I am not really sure why I believed that an 11-month old would find Washington DC an enriching experience. I guess I overestimated her intelligence by about four years. Her favorite part was *not* the Smithsonian Museums and she barely noticed when we walked in front of the Capitol. She didn't mention once that we could see the place where Barack gave the inaugural address as the 44th president--granted, the seagulls were very distracting. Her favorite part of the trip hands down was the staircase at our friends' house. She loved to crawl up the stairs and even tried to walk up them even though she still can't really walk on her own yet. If she could blog, I'm sure she would write about this moment with Sebastian. She would write about how awesome it was to be on the steps *and* with the cat. Sebastian was so sweet letting her pet/slap at him. Outside of the picture is Claire hissing at Sophie. Sophie understood this as, "Hey, pay attention to me." Sophie almost lost a hand when she reached down to try to pet/grab Claire.
Although Sophie barely noticed the museums, she left the Museum of Natural Sciences with what is now her new favorite toy, Mono. Mono, aka Monkey, is, as the name rightly suggests, a small brown monkey that Jenny bought Sophie at the gift shop. Sophie could choose between a stuffed monkey or small purse; I was hoping she'd take the animal. Sophie seemed indifferent at first about her choices. However, once she got her hands on Mono, she squealed in delight. At home she loves to grab Mono and chew on his hands (I'm not sure how Mono feels about that). At night when I put her down for bed, she grabs Ducky and Mono and snuggles up with them. She'll never remember DC, but she'll always have Mono.
