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....
2 comments:
Erin - It looks like you had so much fun - Happy B-day to your Dad! I bet all the cousins together was so special! Sonia is such a Doll - I NEED to meet her ;0) That pic of her and Niki's little guy is so great!!! What a cutie pie!
I love seeing Charlotte and Sosi together! Those two are going to be inseparable in a few years!
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