Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Road trip!

This past week, The Great Sosini and I once again embarked on a road trip from Chicago to Nashville.  The drive from my house to my sister's house can be made in about 7 hours with no stops, but that is obviously not possible with a toddler in tow.  Still, Sosi and I were able to do the drive in about 9 hours.  It was a bit of a whirlwind trip-- we drove down to TN on Thursday and drove back to IL on Sunday-- but tons of fun nonetheless!

My sister and I have an unspoken rule when it comes to blogging about our visits: she who blogs first gets to share the cutest pictures.  Niki beat me to the blogging punch here, here, and here.  But I still wanted to post some pictures here on my blog, too!  Here are the rest of the post-worthy pictures:

I have big plans to sneak into my sister's house some night and catnap Rocky Cat....  He is SO HANDSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Sonia thought seeing a full-size steam engine up close was quite possibly the best part of the entire trip.


Speaking of handsome....  I love my adorable little nephew!!!


Charlotte, you are way too cute.


FABULOUS!


Sonia was already a huge Uncle Corey fan, but when he created an exciting adventure on which to send our little super kids, he reached official rock star status.  Also, I am still blown away by the amazing capes that my sister sewed out of fabric she already had on hand.  Sosini loves her creative aunt and uncle!!


Loving the hand-drawn map of the 1st floor of the house!  We had to take the map home with us because Sonia was obsessed with it.


Thank you for such a fun visit, Niki, Corey, Charlotte, and Peter!  We love you so much!!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Girl snuggles

Sosi and I were snuggling on the couch, watching Dinosaur Train, and Margie Cat decided that she needed to join in on the fun.



No boys allowed in this snuggle!




Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Chef Sonia is at it again

This time, she's peeling carrots!  When I showed her how to use the peeler, I instinctively put it in her right hand.


Then, our little southpaw realized that it might be a little easier if she switched hands.  I'd say we're 99.9% sure that The Great Sosini is left-handed!


I love my little sous chef.  Every time she sees me cooking, she begs to help me.  She also demands to help me with the dishes (which usually ends up in a wet, sloppy mess, so I rarely agree).  Is there some way I can save all of this helpfulness up in a bottle so I can give her doses of it when she's a teenager?

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Situps with Daddy

Gotta lose that gut!




Eh, this exercising business is lame.  Much more fun to play on Daddy.



Saturday, January 14, 2012

The first real snow!

Sosini was SO excited that Chicagoland finally experienced a significant snowfall this winter!



We had to get her a new winter coat, because her awesome pink hand-me-down coat from Charbunkle was getting too tight.  Sonia is now wearing 3T in all types of clothing except for her snow pants-- for some reason, the 2T size still fits her.  Yay!!  That's two winters now that she has worn them.


Speaking of snow pants, I finally own a pair-- for the first time since elementary school!  I also bought myself some warm skiing gloves and a ridiculously toasty fur hat with ear flaps.  Now I can stay outside in the cold with The Great Sosini as long as she wants.  I swear, she must be part Eskimo because girlfriend can stay out in sub-freezing temperatures for hours at a time.


Today, I bought a better sled for Sonia.  The saucer sled we got last year fits her just fine, but she always wants us to pull her, so we had to find one with a rope attached.  Sledding pictures to come!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Windy fun

Sonia and her buddy, Ike, love the wind area at the DuPage Children's Museum!


Check out how soaked Ikey got at the water table....  We were thinking he might dry off in the wind tunnel, but there was no hope.  Sonia was kind of wet, too, but not as soaked as Mr. Ike.



Dancing and giggling!


Hey, what's out there?



Training to compete in rhythmic gymnastics?


Checking out the wind tubes as I'm trying to drag her home in time for a nap....


Monday, January 9, 2012

First-ever first day of school!

My baby had her very first first day of school!  She started at Stepping Stones, which is kind of a pre-preschool.  Sosini goes to this school twice a week for just 90 minutes, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but consider this: other than the occasional babysitter, Andrew & I have never been separated from our child for even 5 minutes.  She hasn't even done all that many organized activities (Gymboree for 4 months when she was an infant, library story time once a week for 45 minutes, and most recently, gymnastics)....  Her shyness with the librarians, the gymnastics teacher, and other little kids whom she doesn't already know was what helped make our decision to sign Sonia up for Stepping Stones.  We felt that she needed a bit more experience listening to adults other than family members, and even though she is very socialized with our awesome playgroup, she could use some more time in close proximity with other kids.

To prepare for preschool, we talked about it a lot, read Llama Llama Misses Mama, and looked at the pictures posted on the Stepping Stones website.


I bought her a special first day of school outfit in purple, which is one of my favorite colors in which to dress The Great Sosini.  It is so fun to dress a blue-eyed child!!



Sis got to bust out her personalized backpack given to her by one of Andrew's family's friends.


Somebody's excited about going to school!!!


My blue-eyed beauty:


When we got there a bit early, I took a few pictures of Sosini waiting for the fun to start.  Sorry they're such bad quality!



After the drop-off (with nary a tear!), I sidled around the side of the building and took this picture through the window.  Sonia made a beeline for the train table, which should shock no one!


When I picked her up, there were no tears....  In fact, I swear she didn't recognize me for a moment!  She had stayed dry, and in fact, she instantly requested that I take her to the potty.  I had toyed with the idea of sending her to school in a pull-up (the kids don't have to be potty-trained for this program) just to take away one source of anxiety, but she asked to wear underpants. 

(Potty-training update: after 5 months of hard work, Sosini can usually make it through the day dry, but she still doesn't tell us she needs to go potty unless it's for #2.  We pretty much just drag her to the potty several times a day, and it usually involves some durm und strang.  Girlfriend wants to use the potty, but she likes to protest EVERYTHING just to show us she has her own point of view.)

Anyway, the teachers said that Sonia had a fabulous time, and with just the slightest bit of hesitation (one teacher described it as "wide eyes"), she participated in every activity.  Sissy LOVED craft time:


We're so proud of our little girl....  She did really well!  I was a bit worried about the drop-off and pick-up due to Sonia's history of separation anxiety, but she did great.  Yay, Sosini!!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Put that kid to work!

Gotta earn the money to pay for preschool somehow....  She starts this Monday!




Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Christmas in Texas, Part 3

On the last full day we were there, we braved the 40-something degree temperatures (and dampness due to rain the previous day) to take the kids to the park.  Getting a change of scenery is always a good thing for toddlers!

I love that Dick & Jenni's neighborhood park has a merry-go-round....  We don't see those in Illinois, for some reason!


The kids loved it, too!


HANDSOME!!!!


Swinging, swinging, swinging....  Sosini likes to go "high in the sky".


Hello, my name is Nicholas, and I have a moose on my head.  Yeah, I know I just broke all previously-set cuteness records. What of it?


The moose and the panda smelled the gorgeous flowers....


This is about as good as it gets when you pose with two 2-year-olds.


I'm a pitcher!  Ta-da!

 


Can I be a catcher and still wear this moose hat?  Please?


Running the bases.... 




Daniel and Andrew didn't want the kids to have all the fun, so they gave the merry-go-round a try.  My husband is not going to be winning any awards for his mastery of dealing with centrifugal force!



Thank you for such a fun Christmas, Dick, Jenni, Ali, Daniel, and Nicholas!  We love you and can't wait to see you again!