Two Old

Sofia's 2nd birthday was celebrated with a weekend long celebration June 25-26. Daddy would have been perfectly content with a family only party here at the house...but I really wanted to do something that would include Sofia's kid friends.

She's been taking classes at the Little Gym for the past year or so and she really enjoys it. They also put on birthday parties and when I found out that there was an opening on the afternoon of her birthday, we booked it. All I can say is it was fantastic! It was so nice to have them do most of the work. And left to my own devices, having a party at the house would have probably bankrupt us. There are so many fabulous party idea websites out there right now, I was overwhelmed with the possibilities. I finally decided to go with Sofia's favorite pattern: the polka dot. It turns out there is website called Polka Dot Market. Tons of great ideas and it if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't have much space or time to decorate at the Little Gym, I would have gone polka dot overboard.

So with lots of her closest friends, we rang in the big 2. It seems as though a great time was had by all and I think we even got Little Gym a few new customers.

Hot pink & orange polka dot everything!

No, I didn't make the cupcakes. Thanks to C'est Si Bon bakery and their Trubate!

Beach buckets for the shorties.

What's more fun than the parachute?

Chaos.

Don't tell The Little Gym, but adult beverages were smuggled in. That's not just any lemonade on the table.

I heart frosting.

The next day we learned that we cannot (well, should not) fit 16 people at our dining room table. But how we tried. The family joined us for a lovely afternoon dinner to once again celebrate Sofia turning "two old." When asked how old she is now, that is the answer. "Years" is apparently a very difficult word to say, so she just deletes it.

It was an afternoon of good food (courtesy of the master chef of the house) and good times (courtesy of the entertaining two year old).

Ariel's Salon, the gift from Grandma & Grandpa, was a big hit.

Ariel talks to Sofia through the mirror and she's taught Sofia more important words like:
"hairspray" and "curling iron."

My new wheels! Safety first.

Hoppy Easter

Inspired by how cute this post was on Chickenbone Jones, I decided to finally post something. I promise something meatier to be published soon...but for now you'll have to deal with painfully cute.

April 2010 - 9 months old

April 2011 - 22 months old

A Year & A Half + Some

I meant to do an update at 18 months...and here we are approaching 20 months. It's not easy to blog (or even get near the computer) when Sofia wants nothing more than to pound on the keyboard while sitting in a big person chair.

While there are many recent blog posts to share (Christmas, anyone?) I thought I'd skip ahead and provide an update since she's growing and changing so fast - I know I'll forget if I wait much longer.

Busy. That's the only word to describe her. Always moving, always looking for the next thing to do, always jabbering. Toddler-hood is upon us in full force. We've even encountered a few little tantrums which make me nervous for what is around the corner. My mild mannered, easy-going, lovey little girl has proven that she does have horns. This likely does not surprise ALL other parents out there, but I thought maybe we'd get lucky.

Here's some of the latest:

*She's been saying a fair amount of words in the past 6 months, but just recently the "language explosion" has been evident. She's finally really starting to mimic, somewhat correctly, what we're saying. Some new words: bubble, Buddy (in reference to Auntie Jen), airplane. When an airplane is spotted in the sky she's say "Airplane!! Bye-bye." and wave as it flies away. We're still using sign language for a lot of stuff and it definitely helps her get her point across.

While watching this great will.i.am song on Sesame Street, she correctly identified all of the characters. This most definitely does not mean she's watching too much TV. It just means she's a genius. Favorites are Elmo & Abby, but recently Cookie Monster and Zoe have been popular. Fun fact: Grover and Miss Piggy = same voice. Ok, maybe we're both watching too much Sesame Street.

We've been keeping busy with lots of fun activities -
*Regular babysitting by Grammy ("Mimi") Marcia. Sofia adores this time and hollers MIMI anytime there is a knock at the door or a blond woman is walking down the street. This time is treasured by mommy too...

*Sit N' Play every Tuesday which is a 2-hour play date where 5 moms switch off hosting. When you aren't hosting or helping, you are free to go. It's a win-win. The kids are getting some great play time and making friends and mommy gets to run a few errands or eat lunch in peace! We've made some wonderful friends through this group.

*Classes - We're going to The Little Gym which is kinds like Gymboree or My Gym but more gymnastics oriented. She loves it and runs around like a banshee from one thing to the next. It's exhausting for everyone. We've also continued with swimming lessons and she's finally getting into the swing of it. After taking a few months off, this last session she wasn't loving it. But now she's much more comfortable. We've been taking the class with our friends Claire & Grant, who's just a few months older. Such fun!

*Occasional grunts and whining aside, she's still super lovey and is generous with her hugs and kisses...even to strangers, which could be a problem. She LOVES babies and anytime she sees a real baby or a picture of a baby she reaches out like she wants to hold it. And is disappointed when the photo in the book doesn't jump out of the book into her arms.

*She's been a pretty good eater as of late. If anyone has some new foods I can try to bring into the mix, do share. We pretty much have been successful with: scrambled eggs, hot dogs, pb&j, grilled cheese and turkey, mushrooms carrots, pancakes and waffles, smoothies, the occasional pasta or mac and cheese will strike her fancy.

*She's finally on one nap a day. I was resistant to it because often when we did try it, she would only sleep for 1.5 hours max and that just wasn't cutting it. But today she's been asleep for almost 3 hours, and that I'll take!

Here's are some fun recent pictures:

Eating a Nutri Grain bar (at her "desk"). She asks for a "ba!" and reaches up to the pantry door about 10 times a day.

Discovering that the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum is very fun...and very wet.

Huge fan of the jumpy house. Even on her bottom.

Always wants to walk, even if transportation is provided.

You Are The Sun...

Inspired by the Mother-Son dance at Meghan & Craig's wedding (blog post to come soon) on New Year's Eve, I downloaded the song "You Are" by Lionel Richie. Sofia enjoyed it and was sad when I informed her that Soul Train is no longer on the air.

Turkey Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend brought some great times and proof that Sofia is now officially a toddler (i.e. occasionally a pain in the ass).

We kicked off the weekend with a small gathering of the usual suspects. The days of meeting at the bar on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving has long gone to the wayside and now we attempt more family friendly events that still include beer & wine. Chaos ensued - mainly in the form of 7 boys ranging in age from 5 to 10. WOW.

The hostess with the mostess.

The boys take a break from trying to find something fun to play with amongst the little girl baby toys.

Thanksgiving Day started with the usual TV tug-o-war between football and the Macy's Parade. String just can't get enough of Al Roker's bad jokes and Broadway performances. The day was going smoothly until Sofia took a face plant on the driveway mid-afternoon. The bump on her upper lip must have bothered her immensely because her performance at Thanksgiving dinner was definitely sub-par. Grumpy and pissed. I think the only food she ate all evening was a piece of cheese and a biscotti. Thankfully, carrying around other people's purses and wearing Grammy's jewelry seemed to brighten her mood.

This pretty much sums it up.

Anti-social, but content with her umbrella.

A girl's best friend...

The day after Thanksgiving was the annual sausage making party at the Bisceglia's. The grown-ups are quickly becoming outnumbered! Great fun, food, friends, Beaujolais Nouveau and a rocking horse. What more do you need?

Meeting of the minds.

Alone for 5 minutes in the playroom with the older kids = covered in stickers.

Noni, Sofia & Mommy enjoying lunch.

Jesse & Caitlin sans Jack who surely is being snuggled by Grandma Debbie.
You can see more of Jack here!

I heart rocking horses.

A Rare Martha Moment

My "Martha" moments used to occur much more frequently. Nowadays, they have to be prompted. Before a post-Thanksgiving party, String suggested "Why don't you make marshmallows? You haven't done that in years." So, I hopped online to find the Barefoot Contessa recipe I'd used in the past. But instead stumbled upon this one from Alton Brown that I like much better.

And who doesn't love a s'more? So I broke up some squares of graham crackers and Hershey bars and viola! S'more in a cupcake cup.

Sous Chef/Taste Tester

Fall Firsts

Recently Sofia experienced a couple of very important milestones. Well, one very important (at least in Steve's family) and the other not that important unless she decides to become an equestrian (highly unlikely considering mommy's aversion to manure). But both very cute.

She has attended her fair share of Stanford pre-game tailgates over the past two seasons, but for the Stanford vs. Arizona game on November 4th she actually was allowed into the stadium. For about an 1/8th of the first quarter, but still...Once the novelty of everyone cheering wore off, she was content to make her way back and forth in our row for about 10 minutes. Then it was time for mommy and Sofia to make the trek back to the car and San Jose where we could watch Stanford pummel Arizona in the comfort of the living room.

Visiting with Noni, Andrea & Marissa.

Cheering on the Cardinal with Grammy.

Earlier that same day we attended our friend Emma's 3rd birthday party in her grandparent's backyard. The company Once Upon a Pony brought Blue, the very old and gentle pony for the kids to ride as well as a pen full of cool looking chickens, rabbits and a pigmy goat. Sofia was very tentative towards Blue in the beginning, but warmed up and started following him. It took a couple of tries, but finally she sat and rode around the driveway and then refused to dismount.

It certainly wasn't a look of pure joy, but it wasn't terror!