Whoops!

Sorry for the delay in blogging folks. Sophie has had a great time since the last time. First, she went to New York and was able to experience the joy of Thanksgiving. This involved Mommy inventing a game called "Oh no!" where Sophie and her cousin, Naomi, ran around the living room waiting for Mommy to tackle them or just waiting for one person to fall and scream "Oh No!". This was lots of fun! Sophie also indicated a love of Thanksgiving because of all the cakes present.

Sophie dancing with Great Grandma Sally and Cousin Naomi

Since then, Sophie has also celebrated Channukah. She greatly enjoyed the candles burning and even got her own mini-Menorah. Her favorite part was lighting it each night. She also did not much mind all the presents.

Sophie jamming on her new guitar (from Grams and Gramps)

Mommy and Sophie have also engaged in some mild baking lately. This has resulted in Mommy coming up with creative ways to give away cookies. During the time we made Chocolate chip oatmeal raisin cookies, Sophie greatly enjoyed stirring the batter. This weekend, we made sugar cookies and she greatly enjoyed eating the frosting that we used on them and dumping colored sugar everywhere. Her hands were green by the end! Next weekend, Mommy is thinking of trying peanut butter cookies with a hershey's kiss on-top (a co-worker recommended this). I just hope this kisses make it to the cookies! Sophie sure loves chocolate!

Random photo of Sophie enjoying her very FIRST hot chocolate. She told me it was "belicious" (not mis-spelled)

This past Friday, Sophie finally got to see Mommy's band play! Mommy was very excited about this, until Daddy got caught in traffic and arrived one song from the end. Lucky for Mommy, Sophie was a great sport and sat very quietly in the audience, in front of Mommy, and played with toys and books very patiently. Everyone was so impressed by how good she was! Then, we went to a small party afterwards where she really liked the house of the host. Every room she entered, she said "wow!". She was even willing to eat plain pizza dough! Maybe next month, we'll manage actual pizza!

Last night Sophie went to a wonderful Channukah party where she ate lots of desserts. She told the hosts that she "had fun at the party. I liked the desserts".

So, Soph's been busy! Unfortunately, Mommy and Daddy briefly lost the camera, so there are not many pictures from this month.

Halloween 2009 and a Visit to NY

Sophie had a great time this past Halloween. She went to daycare dressed up as Abby Cadabbyon Friday, November 30th, and then on Saturday, November 31st, she got all dressed up again and went trick or treating. We went to each lit door in our neighborhood and she had Mommy or Daddy say "trick-or-treat". Sophie then took any candy handed to her and brightly would say "good-bye" to each of our neighbors.

From 2 year 8 month

From 2 year 8 month

Two weeks later, Mommy and Sophie went to NY to visit Grams and Gramps and Allison, Alan and Naomi. Sophie had a great time playing with Naomi and also checking out Mommy's old elementary school's playgrounds.

From 2 year 8 month

From 2 year 8 month

Finally, we all ended the month by going to a Bar Mitzvah. It was Sophie's first and she was very excited about it, especially the part that involved dancing to music and eating cake. She is now already planning her own birthday party in March. So far we know that she wants balloons, 3 chocolate cakes (of which one needs to have Dora on it), all her friends, and lots of presents. There was also a request for it to have princess stuff and some cake icing that was yellow. Suffice to say, with all the excited build-up to her 3rd birthday party (which is 4 months away), I hope we can live up to it!

From 2 year 8 month

Oops, almost forgot, Sophie got her hair cut. Well, actually, she got it trimmed. Rather than go to a kids hair place, Mommy took Sophie to her stylist. Sophie did beautifully and especially enjoyed the cookie they gave her right before the hair cut. She decided at the end that she looked like a princess.

From 2 year 8 month

From 2 year 8 month

From 2 year 8 month

Halloween party

This weekend we got to go to a great halloween party at Evan and Lauren's house. Sophie went as Abby Cadabby of course, with "piggy tails":



They had lots of great food and activities at the party. Here's Sophie and mommy making necklaces and decorating things:

Here's Sophie decorating a cookie with some delicious frosting:

Near the end of the super cool party, we got to vandalize the driveway with crazy chalk that matched Sophie's clothing!

Fun times

A couple weekends ago we went down to New York, and Sophie had a great time visiting with family. Here she is at the zoo with Gramps!



Later on that weekend we went down to the local playground and taught Daddy how to swing:

A few days later, we got to go to the Barnum and Bailey circus in Boston. It totally ruled. We got to watch the pre-show and see some funny clowns:

And a really great show with horsies, elephants, more clowns, and sillyness all around:

Sophie dances to disney pop songs

Sophie watches a lot of Disney channel Saturday mornings, and I think has maybe seen too many videos by Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez:

Sophie dances to disney pop from Tim Mir on Vimeo.

First Dance Class and more!

Sophie started taking dance classes last week (Sept. 18). Initially, she was very shy and did not want to participate. But then...

she realized she could run around, jump, skip and play parachute. Suffice to say, this week's class (Sept, 25, for those of you keeping track)though it involved a minor tantrum, went much more smoothly than last week's

Last weekend was also very busy because Sophie went to temple to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. She then went to a party where she hung out with a lot of her much older friends. She had a good time sitting on a couch, playing with toys or hanging out with her friend, Julia, her sometimes baby-sitter. This all occurred much to the shock of Mommy, Daddy and the other 20 adults at the party.

See below a picture of Sophie being cool. Lately, Sophie has really taken to wearing hair-ties as bracelets and calling herself "pretty" and "princess". She especially feels princess-y whenever she wears skirts and whenever her hair is pulled back. She very much likes it when Gretchen places her hair in "piggy tails" at daycare.

Today was Yom Kippur. Sophie and Daddy celebrated by staying home, going to the zoo and then going to temple to see the children's service. Mommy got stuck at work and then at a class after work. But, she came home in time to hear all sorts of stories about the scary monkeys (she means Mandrells and Gorillas), the nice monkeys (she means the lemurs), and the stinky camels (she means camels...they can get stinky, you know). Apparently, Sophie and Daddy both had a good and Mommy needs to teach Sophie the difference between a monkey and an ape. She supposes Curious George being called a monkey when he is clearly an ape is of no help (he is supposed to be a chimpanzee, right, right???).

Princess of the Pumpkin Patch

Sophie has certainly changed a lot this month. All of her t-shirts have begun to run too short (but tummy shirts on a 2 year-old are sort of cute, right?), she towers over me if I sit on the floor while she is standing, and now when we pull her hair away from her face, she says "I'm so prilly" (Sophie translater: I am so pretty).

We have also had some big changes in the house. Mommy went back to work at the end of August. Sophie has been loving going back to day-care full-time. Roxie was not so thrilled since she is still only 90% house broken, and so has to be locked up while Mommy is at work. We think in another week or two, we can start leaving her out.

This past weekend, we went apple picking with the Dibners. Sophie very much enjoyed being given the Princess treatment....dragged everywhere in her lovely wagon:

She also really loved all the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch, but we're waiting to buy one until we go apple picking with the Alibertis in three more weeks.

Here's Daddy trying to look noble. It's a bit difficult, though, when you have your wife's purse strapped over your shoulder.

Finally, here's Sophie being dragged by her newest slave, Tal. For some reason, he thought it was fun!?

August, 2009

Despite the lack of posting, Sophie has actually had a very busy month. First, during the first weekend of August, everyone went on a DUKW tour ride. This would be a tour of Boston and a few portions of Cambridge to see the historical and touristy sites via an amphibious vehicle. We went by land and sea!

Here is Sophie driving the vehicle once it was in the Charles River.

From 2 year 5 and 6 month

Later that same week, we went to see Daddy play with his band, the Usual Suspects, during one of Kimball Farms cruise nights. This is when people come with their collectors' cars to show them off and they always have a live band.

Daddy playing with the band:

From 2 year 5 and 6 month

Sophie loved the music and Mommy loved the ice cream (did I mention Kimball's farm is a dairy farm?).

Here is Sophie dancing.

From 2 year 5 and 6 month

Finally, this past week we did a half vacation and staycation. It was lots of fun. We spent the first half of the week in Ogunquit, Maine, where Sophie discovered a passion for playing in the turf, but not so much the surf and Mommy discovered the has an adult on-set "sensitivity" to lobster. This pretty much means Mommy can eat lobster and not die, but her stomach will get very mad at her later. Anyway, while in Ogunquit we enjoyed eating lots of yummy seafood other than lobster (after the first day):

From 2 year 5 and 6 month

We had our very first (virgin) daiquiri ever! It was apparently "BE-LICIOUS" (no that is not a typo, that is how she says delicious if something is really good):

From 2 year 5 and 6 month

We went on local trolley rides daily:

From 2 year 5 and 6 month

And, we went to the trolley museum:

From 2 year 5 and 6 month

Where we rode a real cable car trolley:

From 2 year 5 and 6 month

We took lots of pics of the trolley museum because it was cool and Daddy particularly liked it. Mommy liked it too, but Daddy liked it better.

For the stay-cation part, we have mostly just been hanging around and going to local things, like the New England aquarium, Grandma and Grandpa's house, and Great Brook State farm. It was especially fun for Mommy who barely cooked all week!

From 2 year 5 and 6 month

This week Sophie will go back to daycare almost full-time as it is time for Mommy to go back to work. We are sure Sophie will have a great time with all her buddies.

zoom to New York and other things

So, despite lack of posting Sophie had a very adventurous 3 weeks.

First, she learned how to water color. She now expects every afternoon to consist of water coloring time in the back yard, despite the constant either rain or extreme heat. Mommy has even tried to let Sophie paint in-doors, but Sophie believes water colors should be done outdoors and therefore much trouble occurs on the days when Mommy and Sophie are stuck inside...even if only for a few hours.

From 2 year 4 month

Sophie also spent a week with Grams and Gramps in NY with Mommy, Roxie and Hunter. It was an interesting drive down for Mommy, who has driven alone with Sophie before to NY, but never with a doggy, let alone two. The doggies were great as was Sophie. She had a great time in NY, especially all the time spent playing with Naomi. She almost didn't miss Daddy.

From 2 year 4 month

The best part was getting to spend quality time with Grams and Gramps, especially all the hugs and kisses. She didn't even mind the pig-tail pulling that Gramps likes to do.

From 2 year 4 month

From 2 year 4 month

Then, Sophie returned home to find her bathroom in disarray because Mommy and Daddy decided it was time to fix the awful plumbing and to update the bathroom. Sophie loves the new bath-tub and will eventually come to love the new sink and toilet as well. Eventually, new pics of the bathroom will be posted (once Mommy and Daddy paint it). Sophie also has had some time to play with a new play group. Sophie's been having fun going to other people's homes and playing with their toys.

Finally, Sophie and Mommy have been having some nice Mommy-Sophie time (when they both feel awake!). They have not had a lot of that since Mommy started working full-time. Today, Mommy and Sophie went to the Museum of Science. Sophie had lots of fun!

From 2 year 4 month

4th of July

We had a fabulous 4th of july weekend. The doggies kept it real low key for most of the weekend:

Then on Saturday, we went to the Chelmsford Independence Day parade, which was one of the most lavish community parades we've ever seen. Fire "twucks" from around the area came out to play, and there were lots of bands, motorcycles. Even the unique little fellow from the local hardware store got to ride with the Chelmsford SWAT vehicle.

Here's Sophie prepping for the band coming around the corner:



But perhaps the highlight of the parade was the float that carried none other than Rick Larrimore, who is the local area's greatest Rod Stewart impersonator. Daddy snapped some cell phone pics:

On Sunday we went to the New England Aquarium, and had a great time looking at penguins and listening to seals that barked eerily like will ferrell yelling:

After the aquarium, we went out the Legal Sea Foods right on the harbor had a delicious meal that garnered approval from both mommy and daddy: