The Sonia Show

Reason #18 to love Cheerios

2012-03-05T16:00:00.000-06:00

In our house, we go through a lot of Cheerios. Sonia and I both snack on them, and it's one of our favorites when we have the occasional "Whoops, haven't planned anything for dinner; let's just have cereal" nights. So, I was really excited to see that some Cheerios boxes contain free books (for Sonia's exact reading level!!) right now. Cheerios AND a book? How can one yellow box contain so much goodness?

Apparently, the program is called Spoonfuls of Stories, and it goes beyond just giving kids free books in boxes of cereal.... I wholeheartedly approve of any and all efforts on behalf of early literacy, so good job, General Mills!

Sonia's favorite Spoonfuls of Stories book so far is Mostly Monsterly by Tammi Sauer. So cute!!

This and that

2012-03-04T18:00:00.000-06:00

As Sonia gets closer to turning three years old (in May), it seems like she is developing faster and faster. It's amazing to watch as she gains more control over her movements (especially her dance moves.... hilarious!!!), increases her vocabulary at an exponential rate, and shows me that she understands more about how the world works. The questions she asks crack me up; the other day, she asked me what those funny things on my feet were. When I asked her to point to them, she touched my ankle bones gently. I realized that she can't really see those bones on her chubby little ankles, but when I showed her where to press so she could feel her own ankle bones, she got a glimmer of understanding on her face that made me smile.

Girlfriend is IN LOVE with lip balm. Having fallen prey to marketing, I am in the habit of calling all lip balm "Chapstick"; therefore, if Sonia asks you for "daptik", she is trying to tell you that her little lips are in need of moisture. She was using some tubes of Blistex as rolling pins the other day when she was playing with playdough.

Sonia just finally passed through a horrible month-long potty training regression. She had regressed a bit in December (no clue why), but seemed okay through Christmas. When this regression hit in mid-January, I initially thought it was a continuation of the other regression. Her accidents got so frequent that I actually put her back in Pull-Ups full time for almost a week so we could all take a breather. Luckily, at the end of that week, my mom came to visit, and with her support, we got Sosini back in underpants and headed in the right direction. Thank you so much for all of your help, Mom!! I love you!! Now, Sonia is doing even better than before the regression. She has been telling us more often that she has to use the potty, and the occasional slip-ups are very minor.

In hindsight, it is now obvious to me that this regression was most likely linked to Sosi beginning preschool. It began around the second week of Stepping Stones-- right when her separation anxiety reared its ugly head and drop-offs became stressful & tear-filled. But with the help of Sonia's awesome teachers, 6 weeks into the program, Sonia is now happily kissing me goodbye and heading off into the classroom to play. It took her a while to get used to the whole preschool experience, but the teachers say that Sonia now seems comfortable and doesn't need much special attention at all. She told me in a very serious tone the other day that "it's okay to be without you at pee-school, Mommy".

Right around the same time that Sonia started school (and her potty training regression), she also stopped napping regularly. First it was just the occasional nap fail, then napping only every other day, and now napping just twice a week. The end of naps might be nearing.... But, she did nap every day for the last 3 days in a row, so who knows? Perhaps the nap pattern disruption was just a short phase; perhaps the end is just around the corner.

The nap pattern disruption did make me realize one thing: I, myself, need to stop napping. I had gotten into the terrible habit of snoozing every day for however long Sonia napped (usually 90 or more minutes). Then, I would stay up too late (or wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to fall back asleep), feel horrible in the morning, and nap again the next day. It's a terrible cycle! From what I have read, napping as an adult is fine (even healthy), as long as you don't sleep too long. But, I have a hard time putting a time limit (such as 30 minutes) on a nap-- I can always talk myself into thinking that I need a longer rest. During the last couple of weeks, I found that it helps to have an incentive not to nap, like being immersed in doing a 1,000-piece puzzle (I did another one-- this one had lots of flowers in it and it was SO HARD!!) or reading a really good book (like 11/22/63). So, that's my napping story.

Speaking of sleep, we recently got Sonia one of those clocks that can be set to turn green when it's okay to get up and out of bed. I can't tell you how fabulous this clock has been for us over the last few weeks.... Every night, we set the clock to turn green at 7am. Sosini has always been somewhat of an early riser, but now she knows that no matter what time she wakes up, she needs to stay in her room and chill until the magic color-changing clock tells her that it's okay to bother Mommy & Daddy. It's hilarious to hear her start proclaiming over the monitor, "It's geen, Mommy! The light is geen! The light is geen! It's geen! It's geen!" She continues to announce this until one of us comes into her room to acknowledge the miracle that has just occurred. On days that Sonia doesn't nap, I set the clock so that it will turn green after she has been in her room for an hour, playing.

Thank you, magic color-changing clock! Andrew and I are grateful for the extra sleep, and Sonia thinks that you are the coolest thing in the world.

So, that's what has been happening with us lately.

Money Money Money

2012-03-03T20:41:00.004-06:00

Andrew brought home a large bag of loose change last month, and before I took it to the Coin Star machine to get it counted and turned into a grocery store gift card (no 10% counting fee if you do it that way!), I decided that Sonia might think it was fun to play around with all the coins.

She doesn't really see coins a whole lot.... I normally pay for everything with my debit card, and even if I do use cash, Sosini is usually paying attention to 500 other things in addition to what Mommy is doing.

I had fun pawing through the pile, pulling out the state quarters and showing Sonia the pictures. A surprising amount of them have animals in their pictures, which thrilled our little animal lover.

Now when Sonia sees me pay for things with cash, hopefully she'll make a tiny connection with this pile of metal she played with that one time....

As an accountant, I can't believe it took me this long to come up with this idea for a fun toddler activity! I know coins are theoretically a choking hazard, but Sonia is long past the stage of putting everything in her mouth (plus I warned her that if one coin went into her mouth, we'd put them all away instantly).

(Don't worry-- we washed our hands thoroughly after we put all the coins away.)

Sonia Lou Retton

2012-02-19T16:09:00.001-06:00

One of the greatest parts of having my mom visit is having her take pictures of our adventures. First of all, she's a better photographer than I am, and second of all, that means I actually make it into a few pictures! We had the benefit of Grandma JoJo's awesome photography skills when she came with us to Sonia's "parent-tot" gymnastics class, and I am so excited to finally have pictures of Sosini's gymnastics class to show everyone!

Sonia has never been a fan of the portion of the class where we warm up and stretch (I think there's not enough action for her), but she's been participating more and more during the past few weeks. I credit her Stepping Stones (pre-preschool) program with her finally learning how to sit still and listen to a teacher.

Make a bridge!

This part of the warm-up time where we sing "The Grand Old Duke of York" and lift the kids in the air several times is pretty hard on the ole' back... Sonia weighs almost 35 pounds!

Once the warm-up period is over and it's time to hop down the long trampoline, the REAL fun begins. Even though the temperature was sub-freezing outside and not all that warm inside, I still had to put Sonia in a short-sleeved shirt, because that little girl works HARD!

Forward rolls are much easier to learn on a soft downward slope. This is part of the ever-changing obstacle course that the kids do every week.

Another part of the obstacle course: a balance beam that looks like a little street. Even though Sonia barely needs any help, she has always wanted me to hold her hand....

....until this past week! We convinced her to walk the last 12 inches or so on her own, and she did it several times! I'm so proud of her.

Sonia LOVES jumping into the pit filled with foam blocks. This is the pit that the older kids fall into when they are learning skills on the uneven bars and rings. Crawling around in the pit is really, really tough and takes a ton of energy. It feels like you're trying to move through quicksand! Sosini has gotten really brave about taking huge leaps into the pit all by herself.

Yellow trampoline time!

We've only tried doing handstands at the handstand wall a couple of times, but Sonia seems to love it!

Parachute time! Sosini thinks parachutes are hilarious.

It is so genius to give the kids stamps at the end of class.... I'll bet it averts transition tantrums!

Gymnastics class is so much fun! I really don't think Sonia will end up going to the Olympics, but she sure has a blast. It's amazing to see how far she has come since we started gymnastics class just four months ago.

More fun from Grandma JoJo's visit

2012-02-17T20:53:00.001-06:00

Wednesday was an eventful day.... Preschool in the morning, lunch at home, Sosini's third-ever haircut, and the Great Balloon Tragedy of 2012.

First, Sonia hopped in the car and got the back of her hair trimmed so the sides could play a little catch-up.

Miss Kateri does such a nice job!

And Sonia's hair is finally ready for some bangs! This picture was taken at an odd angle-- her bangs don't really start that far back on her head.

Sosini and Grandma JoJo had a fun time playing with Duplos until they lost a few under the couch. Watching the two of them fish the legos out with a Swiffer and a Lightning McQueen flashlight was kind of like watching two of the Three Stooges in action. Note the red ribbon dangling behind Sonia....

That brings us to the Great Balloon Tragedy of 2012. On a day when a toddler refuses to nap, events such as your cat (Bobo, of course) chewing through the ribbon attached to your prized shiny red heart-shaped mylar balloon (causing it to float to the really high ceiling in the family room) seem awfully traumatic to said toddler.

Sonia cried off and on (mostly ON) for almost a half hour after Bobo broke her heart (well, I guess it was just a string attached to her heart).

My mom and I both tried to reach the balloon using our tallest ladder, but we are too short. Tall Daddy to the rescue!

Oh, Sonia. You are such a cuckoo bird.

Grandma JoJo in da house!!

2012-02-16T20:49:00.000-06:00

My mom (aka Grandma JoJo) is here visiting us this week, and we're having a fabulous time! We've been doing puzzles, playing Candy Land, cooking, baking, shopping, hosting a Valentine's Day playdate, and much more.

Oh, and we've been snuggling a lot, too!

Grandma JoJo probably had flashbacks to playing 8 million games of Candy Land with me, my sister, and my brother.

Sonia likes to steal people's boots....

Showing off her puzzle prowess

Making Valentine's Day decorations for our playdate

This kid loves to play with Andrew's collection of wine corks....

Sock Monkey Girls!

More play with corks

Sonia absolutely loves to watch Grandma JoJo do her beauty routine in the morning.... I'm pretty sure Sosini has seen me put on mascara only once or twice in her entire life, so witnessing someone actually apply makeup is fascinating to her. Once Grandma got gorgeous, she turned her talents on her granddaughter.

Speaking of hair, The Great Sosini got her third haircut this week! Stay tuned for more on that.

Candy Land!

2012-02-11T08:04:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, I had a sudden urge to clean out a closet that had been stuffed full of, well, STUFF since we moved into this house almost 6 years ago. That closet holds our small collection of board games, and as I looked through them, I wondered if Sonia might be ready to play a simple board game. The first one I thought of was, of course, CANDY LAND!

I have no idea how many thousands of times I played this game when I was little, and I love that it's still on the market. Sosini loves talking about colors (every time I give her a stick of cinnamon gum, she has to mention that the gum matches my red winter coat), so I figured she might be able to handle playing this simple color-based game.

Not at all surprisingly, Sonia LOVES Candy Land!

"You mean I get to hop my little piece onto TWO different blue squares?"

The board is really over-decorated with ridiculous drawings.... I think it's a little hard for a toddler playing her first board game to follow where the path goes.

But, Sosi managed to figure it out pretty quickly! I know this game is 100% luck and has no strategy involved (I even read the directions to see if I was mis-remembering how to play the game-- nope), but darn if I don't keep accidentally beating the poor kid. I always promised myself that I wouldn't cheat on board games to let my child win, but I think I need to let her win a few times so she doesn't get discouraged.

Sosini has been working a lot on puzzles lately, and she has graduated from 24-piece puzzles to 48 piece puzzles. She can't quite finish the 48-piecers by herself, but she can get pretty darn far. I also bought a couple of 100-piece puzzles for us to do together, and she helps me far more than I would ever imagine that a 2 1/2-year-old could! Doing all these puzzles made me remember the fun that my siblings and I had when I was younger, doing jigsaw puzzles together on my parents' trestle table. So, I bought a 1,000-piece puzzle on sale at Target, and I spent the last 6 days doing it every chance I got. Sosini helped me (by sitting on my lap and giving me moral support) finish it last night, and now I want to do another.

Voila!

I love puzzles! Looks like the apple didn't fall far from the tree. The Great Sosini may look exactly like her father, but she is a puzzle maniac like her mother.

Speechless

2012-02-07T07:59:00.001-06:00

This morning, Sonia rendered me temporarily speechless with her antics. Let me just narrate what happened between 6:15am and 6:45am to explain why. At 6:15am, I heard Sonia start saying, "Mommeeeeeeeee, I'm awaaaaaaaaaaaaake!" I marched into Sonia's room, gave her a good morning kiss, and told her that it was too early to wake up. I pointed to her digital alarm clock and told her she had to stay in her room until the first number (which was currently a 6) turned into a 7. I also told her that she could turn on her light (she can juuuuuuust reach the light switch by standing on her tippy-toes).

Over the monitor, I listened to her chatting, singing, and banging around until 6:23am, when things got very quiet for about 10 minutes. I didn't think she had gone back to sleep, because I could hear quiet sounds of movement every once in a while. Around 6:35, she started chatting again. At 6:40, Sonia started a 5-minute-long campaign of shouting into the monitor, "Mommeeeee, please help me put on my sock! My sock! Help me! Put on my sock! Mommeeeeeeeeeee!" At 6:45, my curiosity got the best of me, and I got up to see what was going on. As far as I can tell, here's how Sonia had spent that half hour:

- Turned on her light.

- Stripped from the waist down (taking off her pull-up and her pants).

- Dug around in her closet for underwear and pants.

- Put on one pair of underwear and then promptly wet herself.

- Took off the underwear, sat down on her little froggy potty, and went pee some more. Wiped herself.

- Put on dry pair of underwear (inside-out).

- Tried on a pair of purple pants, then rejected them.

- Tried on a pair of pink pants, then rejected them.

- Put on a pair of skinny jean leggings (aka "jeggings") (the right way!), and decided she looked good.

- Sat down in her rocking chair, and put on one rainbow Elmo sock (backwards).

- Tried to put on her other sock and failed. Started yelling into the monitor for help.

Before now, Sonia has showed only fleeting interest in undressing and dressing herself. She still can't figure out how to take off and put on tops, but it seems that she has mastered underwear and pants. Socks are still a bit tricky, apparently. Also, she has mostly played like she is helpless when it comes to going to the potty-- I know she can pull down her pants and underwear, but she usually refuses to do so and preys on my fear that she will wet herself to make me be the one to pull her pants down.

Ohhhhhhh, Sonia.

Jibber Jabber

2012-02-06T22:26:00.002-06:00

I love how oddly toddlers pronounce words as they are learning to navigate the verbal world.... Sonia talks constantly from morning until night, and every once in a while, I have to take a moment to giggle to myself when I hear a particularly funny-sounding word. As with most toddlers, Sosini pronounces her "R"s more like "W"s, but the funniest words that she says are the ones where she mixes up the letters. Too bad The Great Sosini clams up when I whip out the video camera..... I haven't yet been able to get a good video of her verbal stylings. For now, here is a short list of some of our favorite Sonia-isms:

ambliance (ambulance)

banklet (blanket)

sipperly (slippery)

aminal (animal) ==> that one is a classic!

soopcase (suitcase)

peeschool (preschool)

I am definitely forgetting some of Sonia's funniest mispronunciations, but I can never think of them all at one time. She's also getting to the point where she's busting out with phrases that crack us up, like "Goodness gracious!" and "I knew that....". Oh, Sosini. You're such a cuckoo kid!

Helpful Jones

2012-02-04T19:00:00.000-06:00

In the grand tradition of her cousins (see this post and this post), Sosini is SUCH a "Helpful Jones".... She loves to "help" me with the dishes.

Oh, Sonia....

Reward

2012-02-03T20:47:00.000-06:00

On her own accord, Sonia stopped biting her fingernails. She had been doing it for about 6 months or so (at least, I think so-- momnesia is real, people!), and just as mysteriously as the habit began, it ended. Andrew and I tried our hardest to get her to stop for about 2 months, but nothing worked. Then, a week or so ago, I suddenly noticed that Sosini was in desperate need of having her fingernails cut. WOO HOO!!!!!

Her reward:

Purple sparkly fingernail polish!!

Road trip!

2012-01-31T20:47:00.000-06:00

This past week, The Great Sosini and I once again embarked on a road trip from Chicago to Nashville. The drive from my house to my sister's house can be made in about 7 hours with no stops, but that is obviously not possible with a toddler in tow. Still, Sosi and I were able to do the drive in about 9 hours. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip-- we drove down to TN on Thursday and drove back to IL on Sunday-- but tons of fun nonetheless!

My sister and I have an unspoken rule when it comes to blogging about our visits: she who blogs first gets to share the cutest pictures. Niki beat me to the blogging punch here, here, and here. But I still wanted to post some pictures here on my blog, too! Here are the rest of the post-worthy pictures:

I have big plans to sneak into my sister's house some night and catnap Rocky Cat.... He is SO HANDSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sonia thought seeing a full-size steam engine up close was quite possibly the best part of the entire trip.

Speaking of handsome.... I love my adorable little nephew!!!

Charlotte, you are way too cute.

FABULOUS!

Sonia was already a huge Uncle Corey fan, but when he created an exciting adventure on which to send our little super kids, he reached official rock star status. Also, I am still blown away by the amazing capes that my sister sewed out of fabric she already had on hand. Sosini loves her creative aunt and uncle!!

Loving the hand-drawn map of the 1st floor of the house! We had to take the map home with us because Sonia was obsessed with it.

Thank you for such a fun visit, Niki, Corey, Charlotte, and Peter! We love you so much!!

Girl snuggles

2012-01-26T19:00:00.000-06:00

Sosi and I were snuggling on the couch, watching Dinosaur Train, and Margie Cat decided that she needed to join in on the fun.

No boys allowed in this snuggle!

Chef Sonia is at it again

2012-01-25T20:33:00.003-06:00

This time, she's peeling carrots! When I showed her how to use the peeler, I instinctively put it in her right hand.

Then, our little southpaw realized that it might be a little easier if she switched hands. I'd say we're 99.9% sure that The Great Sosini is left-handed!

I love my little sous chef. Every time she sees me cooking, she begs to help me. She also demands to help me with the dishes (which usually ends up in a wet, sloppy mess, so I rarely agree). Is there some way I can save all of this helpfulness up in a bottle so I can give her doses of it when she's a teenager?

Situps with Daddy

2012-01-21T13:39:00.000-06:00

Gotta lose that gut!

Eh, this exercising business is lame. Much more fun to play on Daddy.

The first real snow!

2012-01-14T15:56:00.002-06:00

Sosini was SO excited that Chicagoland finally experienced a significant snowfall this winter!

We had to get her a new winter coat, because her awesome pink hand-me-down coat from Charbunkle was getting too tight. Sonia is now wearing 3T in all types of clothing except for her snow pants-- for some reason, the 2T size still fits her. Yay!! That's two winters now that she has worn them.

Speaking of snow pants, I finally own a pair-- for the first time since elementary school! I also bought myself some warm skiing gloves and a ridiculously toasty fur hat with ear flaps. Now I can stay outside in the cold with The Great Sosini as long as she wants. I swear, she must be part Eskimo because girlfriend can stay out in sub-freezing temperatures for hours at a time.

Today, I bought a better sled for Sonia. The saucer sled we got last year fits her just fine, but she always wants us to pull her, so we had to find one with a rope attached. Sledding pictures to come!

Windy fun

2012-01-10T18:33:00.004-06:00

Sonia and her buddy, Ike, love the wind area at the DuPage Children's Museum!

Check out how soaked Ikey got at the water table.... We were thinking he might dry off in the wind tunnel, but there was no hope. Sonia was kind of wet, too, but not as soaked as Mr. Ike.

Dancing and giggling!

Hey, what's out there?

Training to compete in rhythmic gymnastics?

Checking out the wind tubes as I'm trying to drag her home in time for a nap....

First-ever first day of school!

2012-01-09T16:10:00.000-06:00

My baby had her very first first day of school! She started at Stepping Stones, which is kind of a pre-preschool. Sosini goes to this school twice a week for just 90 minutes, which doesn't sound like a big deal, but consider this: other than the occasional babysitter, Andrew & I have never been separated from our child for even 5 minutes. She hasn't even done all that many organized activities (Gymboree for 4 months when she was an infant, library story time once a week for 45 minutes, and most recently, gymnastics).... Her shyness with the librarians, the gymnastics teacher, and other little kids whom she doesn't already know was what helped make our decision to sign Sonia up for Stepping Stones. We felt that she needed a bit more experience listening to adults other than family members, and even though she is very socialized with our awesome playgroup, she could use some more time in close proximity with other kids.

To prepare for preschool, we talked about it a lot, read Llama Llama Misses Mama, and looked at the pictures posted on the Stepping Stones website.

I bought her a special first day of school outfit in purple, which is one of my favorite colors in which to dress The Great Sosini. It is so fun to dress a blue-eyed child!!

Sis got to bust out her personalized backpack given to her by one of Andrew's family's friends.

Somebody's excited about going to school!!!

My blue-eyed beauty:

When we got there a bit early, I took a few pictures of Sosini waiting for the fun to start. Sorry they're such bad quality!

After the drop-off (with nary a tear!), I sidled around the side of the building and took this picture through the window. Sonia made a beeline for the train table, which should shock no one!

When I picked her up, there were no tears.... In fact, I swear she didn't recognize me for a moment! She had stayed dry, and in fact, she instantly requested that I take her to the potty. I had toyed with the idea of sending her to school in a pull-up (the kids don't have to be potty-trained for this program) just to take away one source of anxiety, but she asked to wear underpants.

(Potty-training update: after 5 months of hard work, Sosini can usually make it through the day dry, but she still doesn't tell us she needs to go potty unless it's for #2. We pretty much just drag her to the potty several times a day, and it usually involves some durm und strang. Girlfriend wants to use the potty, but she likes to protest EVERYTHING just to show us she has her own point of view.)

Anyway, the teachers said that Sonia had a fabulous time, and with just the slightest bit of hesitation (one teacher described it as "wide eyes"), she participated in every activity. Sissy LOVED craft time:

We're so proud of our little girl.... She did really well! I was a bit worried about the drop-off and pick-up due to Sonia's history of separation anxiety, but she did great. Yay, Sosini!!

Put that kid to work!

2012-01-05T20:24:00.000-06:00

Gotta earn the money to pay for preschool somehow.... She starts this Monday!

Christmas in Texas, Part 3

2012-01-03T20:25:00.001-06:00

On the last full day we were there, we braved the 40-something degree temperatures (and dampness due to rain the previous day) to take the kids to the park. Getting a change of scenery is always a good thing for toddlers!

I love that Dick & Jenni's neighborhood park has a merry-go-round.... We don't see those in Illinois, for some reason!

The kids loved it, too!

HANDSOME!!!!

Swinging, swinging, swinging.... Sosini likes to go "high in the sky".

Hello, my name is Nicholas, and I have a moose on my head. Yeah, I know I just broke all previously-set cuteness records. What of it?

The moose and the panda smelled the gorgeous flowers....

This is about as good as it gets when you pose with two 2-year-olds.

I'm a pitcher! Ta-da!

Can I be a catcher and still wear this moose hat? Please?

Running the bases....

Daniel and Andrew didn't want the kids to have all the fun, so they gave the merry-go-round a try. My husband is not going to be winning any awards for his mastery of dealing with centrifugal force!

Thank you for such a fun Christmas, Dick, Jenni, Ali, Daniel, and Nicholas! We love you and can't wait to see you again!

Christmas in Texas, Part 2

2012-01-01T21:48:00.003-06:00

Christmas Day.... By 10:30am, everybody was awake, aebelskivers (Danish pancakes) were made, and toddlers in matching reindeer pajammies were quivering with excitement. Let the present opening commence!

Snoopy!!!

Oh, Nicholas. You are hilarious!

So, it turns out that Sonia is one of those kids that wants to open all of the presents before she stops to play with any of her new toys. She could not rest until every package was unwrapped! Nicholas was such a good little boy, playing with each toy and showing how much he loved it before finally being coaxed into opening a new gift. Not The Great Sosini.... Once she was done opening her presents, she begged to help Andrew and me open ours. ARGH!!! When I was relating this to my mother later in the day, she assured me that it must be genetic-- my siblings and I were the exact same way.

Finally stopping to play with one of her new toys: a Yo Gabba Gabba puzzle!

Sharing Sosi's new cat keyboard (the tonal meow setting is HILARIOUS!!):

After all the presents were unwrapped, the toys had been enjoyed, naps had been taken, and the kids were almost ready to be changed into clean pajamas & tucked into bed, we busted out a gingerbread house to decorate.

Nikolai was convinced these little red gumdrops were "staw-ray-rays" (strawberries).

Not shockingly, a lot of frosting and candy ended up in the toddlers' tummies. (All right, I admit it-- I ate a bunch, too. Not Ali, though-- girlfriend has willpower of steel.)

One more Christmas post to come....

Christmas in Texas, Part 1

2011-12-29T22:28:00.000-06:00

For Christmas this year, we spent a lovely 4 days in Texas with Andrew's side of the family. I had forgotten how special Christmas feels with little kids around! We ate a lot of good food, played games, talked non-stop, and slept as much as possible with two toddlers in the house. Speaking of toddlers....

It was so fun watching the two little cousins play with (or near) each other! Sonia and Nicholas had the typical 2-year-old-kid toy tussles every now and again, but for the most part, they had a great time. Whenever they weren't together (when one was sleeping or in the bathroom or wherever), they were looking around, trying to find the other one. I loved the look of glee Sonia would get when Nicholas woke up in the morning (always long after her!), and Nicholas's happy dance when he first caught sight of her on Christmas Eve morning was priceless. (I've said it before, and I'll say it again: cousins are awesome! I love you, Wagners, Scotts, Jarnagins, and Colners!)

Here are a few pictures from the first couple of days:

Aunt Ali and Sosini bonded over a shared love of books.

I baked a batch of kinda sketchy gingerbread cookies with two of the cutest (and most enthusiastic) sous chefs in the entire world!

Nicholas and Sonia whooped it up at Chuck E. Cheese... We all had such a great time!

More to come....

The Abominable Snowkid

2011-12-21T15:22:00.003-06:00

This little girl seriously loves her snow! She was so happy when we got another installment of the white stuff.

I think we played outside in the snow for at least an hour. Sonia also loves her totally awesome Brobee hat (a Christmas present from her really cool godparents)!

Sosini led us all over the neighborhood, checking out the amount of snow that everyone got.

Andrew liked the red berries on this tree.

First Snow of the Season!

2011-12-14T21:02:00.002-06:00

Sosini loves her hand-me-down winter coat from cousin Charbunkle! She can't wait until we get enough snow to do some real playing.....

Fashionista

2011-12-08T21:34:00.001-06:00

I love dressing up my little dolly! Most days, when Sonia has serious playing going on, she wears casual clothes that occasionally verge on tomboyish. However, when we participate in less strenuous activities that don't involve a lot of climbing and other shenanigans (like library story time or the Polar Express), it's fun to bust out Sosi's dressier duds.

Outfit #1: the last wearing of the beautiful navy jumper given to The Great Sosini by her beloved Grandma Jenni as a Christmas gift last year. You can tell in the picture that it's getting a bit tight in the armpits! Unfortunately, you can't see Sosi's gold sparkly shoes (handed down by Charlotte) very well in this picture. Sonia thinks those are so cool!

Outfit #2: cozy velour (with jersey sleeves) ballet dress handed down by Sonia's buddy, Sophie. If you look closely, you can see little embroidered ballet slippers dangling from the bow at the empire waist. The only time (so far) that she has worn this dress, Sosini irreparably stained the white sleeves, so I think I'm going to have to do a little surgery on the dress to see how it looks without the faux-layering.

Outfit #3: pink & gray sweater dress by Old Navy (purchased by me at Once Upon a Child). Unfortunately, both times Ms. Cuckoo Bird has worn it, I haven't remembered to have her pose nicely to show the dress off properly for the camera.... Oh well-- you get the idea in this picture of Sonia in train heaven at the Morton Arboretum's Enchanted Railroad exhibit.

Outfit #4: another look at the beautiful red plaid dress/coat/hat and shiny patent leather mary jane shoes handed down by Sophie.... Sonia really, really loves this outfit! The dress is a bit short on her, but Sonia doesn't care-- she couldn't stop looking at herself in the mirror. Who can blame her? Girlfriend can rock a red plaid dress, that's for sure.

We're gonna riiiiiiiiiiiiide.....

2011-12-04T21:05:00.001-06:00

..... the Polar Express! Every year, commuter trains all over the nation put together fun holiday-themed train rides for little kids, and the one from Lisle to downtown Chicago and back features candy canes, decorations, Christmas story characters (including Santa, of course!), coloring, Christmas carols, balloon animals, a reading of the Polar Express book, and the pure joy that little kids get from riding a real-live train. Have you ever heard of an event more suited to The Great Sosini?

Last year at this time, she wasn't all that impressed with riding the Polar Express (other than eating her very first candy cane, which was a big hit with her). But in the past year, she has fallen in love with all forms of transportation, including trains. She hears all about Daddy riding the train to work, and I think she imagines his train to be something like either Thomas the Tank Engine or Dinosaur Train. Boarding a real train was an eye-opening experience for Sonia!

(I apologize for the odd look to the first two pictures-- I had accidentally left the camera on the "macro" setting and didn't realize it until 1/3rd of the way into the ride. Oops.)

We dressed Sonia in a ridiculously adorable dress/jacket/hat outfit handed down to her by her buddy, Sophie.... Sosini was so excited to wear it! She was also excited to be seated next to her beloved Daddy on a train.

Clutching her pink balloon reindeer

Checking out the Sears Tower (okay, whatever, I know it's the Willis Tower now, but I don't care) off in the distance

Doing a bit of light reading during the second half of the ride

Finally! A candy cane!

Even though the train was PACKED and we didn't get there as early as we should have, we managed to meet up with one of the two families we knew were riding the train. Sonia and Ike thought the whole experience was pretty cool!

We missed the mad dash for seats, so we had to sit in the upper deck of the train. Sonia liked the good vantage point she had for people-watching.

Studiously avoiding looking at Santa.... She once again missed her chance to ask him for a "big Professor Z". I think it's time to have her dictate a letter to Santa!

Oh, Sonia Balogna. You are such a funny little girl. We had a lovely day with you! Christmas is so much fun to experience with children.

'Tis the season...

2011-12-03T09:17:00.001-06:00

...to torture our poor child by making her sit on a strange man's lap (and then take pictures)!

Poor Santa.... He was struggling to hold Sonia on his lap (she kept trying to fall off sideways) while two photographers and I desperately tried to get her hands away from her face and do the impossible-- make her smile. The outing had started out with such promise: Sosini was in a great mood, and in line, she had been practicing what she was going to say when Santa asked what she wanted for Christmas ("a big Pwofessoh Z"-- a toy from the Cars 2 movie-- she kept saying it over and over!). We giggled together when we watched a little boy ahead of us in line take out a toy catalog and point out EXACTLY what he wanted to the bemused Santa. But when The Great Sosini and I got to the front of the line, she suddenly stood stock-still and decided that she wanted nothing to do with the strange man in red. Oh well! The starlight mint sucker that she received after the ordeal made her forget all about Santa in 30 seconds flat. We then happily skipped off toward the children's play area to meet up with some friends.

Here's a look back at Sonia's dubious past with Kris Kringle....

2010: WHO IS THIS GUY?!?!?

2009: Couldn't my mommy and daddy afford a longer dress so the whole world couldn't see my nether-regions?

I absolutely love the Santa's lap picture tradition, so even though it has caused Sosini tiny bits of angst so far, she'll get a chance in years to come to see it ain't all that bad.

Thanksgiving (part 2)

2011-11-30T21:30:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving evening, right before bed, Sonia was struck down by a tummy bug. The next 8 hours were a little rough, but on Friday morning, she made a miraculous recovery. Other than being a little more subdued than normal, The Great Sosini had a perfectly lovely day. The whole crew (minus me) went to play at a playground at a nearby elementary school, and since I wasn't in attendance, I'll let Niki post the awesome pictures they took there.

That afternoon, Niki and I baked and decorated a choo-choo train birthday cake for an early celebration of Peter's 2nd birthday. Upon inspecting the cake, Sonia informed us that the cake actually looked like a truck. Yeah, she was kind of right. Whatever! Petey likes all forms of transportation.

While we were making the cake, Sosini and Charbunkle were dying to get in on the baking and decorating action. We gave them a small part of the cake that we didn't need and encouraged them to go nutty decorating it. The girls mostly just went nutty eating the frosting and candy decorations.

Before cake eating, we opened presents. The girls gave the birthday boy a little assistance in opening this present that Andrew, Sosini, and I gave him-- a Thomas Take-and-Play Tidmouth Sheds! Petey has a December birthday, so a few of his presents were wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper. Good thing none of them can read, because this wrapping paper said not to open the package until December 25th.

Grandpa Spike helped Peetza-Pie blow the candle out on his train/truck cake.

Snuggles for the almost-2-year-old from his uncle.... Petey really loved hanging out with Uncle Andrew!

Saturday morning, we took the kids to Jump Zone to help them (and us!) burn off the massive amounts of sugar consumed the night before. As always, hilarity ensued.

We loved this Sesame Street jump just for little kids.... I wish we had it here at our jump places!

Whee!

Sosi and Petey LOVED this cool teeter-totter! Once they discovered it, all jumping ceased and they hogged this piece of equipment until we left.

Time for more baking! How many toddlers does it take to make one package of brownies?

More playing in the hot tub....

Sonia found the swimmies that she had used back when we were in TX in July, and she picked up right where she left off, teaching herself how to swim.

That pretty much takes us to Sunday morning when Andrew, Sosini, and I flew back to Illinois.... We had such a great time! Thank you for such a fun holiday, everyone. Corey, we missed you a ton-- we were all so sad that you had to work and couldn't make it to Texas. Hopefully next year's holiday season will be a less crazy time for you!

Thanksgiving (part 1)

2011-11-28T08:16:00.001-06:00

We had a criminal amount of fun in Texas during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend-- but what else can you expect from getting Charlotte, Sonia, and Peter together? Of course we endured the typical toy tussles, random toddler crabbiness, the attack of a tummy bug, and travel-related sleep issues, but nothing out of the ordinary. Here are a few highlights from the first part of the visit:

I still get a kick out of watching Sonia happily pull her Thomas suitcase through the airport!

Watching a dvd on the airplane while clutching her beloved Brobee:

Finally in Texas-- cousin convention! My parents' gently sloping driveway was perfect for riding bikes and, oddly enough, pushing lawnmowers.

Swinging on the porch swing that my grandfather made is always a big hit with the kids!

Bestest buddies!

My mom had a bunch of cool gourds displayed on the table, and they became some of the kids' favorite toys this holiday.

Sonia's first experience on a big wheel.... Her legs need to get just a teeny bit longer!

Andrew, I think Petey's tricycle is a wee bit too small for you!

Helping Grandma JoJo out with the gardening:

My mom had her Christmas tree up already, and we thought it was funny to see the kids in bathing suits (we were about to go for a swim in the hot tub) standing in front of it.

Pizza-Pie and two of his favorite things: Grandpa "Bike" and a pillow pet (AKA a "bubba"):

A rousing game of ring-around-the-rosie while we were waiting for Andrew to finish up cooking Thanksgiving dinner:

Oh, Charbunkle!

The feast! Andrew cooked about 80% and my mom cooked the other 20%. Thank you so much for a really, really yummy Thanksgiving dinner, you two!!

Going on a gnome hunt

2011-11-16T20:49:00.001-06:00

I know, I know, I talk constantly about how much I love the Morton Arboretum. But come on-- who else thinks of hiding 15 gnomes throughout the children's garden and encouraging kids to brave the cooler temperatures by hunting for those gnomes? Even stego got in on the act after he ate half of the plants in the garden.

Of course, Sonia thought that gnome hunting was seriously awesome. And we loved watching her get excited about each one that we found!

Re-imagined Fashion

2011-11-14T20:25:00.001-06:00

My fabulous second cousin (first cousin once removed? she's my mom's first cousin's wife....), Susan, knitted this fabulously beautiful maroon sweater for The Great Sosini when she was just a wee little baby. One of the times Sonia wore it was the day I took her to meet Santa Claus the first time.

Fashion has taken a turn for the awesome with the popularity of cute cropped sweaters and sleeves that are shorter than the sleeves on the shirts worn underneath. When I realized that the body of the sweater still fits Sonia (thanks to the style and stretchiness of the sweater), I put together this outfit:

Sosini looks pretty darn trendy, in my opinion!

I'm sure when Susan knitted this sweater, she had no idea Sonia would still be wearing it two whole years later! Thank you again for this wonderful gift, Susan.... Handmade gifts are so special, and when they are as exquisite as this sweater, they are simply priceless.

Arboretum Adventures with Stego

2011-11-14T08:48:00.001-06:00

The Great Sosini has recently developed a sincere love for dinosaurs, and she especially likes carrying them around the neighborhood with Daddy, letting them "eat" various plants. When we went to the arboretum yesterday morning to take advantage of possibly the last day in 2011 with semi-decent weather, Sonia brought her new stegosaurus along for an adventure. He must have loved the veritable buffet of different plants that the arboretum provided for his snacking pleasure!

Adventures in haircuttery

2011-11-10T21:24:00.001-06:00

The Great Sosini's hair was once again heading down the dangerous road toward a mullet, so we decided it was time to chop a bit more of the back and give the sides a chance to catch up. For fun, I ponied up the couple of extra dollars to take Sosi to a fun kids' hair salon. The hair stylist took one look at Sonia's pink shirt, figured that she had a girly-girl on her hands, and led us over to this super-cute pink car.

My strategy with Sonia's hair is to avoid cutting bangs until her actual bangs grow to her eyebrows. The hair that hangs over her forehead right now is the hair that, once it's long and heavy enough, will be hair that hangs down the sides. If we cut it into bangs, then Sonia's going to have that problem where her bangs start at the back of her head. Luckily, Sosini's real bangs are actually starting to grow (they're 1/2 inch long now).

Here's another "before" picture....

Sonia was looking around the salon and suddenly, she pointed to this cool black flamed-out car. "Can I sit in DAT ONE?!" she asked, excitedly. She thought the flame car was way cooler than the girly pink car. That's our Sonia! I'm sure Uncle Corey and cousin Peter, who both own flamed-out shoes, will be proud when they hear this story.

For fun, the hairdresser put a cute little pigtail in Sosini's hair.

Sonia was vaguely interested in The Little Mermaid, the movie that was playing on the TV by the flamed-out car, but when we needed her to look down during part of the haircut, only a Lightning McQueen Matchbox car could hold her attention.

After!

Sosini's hair is almost to the point of being cut in an actual hairstyle! So exciting. Andrew and I both have fairly thick hair, so one day, we're going to look back at this time period in amusement. For now, I'm just enjoying not having to worry too much about Sonia's hair on a daily basis. It dries very quickly, looks pretty much the same every day, and never gets tangled. We love our little hair-challenged beauty!

Yum

2011-11-08T21:08:00.001-06:00

In this house, we're not afraid of eating batter that contains raw eggs. Sosini is very thankful for that!

Mmmmm.... Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix....

Visit from Grandma JoJo & Grandpa Spike (part 3)

2011-11-06T15:55:00.000-06:00

The last couple days of the visit from the grandparents were lovely.... On Monday, we visited the arboretum to take in some of the spectacular Midwest fall color.

On Tuesday morning before the grandparents had to head to the airport, we took Sonia to the DuPage Children's Museum for an art class. She had a blast!

Painting on coffee filters:

Driving cars through colored shaving cream:

Messy!!!!

Painting with salad spinners!

Spraying water on powdered paint:

I love taking Sonia other places to do art.... Way less clean-up on my part!

We had such a wonderful visit.... Thank you so much for coming, Mom and Dad! We love you!

Visit from Grandma JoJo & Grandpa Spike (part 2)

2011-11-03T22:00:00.000-05:00

This past Friday, we crammed my dad, my mom, me, luggage, a box of party supplies, and a huge box of hand-me-down clothes into my Jetta SportWagen and headed down to Bloomington, IN, for the weekend. Our goals were clear:

1) Visit my cousin, Abbey, who is halfway through her first semester at IU, and make sure she's alive, well, and thriving.

2) Meet up with my sister and her family to give the kids a chance to run around like wackos together, tailgating with the aforementioned people, my great-aunt Bev, my great-uncle Leo, and two of my mom's cousins.

3) Go to the IU-Northwestern football game to cheer on Abbey's school (IU) and my mom's cousin's son, Brandon, who is the punter for Northwestern.

4) Visit Brown County to see the beautiful fall color and have dinner at the Abe Martin Lodge.

Mission accomplished!! Check out my sister's blog for more pictures from our weekend. We had such a fun time.... Thank you so much, Corey & Niki, for organizing such a fantastic and memorable weekend!

It is impossible to describe how much Sonia, Charlotte, and Peter love hanging out with each other.... Those three are such cuckoo little monkeys when they are together. We can't wait to see them again at Thanksgiving!

More pictures from Grandma JoJo & Grandpa Spike's visit to come....

Visit from Grandma JoJo & Grandpa Spike (part 1)

2011-11-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Sonia was in heaven all last week while Grandma JoJo and Grandpa Spike (my parents) were visiting! Here's just a sampling of the fun we had during the first few days of the visit.

When Sonia woke up last Tuesday morning and found that Grandma JoJo and Grandpa Spike had arrived in the middle of the night, she was ecstatic! They came with us on our play group's trip to the Brookfield Zoo.

Sonia happily petted a hissing cockroach..... EW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That afternoon, my dad had to fly to Memphis for a business trip, so we had Grandma JoJo all to ourselves for a couple of days. Sonia had a blast swinging with Grandma JoJo at Kingston Park....

....and snuggling on the couch, being silly!

While my dad was working hard in Memphis, my mom and I took Sonia to her first gymnastics class (none of the pictures turned out all that great, unfortunately) and to the Lisle Library Halloween story time and trick-or-treat parade (again, no great pictures). Grandpa Spike returned late Thursday night, and then on Friday, we took off for Bloomington, IN, to visit my cousin, Abbey, and meet up with the Stringer clan. More pictures to come!

We have curtains!

2011-11-02T16:42:00.001-05:00

Sonia's incredibly awesome Auntie Niki (aka my identical twin; therefore by our calculations, half of her genetics are present in Sonia) sewed her some fabulous curtains to match her big girl bedding! Not only are these curtains luxuriously beautiful, but they look WAY better than the boring brown curtains that were hanging there before.

Before:

After:

Niki used one of Sonia's pillow shams to find fabric that matched perfectly. I absolutely love the color scheme of Sonia's big girl room! It fits her personality to a T. Sonia is so lucky to have such a talented seamstress as an aunt!

Thank you thank you thank you a million times over, Niki-- you are the best sister on the planet and you have made Sonia's room so gorgeous!

This is Halloween

2011-11-01T21:56:00.000-05:00

We just had the most fabulous week.... Sonia's Grandma JoJo and Grandpa Spike were visiting, and though the time was packed with wall-to-wall activities, we had a ridiculous amount of fun. I have a billion pictures to wade through and post here on the blog, but first, I wanted to do a quick Halloween post.

The ND football wookie, the dressed-down nun, and the panda cat:

Even though this is the first time Sonia has seen Andrew dressed in his Chewbacca costume, she wasn't scared or freaked out at all.

Sonia took to trick-or-treating like a duck to water. Strangers want to give me candy? WOOT!

Got any chocolate in there for me?

Sosini loved having her Grandpa Spike help her learn the trick-or-treating ropes! Grandma JoJo joined us later, but I sadly failed to get a picture of her with the kitty cat.

While we were trick-or-treating, Grandma JoJo carved our pumpkin. Love it!!

More pictures and stories from the visit to come....

Random October pictures

2011-10-26T12:00:00.000-05:00

Sosini makes this funny face when she's acting silly.... I was so excited when I accidentally snapped a picture of it.

I absolutely love this dress that Sophie handed down to Sonia.... Unfortunately, Sosini has worn it for the last time because I could barely squeeze her into it when she wore it a couple of weeks ago. Also unfortunate was the wacky mood she was in when I was trying to get a good picture of it. Stand up straight, kid! Oh well....

Peekaboo!

Look at that cute little booty!

Not headed to the NBA just yet....

Loving the bit of late summer weather we had on the day of our visit to Cantigny....

This picture makes me giggle every time I look at it! The girls were "feeding" the koi at Cantigny by throwing dirt into the water.

Oh, Sonia. The sign says it all.

Cooking up a storm

2011-10-25T12:00:00.000-05:00

Whenever I need to bake some banana bread, I have a ready and willing sous chef....

The Great Sosini has been practicing, and she is now seriously awesome at cracking eggs!

Weather Schmeather

2011-10-24T21:27:00.003-05:00

Sosini and I don't care if it's raining-- we're going to play outside as much as possible! She loves her new umbrella....

My camera was not a big fan of the lighting, so these pictures aren't the best, but you get the idea.... Sonia doesn't mind inclement weather! (Except for wind-- she gets really mad when wind blows what little hair she has.)

Off she goes!

Meow!

2011-10-15T15:38:00.003-05:00

Sonia loves her kitty cat Halloween costume!

Dancing!

Apple cider donut!!!!!!!!

At Johansen Farms this morning, Sonia found some rats to eat.... They kind of looked like monkey rats, disturbingly enough.

In search of some fall color

2011-10-13T15:56:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday afternoon, Andrew & I took The Great Sosini to run around in the forest at the Morton Arboretum. I was hoping that if we drove on the east side main route, the fall color would be advanced enough that the area near the Big Rock visitors' station would be in the "ring of fire" stage (it's so awesome-- the trees all turn bright yellow and orange and form a fiery tunnel), but we were a few days too early. Not to worry.... With Sonia around, there is always fun to be had! She had a blast running around on the bark chip path and taking excursions into the woods to check out interesting trees and logs.

My little point-and-shoot camera was having a devil of a time trying to figure out how to take pictures in the dappled sunlight that struggled through the tree canopy....

Here's a bit of the fall color that is already here:

This was the coolest tree.... Apparently, the tree had snapped in half, and the top of it had fallen over and landed upside-down. Here's the top half:

The bottom half is right behind the top half in this picture:

Such a little goofball!

Our intrepid explorer thought running around in the woods was awesome.... Thank goodness most of the mosquitoes are gone now; the last time we were in these woods, Sonia's poor friend, Ike, got a face full of golf ball-sized bites thanks to a previously-unknown mosquito bite allergy.

Maybe the Ring of Fire will be ready by this weekend!

More pictures of the ND cheerleader

2011-10-12T14:48:00.001-05:00

I can't help myself-- I have to post more pictures of The Great Sosini in her ND cheerleader outfit and pigtails. She looked so stinkin' cute that day (at least, Andrew and I think so)....

Sonia loves her godparents!

2011-10-10T22:10:00.002-05:00

We just had the best weekend.... Emily & Gonzo (Sonia's godparents) road-tripped to Lisle to visit us, Sonia got to meet our friend, Colleen, for the first time, and the Irish crushed the Falcons. Oh yeah, and the weather was insanely awesome. None of the pictures I took at home turned out very good, but when we took Sosini to the park on Saturday morning, Emily and I managed to take a few decent ones.

Swinging with Uncle Gonzo is so much fun!

We attempted to play a bit of soccer, but the toddler kept getting distracted and running off with the ball.

Holy moly! I made it into a picture!

Sonia the foreman supervised two unruly construction workers.

Auntie Em and her goddaughter, sliding like champs:

Are you sure you want to go down the slide with me, Uncle Gonzo?

I absolutely love this picture! I'm thinking it needs to be framed and hung on the wall in Sonia's big girl bedroom.

Time to head back home to watch ND slaughter the AFA!

I can't believe I failed to take a picture of Sonia with her newest buddy, Colleen.... Sosini instantly loved Colleen (who hopped on the Metra to come watch the ND game and stay overnight with us in the 'burbs) and gave her some very nice hugs and snuggles! I had forgotten how fun it is to watch ND football with Colleen, Gonzo, and Emily all in the same room.... Sosi thought we were all completely nuts every time a big play happened and we got a wee bit loud.

Thanks for coming to visit, Emily, Gonzo, and Colleen! Come back soon!

Wake up the echoes (but not the sleeping toddler)

2011-10-09T22:52:00.000-05:00

Notre Dame football is a pretty tough thing to love this past decade.... But looking at these pictures makes it a wee bit easier. I love my little ND football fan!

2009:

2010:

2011:

This past weekend, Sosini cheered the Irish on to victory (from Lisle-- we didn't go to the game) and showed off her ND Victory March singing skills for her godparents (pictures of that fun visit to come). I'm still working on getting Sosi to sing the Victory March on video, so for now, you'll have to trust me when I say it is hilarious. Go Irish!

Sonia's new favorite pajammies

2011-10-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

Meet the pink skeleton (with a heart!) who has invaded our household:

Hee hee! Daddy's charging up my glow-in-the-dark bones!

Whee!!!!

Enjoying the great weather

2011-10-04T15:59:00.000-05:00

The weather this week is simply fantastic: dry & sunny with temperatures in the mid-70's. What is a playgroup to do? Head to the park, of course! Here are just a few of the pictures I took this morning as the kids ran all over Pembroke Park and, as usual, hilarity ensued:

SUPER SONIA!

Climbin' with her buddy Evan:

For some reason, Johanna and Sonia decided to walk around the edge of the playground with one foot on the grass and one foot on the curb....

Sonia found a cone (most likely left over from a football practice) and decided she was a dunce.

Playing the clarinet in the ND Marching Band!

Ella and Sonia, zooming down the slides....

Jumpy jump jump!

Sosini and Ella took turns pushing each other on the swings.... It was so adorable!

Then, they took off in a stolen fire engine!

Girl talk! Must be gossiping about how handsome Ike (who managed to escape my camera most of the morning) looked today.

Trains at the DCM

2011-10-02T21:44:00.000-05:00

The DuPage Children's Museum recently unveiled a new exhibit featuring something near and dear to The Great Sosini's heart: TRAINS!

The DCM people are so good at coming up with cool exhibits.... They included a bunch of chalkboards so kids could draw pictures of trains. Kids + chalk = FUN!

Build your own choo-choo train!

After Sonia checked out all the train stuff (most of my pictures from the rest of the exhibit turned out blurry and horrid, so I'll have to bring the digital SLR when we go back next time), she visited a few of her favorite permanent exhibits, like the prism tunnel....

...and the beads!

Sosi can't wait until Grandma Jojo and Grandpa Spike come to visit later this month so she can take them to see the choo-choos, too!

Morton Arboretum Fall Color 5K

2011-10-02T21:08:00.000-05:00

Not long after we moved to Lisle, Andrew and I fell madly in love with the Morton Arboretum. It is seriously a small little piece of heaven on earth. The first two years we lived here (2006 and 2007), we ran in the arboretum's Fall Color 5K and had a blast. I am so not a runner, but I enjoy doing the occasional 5K (like the Chase Corporate Challenge) here and there. No training is required if you're willing to speed walk and accept the fact that it's going to take close to an hour to finish. Anyway, we skipped the 5K for the past few years due to pregnancy and being too nervous to do the race with an infant/toddler in a stroller, but in 2011, we decided that The Great Sosini was ready to take part in her very first 5K!

First, we had to bundle the poor child up.... The race-time (8am) temperature was around 36 degrees! Sosini's ladybug blanket (made for her by Greatest Aunt Janet) and a winter coat handed down by cousin Charlotte did the trick!

Andrew was worried that Sonia would get bored during the race, but I have taken enough really long walks with her that I knew she loves being carted around like a maharajah and would enjoy herself immensely.

Daddy, is it time to start yet? Why are we lined up way in the back? There's no one behind us!

While we were waiting to start, we ran into some old ND Band friends, Kristin & Gino, who were there with their handsome 4-year-old son, Luke. See, Sonia, cool people line up in the back next to the sign that says "Walkers with Strollers"!

Ready to go....

And we're off!

We were too busy walking (and running-- we actually do a little bit of running during 5Ks, but only on the downhills!) to take too many pictures during the race, but Andrew managed to get this one with his Blackberry's camera while I was pushing Sonia up the last hill of the course:

Sonia did so well! She sucked down a couple of yogurt pouches, ate her breakfast, and looked around at all the beautiful scenery. We heard not one single word of complaint out of our little racer, though we can't say the same about some of the other kids in strollers that we passed. Next year, we're going to sign her up for the kids dash, a 50 yard race that is run right after the 5K. Tune in next fall for some hilarious pictures of that!

Chef Sonia strikes again

2011-09-26T12:00:00.000-05:00

Even though I cook dinner almost every night, I still have not grown to enjoy it. I do it because I made a deal with myself: as a stay-at-home-mom, I would attempt to get dinner on the table at least 4 nights a week. That doesn't sound too hard to a person who A) likes to cook, and B) does not have a small child. But to me, that task was pretty tough. I had to force myself to plan out the week's meals and learn how to grocery shop effectively. After 2 years, I am getting better, but it is still a struggle.

I don't know why I'm like this.... While I was growing up, my mother cooked every night of the week, even after she went back to work when I was 11 years old. I have vague memories of helping her occasionally, but I think for the most part, I had no interest in kitchen antics unless they involved baking yummy desserts.

Despite having me as a mother, The Great Sosini is really taking after her father and loving to cook! It has been really fun over the last few weeks, having my little sous chef "assisting" me in the kitchen. The other day, I gave her a piece of onion to "chop", and she had a blast. Hilariously enough, while she was "chopping" onions, she rummaged around in a drawer and brought out a chopstick. Huh.

Then, the chef got hungry and requested a banana to munch.

I have been teaching Sonia how to crack eggs.... She's getting pretty good! I let her help me crack a few the other day when I was making my favorite dinner, Eggs in Tomatoes. She also helped me put the corn in the tomatoes and sprinkle the parmesan on top. I captured a bit of it on video:

I'm sure there will be more Chef Sonia updates in the future.... This child loves to cook!

My name is Sonia....

2011-09-25T11:11:00.000-05:00

....and I like to dance!

(click here to see the video if the embedded version isn't showing up above)

Sonia has learned a few more moves since the last time I posted a dancing video.

As captured on the camera phone

2011-09-24T08:21:00.001-05:00

I've been too lazy to blog (and also getting addicted to The Hunger Games trilogy) the last couple of weeks, but I have snapped a few camera phone pictures.

It may look like Sonia is trying out for America's Next Top Model, but in reality, she was dancing while I was trying to get a good picture of her in her new shirt from Once Upon a Child:

Bobo and Sonia had a lovely tea party in the basement later that same day:

All by herself, with no encouragement from me, Margie came to snuggle with Sonia while she was watching a little morning TV!

Lovely weekend at ND

2011-09-12T08:24:00.000-05:00

What do you do when your college's football team breaks your heart into a million pieces? Go to campus on an away-game weekend and make some fabulous non-football-related memories! We spent this past weekend in South Bend with our awesome friends (Matt & Susan, along with their kids Fiona, Whitney, and Oliver) doing just that. Of course, I forgot to charge the battery on my camera, so I had to take all of the pictures with my cell phone camera. Oops!!!!

The last time Sonia saw Fiona & Whitney was before their little brother, Oliver, was even a twinkle in his parents' eyes. But Sosini recognized kindred spirits and was best friends with both girls in 3 minutes flat! There was a lot of hand-holding this weekend....

Fiona and Sonia charged up the steps to the Golden Dome and beckoned Whitney to follow (with expert assistance from her lovely mother):

Whitney chilled on the steps, looking all stylish in her football jersey!

Inside main building, the girls sat on the ground to get a better (safer, really-- I thought they were going to all fall over!) look at the angels on the inside of the dome.

Andrew & Sosini lit a candle at the Grotto while Fiona, who had heard the story of the first dome burning down, worried that the same thing might happen again due to all this fire!

Crazy girls pretending to be in the marching band on the steps of Bond Hall!

Dance, Sonia, DANCE!

I'm mad that the low light caused this picture to come out blurry because Whitney & Sonia were having such a grand time holding hands!

Cheese!!!!!!

The next morning, the girls all sat and colored outside the on-campus hotel where we stayed (the Morris Inn).

Whitney showed off her amazing walking skills with her walker!! Sosini thought the walker looked really fun and begged for a turn.

Crazy girls at Stonehenge!

Right before we left, I realized I didn't have any pictures of F&W's handsome little brother, Oliver. Is he not the cutest little dude on the planet?!? Such a happy guy.... I got some good snuggles with him.

It was such a fantastic weekend.... We love hanging out with Matt, Susan, Fiona, Whitney, & Oliver so much!! You can check out more pictures of and stories about this terrific family at their blog.

Children's Garden Hijinks

2011-09-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Last week, The Great Sosini and I met up with the Murrays (at least, the ones who are not in second grade!) at the Morton Arboretum's children's garden for some fun. It's so nice-- Sonia is getting to the stage where she can go running off with Sophie & Kieran, and I don't necessarily have to run after her. Part of that is Sonia's age, and part of that is Sophie being such a great big sister to her little brothers that she helps Sonia out a lot. For a good 20 minutes, Sophie, Kieran, and Sonia all sat at a little table and chairs, eating snacks and chatting. Carol, Baby Declan, and I spent that time talking and actually being able to finish more than 2 sentences in a row! It was heavenly.

I didn't get very many great pictures (we were too busy having fun), but here are a few shots of the kids enjoying themselves:

Sophie & Kieran got to the middle of the hedge maze!

Declan was content to hang out in his carrier, making hilarious tropical bird noises and flashing fabulous smiles.

Hey, you! Tell me how cute I am!

Sophie pulled Sonia around in the wagon, eliciting many giggles.

Beautiful mommy Carol and her handsome li'l buddy, Declan!

Wading in the pond resulted in a very wet Sonia and a very wet Kieran! Sophie managed to stay dry, though.

More wagon pulling fun....

Thanks for a great morning, Murrays!!! You all are the best!

Stego & Ankylo go to work

2011-09-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning, as Andrew was just about to walk out the door to go to work, Sonia trotted up to him and handed him a glow-in-the-dark ankylosaurus and a little green stegosaurus. "Daddy put Stego and Ankylo in bag?" When Andrew asked her if she wanted him to take the dinosaurs to work with him, she said "uh-huh". And so they went!

To give Sonia a flavor for Stego & Ankylo's adventures in the big city, Andrew sent us periodic updates:

Climb, ankylosaurus, climb! If you heard any screams coming from the area of the Willis Tower yesterday, it might have been because no one has ever seen a glow-in-the-dark dinosaur scale the building in a few years.

Stego and Ankylo took a lovely walk along the Chicago River.

Apparently, dinosaurs are very helpful with employee benefits legal issues.

Oh, no! Stego ate several tourists off of this boat!

Stego was still hungry after eating the tourists, so he treated Ankylo to a sushi lunch.

Labor Day at the Morton Arboretum

2011-09-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

We got a preview of fall weather on this Labor Day 2011.... The high temperature of 67 was a bit misleading, because the wind made it feel much closer to 60 (or colder!). After The Great Sosini woke up from her nap, we packed up a picnic dinner (for just me & Sonia-- we accidentally forgot Andrew's portion of it in the refrigerator-- whoops!) and headed out to Meadow Lake and the Conifer Walk at the Morton Arboretum. We were checking out the Nature Unframed art exhibit, which includes incredible art installations inspired by and displayed within the gorgeous arboretum landscape. Clad in fleece jackets (were we wearing shorts just two days ago?!?), we had a fabulous time enjoying the weather, art, and just being outdoors in a beautiful setting.

Toddler-sized hedge maze shenanigans:

Adult-sized hedge maze exploration:

Run run run.... It's fun fun fun....

Jumping like a froggy was Sonia's favorite pastime today!

Showing off her beautiful blue eyes....

Speaking of beautiful, Sonia has a message for you. Yes, YOU!

These letters were huge!!

Sonia, you are too much.

Old friends

2011-09-05T21:27:00.000-05:00

This past November, our good friends, Maritza & Sara, moved away. They had been our bestest buddies and our go-to peeps for fun, support, and laughs. So, we were THRILLED that we got to spend one short, precious day with them this past weekend when they stopped in Chicagoland for a layover on a journey from LA to Mississippi.

I'm not 100% sure how well Sara and Sosini remembered each other, because they were 19 and 18 months old, respectively, when the big move happened. But, not surprisingly, they reconnected instantly and were BFFs in about 5 minutes flat!

Maritza was one of the original masterminds behind our fabulous play group, so of course, we had to have a play date while they were in town! A good portion of the play group was able to come over to have a really fun barbecue lunch (for which Andrew expertly smoked a brisket) mixed with some good old-fashioned mischief making. These kids are such a funny bunch! I didn't get very many good pictures (seriously, was Johanna just standing behind me the entire time? how did she not show up in one photo?!), but you get the idea.

We are so lucky to have such great friends-- the ones that live here AND the ones who now live in LA. We miss you, Maritza & Sara!!!

Making friends at the zoo

2011-08-30T06:21:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday, we took advantage of the idyllic weather (high 70's, no humidity, partly cloudy) to take The Great Sosini to the Brookfield Zoo to visit a few animals. We had fun taking advantage of all the silly photo ops around the zoo.

There's something a little "Frank the bunny" (from Donnie Darko) about this kangaroo, but Sonia thought it was hilarious hanging out in her pouch!

Sosi was pretending this turtle was Crush from "Finding Nemo".

Hey, ma-- this fish says I should climb in his mouth to play. Do you think he'll eat me?

Mr. Fishy, don't you go eating me, now!

Help! I think I'm being digested!

Sonia loves big frogs!

She would not stop hugging this handsome froggy....

Sosini loves the zoo!!

Crazy little lady bug girl

2011-08-28T07:53:00.000-05:00

This past Friday, our playgroup visited the Phillips Park Zoo, and we had a blast! Not only is the zoo free, but it has a bunch of very cool animals, beautiful grounds, tons of picnic tables, and some of the best playground equipment we've seen all summer. We can't wait to go back again!

The Great Sosini was wearing the gorgeous lady bug dress that Greatest Aunt Janet made for Charlotte (which was then handed down), and she was being extra photogenic that day. Before we left for the PPZ, I asked if she would like to wear a bow in her hair, and she asked me for piggy tails. I happily obliged, and I think those pigtails plus the cute dress inspired Sosini to be in an extremely cuckoo mood for the entire morning. The photographic evidence is overwhelming:

Oh, my. No wonder she slept an extra half-hour that afternoon.

One step closer

2011-08-26T21:39:00.000-05:00

We finally got a headboard for Sonia's bed!

Now we actually have to hang some stuff on the walls. Andrew and I are putting together this room slower than molasses going uphill in January....

Haircut!

2011-08-24T20:45:00.000-05:00

Up until today, Sonia had never had a real hair cut.... I had trimmed the back of her hair a couple of times in an attempt to avoid a mullet situation (so cruel how some baby/toddler hair grows in!), but the front and sides had never been touched. In the past 3 months, Sosini's hair has grown a lot, and it was looking quite ratty at the ends. Time to call in the professionals!

I knew I wanted to hold Sonia on my lap, and that would leave no one to take pictures (Andrew was at work), so I begged the fabulous Emma to meet us at the Hair Cuttery to act as the photographer. Thank you so much, Emma!!

While waiting for her turn in the chair, Sonia was quite suspicious of what was about to happen. But Emma was able to coax a tiny smile out of her while we were taking "before" pictures.

Look at this fabulous mullet!

Let the haircut begin! Penguin cape + sucker + sitting on Mommy's lap = happy toddler.

And, voila! We have an official haircut! Too bad the sides of her hair are still too thin to make it look more exciting than this, but it looks loads better.

My new favorite picture:

One of these days, Sosi will start looking more like me, right? Right? Maybe not. Oh well.

The Budding Chef, continued

2011-08-23T13:32:00.001-05:00

Sonia (whilst wearing an unmatching toddler-chosen outfit, can you tell?) begged to help me shred carrots the other day. Don't worry-- I watched her closely and made sure she didn't grate her knuckles!

Random pictures and thoughts

2011-08-22T20:32:00.000-05:00

Look! Sonia let me to put pigtails in her hair! Speaking of the kid's hair, she desperately needs a haircut-- not to make it shorter, but to make it look less like rats have been nibbling at the ends.

Sonia and Sami participated in some more hand-holding cuteness with their new buddy, Adalberto, last week!

Sonia's new favorite thing is to take showers. At age 2! Weird kid. After I turn off the water, she lays on the floor of the shower for a long time until she finally gets bored and lets me dry her off. I haven't given her a bath in several weeks, and I don't miss it. Showers are much easier!

The Great Sosini's other new favorite thing is to play in the trunk of Daddy's car. She begged me to get in with her, and then we closed and opened the trunk several times. Toddlers are so bizarre!

Sonia's new 15-year-old babysitter is closer in age to Sonia than to me & Andrew. Realizing that made me feel older than I have any right to feel at age 34!

The other day, Sosini was wandering around the kitchen, eating a banana, when she tripped and accidentally stuck the banana in her eye. My first thought was that I was glad she wasn't carrying something more nefarious than a piece of fruit, and then my next thought was that life with a toddler in the house is a lot like an episode of Looney Tunes.

Digger Kids

2011-08-18T21:02:00.000-05:00

This is what happens when a daddy (in this case, Ike's) comes along to the park.... When the kids see some abandoned construction equipment and run gleefully over to it, the daddy will lift them up into it for a bit of playing and some photo ops. Oh, my.

I took these pictures with my cell phone, so I apologize for the poor quality....

I can't possibly tell you how excited the kids were to get to play on this digger....

Da Girlz

2011-08-16T21:35:00.000-05:00

These three girls (from right to left: Sami, Johanna, and The Great Sosini) are so stinkin' cute. And how adorable is it that all three of them wanted to hold hands?

I really, really hope that this sweet scene did not result in a mass contamination.... Sonia came down with a tummy bug just a few hours after the picture was taken. Oops. Stay healthy, girls!!!

City girl

2011-08-11T14:05:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, Sonia and I had a lovely lunch downtown with two of my favorite people in the whole world, Jennifer and Michelle! I was working with Jennifer and Michelle during both of my pregnancies, and I am certain that they are a huge part of the reason I was able to function as a human being (and an accountant) during the first few months after Andrew & I lost Zach. Being home with Sosini is fabulous, but I desperately miss working with these two awesome women!

I got brave and asked a nice lady to take a picture of us while we ate at Chipotle:

Jennifer is on the left (closest to the camera) and Michelle is in the white sweater. Doesn't Michelle look like she could be related to me & Niki? I used to tell her she must be the long-lost Evans triplet.

Before we met up with Michelle & JLo, Sosini and I took in the sights of the big city.

After lunch, we stood outside, enjoying the beautiful weather, and Sonia had a bizzarely good time playing around this reflective post while we talked. Wacko child!

Sosi did a great job dealing with the very unfamiliar sights and sounds of a big city-- I think she really liked all the action! That's my city girl.

I miss seeing you every day, M & J!!! I also really miss the rest of our peeps from ABN (especially Ruben, Lana, Jeff, Dan, and Jeanine). It's really too bad we all got scattered to the four winds, but it was inevitable. The only constant is change!

Potty training update

2011-08-10T14:05:00.001-05:00

WARNING: This post contains a few potty-training details!

So, I don't want to jinx anything, but potty training is going really, really well! The Great Sosini hasn't had a #1 accident in several days (actually, in 6 days if you don't count the one she had when she had her friend, Ike, over to play-- it's really hard for little kids to focus on bladder control when they're having so much fun!). She's also doing great with #2-- just one or two accidents in the past week.

Just like "they" say-- one day, something just clicked in her brain, and she's suddenly doing great. The first week and a half were touch and go-- one day, I'd feel good about her progress, and the next day, I'd be ready to call it quits. But once I gave myself permission to quit and put Sonia back in diapers, she suddenly started asking to go to the potty. And now, the last week has been awesome. She still doesn't necessarily tell me that she has to go potty, but I don't mind watching the clock (and her tell-tale body language) and reminding her to go. I think I'll start pushing the "tell Mommy when you have to go pee-pee" issue in another week or two.

For now, it's still making me giggle when I pick Sosini up and put my hand under her bottom-- I'm not used to feeling her little underwear-wearing booty without a diaper covering it!

I am really liking this travel potty that I bought Sosi at BuyBuyBaby.... We use it at the park and any other situations when there aren't any potties nearby. It's really handy (she can carry it while we walk, and I should get a picture of that because it looks hilariously like she's carrying a briefcase on her way to an important meeting), and she seems to enjoy using it.

I also love this little frog potty that Sosini uses about half the time when we are home:

Even with a stool, she can't quite climb onto the toilet herself, and she enjoys being a bit more independent and sitting on the little one. I still want her to use the big potty, though (there's no clean-up afterward!!), so she switches back and forth between the two. When she uses the big toilet, she uses a potty topper like this:

Even though it grosses me out, I have to hold her, seated precariously on an adult-sized toilet, when she needs to pee in public restrooms. She suddenly stopped liking this folding travel potty topper (which I would prefer her to use), probably because it kind of slides around:

As you can tell, I'm a big fan of trying out the latest and greatest baby gear!

Anyway, 2 1/2 weeks into the potty training process, Sonia and I are feeling pretty good about things. She loves her Thomas, Cars, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Nemo underwear, and I love the feeling of making it through the day with only using 2 diapers (one for naptime and one for nighttime). Thank you to all the people (especially Mrs. Morgan-- you gave me a kick in the butt when I needed it) who have given me potty training tips, advice, and support-- I am so grateful to be able to call on a vast network of parents when I need help. And boy, did I need help. Sonia is doing great, and Andrew & I are so proud of her!

My Baby

2011-08-03T22:15:00.000-05:00

I took this picture with my cell phone camera (hence the sketchy quality), but I love it so much that I had to post it anyway. Sosini and I had just finished painting our toenails a sparkly lilac color, and we were just chilling on a blanket, waiting for Andrew to come home from work. All of the stress I have been putting on myself (and poor Sonia) during this potty training attempt just melts away when I look at this picture. I can't decide if I like it with Sosi's face vertical (like I was looking at it as she lay next to me on the blanket-- that's how the picture is above this paragraph) or horizontal (so that the world is right-side-up-- see below).

At any rate, I wish I had taken the picture with a real camera, because I would probably be framing it if I had.

Puzzle Master

2011-07-31T19:35:00.000-05:00

Sonia is SO into puzzles lately! She has always loved doing the simple chunky wooden Melissa & Doug puzzles at the library, but since I recently bought her a couple of 9-piece Wonder Pets puzzles at Target, she has become obsessed. At the DuPage Children's Museum, she spent at least 20 minutes (an eon in toddler time) doing various geometric puzzles in the upstairs play area. Then today, we bought her the puzzle of her dreams: THOMAS!

This 24 piece puzzle enthralls her to no end.... We bought it about 8 hours ago, and I think she has put it together (with little bits of help from me & Andrew) at least 10 times. Mind you, during this 8 hours, she also ate lunch, napped for 2.5 hours (WOO HOO!), and went swimming at Sea Lion Aquatic Park for 2 hours. So, pretty much all other time was spent doing the puzzle.

Each time she does the puzzle, she needs less and less help from us. It's so fun to watch her-- the look of concentration on her face is priceless!

(Note the post-SLAP shower crazy hair-do she has going on in these pictures.... I think she's trying to look more like Albert Einstein.)

Aunt Anita and The Great Sosini

2011-07-27T15:46:00.000-05:00

Today, Sonia and I had a lovely lunch with Andrew's Aunt Anita (whom we were lucky enough to see just a couple of weeks ago during the reunion of the Brothers Malahowski in Texas). Anita has been in town for work for several months now, but we weren't smart enough to be able to coordinate schedules and get together with her. But, during the reunion, Anita and I figured out that Sonia and I could meet her for lunch on a week day, so that is just what we did.

Sonia studied the menu at Buona Beef (YUM! I love that place....) and determined that pizza was what she desired.

During the reunion weekend, Sonia wasn't quite sure what to make of the Brothers and their wives, so poor Anita got mostly the cold shoulder from The Great Sosini earlier this month. But today, Sosi decided that Anita is her new best friend. They were holding hands before we even had a chance to order our food.

Sonia was really hamming it up-- not only was she having fun with Anita, but she was also enjoying wearing her new Lightening McQueen bib.

Buddies!

Sosini and Anita both enjoyed schnuggling outside before we had to hightail it home (going on outings during potty training is dicey-- being Day 5 of the process, Sonia thought it an appropriate time to suddenly start refusing to pee on a public toilet).

In couple of weeks, Anita & Bob's daughter, Meghan, will be starting her PhD studies at the University of Chicago, so we have high hopes for getting to see their awesome family more often than once every few years. Sonia (who was sadly chanting "Aunt A-NEEEEEE-ta" over and over as we drove away from Buona Beef) will be very happy about that!

The Budding Chef

2011-07-25T18:36:00.001-05:00

Sonia has been loving her kitchen even more these days (which I wasn't sure was possible-- this little kitchen from Ikea has been one of the best things we have ever bought for The Great Sosini!) and really getting into pretend cooking.

Sosi also loves to wear the chef's hat, apron, and oven mitts that her Grandma JoJo gave her for Christmas.

I've had fun filling her kitchen with "food". Every time I find myself with an empty food container, I try to see if I can clean it out well enough for Sonia to use it for her pantry. Right now, her food collection includes popcorn seasoning, various spices, grated parmesan, eggs, muffin papers, and a few other items. Together with the plastic food that she got for Christmas, she can whip us up yummy fake dinners! She's a chip off the old block-- Andrew is an awesome chef (and I'm really lucky to be married to him!!!!).

Where did our sidewalk go?

2011-07-23T21:04:00.000-05:00

Blimey! I came downstairs to see what those horrendously loud noises were....

And I saw THIS! Someone was stealing the sidewalk in front of our house!

Huh. Not sure how I feel about this.

Apparently, the Village of Lisle noticed that the sidewalk that runs in front of our house had sunk below the level of our front walk (due to either excessive heat or cold).... During The Great Sosini's nap on Friday, this little backhoe thingy came to crack and then carry away the offending slabs of concrete (as well as make GOBS of noise while doing so, therefore waking up the poor toddler sleeping 20 feet away from the project). The workers promised they'd be back on Monday (weather permitting) to pour a new sidewalk. I'm pretty sure it will happen during nap time, knowing our luck.

Random Ike and Sonia cuteness

2011-07-18T09:00:00.001-05:00

Emma just sent me these great pictures from various times our two wacko kiddos have hung out together over the last couple of weeks. Ike and Sonia are such goofballs!

During a playgroup trip to the Ty Warner splash pad in Westmont, Sonia and Ike had a blast chasing some really brave ducks around during lunch. Ike kept saying "quack quack", which sounded a lot like when Sonia's cousin, Peter, says "car-car". So, Sonia kept trying to bring Ike a car! Ike was very confused. He kept looking at Sonia like, "Why do you keep bringing me a car when I'm clearly trying to talk to the duck?" So funny.

Ike had a great time showing Sasa (that's how he says Sonia's name) around his awesome backyard one hot day earlier this month.

When temperatures are in the 90's, you'd think the kids would stay in the pool, but Sosini and Ike played on the slide more than they swam.

Sonia the walrus:

In this picture, I think Sonia was being a bit naughty and shoving Ike out of the way!

But in this picture, they are playing quite nicely!

More sliding! Sonia was hogging the slide, and Ike was trying to belly-bump her so he could have his turn.

Sosini and Ike tried to make a getaway in Emma's new car, but it turns out they haven't learned to drive yet. Oh well-- better luck next time, kids!

You two are a couple of cuckoo birds!!

Texas fun

2011-07-17T21:48:00.000-05:00

8 days of swimming, triple-digit temperatures, reading, hanging out with family, swimming some more, singing incessantly, getting tickled, eating ice cream cones, and having a ton of fun..... Our vacation in Texas was Sonia's idea of heaven! Here are the best of the best of the best of the pictures we took....

Wearing the brand-new strawberry dress from Grandma JoJo:

Wearing Grandpa Dick's glasses:

Dancing with Uncle Daniel:

Riding the black bear at Grandma Jenni & Grandpa Dick's house:

Watering flowers with Grandma JoJo:

Smiling like Alfred E. Neuman:

Putting dinosaur stickers all over Grandpa Dick and herself:

The two train engineers:

Peek-a-boo!

Wearing Mr. Potato Head's glasses:

A sweet moment with Grandpa Spike, looking in the pass-through fireplace:

Love those swimmies and pool noodles!

Smooching the big penguin at Grandma Jenni & Grandpa Dick's house:

And here is a great picture of 5 of the 6 living Brothers Malahowski, in age order from oldest to youngest: Dick (Richard), Roy, Neil (Ralph), Russ, and Bob (Robert). Randy, the 6th brother, was unable to attend. It was so great to see almost all of Andrew's awesome uncles!

Thank you to everyone who made our week in Texas so great! Our time there flew by... We lived in luxury at my parents' new house in Southlake-- even though they had only been living in the house for 2 weeks, my parents had unpacked and decorated so much that it almost looked like they had been there for years! My parents' house is about 25 minutes away from Andrew's parents' house, which is really handy. We're not going to miss that long flight between Chicago and LA (where my parents used to live).

The Great Sosini swims!

2011-07-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

This child is such a fan of water.... Swimming in the grandparents' pools has been such a huge treat for Sonia!

No, the wind wasn't blowing.... that's just a bit of morning hair in the picture below:

Grandma JoJo and her fishy (in more ways than one!) granddaughter

Holy moly! A rare picture of Sonia with her mommy!

My mother bought some swimmies (or water wings or whatever you want to call them) to see if they would work with Sosi (and with Charlotte when she & Peter visit TX later this month), and I think we can safely declare the swimmies to be a huge success. Sosini floats around the pool, giggling at the freedom she has. She can't quite kick effectively enough to be able to swim great distances, and steering herself is a bit beyond her reach, but that doesn't bother her!

Tuesday morning, Sosini's Aunt Ali and Cousin Nicholas came over to swim with us. Sonia was so funny-- she really showed off for Nicholas and was pretty much fearless in the water. Nicholas seemed to have a great time, too! Several times, Nicholas and Sosini gave each other hugs and kisses, which was fabulously adorable. Cousin love is the best! We'll try to catch some of the hugs and kisses on camera when we see them again later this week.

Thanks for coming over for a really fun morning, Nicholas and Ali.... Good golly, my nephew is CUTE!!

Just a few pictures from the first part of our trip to Texas...

2011-07-12T14:28:00.000-05:00

These are the handful of pictures I took on my cell phone (sorry for the bad quality) from the first two days of our visit to Texas.... There are more pictures to come, but I wanted to post these to get started.

We left on Friday morning, and Sonia was very helpful. Have Thomas suitcase, will travel!

For some reason, watching the DVD player didn't entertain Sosini for very long, but the SkyMall catalog sure did!

The primary reason for this trip was to celebrate Andrew's father's retirement with a surprise reunion with 4 of his 5 brothers. It was so great to see everyone! Sonia did not show her customary fear of strange men-- she seemed to sense that these dudes were all ok and she shouldn't be afraid. Jenni (Andrew's mom) did such a great job organizing the reunion and keeping the surprise from Dick. He didn't know we were coming, either! One of the fun activities from the weekend was going to see a Texas Rangers game on Saturday night. Sosini stayed with her Grandma JoJo & Grandpa Spike (it is so nice having both sets of grandparents living in the Dallas area!!!) while Andrew and I accompanied the brothers, a couple of wives, and Andrew's sister (Ali) to the game.

In the top row, starting from the left with the guy wearing the binoculars, is Uncle Roy, Aunt Cathy (Roy's wife), Uncle Bob, Aunt Anita (Bob's wife), Uncle Neil (aka Ralph), and Uncle Russ. On the bottom row is my empty seat, Andrew, Dick, and Ali.

We had such a fantastic time! The temperature was a wee bit on the hot side (upper nineties), but we were in the shade until the sun went down, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Plus, we got a sprinkling of rain while we were finding our seats! That's a rare event during a Texas summer.

Andrew and his pops....

Give 'em THE CLAW! (not sure what claws have to do with Rangers, but that's a battle cry of theirs)

A rare photo of me with my husband:

Sonia's Grandpa Dick and Aunt Ali, enjoying the game:

The game ended up being pretty darn awesome.... The Rangers came back from a deficit to win in the bottom of the 9th, thanks to a walk-off 2-run homer by Josh Hamilton. Woot!

More pictures and stories to come.... Sonia has been swimming like a fish in both sets of grandparents' pools. I love watching that child enjoy herself in the water!

Sprinkler fun

2011-07-08T20:49:00.031-05:00

This past weekend, while Andrew was watering the grass, Sosini braved the icy water of the sprinkler to have a little fun.

She made me chase her around the sprinkler, and as she ran, she breathlessly sang her favorite Yo Gabba Gabba song, "The Freeze Game". "Run run run! It's fun fun fun!"

Then she took matters into her own hands and started wandering around with the sprinkler.

I kept trying to help her aim toward some brown spots on the lawn, but she was having too much fun to comply.

This child loves water! Lucky Sosinini and I get to spend this next week in the Dallas area where both sets of grandparents now live (woo hoo!), and both of those sets of grandparents live in houses with pools. She's going to be in swimming heaven!

Happy Belated Fourth of July...

2011-07-07T20:47:00.000-05:00

....from two cute little flag wavers!

Sonia had a blast celebrating Independence Day at Cantigny with two of her best buddies, Evan (above) and Ike (below).

Monkeys at the Zoo

2011-07-05T15:31:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, we got to catch up with some of our favorite people in this whole world: Rhetta & Billy! They moved away from Chicago about 6 years ago (I think), and while they have been away, both of our families have procreated and now have three little girls among us. When we found out they were coming to Chicago for a wedding, we were so excited to get to spend a little time with them and meet their awesome daughters, Hannah (4 years old-- almost 5, in fact) and Sophie (2 1/2 years old). Sonia had a typical bout of stranger-danger, but after an hour or two, she was starting to follow Hannah & Sophie around and imitating what they were doing (which we all know is the sincerest form of flattery with kids and adults alike!).

We met at the Green City Market for smoothies, and then we made our way into the Lincoln Park Zoo. Unfortunately, the weather was REALLY hot and sticky, so we were all sweaty & gross. But it was fun regardless! Not many of my pictures turned out all that great, but I managed to get a few of our three monkeys hanging out with gorillas and chimps.

Those poor, sweaty little girls.... Even though they loved looking at the animals (and singing the "Alice the Camel" song), I think they were just as relieved as we were to escape to the nicely air conditioned cafe for lunch.

We miss you, Rhetta & Billy, and we love your totally adorable Hannah & Sophie! Hopefully it won't be another 6 years before we get to see you again.

Even Tiger Woods had to start somewhere....

2011-06-30T21:02:00.000-05:00

Andrew: "All right Sonia, put both hands.... BOTH HANDS!... both hands on the golf club...."

Sonia: "I'm supposed to hit the ball over there?"

Andrew: "Swing the club like this...."

Sonia: "Hmm. That ball is awfully small. You got something bigger for me to aim for?"

Andrew: "Grip the club tightly and aim for the little green flag."

Sonia: "Which club looks better with my outfit, Mommy?"

Andrew: "You'll get kicked off the PGA tour if you try to use two clubs at one time! Now buckle down and let's work on earning your golf scholarship for college."

More fun in Nashville

2011-06-26T21:17:00.000-05:00

Sonia and I took another solo road trip to visit Niki, Corey, Charlotte, & Peter in Nashville this past week.... My little buddy was such a great traveler! She watched videos, sure, but she also read a lot of books, looked out the window, played with her trains and stuffed animals, and took a couple short naps. Sosini is turning out to be a good car kid just like her cousins!

We had a wonderful time, and Sonia is now even more obsessed with her cool cousins. She begs to look at pictures and videos of "Petah-Chawlutt-Niki" all the time! As usual, Niki beat me to the punch in posting pictures of our trip, so she stole all the best ones in this post. But I think I found some other fun pictures to share!

Sonia and Petey share a love of cars and trains. Sometimes that meant that they played together nicely, like in the picture below, but other times, that meant that they stole cars & trains from each other and whined about it.

Another shot of cousin love!

While Sosini was supposed to be going down for her nap, she got out of bed, grabbed a large plastic garbage truck, and took it back to bed with her. She snuggled up to it and passed out cold for a nice, long nap. Goofball!

Sonia's new cousin: Rocky Cat!! Sosini didn't like how Rocky's little claws felt on her skin, so she actually left him alone for the most part. But, she did think he was awfully hilarious.

Sonia loves Peter & Charlotte's slide!

Playing with Petey & Charlotte's fleet of rubber duckies

At the Discovery Center in Murfreesboro, Sonia and I played in a huge fire truck. She thought it was hilarious!

Sonia, Charlotte, & Peter loved playing on these animal rocking horses at the Discovery Center. I think Sonia rocked on that giraffe for at least 15 minutes, which is an eon in toddler time!

And lastly, a couple of gratuitous kitten shots. Rocky and I liked to play and snuggle after all the pesky little kids had gone to bed. He would be rolling around, chomping on my hands and being a little imp, and then suddenly, he would conk out and take a little cat nap. Kittens are such little narcoleptics!

Big Girl Bed, phase II

2011-06-21T21:42:00.001-05:00

On Father's Day, we put the box spring under Sonia's Big Girl Bed mattress. It's getting closer to being a real bed!

We're waiting to finish the decorating until we can put the headboard on the bed and truly see what wall space we have to work with. Also, Sonia's Auntie Niki is going to be sewing some curtains to match the bedding. I can't wait to see how awesome that's going to look!

Happy Big Girl

The book worm, hard at work:

Wrapped around her little finger

2011-06-20T21:38:00.001-05:00

I guess it's not that Sonia has Andrew wrapped around her little finger.... it's more like she has him on a leash. Literally.

Father's Day 2011

2011-06-19T21:38:00.000-05:00

Happy Father's Day to Sosini's beloved daddy and my fabulous husband, Andrew! Sonia decided that her gift to her daddy was to help him wash his car. Please don't ask me why we didn't put Sonia in a swimsuit for this activity, because I don't really have a good answer.

Sonia LOVED playing in the bubbles.

She decided to forgo the car-washing mitt and just use her hands.

I'm not sure why, but she started rubbing the suds on her face.

Happy Father's Day, Andrew! Happy Father's Day to my dad, Spike, and Andrew's dad, Dick. We love you!

Even more hand-me-down adorableness

2011-06-17T17:56:00.010-05:00

My sister made this AWESOME pillowcase dress for Charbunkle (see the process chronicled here), and now it's Sonia's turn to sport the strawberries. Sorry these pictures aren't that great, but she was not in a posing mood this morning.

Sonia wore the dress to the Grounds for Hope Cafe this morning, and at one point while she was playing, one of the ribbons came untied, and she had a wardrobe malfunction worthy of being banned from the Super Bowl. Maybe I better double-knot the bows next time!

More hand-me-down adorableness

2011-06-16T20:31:00.016-05:00

How hilariously cute is this safari tank top & skirt outfit? Sonia gets the coolest hand-me-downs.

(Sorry this first picture is a bit fuzzy, but I loved the expression on her face so much that I had to post it!)

Singing in the rain!

2011-06-15T20:25:00.001-05:00

Just like her cousins, Sonia got to play out in the rain today. It was just barely sprinkling when we went outside, so I was able to snap a few pictures before we went to stomp in puddles.

We found a fabulous puddle for splashing, and Sonia went to town. Then she started splashing in the puddle with her hands. Then she started rubbing the rainwater on her face (EW!). Then she SAT DOWN in the puddle. At that point, I decided it was bath time!

Big Rock, mosquitoes, and two crazy kids

2011-06-14T21:46:00.000-05:00

Poor Emma & Ike.... I had the bright idea to hike to Big Rock (at the Morton Arboretum) yesterday, and I invited them to join me & The Great Sosini. Even though the weather was dry and the temperature was perfect (high 60's), I failed to take into account the recent rains. As a result, we were almost eaten alive by mosquitoes, and the area around Big Rock was too muddy to hang around for long, anyway. I didn't even get any very good pictures of the kids at the rock. Argh. But after we escaped back to the non-mosquito-y picnic area and had a spot of lunch, the kids got in giddy moods, and hilarity ensued.

Sonia & Ike stood for a long time in these branches, shaking the leaves and laughing hysterically for no reason.

They gave each other several cute hugs, but I missed each one when I tried to take a picture. The last hug ended up with the kids falling over and Sonia getting a bloody lip. Love hurts!

I did get a couple of pictures of the bestest buddies holding hands!

Sorry you got chomped by a million mosquitoes, Emma & Ike, but we did end up having a great time anyway!