Mele Kalikimaka

We had a merry X-mas. Santa knew exactly what we wanted: we spent the day at the pool and beach with not too much sun.  We can't make it past 8.00 before falling asleep exhausted.

write a commencement speech or upload pics? I think I'll upload pics

Sophie had her first ballet recital the other week. Frankly, she was the most gifted dancer in her class. I'm surprised the teacher didn't come find me at the end of class to tell me that Sophie needed to go to France immediately and enroll her in proper ballet classes. 

Please notice in this picture how she is standing on the line at attention unlike the rest of the bad children who seem to be lost in their own worlds.  Sophie is ready to amaze us all with her grace and beauty. Go Sophie.

In this second picture, notice her poise and lovely arm positioning. This girl is ready to dance the Nut Cracker, if only it didn't scare her so much. 

the man who made us sick

Here's a pic of Sophie and Santa. Frankly, I'm a bit mad at the guy. His illness torpedoed our house. However, he seems to be making Sophie happy so I'll forgive him this time. And on a somewhat separate note, that girl is totally filling his lap. She's not so small anymore.

snowshoes

This morning Sophie woke up early as usually. However, today we were both sick and needed all the sleep we could get. I sent Sophie off to go play. When I got up I found her making herself a pair of snowshoes. Such a clever clogs.

you know your destination is remote when...

Yesterday Sophie went to a b-day party at a friend's house. It was pretty cool because it was a geodome house and I had always wanted to see one on the inside. I was told the week before that it was going to be a small gathering. I think I know two of the reasons--see pic 1 and 2. We drove at least 5 miles on a gravel road before getting to this dirt road. Their driveway was longer than the distance from our house to Sohpie's school. Iphone maps just gave up.

Thanks, Santa, for that "special" gift

We visited Santa Tuesday night after driving all day back from DC. When we arrived, all was well. Santa was there to welcome us and we did arts and crafts until it was our turn. As we were waiting, one of the women who works with Santa told me he was sick today. Fantastic. 50 kids, sitting on his lap and he's sick. Of course, you cannot tell a child that she can't sit on Santa's lap because he has a cold. But at least they could have provided some hand sanitizer or something. I'm guessing many of these kids, like Sophie, had a special gift from Santa this morning: coughing and sneezing. I too am a recipient of Santa's love. Thanks, Santa.

b-ball

I took Sophie to a women's b-ball game. We had a ton of fun from dancing for the dance cam to cheering to get some swag. Sophie suggested she'd rather be one of the dancers than the players.

The worst thing ever

We were having a snack of popcorn and orange juice in front of the fireplace before bedtime. She first got grumpy because I took the drink and popcorn and put them there and didn't let her do it. I told her she could take them back and bring them back herself. Then I told her if she spills any, it's all over. And then she spilled the juice and then lost it. tears everywhere saying, 'it's all over.' I told her to just pull it together, stop crying and eat her snacks before it gets too late. Our fun, sweet snacky time, has turned into a messy cry fest. Not fun for anyone. Then she wanted more orange juice. No, not after she's just spilled it. She still had 1/2 a glass. Then she declared this was the worst thing that has ever happened to her. Then I make her tell me exactly what has been the worst thing. "Not having enough orange juice." The overwrought drama was too much and made me break into a lecture about how that was not a real problem. Not having any orange juice is a problem, not being able to afford snacks is a problem, being cold in winter because you can't afford heat is a problem. She actually seemed to reconsider her situation. She finished the rest of her snack and happily went off to brush her teeth and then fell asleep.

new princess passport

Talk about the passing of time. Sophie's 1st passport will expire this spring. The picture of her is when she was about 3 months old and fairly useless at this point. We got it because we took her to Mexico when she was about six months old. I told her we needed to get another one for her soon. She asked if it was the passport with the eagle on it. I told her it was. She asked if her new one could have a princess on it instead. I don't think the state department would look kindly on that suggestion--it really sort of goes against what our country was founded on. But that was too complicated to explain to a sleepy child so I just gave her a kiss and told her I'd ask.

Getting ready for Christmas

Last night we put up our Christmas tree. Sophie really makes me enjoy this time of the year. Blinking lights and candy in front of the fireplace will get us through the next 30 days of cold weather and finishing up the semester.

4 years until she asked for her own ipad

Tonight Sophie finally asked for her own Ipad. Nice asking, but no. Among other reasons is that we have two already so there's no need for another one. And yet, I'm v. tempted to get her an ipad mini, just because they look so darn cute. I'm frankly surprised that it took her this long. Her BBF has been asking for an iphone so she can send texts (she doesn't even know how to write). So I'm guessing that's coming too.

Sophie spells a bad word

Sophie's been spelling basic words lately. Zoo, boo and cat are her favorites. Then, on her own, she wrote ppp and said, "pee-pee" and giggled.

Halloween

Sophie had a great Halloween. She dressed up as a princess, which was easy because it was s one of her dresses that she already had. No need to reinvent the wheel. A friend came over and the two made out like bandits. In our neighborhood it's hit or miss. Not many people are home, but those who are pile candy on the kids. After only about 6 houses, the kids had enough. I couldn't believe they actually told me they were done. We happily returned home for some hot chocolate in front of the fireplace until everybody was ready for bed.

Halloween

Last weekend we had a halloween party in the neighborhood. Sophie got to hang out with her bestie.

Sandy barely hits home

Sandy will likely go down in the history books as the worst storm on record for many places near NY.We're a good 500 miles away, and yet, still got hit with the outmost edges of the storm. Mostly strong winds and snow. A few people around here lost electricity and those who live up in the hills aren't going to get out for a day or so, nothing like the devastation that hit NY. Sophie did, however, get a snow day. She's been out playing in the practically non-existant snow starting at 8.15am. In fact, unsurprisingly, she's been the only one out playing. The wind and cold don't encourage playing outdoors really. Nonetheless, Sophie has managed to make a small skating rink, about enough for her to spin around on one foot. She also collected enough snow in her bucket to make a small castle turret. She's totally thrilled with the day. We are not. This isn't exactly how we had expected to spend our work day. However, all things considered, we got off light. Instead of sitting in my office correcting essays and tests, I'll have to do it in front of the fire.

Legacy

Sophie spent the morning being grumpy because she had "forgotten how to yawn."

Her mother blames me.

It is very weird, but I did have a non-yawning freakout as a child.  So I ruefully concur.

Yesterday sophie said she wanted to be on the cover of a magazine, today she's on the cover of the newspaper

Driving to a picnic dinner, Sophie said she is going to walk the Camino de Santiago so she can be in a magazine. Just maybe she saw the university magazine sitting around the house that has an article about my study abroad program. Basically, she decided it would be newsworthy if she walked the camino as a child. Freakishly, she's not too far from being correct, I'm guessing. Today, Sophie showed up on the cover of our little weekly newspaper. Not quite the same, but not bad for a 4-year old. A copy of the article will be coming. I found out from her school director who told us when we picked her up from school. She gets to show and tell about it tomorrow. That's pretty cool.

Four moments

Sophie gave her friend a painted dolphin.  After we had oohed and ahhed at how thoughtful she was, she told her friend:  "I gave it to you ‘cause I don’t want it anymore!”

-----

“Daddy, I need to figure something out.  Is our faces part of our heads?”

-----

At the Jamestown experience, in the museum, in front of a cut-away diorama of a ship, Sophie and her little friend Javier argued about whether it was a pirate ship or not.

"It's not," said Sophie, "For three reasons:  one . . . ; two . . . ; three . . ." and she proceeded to list them.  I highly regret I don't remember her reasons, but Javier's mother and I were momentarily stunned by her rhetorical prowess.  (For the record, she was right: it wasn't a pirate ship).

I think one of the reasons had to do with lack of treasure chests or something.

-----

I don't know why every other children's event insists on tossing candy at the kids, but they do.  Sophie's taken to hoarding it in her room.  Or she would if we would let her.  She's like Gollum with the ring.

The other day, she came home from an event with a friend and immediately made a beeline for her room and slammed the door, leaving her friend standing at the front door.

She wouldn't open the door at first, and when she did, she was assiduously chewing something.

We asked if she had candy; she denied the fact.  We pointed out that we could see her jaws moving; she stuck to her story.  Her mother found the trove beneath her bed and took her to time out.

Sophie continued chewing cheerfully.  Doesn't matter; had chocolate, said her demeanor.

Then her mom figured out that we'd have to deprive her of her hoard (and no dessert should any be planned for that evening).

Suddenly Sophie minded very, very much.

And then I had the a-ha moment...

I just realized the perfect name for this blog should be: sophisms.com How can it be that two people in the Humanities have a child named Sophie and not have thought about this before? Maybe because we never had a 4-year old. With a small child sophisms float around everywhere in this house.

4 days of Williamsburg

We had a long weekend in Colonial Williamsburg a couple weekends ago. About three years ago, we figured out that one of the keys to a successful vacation with children is a 2 bedroom condo, giving everybody a bit of their own space. Sophie can do some early morning reading while she waits for the rest of us to wake up.

On the day of my conference, Sophie and her dad went out to Jamestown where they have the coolest recreated settlement ever and three boats in the water that you can go down into the hulls to see what it was like. The streets of Colonial Williamsburg are perfect for kids no traffic and each house has some sort of attraction. You can roam the streets, see the animals and farms and that's about the right speed for a 4-year old. Even a place for time out if necessary.

I don't know what it is about Williamsburg (the entire area for 50 is marshy and flat) but I freakishly love the place and will head out there anytime I have an excuse.

A guest named Annie

Sophie thought it was both funny and awesome that we had a guest named Annie stay with us for a few nights. She laughed hysterically when I told S. that we were having a guest named Annie stay with us. I think it was a bit uncanny for her, at least it was for me. Annie and Sophie hit it off pretty well. By the second morning, Sophie was riding on Annie's back. That's the kind of guest you always love to have over. Sophie was serving up hugs to everybody. Sweetness all around.

Mina or Nina

We've gotten a new member of the family. Her name is Mina or Nina. She's a male Beta. She lives in a tank with a beautiful pink castle in the bottom. We've just about totally given in to pink and princess because of the amount of joy that brings Sophie. So we're all embracing all things pink. Sophie has shown nothing but affection for the fish and does a great job of feeding it. I'm frankly surprised and in some ways I wish it were a little more cuddly and fuzzy. A cat would be lovely.

the McD secret almost got out

Sophie still doesn't know what McDonalds is. She has no idea who Ronald is nor does she know that those ubiquitous golden arches mean anything. The secret almost got out today. She went on a playdate with a friend to feed the fish/ducks at the nearby pond. However, afterward the mom took them to get an ice cream at our local McDonalds unbeknownst to me. After dropping Sophie off back at home, I realized the wrapper around her ice cream was from McDs. So she's now been there--or at least the drive-thru (I don't even want to ask for fear of reminding her of that place). The one in our town is fairly low keyed since it mostly feeds college-aged kids, so my sense is that she didn't even realize where she was. At least I hope not. I'm guessing we'll find out on our next road trip.

hypofetises (hypothesis)

Sophie told me that she's like to make a hypothesis about the Europeans wearing leaves for skirts. I think this was in reference to a diorama that she's seen recently. She pronounced it hypofetises. That ways both cute and unexpected from a 4-year old. Then we asked, "What is a hypothesis?" She said, "when you test a question." And then we were left speechless.

running the Camino de Santiago

Last night at a party, she told the dept. chair, she didn't really walk the Camino, she drove. Curiously, she knows that there's a different meaning to the Camino for those who walk and those who drive. However, I found a picture suggesting she ran the Camino.

Favorite place to visit? Hawaii

Sophie really likes the beach. She really, really likes Hawaii. It's fun to hear her talk about it. She clearly remembers fairly specific details about the different beaches and the food--shave ice and ice cream, mostly.

sweet spot

Sophie's in a crazy nice, sweet, and smart mood lately. I hope this lasts. In just about every way, she's been just lovely to be with. And with this new toy, she was smart enough to put it away off the porch when we left the house so nobody would take it and when she had enough of the boys pulling on it tonight, she told them she was taking it in and going inside. Smart girl, Sophie. Can you be in a smart mood? I doubt it, but I don't want to rewrite the sentence. I'm tired and too exhausted to deal, but I wanted to write this down so when she's not in a nice mood, I can remember the times when she was.

newest toy rocks

Sophie got a Disney swimming pool for jumping off the diving board by herself. This toy has become the neighborhood favorite. Who knew a $20 toy could bring so much joy to all these kids. It can be filled with about a gallon of water. When S. takes it out, she'll come in and out of the house about three times filling a bucket full of water to fill the pool. When she's filling the bucket, she's careful not to make eye contact with anybody or say anything, so as to make sure we don't tell her to stop. Now, there's a lot of shouting going on outside over this toy. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea.

School, soccer, ballet

The cool fall air has arrived. School's back in full swing. Sophie is in the 3/4/5 year-old room. In many ways, I think this is the payoff class. She gets to do a lot of number work and some reading and writing before heading off to kindergarten next year. She's learning how to write her numbers but then will go from writing a 9 into a P. At our local co-op grocery store, I've had her write the numbers down of the prices on the bulk food and she really enjoys that. Then I have to "translate" the numbers for the checkout clerk. On Fridays, Sophie is playing on a soccer team with her bestie. She's not too into it, but I'm not giving up yet. The first game this season she scored. Yesterday she had a bunch of the girls from the local university watching her game and signing a poster for her. This didn't interest her in the slightest. OMG, if I had had 10 girls watching me play and signing my poster, I would have been in heaven. Then the girls told Sophie she can come to their camp this summer. Later she told me she wanted to go to Girl Scout Camp. Yes, yes, Sophie, you can go to girl scout camp, too! But dang, Sophie. Thanks to Title IX, you have these opportunities that didn't even exist when I was young. Sophie's true passion is ballet. She will allow her hair to be pulled back in a ponytail for the duration of class if that means she can dance. The place she goes has a live piano and I have to say, it's enjoyable to listen to Tchaikovsky as they dance around. She's so pink.

what are your hobbies, Sophie?

Sophie: Collecting shells, watching bands, going to carnivals and going to different countries. I guess that about sums it up.

Summer's over

The summer of 2012 will go down in the books as one of the busiest summers of your life, Sophie. We started off in Spain and you got to hang out with us as we walked the Camino de Santiago. After finishing the pilgrimage, we hung out in Santiago for a week before returning to Madrid. After Madrid we hit Paris since you had said you wanted to see the Eiffel tower. We hit every carousel in town. From there, we flew to Venice. You and dad spent a day to go find a beach off the Lido. You're the only American I know that can say they've been swimming off the Lido in Venice. From there we went camping 9 days in Austria with a 3 day break at a B&B because I was feeling a bit claustrophobic with the tent. You went down your first huge water slide and we rode it over and over and over. You got to take horse back rides and feed all kinds of animals. We even hiked a little bit. We hit just about every park we saw. It was exhausting but awesome. Once we returned to the US we took off to go camping with O & J at Virginia Beach. We got rained out, but at least you got to go swimming in the ocean. The next weekend we took off to T & B's. We hit every splash pad we could find in Indy and spend the day at zoo until you were ready to go home. We pulled up to our house at 1 in the morning from T & B's house, slept in then later that evening, drove back to see O & J. O got us tickets to Busch Garden's and frankly you probably had the best day of your life there. We wound down summer with a couple of trips down to J's river house. You got to kayak and play in the water on an intertube and we ate s'mores at their outdoor fire. I have to say, Sophie, being 4 is way, way more fun that being 2. I can't wait for summer when you are 5. We're already making plans. (I actually put paragraphs in this entry, but the fact that it comes out in one long paragraph really reflect how this summer seemed to be, one event after another. The form sort of fits the content.)

Mr Brocolli

We haven't added any pics in a while. This is Mr. Broccoli. He's about the coolest stuffed vegetable ever. Sophie's hanging out with JJ for the day.

How do princesses....

Discussion before bedtime: S: Mommy, How do princesses go to the bathroom? A: Like everybody else, they pull up their dress, pull down their undies and sit on the toilet. S: How does Tangled not step on her hair? (She's never seen this movie, just bits and pieces that she's picked up from friends or seen in passing in the store, and yet...) A: Maybe she keeps it in a pony tail and she's used to it all. S: What sports do princesses play? A: Soccer S: No mom, you just say soccer because you want me to play soccer. Princesses don't play soccer. (Wow, Sophie, am I that obvious?) A: Then what do they play? S: Tennis A: What about golf? S: That's smelly? (What??? Golf-smelly?) A: Maybe they run? S: No, they ride horses. S: What kind of animals do princesses have? A: (Easy answer) Unicorns S: And cats A: sure, and cats. A: Sophie, I have a question, does Santa visit princesses? S: No, they have lots of money and magical powers. (wow, she pulled out that answer without much pause at all) Good night, Sophie. Thank you for such an engaging conversation.

sick at last

It's been a long time since Sophie's been sick. I guess she really did get it out of her system in her first year of daycare. This morning she actually fell asleep on the floor after waking up. She's never done that. However, from all the coughing, I don't thinks she slept much. She's basically caught whatever her dad had. They have graciously passed it on to me too.

ballet

Sophie had her first ballet lesson today. She enjoyed it way too much.

Teletubbies, really? What about Tuscany?

The weekend means Sophie gets to watch TV in the mornings. I just need her to watch about an hour so that I can wake up in a slower, more humane manner. This morning Sophie insisted on watching Teletubbies, a retrograde motion I'm guessing because we didn't let her watch TV when she was younger. (OMG, she just asked me if she could go to a Teletubbies concert. Ugg, no Sophie we cannot.) I've been trying to lose myself in a book called Alibis while this abomination is playing on TV. It's a book of essays of mostly travel and life in Europe. Each essay is sort of like a travelogue by a very well-traveled, fairly wealthy and educated individual. His essay on Tuscany produced enough wanderlust to get me to find this website: http://www.parkervillas.com I would happily watch Teletubbies from any of these places sipping some Chianti.

Busted

Sophie just called me back into her room.

She's supposed to be sleeping.

"Daddy," she said seriously, "It's not fair if you and Mommy watch a movie."  (She doesn't get to watch videos except for on weekends and road trips).

"Oh," I said, "Okay."  (Her mother and I were watching internet videos in the living room).

"It makes my ears hurt."

boys say boobies

Lately Sophie's been coming home with some interesting vocabulary, most of which seems to be coming from the boys at school. This morning Sophie said, "Boys say 'boobies!' Girls say 'Hi."

Busch Gardens

Yesterday we had the loveliest day at Busch Gardens. A good friend hooked us up with three free tickets that we could hardly say no to. Sophie had no idea where we were going and after lunch we headed down to the park. Within minutes, we were on our first rides in the Sesame Street area. At this point, it's getting clear that the kids' rides are too "easy" for her; she wants something more challenging. Before dinner we made it on the log jam ride and she squealed in joy as we flew down the water in our plexiglass log. After dinner with friends, we did a few more rides and we were about ready to leave when she asked ever so nicely to stay to watch the fireworks. After an entire day of pure joy--not one tear, not one complaint, how could you say no? I've never seen her so mesmerized by anything. She loved every second of the show. As we walked out of the park, after perhaps one of our happiest days as a family, she told us that she had a great time then leaned her head on her dad's shoulder and rested. By the time we pulled out of the parking lot, she was quickly falling asleep. She practically sealed the deal for us to go back again next summer free tickets or not.

traveling champ

In the last three weeks we've travelled to Virginia Beach, Indianapolis and we're off to Williamsburg this afternoon to go to Busch Garden tomorrow--Sophie doesn't know we're going there yet. That's 11 hrs of travel in two days without much complaining at all. Sophie's an amazing traveler, which probably works out in her favor because that means we likely do more things because of that. I'm actually looking forward to summer ending and a returning to a more regular routine.

hot princess

I got a report today from one of the teachers that after the girls told Sophie how beautiful she was, one of the boys told her she looked hot. Inappropriate but flattering. I'm conflicted.

Princess U

In the summer, we get to lounge a bit more in the mornings before heading off to school. Usually this suits Sophie just fine. But today was dress-up day at school. At about 9.00am, having dressed herself in a pink princess dress, she came into the living room and asked, "Can you take this little princess to school?" Well, yes I can. So off we went. Upon arrival, she was collectively greeted by her friends with "You are so pretty." and one gasping "You are beautiful." Who wouldn't want to be at school with that kind of reception?

near San Marco in Venice Italy

Ciao Italy. We ended our trip to Venice with a gondola ride with a the nicest gondolier.

I think austria was created for children. Oddly, everywhere we went in Spain, they showered Sophie with candy. None of this happened in Austria, but everywhere they had the coolest parks for kids.

fun at the fair

We went to the fair when it was 105 degrees. We rode all the rides until we were tired, pet all the animals and ate crappy fair food Even though Sophie was a good two or three inches too small to ride the bumper cars, they didn't seem to care too much.

No Eiffel Tower, but we do have carousels

At least one major reason we went to Paris was because Sophie expressed interest in seeing the Eiffel Tower. When she told us she wanted to go up the Eiffel Tower we booked plane tickets and an apartment. When we arrived, it turned out the tower was under some pretty major renovation. Lines to go up were easily over three hours. This was a tough moment when the whole raison d'être was to go up the tower (I'm not even sure you can use raison d'être this way, but whatever). So when it became clear we just weren't going to wait in line for the rest of the day, we drew from our bag of parent tricks and diverted attention. Luckily, there were at least two carousels within eyeshot from the base of the tower. If Sophie remembers nothing else about Paris, I at least hope she remembers any of the number of carousels she rode around town. We found at least four and rode most of them at least three times.

Parisian Bateau

Buskers

Sophie's at a sweet age for buskers, just big enough to be interactive, still little enough to be crazy cute.

In re: candy

"I guess everybody loves me and wants to give me stuff!"

Another Milestone

22 June, 2012.

Existential Angst sets in.

Apropos of I don't know what, Sophie begins discussing death.

Other people's deaths first, followed by our repeated assurances that her mother and I aren't planning to die anytime soon.

Then:  "Am I gonna die?  I don't want to die."

This went on for a while.  "Not for a long time" wasn't as reassuring an answer as "No, never" would have been.

my first pilgrimage

Sophie and her dad showed up in Villafranca del Bierzo. She didn't walk the Camino, but she and her dad, and sometimes myself, would drive to meet the students at the end of their daily walk. I had imagined we'd get a hotel room in each town, but Sophie was so chillax that we all slept in the alberuges with the other pilgrims. She loved the bunk beds. Everywhere we went, people thought she was the cutest pilgrim ever. They showered her with candies at every stop. She thought this was totally cool. Once we finished the pilgrimage, we spent about six days in Santiago de Compostela. We had a lovely apartment near downtown. Next year, we're going to try to see about finding a kindergarden for Sophie to spend the days.

Six weeks in Europe

Sophie took her first trip to Europe. Looking back, we were probably pushing it to go so long. But at the same time, she was a travelling champ. Sophie and her dad met me in Villafrana de Bierzo, Spain to walk/drive the rest of the Camino de Santiago. After a week on the trail, we spent a week in Santiago. From there, it was five days in Paris, two days in Venice and nine days throughout Austria. Sophie now knows the word for ice cream in at least three other languages.

Sunrise, sunset

When she was just a little Sophie Tegel, before she could even walk, she would lie back against my legs with her head facing my toes and hold her hands up.  I would pull her to a standing position, and she would grin like a maniac.

Later, she started getting too big to fit on my lap like that, and besides, she could walk then.  She would hold her hands up so I could swing her around and lift her up into the air. 

When her mother and I were walking on either side of her, she would—still will—grab us each by the hand and shout:  "One!  Two!  Three!"  Whereupon we are meant to swing her high in the air.

Still later—and even now—she would grab both my hands and walk her legs up mine until she had done a back flip.

She ran up to me today, began the backflip procedure and then stopped, puzzled.  She didn't have to reach quite so high to grab my hands; she didn't have quite as much room as she used to for her backflip.

She looked up at me.

"Daddy, you shrinked-ed!" she said.

Ice Cream

This picture took about five or six tries until she stopped sticking her tongue out at me and generally mugging for the camera and just smiled.

Banned!

That's my daughter:  "recent events."

Hat Trick

Sophie made three goals in her last game of the season.  And it was just a few months ago that she couldn't figure out how to kick the ball!

The video is of her second goal of the day (out of three).  This now makes four career goals.

(The team has also suddenly, and collectively, figured out defense.  All of a sudden they're running back to defend their goal when the other players approach.)

She was very proud.  Even more so today, at her end of season party, when we overheard a couple of her teammates telling their parents about how she had scored three times that game.

Honesty is a Virtue

The other day I bought a new box for her arts and crafts.  I generally cleaned stuff up and arranged everything so that she could easily get at her things.

She was delighted, and immediately grabbed the box to put it to use.

Later, when I came back home, she ran up to me:

"Thank you for my box daddy, it's really nice."

"Aw, thank you goose!"

"Mommy told me to say that."

Eagle Eyes

In the grocery store the other day Sophie said "Wait, wait!"

I stopped the cart.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Please go down this aisle.  Please, Daddy?"

And thus it was that the following artifact entered my life:

I don't know how she saw it amidst all the other soup.  But there you go.

Meta

Last week, she said something funny.  We all laughed.

Then she said, "Write that on my blog!"

Deep Thoughts

"Sometimes I think of words in my head that make my mouth move."

Busted!

In the morning, she finds my popsicle stick from the night before.  Is suspicious.

"Who had this?  Da-a-a-a-dy?"

I am totally busted.

Later, after dinner, she tells me I can't have dessert because I had already had a popsicle.

Considering Vegetarianism

Tonight before dinner:

"Can we hold the chicken's bones?"

"What?"

"Can we hold the chicken's bones to eat him?"

She mimed eating him.  "Num num num!"


Tonight at dinner:

"This chicken says ouch! ouch! ouch!  Right?"

"No, this chicken is dead."

"Oh.  People like to eat dead chickens?"

"Yes."

"For then they can't run around in our mouths?"

"Yes.  Something like that."



And then I excused myself so that I could hurriedly write this conversation down.

Moo

A couple of days ago we were playing cows.  We crawled around on all fours and mooed.

"Moo" I said.

"Moo" she said.

I was the daddy cow and she was the baby cow.

"Moo" I said, and then, "What are you doing?!"

Sophie had crawled underneath me and begun making smacking noises with her lips.

"I'm drinking your milk."

I mentioned cows and bulls briefly, and the latter's lack of milk.  And then I suggested we play something else.

Aqua Girl

We were swimming yesterday when she saw another little girl about her age dive down under water.

"How she do that?"

I explained that it was like blowing bubbles out of your nose in swim class.  If she went fast enough, the water would just go over her head and it would be like swimming underwater.

She looked at me a moment.  And then--I think she might have misunderstood slightly--she plunged her head under the water and emerged looking slightly shocked, but very happy.

"I did it!"

"You sure did!"

She repeated the procedure three or four times and then came over to tell me all about it.

"I'm proud!  Daddy, I'm proud!" she told me as she hugged me.

I was proud too.

Sophie scores a goal or Best mother's day gift ever!

Today, playing great defense, Sophie got the ball from the other team, deep in her defensive third. She took the ball alone and ran it to the other side of the field, dribbling faster than the other guys could run. I wasn't not feeling too confident because it was a very long run. But sure enough, she finished and scored. Her first GOAL!!!! I had to contain myself. Then she ran over to me and told me that it was her first goal she'd scored in the right goal. Yes, Sophie, that's exactly right! What a perfect mother's day gift.

lying and telling the truth

When Sophie´s back side was all wet from the water she was surreptitiously taking from the bathroom to the outside, I asked her, why her bum was all wet. She said she pee-peed. She knew that it was humiliating, but that she wouldn´t get into any trouble--almost a smart cookie. I told her we were going to time out if she didn´t tell me the truth. She saved herself from the time-out chair. Now her dad is walking past the sidewalk where she wrote on it in marker. She's been up to a lot in the course of an hour. Annie

Order of Operations!

Sophie has taken to picking up or pulling up a variety of plant life and then asking, "Is this poison ivy?"

Ni Hao Kai Lan

At dinner at a friends, Sophie impressed with her ability to speak some Chinese.

We can thank (the animated) Kai Lan.

Like a horribly accurate mirror

"Well that sucks," I said in passing yesterday.

Immediately a voice piped up from the back of the car.

"Yeah, that sucks.  That sucks, doesn't it daddy?  It sucks.  That really sucks."

Her mother gave me a significant look.

Infinity

Tonight, at bed time, Sophie counted to 29 for me.

She almost made it all the way to thirty, but skipped from twenty-nine to twenty-ten, twenty-eleven, twenty-twelve.

I stopped her and told her that "twenty-ten" was called "thirty".

"Oh," she said, "Thirty." Then she asked me, "Daddy, can you count to infinity?"

"No I can't," I told her, "Nobody can count to infinity. There are too many numbers"

"Oh," she said. "If fourteen goes with fifteen is that infinity?"

"No," I told her, "Fourteen and fifteen are twenty-nine."

I remembered being tormented by the thought of infinity when I was just a bit older than her—six or seven.

So then I changed the topic, because four years old is a bit too early to be lying in bed filled with numerically induced existential angst.

poison ivy: bad news good news

After about 24 hrs of bumps on the back of Sophie's hands, we realized the red bumpy things weren't from dry skin. We're not sure if this is from poison Sumac, Ivy, or Oak, but it's highly likely it's from one of the three. The good news, she had a rather mild case and it has taught her a lesson about picking things in the forest with abandon.

crocs are a crock..

Sophie said Saturday that she wanted some Crocs. I let the Easter Bunny know and he brought her some in her Easter basket this morning. The first time outside, she tripped over herself. By the evening, she had already lost one. No more Crocs. I should have never left you, Keens. Keens, will you take us back?

coolest daddy ever!

Tonight Sophie told me, "If I want to take a pony ride, Daddy will hook me up, right?"
Well, yes, Sophie, your daddy will let you take a pony ride just about any time we come across ponies.

April Fools

One of her cartoons had an April Fools episode.

Her magazine talked about April Fools.

She got really really excited about April Fools.

We spent the morning doing things like putting her pants on my head and shouting April Fools! Or saying "I'm a dinosaur duck--April Fools!" Or shouting "Poopie on your head--April Fools!"

Or just "Blargh! April Fools!" and a bunch of tickling and laughter.

And I got carried away.

I know--I knew--she couldn't really be fooled, that that would spoil the fun. But I got carried away, and in a moment of mirth:

"Did you know it snowed last night? It snowed all over!"

And then I watched with a sinking heart as a really excited girl rushed over to the window.

"April Fools!" I said weakly as she turned a visage blank with disappointment and betrayal to face me.

I mean, she got over it, but still.

She was not amused.

hiking and biking

Now that the weather's a bit warmer, we've been doing a lot of biking and hiking. After school Sophie and her dad will meet me on the bikes at the duck pond. Sometimes, we hit the bike trails and bike for a bit. The other day we did 13 miles after work.

The pic is from a local pond. We're trying to work up to walking a mile getting ready for some longer walks for Sophie's epic summer.

Good timing

The Princess tent came the day before yesterday.

She was highly impressed, but was searching the box for the tiara she was sure was in there somewhere.

"I thought I would get this too," she said, pointing at the picture on the box.

Yesterday the box with the Princess outfit arrived, complete with tiara and royal scepter (or magic wand, as she puts it).

Sophie was very, very excited.

"I KNEW I WOULD GET THIS TOO! I KNEW IT!" she told us.

Sophie writes a song

Sophie invented an impromptu lullaby for herself tonight:

Good night to all the princess!
Look at the time!
It's after midnight.
And I will [mumble mumble] shoes!

Can you tell that Cinderella has lately become very important to her?

Little girl made out like a bandit this Birthday.

sophie's 4th birthday

Sophie celebrated her 4th birthday in style with 10 of her closest friends at an indoor play area. Everything went off without a hitch. Not one tear was shed the entire time. In fact, the organizer told us we were the most well-behaved group she's had (let's hear it for Montessori and all that standing on the line stuff they do!)

This year, we have started down the very slippery slope of princesses. Things we now own that have princesses: A Disney princess balloon, a princess tent, a small princess doll and horse. Today she asked for a tiara. We (the parents) looked at each other and totally synched, agreed that we'd look for some on Amazon later.

Road trip and Trix

Discussing our future road trip to DC, Sophie remarked, "At the hotel, can I eat the colorful Joe O's? I think I would like them."
Yes, Sophie, you probably would like them. I tried to divert her attention from the colorful Joe O's and suggested that she could share a waffle with me. Not much of an improvement, but I just didn't even want to open that other can of worms.

Frankly, I find it fascinating that to a 3-year-old's mind, having colorful Joe O's is more exciting than staying mere blocks away from the nation's Capitol.

Sophie as a newborn

Sophie saw a picture of herself as a newborn with a cap on, just a few minutes old. She asked if she wore the cap when she was in my tummy, too.

Modern Pedagogy?

"Boobie, Boobie" she said, pointing at my chest.

"What?!" I asked.

"That's your boobie. That's my boobie."

"Oh my gosh," I said, somewhere between appalled and amused, "Stop poking at my boobie."

"I learned boobie in school." she told me.

SNOW DAY

Sophie didn't have school today because of school. We had a fairly good contingency plan ready. I stayed home with Sophie in the morning. I hardly think my students missed me for a second. We went sledding again. I took her to the bigger hill. She's a wonderful sledder. She went down as fast as she could. After watching her go down the first time, I joined her for a bunch of runs. We laughed all the way down the hill on her polar bear sled. Turns out her $3.00 sled is like the BMWs of sled: it's comfy and the ride is sweet. I never expected this Monday to be so much fun.

All day sledding and playing in the snow

Today, finally, enough snow fell so that we could go sledding. Sophie's been waiting for a year for this day. We broke out the sled and spent the first part of the day sledding, making snowmen and throwing snowballs. In the afternoon, her dad took her to a much bigger hill perfect for sledding--no trees or fences at the bottom of the hill, which has an ideal slope. Between sledding sessions, we'd come home and dry her off. She'd sit in front of the fire and get warm with some mint hot chocolate. It was crazy lovely.

Composer

"Guess what?" she asked.

"One day, Kai was gonna bite me again, but the teachers sawed him, and then now he loves me instead."

"Why you laughing?"

I explained that I was amused at the vagaries of love, but, you know, that's how it goes.

Whereupon she composed this impromptu tune:

"That's how it goes;
But nobody knows;
But we knows!"

"Whoa!" she said, impressed with her talent, "I'm gonna write that down and play it on my piano!"

I'm 5 and 7/4ths

Today Sophie told me she was old enough to take the baby (play baby) out for a walk (out into the living room) because she was 5 and 7/4ths years old.

First and Second Words

Yesterday Sophie was delighted to learn she'd spelled her first word: OPT.

We had to tell her what it means.

Today she was equally delighted to learn she'd spelled her second word: POT.

Unlike her first word, she knew right away what her second word meant.


She's apparently preoccupied with P's, T's and O's lately.

I expect to get TOP tomorrow. Then it will be time to expand her repertoire.

painting nails

Sophie is "secretly" drawing on her fingernails. She's been wanting to paint her nails. I'm torn.

What is history?

Wow? What a huge question. Mike answered with academic grace: the stories of the past.

so unimpressed

Me: Emilio Estevez just sent me a box of swag.
Sophie: is it for me?
Me: No
Sophie: oh..(child leaves to go play in her room)

sophie the swimmer

It wasn't apparent to me how much Sophie has learned to swim until I saw her today. The last few times at the pool she's gone with her dad, so I haven't really seen her swim since Kauai. She's now like a fish in water. If she has her floaties on, she'll swim over to the deep end without pause. If she's in the shallow end, she'll take off her floaties and squirm around. She'll jump off the side of the swimming pool and even take a running start. Now she'll even jump into the shallower end without floaties or anybody to catch her. I think this summer, she's going straight into the advanced class. The only problem is that until she's 4, they won't let her go without a parent. However, it's clear to me, she's itching to take swimming to the next level.

goat dairy

There's something crazy sweet about baby goats, especially when you can hold them. This is just one of many reasons we need to get back to Kauai.

Popcorn and Poop

(On being told she would be allowed to have popcorn and to eat it while sitting on the couch)

"Popcorn makes me feel like abracadabra Zoe!"

(Zoe of Sesame Street, magic wand, fairy fame)

-----

(While indulging in Poopie jokes—which we're only allowed to do at home)

"I'm gonna poop in your butt and then you have to poop the poop out!"

Forgetful

"For real life I forgot how to yawn!"

"Every time I yawn and then I yawn again!"

Poor Sophie

"I know it's still Christmas when it's snowing!" she said a two weeks ago, when it actually snowed a light dusting.

She was bitterly disappointed the next morning when there wasn't any snow on the ground.

Poor Sophie: she got a sled for Christmas, but it doesn't look like she'll get a chance to use it this winter.

-----

I can't even remember what it was that Sophie wanted to do, but I remember that her mother and I vetoed it.

I also remember her reply:

"If you don't want to see me have fun that's okay," she said, "It's up to you."

Sing Songs

I occasionally sing in the car.


Me: "Sometimes it's hard to be a woman,..."

Sophie: "Why?"

Me: "Um..."

-----

Me: "Baby don't hurt me! Don't hurt me—no more!"

Sophie: "Babies don't hit!" (followed by raucous laughter)

-----

Me: "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie—"

Sophie: "Daddy, don't sing."

baby beach

Kauai was amazing. Lovely beaches, beaches designed just for little kids. Time to go back!

A bag of mixed emotions

Yesterday Sophie and I made cupcakes. After frosting hers, she dropped it on the ground and told me to pick it up FAAASSTTT. It fell so that the frosting side was down, splat on the ground. I picked up the cupcake, blew it off and gave it back to her. Meanwhile you could see her trying to get off the chair as fast as she could to get the frosting that was left on the floor. I beat her to it with a paper towel and wiped the frosting up. She looked at her cupcake and declared, "I'm happy and I'm sad." Happy to have a cupcake to eat, sad to have lost some of the frosting off of it. Touche, Sophie.

Kauai 2013, baby!

We need to go back! It´s not happening this next winter, but maybe the winter after that!

Sophie loves balloons

Sophie loves balloons--which she cutely pronounces, "balluums". Every year Santa leaves her some for Christmas and she gets them for her birthday, too. Two nights ago, when I went to check on Sophie before I went to bed, I found her asleep, holding her Christmas balloon tight in her hand.

in exchange for gifts, Santa took the baby potty

Yesterday she didn't notice, but today, Sophie noticed her baby potty was gone. When she asked to have it back, we told her Santa took it in exchange for gifts. She thought about that for a sec, then seemed to be fine with it--as long as Santa didn't go in her room. Nope, Santa just goes in the bathrooms and leaves gifts, that is all. Lucky Santa, he now has the coolest green baby potty, ever. I bet the elves love it.

vacation is more fun than working

None of us was thrilled today to be back at school/work. Turns out, we all prefer Kauai. Go figure.