Sophie, can you hear me?" After that, every time she put them on, she would come running up to me saying, "Erin, can you hear me?" She looked like a little D.J. with them on! :)

Shamu love

Showing off her new Ann Arbor whale tee

It started when we randomly showed Sophie a video of a killer whale show at SeaWorld. She was completely fascinated (even more so than usual) and wanted to see it over and over again. In passing, I told her that it was the Shamu show (even though the real Shamu died in 1970, SeaWorld retained its name for the show), and ever since then, she pretty much uses 'Shamu' and 'whale' interchangeably. When we were in the aquarium in Boston, all she wanted to see was a whale, but because the whale tours were closed because of Hurricane Irene, the closest thing we saw was a whale skeleton that hangs on the third floor. Still, that made her happy enough.

Since then, we've read books about whales, borrowed a BBC documentary about ocean life from the library and watched some of that with her (without any of the prey and predator bits), and as you can see from above, populated the house with all things whale (bath toys, stickers, books, t-shirts-- she now has TWO, a puzzle, and even a hair clip).

Sophie's favorite Shamu item is a whale bath toy that she carries around everywhere with her. Apart from being her bath companion, it is also often her picnic guest and food taster. Oh, and she talks to him all the time:

Please don't squirt me with your blowhole, Shamu. I getting wet!

Shamu, would you like some cow's milk? [gives him a toy milk carton] I cannot have cow's milk. You drink.

Shamu, are you a good helper? But you have no fingers!

I bring you to Gretchen's House, Shamu. Don't get lost!

[What she was saying as I took the photo above] Good morning, Dada! I wearing Shamu shirt. With blowhole!

Even her teachers at daycare know all about Sophie's Shamu love. According to them, they found out about her obsession last week when the kids were taking turns listening to one of those spiral conch shells. The teachers asked, "Can you hear the ocean? Can you hear the waves?" And when it came to Sophie's turn, apparently she said, "I hear Shamu! I hear Shamu!"

Thank god Sophie's-- ok, with some goading from me-- already decided what she's going to be for Halloween. I'm sure if it was completely up to her, I'd be figuring out some way of sewing a whale costume for a 2 year old...

Schmaltzy maltzy

Bye bye 12-18 month clothes

This weekend, I cleared out Sophie's wardrobe for the season. I brought up her Fall sweaters and long-sleeve tees from the basement (when sales roll around, I buy things for her up to two sizes bigger and just keep them in the Too-Big-For-Now box) and sorted out what she's now wearing into piles. What you see in the picture is what was left after setting aside everything else that could possibly be re-worn, re-sold, or passed on to my sister as she expects her baby girl in a few weeks (!!). You can't really tell from the photo but these pieces have been lovingly and thoroughly worn through. They're all faded and/or stained but still I'm having a hard time discarding them. Call me schmaltzy and sentimental, but I actually viscerally reacted against the thought of putting away the dress she wore on her first birthday (which she has long outgrown but that I still put on her as a blouse). And I can't possibly throw away the pajamas she wore when she took her first steps, right? Right? Her first steps, people!

It's probably the time of the year (leaves falling, colors changing, etc.) or maybe an overall pensiveness as I approach (in mere weeks) my mid-thirties. Whatever it is, putting away her used clothes just reminds me that Sophie is really no longer a baby. And yet in so many ways, she is still our baby. This is the girl who, after I tuck into her crib, will sometimes-- with all the pluck she can muster-- say, "Mama, can you go outside? I sleep all by myself." But she is also the same girl who on other nights, will plaintively ask Jude, "Dada, can you stay in my room with me?"

I'm keeping the dress she wore at her first birthday. Maybe I'll make it a thing and keep every dress/outfit she wears at each birthday. It'll probably start getting a little creepy when she's ten (or maybe even earlier), but for now, let's just all agree that it's me being sentimental as opposed to borderline obsessive...

What do you mean it's October 1 already?

Oh, did I mention it's also 47F (8C) outside?

Who loves Kipper?

One morning earlier this week, before I could fully open Sophie's door to wake her up, she looked at me sleepily from her crib and said, "Duck play in the playground. Like Kipper." I had to smile- I guess this is what it's like to be a 2-year old, when you go to bed and dream of your favorite orange cartoon beagle :)

We started to let Sophie watch Kipper on our trip to Boston when we knew we had to occupy her with something during the flight and long drives. Our friends Amy and Eric recommended the series glowingly and now I see why. It is exactly what you would hope for in an animated show for toddlers- soft, warm colors; characters who are gentle and loving and who speak slowly; sweet and simple plot narratives; and the greatest trauma any of the characters have had to endure is losing his sippy cup- something any 2-year old can identify with. Kipper and his buddies Tiger, Pig, and Arnold (Sophie's favorite), amble about in a genial, self-amused manner, often chuckling infectiously to themselves about their mildly mischievous adventures. There are occasional moments of slapstick comedy but it's high on cuteness, and like I said, low on angst and violence.

Although speaking of angst, we did have a moment yesterday when Sophie was watching an episode she had already seen before, about Kipper being visited by a baby goose. As the video ended, Sophie suddenly burst into tears. And I mean a full-fledged wail, complete with giant globs of tears streaming down her cheeks. I turned to see what was happening on screen- Kipper's new friend was flying away and Kipper was waving goodbye. Sophie was inconsolable.

Later, as I was putting her to bed, I asked her why she cried earlier. Sophie's answer? "Because goose fly away. I sad." Our sweet, sensitive Sophie... This makes me think to never show her the first 20 minutes of Finding Nemo or the second half of Bambi, for a while at least. Until she is of suitable age, Sophie will believe that Finding Nemo begins with Nemo's first day at school and that Bambi ends with the whole family escaping from that first hunting expedition intact. If a goose flying away reduced her to tears, I don't think Sophie can handle watching someone losing a parent on screen. You can watch the full Kipper episode here, complete with the traumatic farewell...

Random daycare daily report #16

Converse Cat in the Hat high-top sneakers, or what Sophie calls, "my fancy dancing shoes" 

Sophie is sure excited about her new** shoes. She's been showing them off all day :) When we transition from one activity to another, we'll always ask the kids how they want to move (like a bunny, like an airplane, etc...) Today, when we asked Sophie, she said, "With my new shoes!" :)

** Even though Sophie's had these shoes for a while, they've been a little big for her and so she didn't get to wear them very often. And she never wore them to daycare till today, so as far as she's concerned, they're new :)

In case I ever forget

After her bath tonight, Sophie threw herself into my arms and gave me a hug. And as she nuzzled into my neck, she said, "I'm happy, Mama. I'm happy."

I asked her why.

"Because Mama is hugging me."

An apple a day

Eating her weight in apples

It couldn't have been a more beautiful Fall day for the quintessential Michigan apple-picking experience- sunny, crisp, and just chilly enough to make fresh donuts and warm cider the perfect treat after all that walking and foraging. The Cooks, Cooneys, Sophie and I (Jude was doing a bike tour in Detroit) visited Wasem Fruit Farm where the Fall picking season had just begun two weeks ago. MacIntoshes, Cortlands, Jonathans, and Honey Crisps were ripe for the picking and Sophie for one, couldn't wait to sink her teeth in almost each and every apple she managed to either pick from the tree or off the ground.

Chomp chomp chomp

She had a wonderful time running about with the big kids, stomping through the apple trees, crawling under the foliage for lower-hanging fruit, and just basically reveling in the experience of being able to pick something off a tree and then putting it straight into your mouth without having Mama take it away from you because it wasn't edible (for instance, a quarter or a bulb syringe...) It didn't matter that her pants were getting wet from the dew-damp grass or that she kept falling over the apples strewn all over the ground- she could RUN and there were apples to be eaten, and that was what mattered :)

There were raspberries too and those were even more fun for Sophie because unlike most of the apples which were too high for her to pick on her own, the raspberry bushes were the perfect height for her to look at, touch, and pick.

Sweet raspberries

Squishing it in her hands

Sophie also had apple cider for the first time. I wish she could experience fully the whole warm-donut-with-hot-cider-after-apple-picking experience, but she didn't seem too bothered that everyone was having donuts except her. I think she was just happy to have done something new, fun, and exciting. And the fresh cider was also probably tasty enough to distract her from the fact that she didn't get to have any fried dough.

More importantly though, she got to spend time with friends (both the kids and grown-ups) and so couple that with being out in the wide open orchard with copious amounts of apple literally within her reach, it was just the most perfect way for a two-year-old to spend a beautiful Fall morning.

Julianne and Finn- the best babysitters-in-training ever!

More pictures here.

Pizza vs. Cereal

And so we made pizza for dinner tonight :) No cheese, of course.

Thanks to pre-made fresh pizza dough from Trader Joe's (vegan, yay!), all we had to do was to prepare a bunch of toppings:

Broccoli, thinly sliced potatoes (tossed with olive oil and garlic), sliced ham, sweet peppers, and caramelized onions

Sophie was super-excited about pitching in- every time I told her she was going to help me with making the pizza, she'd add, "And Sophie will eat it!" She's not the most refined of sous-chefs, I have to say and her preferred method of topping the pizza was of the throwing variety...

Sous chef at work

And in the 15 minutes that took us to assemble the pizza, she ate her fair share of toppings- mostly the caramelized onions and sliced ham.

Sneaking bites in between "helping"

Caught red-handed!

As the pizza was baking, Jude came home and Sophie declared excitedly, "We have pizza! You'll love it, Dada! It's delicious!"

And it was really tasty, although in the end, a little too adventurous for Sophie's palate, I think. I rolled the dough fairly thin and so it wasn't the chewy crust she's used to at school or what she's eaten from a proper pizza place. Plus she got frustrated picking out the broccoli and sweet peppers that after about 10 minutes of fiddling with her plate, she was ready to call it quits. People say you shouldn't prepare anything else for your child if they reject their meal but I just couldn't bear to send her to bed with just four bites of pizza crust and a handful of ham slices. So while Jude and I polished up the rest of the painstakingly assembled and gorgeous looking (if I should say so myself) pizza, Sophie happily scarfed down two portions of cereal with cold milk.

*Sigh*... we will endeavor again...

Herman the Worm

Having a sister who's 17 years younger than you (and therefore spending pretty much most of my late adolescence and early adulthood babysitting her), and teaching Sunday School for six years and preschool for a little more than two, I'd like to think that I have a fairly extensive repertoire of children's songs and rhymes.

Then, moments like this come along to prove otherwise:



Sophie randomly broke out into this song after dinner and I had NO clue what she was singing/saying. I was giggling so hard at her enthusiastic rendition (you don't hear me in the video because literally, this was the fourth time she was at it- I was still grinning from ear to ear though...) plus you have to admit, she looks so darn precious singing it (channeling Debbie Gibson/ Tiffany circa 1988 with that side pony-tail), so I had no choice but to look the song up online:

Herman the Worm

I'm sittin' on the fence post,
Chewin' my bubblegum (make chewing sound)
Playin' with my yo-yo (do-whap, do-whap)
When along came Herman the Worm
And he was this big
And I said "Herman, what happened?"

According to the various websites, there's more to the song, but it involves Herman eating all manner of things ranging from a ladybug to his own sister (??!!) so maybe Sophie's daycare-- which is the only place she could have learned this- stopped where they did to avoid the macabre aspects of Herman's genocidal tendencies...

Random daycare daily report #15

Busy painting with Wesley

Sophie enjoyed large group painting today. She sat down at the table and asked, "May I paint, please?" She's been using such polite words lately! Later, she wanted a toy a friend was using and she said, "May I have that toy, please?" Sadly, her friend didn't appreciate her courtesy enough to give up their toy, but what a pleasant way to ask! :) Then, during clean up time, I heard her on the "phone" saying, "Have to clean up- bye bye!" She's too funny!