Sweet & Sour Sophia

Tonight we experienced what every single parent across the universe experiences: tantrums. Awesome to say the least. Sophia spent a day of pure bliss at my mother's (Nana) house. Luckily giving my poor mother in law, Patricia (aka "mom"/"abuelita") a break! Of course, since it was a change in Sophia's usual routine, it was like a vacation for her. She was having so much fun at Nana's (ahem, even sitting on the potty chair watching Noggin for 45mins...not moving a muscle - nor going potty as she claimed she had to!) to want to come home. She happily noshed on grapes en route home & then it was like a switch was flipped. So convenient. We battled over everything - juice or no juice, sit or stand, giggle or cry, etc, etc. Both Rod & I are tired from working all day & only ever want peace in our house for just one evening after work...did we do something so terribly wrong during our childhoods to deserve this behavior day after day? Well, maybe neither of us should really dwell on that very hypothetical question! Nonetheless, Rod tackled Sour Sophia into the tub & subsequently into the kitchen to search for the infamous green 'bus' t-shirt to wear for bed. Oh, & the twice-a-day headliner fight to get her hair brushed in which it's Sour Sophia vs. Mommy...that one is my fave fight. Not really. After more tears & cries of "no ponytail mommy", I waved my white flag & begged Rod for a glass of wine. To go with my already heaping helping of "whine". We were able to get her into her seat at the dinner table to "enjoy" dinner as a family - HA! She opted for Cheerios (as she's not been feeling very good lately, lots of congestion, etc. Yay for summer colds) & Rod & I dined on a chicken/rice/teryaki dish of sorts (sorry Brendan & Monica, it wasn't he famous Crimi Teryaki!). Anyone who knows Sophia knows she will not get fooled into drinking a drop of milk, but will gobble up cereal & cheese like it's going out of style - so Cheerios in milk seemed like a healthy winner if she was hungry for a meal at all. Everyone seemed to be 'happily' - & I used this term loosely - eating their respected 'dinners' until disaster struck in the form of a 2 1/2 yr olds hand coming down onto the table to make her point (about what, we've forgotten) in a passionately-told story. The cereal bowl flipped onto it's side, spilling a luxurious silken river of milk (it's a disaster, let's make the re-telling of it at least pleasant!) on to poor unsuspecting Sophia, & then cascading onto the chair & floor. I drank more wine. Then we sprang up into serious disaster relief. Sophia burst into tears wailing, "Sophia okay! Sophia okay!" It's quite funny how she refers to herself in the 3rd person & is so dramatic about these situations. Finally all cleaned, changed & a new PASTA course in front of her, she was quite delighted with herself. So, after a refill of wine, Rod handwashing some dishes (b/c our dishwasher is a real piece...of what I will not say, but a piece nonetheless) Sophia happily shoveled in forkfuls of pasta. Praise God! Then, she blurted out a pure gem: "Sophia not make a mess - Lucy (our sleeping beagle) make the mess. Not Sophia. Sophia a good girl"....WHAAAA??? That might be the most hilarious thing that's ever come out of my daughter's mouth!! So, with a happier child, & dutiful husband, I was able to snap some great photos. In addition to them, I've selected some other cute photos from way back & put them into a little slideshow for your viewing pleasure. Tonight's disaster is the ones with her in the bib (some are black & white)...some are clear back as last fall (2008). Going through all those photos made me realize that she truly is a Sweet & Sour Sophia that we just couldn't love any more than we already do!

Wedding Crashers

Many of you know that Rod & I go waaayyy back....like as in junior high. We met & became fast friends when we were just 12yrs old - luckily for us, the group of friends we ran with back in those days has since grown up & have kept in close touch through the years. Two of our friends, Heather & Gregg, who we knew back then, since fell in love & recently got married. Below is a slideshow of the fun weekend we all had celebrating the wedding...makes me so thankful that through thick & thin, your best friends will always be there right by your side to celebrate the fun stuff!

Summertime Slideshow

It's been far too long since I've posted - but summer has been crazy at our house! The easiest way to get you 'caught up' is by the slideshow. It's a compilation of a few events: lazy summer fun at the Lopez lakehouse (The Ridge, Lake Martin), my FUN birthday trip to Nashville to visit my best friend from HS, Sophia swimming, etc. ENJOY! More to come....

For the Love of Krispy Kreme

The above photo we have lovingly entitled "Delighted Customer"...this was taken around her 2nd birthday in late March...look at that SWEET face!

I know that most kids love the idea of getting 'treated' to donuts on a Saturday morning, but Sophia has taken that to a whole new level! She now asks for it by saying "Doh-duts peease. Sophia, eat. Yummy. Bye-Bye?" How could you possibly turn down a sweet & POLITE (she did say 'please'!)2 year old on a Saturday/Sunday morning? Ruin the chance of starting the day off with an adventure? No thanks. Dash the sugary dreams of an excited toddler? Yeah, right! Over the past few months it's grown from Rod & I's simple cravings for a delectable dozen on a Friday night - to have Saturday morning of course (but secretly we eat one for a Friday nite dessert!) to her actually asking to go 'bye-bye' to eat them at our special table inside Krispy Kreme. We love watching the donuts go on their special ride as they are cooked/baked, dunked/glazed & boxed up. Every now & then, the workers behind the glass would send a friendly wave our way...& boy does Sophia love that! Sophia digs the sprinkles on her donuts & is meticulous about picking the 'chosen one' off to eat it...one at a time! It's become something fun our little family does a few times throughout the month & we look forward to many more Krispy Kreme weekends to come! So, without further hot, fresh, & glazed adieu, we bring to you the photo montage that is Miss Krispy Kreme 2009:







And one of my favorites is this priceless photo I captured on my iPhone one Friday night after we had had dinner at Brendan & Monica's house...yes, the red glare that you see reflected on Sophia is none other than the "Hot Now" sign flashing in the window of Krispy Kreme...I'd like to think this was the moment my child was called to the light of the glazed & sprinkled side...a mother should be so proud:

Little Bunny Foo Foo - Easter 2009

So, as usual, I'm terribly tardy in posting the latest events in our lives. Better late than never! Easter was even more fun for Sophia this year as she started to understand the Easter bunny & egg hunting 'concept'. She loved finding the eggs 'hidden' in plain sight at Nana & Papa's house, but was NOT impressed or wooed in ANY way by the Easter bunny at Wynlakes this year (who, by the way, must be a 'country' bunny b/c he had on Carhaardt boots!?) Thanks to Nana who filled the eggs with Goldfish rather than sugar & chocolate (although, she IS Nana afterall & everyone knows that Nana is a self-proclaimed "Chocolaholic"). We had also met my parents at church that morning...Sophia I must say was perfection during the entire Mass....can't say the same thing for the SIX year old girl who sat behind us! After a brief brunch at Nana's house (with a visit from a good family friend, Brian Griffith, aka "Griff") we were off to the annual Wynlakes Easter brunch. Sophia was a little more animated at this affair than earlier in the day, but it was to be expected. She was totally pleased to sit next to Gabby & feed her (poor Gabby!)& indulge in pink frosted cupcakes...yum!

The Big Green Bus

On Saturday April 11th, we celebrated Sophia's 2nd b'day with all her friends over at Nana & Papa's house. Back in November, Patricia bid on the BGB as a silent auction item at the annual Kidney Foundation benefit dinner...& won it! We all agreed that the BGB would be a fun way for toddlers to wear themselves out at a b'day party! Boy, were we right. The BGB arrived right on time, rolling down Nana & Papa's street...even honking the horn to Sophia as she waved from the front of the house! Sophia squealed so loudly, I'm sure that it could rank as a new sort of 'decibel'. She could not climb aboard the BGB fast enough - she had the BEST time on it. The young couple who run the BGB were so sweet...Sophia had so much fun exploring with them. They turned on great/sweet kid's 'play' music...not the annoying sing-a-long junk either. Sophia kept squealing as she tried all the things on the BGB - slide, trampoline, monkey bars, gynastics rings, balance beam, colored mats, etc, etc! Ava Crimi, Myra Jane Brown & Katelyn Bennett all arrived soon after to play too...the girls were so much fun to watch. It was cute how each of them simply played on their own, but would become interested in trying something 'new' if they saw someone else do it. Watching their non-verbal communicaion was really interesting (only a mom who has a degree in Communication would say this...geek!) The girls really wore themselves out...but the grand finale of the BGB was the zip line out the back bus door! I thought that Sophia wouldn't be able to contain herself, but it was quite the opposite. She had had enough & only wanted to walk to the back bus door, be lifted out onto the ground only to run to the front bus door/steps to climb on again. Everyone else rode the zip line & loved it! Rod even 'borrowed' Ava so he could be like the rest of the daddies! Ava certainly seemed to enjoy the extra ride...ha! Next was cake time...and good thing too. These sweet girls had built up an appetite that nothing but cake could cure. I had even ordered a pink strawberry 'bus' cake...it was deee-lish. The girls all got to sit together at the 'party girls' table, while us adults had fun eating the cake & watching them.





BGB offered a great photo opp that the girls took up:



Except for the tired/hungry birthday girl:







I highly recommend booking the BGB! The couple has 2 buses that are equipped to do this and they even have inflatable jump-jumps that they can inflate outside the bus too. Since our party involved really little ones, i simply opted against them.

Check out the BGB at www.biggymbus.com!

Sophia is TWO!

I just can't believe that little 6lb 9oz 'baby' Sophia is now a 30lb toddler! It officially happened on Saturday March 28th. That afternoon we took her to Toys R Us - it's just so sad it's so ghetto-fied here...it's so run down & a tad depressing in there...at least the Montgomery location! Since she is signed up as part of their birthday club, she always gets a birthday call from Geoffrey the Giraffe & a b'day card in the mail. So we took the card into the store to prove that 'today'(March 28th) was her actual b'day. Right away they give her a paper b'day crown (think the Burger King crown) & blew up a b'day balloon for her. They also announce to the entire store that there is a 'special birthday girl here right now...it's Sophia & today she's turning 2!'...the lady who announced it was so excited when she announced it it actually made me tear up momentarily! I know what you're thinking...'good grief Julie, get a grip. it's an hourly worker at Toys R Us making the 8,000th b'day announcement of her shift', but I couldn't help it. It was fun to see Sophia's face light up knowing that all this fuss was for her. She dug it for sure...she didn't care too much for the crown (she must assume that everyone knows she is the Princess of Quite Alot?) but LOVED the mylar balloon. As she raced thru the aisles & behind displays, you could easily tell where she was...just watch for that balloon! We went with the intent to buy her a little playhouse, but we ended up in the dreaded bike/power wheels aisle as usual. She had to 'ride' each of the power wheels (corvette, jeep, & of COURSE the Cadillac Escalade, I mean, really??) We eventually settled on something MUCH simpler...as in the Little Tykes Fred Flinstone-style drive-with-your-feet, yabba-dabba-do type of ride. She loves this car so much it's hilarious! We brought the box to Lopez's that evening since we were celebrating over there & Rod & his cousin, Andres put the car together. I was on sticker decal duty. She was a hoot as she would get in & out of that car over & over without even 'driving' anywhere. I believe the cars' highlights were the actual functioning door & key/ignition slot. Go figure. The best $50 we've ever spent!





Later it was time for cake...I made a strawberry cake this year & she loved the little colored 'dots'...funny how different this looked last year...you can tell just how much she's grown!




A few weeks later, we did have a traditional b'day party with her little friends on The Big Green Bus...that is a separate post all on it's own. That party was a real treat!

Sophia is growing by leaps & bounds each day it's amazing. Namely in the vocab & language department. She is able to call most people by their first name...including her best friend, Ava! For sooo long she simply referred to Ava as 'Baby' and we feared that when they were 16 a conversation might go something like this:

Sophia: "Hi Baby, what's up? Ask your mom if you can go shopping today...I've got the wheels for today & my mom said I can go"

Ava: "Okay Sssss (as of right now this is how Ava refers to her bff, so we'll assume for comedy's sake this sticks as well!), I'll ask. I'll call you back in a minute"

Sophia: "Great! Oh, & Baby, make sure you bring some money so we can grab some lunch too!"

If you are around her & are confused, here's the Rosetta Stone version to learning her language:

Family:
Mommy = Julie
Dada = Rod
Puppy = Lucy, our beagle

Nana & Papa = my parents, Mark & Diane
Zshim = Jim, my brother

Mom & Dad = Rod's parents, Patricia & Rafa
Dabby = Gabby, Rod's sister
YaYa = Javier, Rod's brother

Friends:
Ah-vuh = Ava Crimi, the bestie
Monkuh = Monica, Ava's mommy
Benden = Brendan, Ava's daddy
Taytee = Katy, one of Sophia's many 'surrogate' Aunts

She is pretty good at watching people's mouths when they speak to mimick & imitate speech! Listening to Sophia's stories these days are really entertaining too..."Mommy, Sophia boo-boo, Mom,run,down,owie"...which translates into "Mommy, I have a boo-boo. I was with Mom (she knows Rod calls Patricia this, & "Abuelita" is too hard for her to say, so she calls Patricia 'mom'! haha!) & I was running, but fell down & got an owie".

Needless to say she is really developing her very unique personality these days...and is definitely not afraid to let you know it! Ahh, the terrible-two's...nice to meet ya.