Get your motor running....

One of Sonia's favorite words to say is "CAR!!!" I have a feeling I'm going to have to start hiding the car keys soon....

Cuckoo birds at the Morton Arboretum

Sonia experiences her first ND football Saturday

This past weekend, Andrew and I took The Great Sosini to Notre Dame to experience a home football game day. As we milled around near the dome, Sonia inspected the beautiful landscaping.


Although we could have marched the game with the alumni band, Andrew and I decided we wanted to just go to hang out and say hi to everyone. Lucky dog Aidan Murray got to march in to the stadium with his parents! Sonia and I talked to him beforehand to make sure he was up to the challenge.


Sadly, our little cheerleader had to wear a heavy jacket over her uniform all day....


Sosi enjoyed seeing her godparents! Even though we only got to see them briefly, it's always wonderful to hang out with Em and Gonzo. Emily, I want to steal your awesome jacket!


I took this picture right before Sonia rubbed her cookie on Gonzo's face.


We took Sosinini to Farley Hall to see where Mommy lived when she was an undergrad.


While we were letting her run around on North Quad in front of Farley, she found a squirrel buddy. When the squirrel stood very still and let Sonia get alarmingly close to it, we looked and realized the squirrel was blind (and possibly sick). So, we hightailed it out of there. Sonia had never been this close to a squirrel before, and she wasn't quite sure what it was. First she barked at it ("wuh! wuh!"), and then she meowed at it ("mow? mow?").


Sonia was fascinated by the hordes of people, the colors, the buildings, and the loud sounds. I'm pretty sure she has a little crush on the Irish Guard after seeing them march by on their way to the concert on the steps.


Sonia and Touchdown Jesus


The cloudy sky and odd lighting makes it look like the dome is missing in this picture! Sonia was passed out cold, snoozing in her stroller, when we stopped to take this picture. She took a 45 minute nap while we strolled around, checking out the new Eddy Street Commons area and the new addition on the law school building.


After the game started, we hit the bookstore and then headed back to Lisle. There's no way our cuckoo bird would have sat still through an entire football game, and we're not disappointed that we missed the Cardinal stomping on the Irish. Ugh. Hopefully ND's football program will bounce back by the time Sonia thinks about attending the university!

Sonia versus the popsicle

Hey Sonia, here's a popsicle.... It's yummy and maybe it will help your swollen gums feel better.






Um, are you planning on eating it anytime soon?

Sonia just might like playing at the park....

Dancing to the Jailhouse Rock?


There's something slightly "senior pictures" about this one....


She loves running around on the basketball court for some reason.... Maritza and I discovered that Sonia and Sara love running around on tennis courts, too. Toddlers are cuckoo!


How big is Sonia?


Cheese!

Fun in Texas

I can't believe I haven't had time to post these pictures yet! Last weekend, we had a lovely visit with Andrew's family in Texas. Sonia got to spend some quality time with her Grandma Jenni, Grandpa Dick, Aunt Ali, Uncle Daniel, and cousin Nicholas.

Nicholas and Sonia love toddling around their grandparents' beautiful house, seeing what sort of mischief they can make:




Of course, they spent a lot of time engaging in classic parallel play....



On Saturday, we suited up the kids in ND jerseys to cheer on the Irish. Thankfully, Nicholas and Sonia are too young to understand the heartbreak that is ND football these days.


Cheer up, kids-- ND will get its mojo back some day....


As usual, we spent a ton of time feeding the two little monkeys.



Thanks for a great weekend! We love you all!

16 months old: a state of the baby address

Our little cuckoo bird is 16 months old! Life with The Great Sosini is tiring but great. This time last year, I never could have foreseen the huge amount of fun Sonia and I have had this summer. Sosi cracks me up at least 20 times a day with her wacky antics. She's not the greatest napper in the world, but that's a small price to pay for a daughter with such an infectious belly laugh.

What makes her giggle these days? Being chased (all I have to do is say "I'm gonna get you!" and she starts trotting away, laughing).... Peekaboo.... Margie and Bobo wrestling.... Tickling her armpits.... Running her push toys into my feet.... Playing her little red toy piano with her booty.... Swinging.... The list goes on and on.


Sonia's vocabulary is growing slooooooooowly but steadily. This morning, she woke up at 4:15am (either her molars are FINALLY erupting or she has another ear infection-- something's up), and when I picked her up out of her crib, she rattled off the list of words that she knows. It was so funny! Whenever Sonia sees Bobo, she says his name, but when she sees Margie, she says "Meow?" "Margie" is apparently still beyond her pronunciation skills.


Speaking of growing slooooooooowly but steadily, Sonia's hair is growing in at a glacial pace, but it's finally making some headway. The more her hair fills in, the blonder it looks. Sosini must be taking after her daddy who was blond for a good portion of his childhood. The blond makes her look far more bald in pictures than she really is. We took this next picture after a hot & sticky visit to the arboretum; when we removed her sun hat, her hair was sticking straight up!


Every day, our intrepid explorer manages to find some new way to be ornery. Ohhhhhh, Sonia....


My absolute favorite new skills of Sonia's are kissing and hugging. She makes a great little smooch sound and will usually kiss someone/something on command. Hugging is a little more hit-or-miss, but when Sosi is in a huggy mood, Andrew and I love to sit about 10 feet apart and sending her toddling back and forth to give us giggly hugs.

We love our little Sonia Marie!


P.S. We just got back from a lovely weekend in Texas, and we took a bunch of cute pictures of Sonia playing with her little cousin buddy, Nicholas. Hopefully I'll get to post those soon!

Fun at the park

Now that the weather has taken a slight turn for the cooler, Sonia and I have been dashing off to the park every chance we get. She loves toddling around, checking out all the different playground equipment, and she inevitably wanders over to the swings and points to them while jibber-jabbering excitedly.







Fall, please hang around long enough for us to enjoy more of the area parks.... Winter, stay away for a while longer!

Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame

Thank you for the super-cute ND cheerleader uniform, Grandma Jenni and Grandpa Dick! As you can tell, Sonia absolutely loves it.


It's a little chilly today, so she had to wear some leggings underneath the skirt.


Cheering on the Irish with Dada


I love how the turtleneck is kinda squished-- not much neck on a toddler....