Happy birthday TWO you...

How does it sneak up so quickly, that year between ONE and TWO? I know the first year of Sophia's life was like a blur, but I thought I would have more time this last year. Instead-- whoosh--here we are again.

We had a Sesame Street party theme, with Elmo cupcakes, pizza (Elmo's favorite), fruit salad and green salad (because everyone needs a little healthy food), and cookie ice cream sandwiches (Cookie Monster's favorite). We played games: "how many goldfish are in the jar?" which was definitely a little old for the kiddos, who's average answer was 5 goldfish, when the actual count was 400. The "treasure hunt" was a big hit, with the Sesame Street characters giving the clues along the way. And the bean bag toss, (sans bean bags, substitute with bath toys) into Dorothy's fish bowl was a nice distraction between lunch and dessert. The younger kids played in the backyard, the older kids played "round the world" with the basketball hoop, the weather held up as much as one can expect during the start of Spring. It was a fun day all around.

Sophia has her 2 year check-up in a few days. We'll save the sappy "where did my baby go" stuff till then.

Happy Easter

You know it's going to be a good day when you start out the morning with a little chocolate and marshmallow. And hey, a little rain didn't ruin our Spring cheer! We had a half in, half out Easter egg hunt. Rick had started hiding the eggs outside until the first few drops gave way to a steady downpour. The rest were strategically placed indoors. So round 1 was held inside after our brunch, and round 2 was held outside after dessert.

Time out

I've recently intoduced "time out" to Sophia. The first few times seemed almost enjoyable to her. "Do you want to sit in your chair and think about it for a minute?" I'd ask her. "Yes!" she would enthusiastically reply, and off she went on her very own to sit in her chair. Until she realized fairly quickly that it's really not too fun sitting all alone in a chair.

The accidental pee

Sophia went pee pee in the potty yesterday. I know, it's a big deal! But before we all get too excited, it really was quite accidental. As you may or may not remember, I bought a potty for Sophia many months back. It's had its moments, mainly when I'm going potty she will mimic me, clothing fully in tact. And honestly that's as far as I want to take it for a while. About a month ago, she decided to attack the toilet bowl with a red bath crayon. It took me a few times before I stopped having a moment of panic about seeing what looked like blood at the bottom of that thing. Have I ever cleaned it out? No, I guess I wasn't that panicked.
Yesterday she informed me that she was going to poop. She's done this consistently for the past month and I know this is a sign to begin the potty training bit, but I really don't think she's there yet. So this particular time, I asked her if she wanted to go poop in her potty. With an enthusiastic "Yes!" she runs over to the bathroom. Well, we got there and she got stage fright. Then the phone rang. I ran to get it, yelling behind me for her to stay there. While on the phone with my friend, catching her up on the current events unfolding, Sophia stood up. Lo and behold, potty! All that pretend grunting and pushing actually turned out to have unintended--but still productive--results! My friend informs me that I must take a picture of the pee. Um, how to explain in the future a picture that looks like bloody urine as my daughter's first pee pee in the potty? So I took a picture of Sophia on the potty, which I think is a much better blackmail photo anyway.
P.S. yes, the toilet bowl portion is now free of red crayon.

Father/Daughter dinner dance

The two loves of my life ditched me for swanky outfits and a night of dancing and good food. I'll admit it, I was jealous. But only for a minute, and then my Mom and I went out for a relaxing dinner, which was really nice.

When Rick got home, I wanted details. Details from a male perspective? It went something like this: "Sophia was the best dressed and cutest one out there, I had a lot of help from the other girls, she ate fruit and french fries and didn't want to eat anything else." Um, thanks Captain Obvious. I want details. Anyway, I didn't get much else out of him, but it seemed they both had a great time from the looks of things--Sophia was keyed up, and Rick was exhausted.

Molly Kitty in memoriam

My cat Molly was hit in front of our house yesterday. She was 13 years old, and acted like a kitten her whole life. This cat had sass and a feistiness that was relentless.

I was in my last year of college when I adopted Molly. I had been going to the SPCA on a weekly basis, looking for a kitten that would be able to hang out. After weeks of looking, the assistant had told me there were a new litter of kittens that just arrived. They had been found in a tied pillowcase, that was thrown over the fence and into the dog yard. It was a miracle a few had lived through the ordeal. She opened the cage, and this little black and white kitten jumped out onto my shoulder and perched there. I sat on the floor and she curled up in my lap and fell asleep. This was my cat. I brought her home that same day, with a bag of toys to welcome her into her new place. The first evening I had her, I found out she was very ill. She had a stomach virus, ear infection, and upper respiratory infection. We went to the vet and an obscene amount of money later, back home we went with various meds and instructions. It was touch and go for the first few days. I had classes to finish and term papers to write, so I left Molly with this stuffed mouse that was almost as big as her to keep her company.

And Molly got better. In fact, that was the last time she had any illness at all. When she got better, I realized that this kitten was not the type of kitten to just hang out. She bounced off the walls. She soon grew larger than the mouse stuffed animal, and we'd play fetch with that thing forever. I would carry her in my backpack to friend's houses and parties. She ran around and socialized with everyone. She had to be the center of attention, which proved to be a trait she would hold on to.

I moved around quite a bit after I graduated from college. My parent's babysat Molly a lot...sometimes for an extended stay. The stuffed mouse moved around with her. Sometimes between visits, I would forget to bring the mouse back home. She would caterwaul for that mouse all night, until the next day priority mail came with the mouse safely tucked inside, thanks to my Mom.

People that didn't like cats liked Molly. She would specifically go to the people that didn't want her near, just to prove to them that they would love her if they only gave her a chance.

When Sophia was born, I worried a lot about how Molly would take to her. Anyone that knew Molly, also worried how she would handle the new addition. She was not one to share attention. But she proved us wrong, and took to Sophia like she took to all people. She was actually even a little gentle around Sophia.

All Molly really demanded was attention and love. She was such a presence in my daily life and although she could be annoyingly affectionate at times, she will be dearly missed. We buried her in the backyard behind the garden yesterday afternoon, with her mouse stuffed animal to keep her company.

Wet kisses

Sophia likes to kiss. She gives it her all. She will kiss your whole face and tell you what she's going to kiss next. "Eye, other eye, cheek, two cheek, chin..." until she has left kisses all over. It's adorable. Unless she has a snotty nose. She's had a snotty nose for the past few days, and it's not so cute when the wet kiss comes from the mucous kind of wet, opposed to the slober kind of wet. And how do you explain to an almost-2-year old that her kisses come with conditions when it's supposed to be an unconditional kind of love?