Sophie's Birthday: One for the Record (books)

PARTY PICS
Recipe for sugar shock: cupcakes (FIRST...so you can take off the party dress and play on the slip-n-slide), then hot dogs, then snow cones, then piñata candy. Sorry, moms. I tried to stuff whole wheat goldfish crackers and packets of dried fruit into the butterfly piñata, but the hole was only big enough for sticky lollipops that your children will discard, half-eaten, somewhere in your house and candy necklaces that will stain necks and tangle up hair when your daughters refuse to remove the licked-but-not-chewed necklace at naptime.

Sophie had a FANTASTIC third birthday party with all her pals (Laney, Lucy, Caroline, Leah, Josie, and Claire -- she also allowed Baby Jameson and Baby Solomon to attend, but they couldn't have any cupcakes). Once the guests left, we played with her new toys, including a Fisher Price record player from Mommy and Daddy. She flew around the room to the Pops in Space album (featuring The Empire Strikes Back and Superman theme songs) -- she also loves her mambo/samba record and The Muppet Movie soundtrack.

Click HERE to see pictures from Sophie's party!

A Note from School

It's been a tough week for me -- dropping off my tiny baby with people I barely know so I can spend my days with OTHER people's children. (Big, sometimes smelly, often surly children who may or may not want to know more about world literature.) But after one week of "school," Jameson is fine. More than fine -- thriving! Winning the hearts of the masses! Here's his first weekly report card from his teacher:

"Jameson has literally stolen all of our hearts. He is the sweetest little guy and seems to be adjusting really well. He's been giving us some sweet smiles and loves watching our faces while we sing and talk. When I was wearing him the other day, he leaned back to look up at me when I was talking! He seems really content and peaceful and we are quite smitten with him. :) Have a great weekend!"

There are still moments when I want to quit my job and run away from all this "work" business so I can spend my entire waking life staring at my gorgeous children (but we'd be living in a van down by the river). And there are moments, like this one -- knowing that his teachers love him, when I feel a little bit better.

Three IS a magic number

Our sweet baby Sophie -- our "Thing 1," our Snowpea -- turned three yesterday. She picked out her own birthday dinner; we had pepperoni and mushroom pizza and chocolate ice cream. Am I raising a brilliant child or what?

Here's what we've been noticing about Sophie these days:
She has thoughts. And she shares them. As in, "I thought I told you I wanted more corn."

She has an imagination. Lately she's been making up very animated stories about imaginary friends named Kyla and Sully and Soku and Carly. We asked her where she heard some of those names and she answered, "on a commercial." (Only that's part of the fiction since she's never really watched a commercial -- her "shows" are DVR'd episodes of Signing Time and Sesame Street, so no commericals.)

She's makes mental connections and negotiations. Brian and Prasad and I told her she needed to eat her sandwich because protein helps her body. "Why?" Because it makes your muscles grow. She wanted to eat pie instead. We told her that pie doesn't help her body grow. "But pie makes me soooo HAPPY."

She's got manners (in training). We're moving from "I want..." statements to "May I please?" So now she says something along the lines of, "May I please have some juice RIGHT NOW?!?"

She has a sense of humor. Frank kissed her goodnight and said, "Goodnight, Cow." Then he kissed Cowmoo and said, "Goodnight, Sophie." She got a little grin on her face and whispered, "Goodnight, Stacy" to her Dad.

And she has proud, proud parents, too.

Deep Breath

Today was Jameson's first day in daycare. And tomorrow Sophie turns three. And the day after that is her first day in a new school.

I'm still breathing...but just barely.

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names

Great band name. Almost as good as "Optional Illusion" which my friend Tedward coined this week, when he wasn't even trying.

Tonight we went to Parent Orientation at Sophie's new school. A Montessori school. I only stress the Montessori part because I'm trying to figure out this place and the kids' names on the coat-hooks really cracked me up. Oh, we have the expected Aidan, Ayden, and Caiden (one of those is a girl, not sure which one). But check out some of the other characters...er, classmates: Ezra, Soren, Berkely, Beck, Zara, Gerrit, Ellis, Arden, and (drumroll please) SPARTACUS! There's also a Jack and an Annie, thank the Lord.

The collected parents seemed, well, normal. Not too hippified or too South Austiny and certainly not overly preppy or posh. I did spot one Lactivist bumper sticker (the breast is the best!) in the parking lot, but I was the only woman who whipped out a boob (we had Jameson with us...it's not my new handshake). Just creative, I spose. But if the kids tease Sophie about her name, I guess we'll have to nickname her Cruxis or Claudius or Nero or something. Maybe we'll elongate and call her Sophocles.

Stats Check

Jameson celebrated 8 weeks of life yesterday. At his Friday doctor appointment, he got four shots and all of his measurements. He was 7 pounds, 3 ounces at birth, and he's already up to 12.5 pounds. That's 99th percentile for weight, baby! And, yes, his hair size is off the charts.

Jameson's First Swim

There's no page in the baby book for "first swim," so let it be documented here. It was August 2nd at the Molnar's pool. And he liked it! Or, to be more accurate, he didn't hate it.

What's in a Name?

We've got COUSINS in town! (Madeline and Max from Washington, D.C. and Bennett from Montgummy, Bama). Hence, no blog entries the last few days. We're busy swimming and eating at all our favorite bbq and Mexican food restaurants and going to bed way past our bedtime...but here are a few things overheard lately.

Tonight, driving back from dinner:
"My eyeball hurts. That's my EYE. Sometimes I call it an eyeBALL."
A few seconds later: "This is my eye mustache." I looked in the back seat and she was touching her bottom row of eyelashes.

Also, Sophie has been absolutely attached to Max. She follows him around, pats his back, watches him play his Gameboy (now that's a true devotee), and introduces him to everyone we know: "This is my COUSIN!" Only she can't remember his name. And when she rubbed her shoe against his leg and he (quite rightly) told her no, she burst into tears. So several times today she asked me, "Where that boy who told me no?" Oh, Lord. Is she destined to be on a Women-Who-Love-Men-Who-Say-No show? She also calls him, "That boy who is with the Mommy that is the Mommy of Madeline" -- honestly, you can remember family relationships and pronounce the name "Madeline" but you can't say "MAX," Sophie?!?

She's starting to piece together the entire family tree in her head, though. Tonight she looked around the room and yelled out, "Where are the others? Where's Michael and Christopher?" Those are the cousins from my side of the family, but that's a bit hard to explain right now. Frank said, "Do you miss them?" Sophie said, "No, I USED them." Sigh. Women-Who-Love-Men-Who-Love-to-be-Used-and-Discarded.

And one more funny Sophie-ism before I forget...she has been trying to call our dog (Callie) by her full name (Caledonia), but she yells out: "Callie-Ca-donia!" And I laugh every time.

She Tells Jokes

Sophie: Knock, knock.
Momma: Who's there?
Sophie: Ibin.
Momma: Ibin Who?
Sophie: No, I want to say Ibin Who!

And then the joke deteriorates, because I've never heard it before! But I'm thrilled, because it's the first time Sophie's tried to tell a joke. So I guess...

Ibin waitin' for ya?! (No!)
Ibin knocking all day?! (No!)
Ibin workin' on the railroad?? (And she breaks out into song, "All the livelong day!") Folks, we have a punchline winner. Apparently she heard the joke watching a show called "Super Why" on t.v. Same place she learned to yell out, "At your service!!!" See? TV isn't all bad.

Summer Fun

What We're Doing On Our Summer Vacation,
by The Websters

We're hanging out at the pool. Sophie took swim lessons at the neighborhood pool so we're working on our swimming arms and kicking legs and "eyes in" techniques. We're eating popsicles and ice cream as much as possible. This picture is from a Wednesday "Art in the Park" Day:
We took Fat Callie to the dog park. The water level is really low, but we can still wade. Sophie looks like she's flailing to get away from this dog, but she actually liked him -- he had blue eyes, too: There are signs that say "No swimming allowed," but Sophie can't read. So she wallows:
When Frank encounters wildlife, a MUST CATCH buzzer goes off in his brain. Luckily, it was only a turtle. This time. (Last summer he tried to catch a water moccasin.)

Hello, turtle.

Jameson goes everywhere we go. And he gets lots of kisses every day. Mom can't help it -- his lips pucker up and they MUST BE KISSED.
It's super hot outside, so we spend time playing indoors, too. Sophie likes to play dress-up. And she recently learned how to turn on her cd player by herself and switch cd's. Her favorite cd is Bob Dylan, but on this particular day she was jammin' out to Toni Price.
The girl has moves. Check out her dance video:

A Masterpiece

We finally downloaded the pics from our little silver camera (the one that travels around in the bottom of my purse along with the leaking lipgloss, goldfish crumbs and ziplock baggie of wipes) and I came across this history-in-the-making image from earlier in the summer: Sophie's first "real" picture. She's done plenty of abstract stuff in the past, but this was the first picture she ever showed us that was supposed to BE something. Can you decipher it?

BUGS! With lotsa legs, according to the artist.