Watch out, DSW!

Sonia has recently become enamored with shoes. We'll be playing happily, reading books or whatever, when Sosini will catch sight of her shoes (silly Mommy for not putting them away)..... She toddles over, snatches up those precious objects, brings them to me, and begs me to put them on. Yesterday evening, she did the same thing with socks (which she hasn't worn hardly at all in months since it's summertime). Today, after I figure out when someone is coming to fix the leak in our den ceiling (!!!), Sosini and I are going shoe shopping to find some end-of-season sales on sandals because she's outgrowing hers. She'll be in heaven!

Sonia and Sami were both wearing their matching Target sandals last week at Blackberry Farm:


Sonia can't wait to go shopping with her Auntie Ems!

Arboretum fun

Carol and I took the kids (minus Aidan, who just started first grade!!!) to the arboretum for lunch under Zach's tree today, and as usual, wackiness ensued.



Sonia and her fledgling walking skills were having trouble with the uneven terrain, so she gladly accepted a bit of help to stay vertical. Now that the heat/humidity seems to have calmed down a bit, it will be more pleasant to get outside and practice walking in nature more often.



Sonia really loves watching older kids play.... Sophie was cracking her up today!



I have the cutest godson on the planet. Kieran, you're adorable!

Exploring, Learning, and Growing

Exploring on two feet is fun! Sonia simply can't sit still-- she seems to be on a mission to take 1 million steps before the end of August....


Sosini is learning how to use cutlery with mixed success. Rounded forks are fun for her because we help her spear food on the tines and then she uses two hands to jam it all in her mouth.


Check out the hair she's growing! Click on the picture to make it bigger. Her hair is getting thicker and threatening to turn into a mullet soon.

Sonia loves her godparents!

When Sonia's godparents, Gonzo & Emily, visited a couple of weekends ago, we experienced another "first" with Sonia: watching her show off. We had never truly seen her act so hyper and silly in front of people other than me & Andrew. Perhaps it was because she had seen Gonzo & Emily pretty recently (in early July) and she remembered them, so they weren't total strangers? Whatever the reason, Sonia sure put on a great show. She did the same showing off act when she saw her Grandma JoJo right after Gonzo & Em's visit.... So funny!

Anyway, I unfortunately failed to get any cute pictures of Emily with Sonia (sorry!!!), but I did snap a few pictures of Gonzo & The Great Sosini. Sonia thought it was hilarious when Gonzo put on the tiger mask and climbed in the tent with her:



This picture cracks me up because it looks like Sosi is teaching Gonzo how to read....


Sonia loves her godparents! Thanks for coming to visit, Gonzo and Emily!

Stats and a plateau

The Great Sosini had her 15 month well-baby checkup at the pediatrician's office yesterday, and the doctor said "She's perfect!" four different times. Sonia measured 31 inches and weighed in at 24 lbs 12 oz. Her growth has dramatically plateaued (which is completely normal for kids entering toddlerhood).... She supposedly lost a couple of ounces and hasn't grown any taller since the 12 month visit, but I suspect that's because it's really tough to accurately measure a squirmy baby. I can tell by how her one-piece sleeper pajamas (the kind with feet) fit that she has grown at least an inch this summer.


Anyway, the doc said that we probably caught Sonia right before a growth spurt. Based on how much I feed this child, I think that's probably right! Sosinini is now in the 75th percentile (roughly), compared to 95th percentile at 12 months old.

Grandma JoJo's visit

We had such a great time when Sonia's Grandma JoJo (aka JoAnn, my mother) came to visit us this past week....

Sonia loved showing Grandma her igloo tent!



Sosi also taught JoJo some of her dance moves (which mostly consist of toddling around like a drunken sailor and falling on her booty).


Sonia kept us in stitches with her antics all week. She sang, smiled, jibber-jabbered, danced, squealed, guffawed, kissed (with a good smooching sound!), and generally spent the whole time showing off for her grandma. What a cuckoo bird!


Every time she did something silly, Sosini had to check to make sure her grandma was watching. One evening, while my mom was stirring dinner on the stove, Sonia was pretending to stir food in the pots in the lazy susan cabinet, and of course she had to see if Grandma noticed:


On Wednesday, we drove to Fort Wayne, IN to visit Mom's childhood (and adulthood) friend, Sue, and her husband, Greg. While they were playing together as children in South Bend, I wonder if they ever imagined they would one day be posing for a picture with their grandchildren perched on their laps....


That handsome little dude is Anthony (Sue's grandson), who is yet another potential future boyfriend for The Great Sosini. Sosi and Anthony got along great! What a couple of goofballs.


Sue's son, Kevin, is Anthony's daddy. He, his brother (Ryan), Niki, Jordan, and I were buddies while growing up-- we're hoping that our kids will be buddies, too!


When we stopped for lunch at Steak 'n Shake on our way through Indiana, Sonia loved wearing the cool hat they gave her. I decided she needed to wear her sunglasses, too, to complete the look.


Thank you so much for visiting, Mom! We love you!

15 Months Old: a state of the baby address

Phwew-- These days, keeping up with Sonia's Energizer Bunny-like energy wears me out!


Sosini walks constantly, practicing her new fun skills. Occasionally, she takes a break to sit and read a book, but then she's up again, wandering in circles and toddling around in that cute "new walker" way. Crawling has become passe ever since she figured out a week ago how to reliably get to a standing position in the middle of the floor (without pulling up on anything). Yesterday, she happily toddled around outside of Jason's Deli (our new favorite eatery), showing off her cute outfit from Grandma Jenni & Grandpa Dick.


Sonia babbles and jibber-jabbers constantly, speaking in a language of her own invention. She is very adamant about everything she says, and if I can't understand what she's saying, it must be Mommy who has the problem.


I'm taking Sosi to her 15 month doctor's appointment tomorrow, so stats to follow.... Also, Sonia's Grandma JoJo has been here this week, and I have a million pictures and stories to post, chronicling our shenanigans. But I hear Sosini babbling over the baby monitor, apparently awake from her 75 minute nap (not bad for her!), so I'll have to post more later.

Things Charlotte taught Sonia while in CA

Sand is cool. Throwing sand is even cooler.


Silliness is always in style.


Ramen (aka "noonles") is really yummy.



Digging around in Grandma JoJo's kitchen drawers is a lot of fun.


Gardening is very relaxing.


Sharing is optional (even though our mommies say it isn't).


Dishwashers usually have a lot of fun buttons to push, but this sneaky one has all of them hidden on the top of the door. These lights are fake buttons designed to fool us. What do they think we are, amateurs?

Ham

Even though Sonia is suffering from roseola this week (and being a humongous crab), she still managed to be a goofball while modeling her pretty pink dress for the camera.

The Great Sosini in California

We started off our week-long trip to Thousand Oaks, CA by wishing a very happy 60th birthday to Sonia's Grandpa Spike! Sosinini got to hang out with a bunch of our extended family, most of whom hadn't seen her since our trip to AZ last summer when she was just a pipsqueak. I should have made sure to get pictures of everyone holding or hanging out with Sonia-- darn!!! Anyway, happy birthday again, Dad! We love you.


Andrew cooked a lot of the food for the birthday party (I LOVE being married to a great chef!) before he had to turn around and fly back home to work while Sonia and I stayed for the rest of the week. Sosi and I missed Andrew a lot, but hanging out with Sonia's Great-Grandpa Chuck, Grandpa Spike, Grandma JoJo, Auntie Niki, and cousins Charlotte & Peter kept us pretty busy, so the time without Andrew flew by.


For once, Sonia slept pretty darn well during a trip out of town! It was heavenly. She went to sleep very easily every night at 7:30pm (and adjusted to the 2 hour time difference like a champ) and slept through until 4 or 5am, at which point she would sleep another couple of hours in bed with me. Not ideal, but not bad. Sosi also napped okay-- mostly 30-40 minute naps, but she threw in a few of 75-90 minute naps just to shake things up. So, pretty similar to being at home (in terms of napping).


It was interesting to watch the dynamics of the three cousins.... We realized that at 28 months old, 14 months, and 7 months old, Charlotte was twice as old as Sonia and Sonia was twice as old as Peter. That's a big difference in terms of development! When Charlotte was all tanked up and acting like a normal 2 year old, Sonia got a bit nervous and fussed. I gotta get this kid hanging out with her older friends more often! But she and Charlotte did have some fun times playing together. It was sweet to catch glimpses of the future....



Sonia thought Peter was pretty awesome (except for when he crawled on her or pulled on her clothes). She gave him lots of hugs and kisses-- I think she considered him to be her little baby doll!


Sonia's Grandpa Chuck (my paternal grandfather) flew down from Seattle to spend most of the week with us. Sosini thought Grandpa Chuck (aka "Grandpa Truck", according to Charlotte) was hilarious.....



One of the hardest things about the visit was Sonia's separation anxiety. From everything I've read, it seems that some kids get hit harder with that than others, and no one really knows why. Sonia is in that category, apparently. I couldn't leave the room without her freaking out (unless she was otherwise occupied with some fun activity). Hopefully this will end soon....


Sonia really honed her walking skills while visiting CA! Andrew was remarking today that she came home with little or no desire to crawl at all. I think she watched Charlotte a lot and realized that walking was a lot of fun. When we visited Underwood Family Farms, she walked everywhere (both holding my hand and on her own).


From L-R: Sonia, Great-Grandpa Chuck, Peter, Grandpa Spike, and Charlotte


One day, we went to an amazing little indoor play area especially for children ages 0-4 called Kali's Garden. We liked that the website specifically mentioned that the place was clean-- FABULOUS! Basically, it was a small store (in a strip mall) that was filled with the most amazing array of toys. The kids loved it!



I'm very sad that I failed to get good pictures of Sonia with her grandpa, grandma, and auntie. Picture FAIL. Regardless, we had a fantastic time, and although we're happy to be back home with Andrew, we miss you all so much! Thank you for the wonderful week.

Before we left, Sonia asked me if we could bring Charlotte & Peter back with us to Illinois, but they didn't fit too well in the suitcase....