Family Reuions

Not too much as happened around here lately, until this past weekend, that is. My cousin Carrie who lives in Richmond, British Columbia came to visit. We hadn't seen her since our wedding, almost 8 years ago! (On a side note, isn't it amazing how you can still feel close to someone, even if you don't see them?). We had a wonderful weekend together. It was so nice to show off Sophia, and to talk about the strange things our ancestors did. (For example, my great-grandfather was once in a car accident turning left. So he never turned left again.)

Carrie proved to be a champion at Lego building and reading and was even willing to put up with the Wiggles both in the car and as a movie. Sophia took to her right away, and usually for Sophia, even did a good job at calling Carrie by name. We'll have to go see Carrie again soon.

Sophia loved to look at pictures, so she will often get out a photo album, saying "heavy" as she carries it. A few weeks ago she got our our wedding pictures and pointed to my veil and said "what's that?" I told her it was a veil, something some women wear on their heads for their weddings. While this is a perfectly rational explanation, it doesn't make sense to someone 22 months old. So I got my veil out and showed it to her. She wouldn't let me put it on her head, but was quite happy to play with it for a while.

Christmas continues

Christmas continues for Sophia. Yesterday she received in the mail a package from Aunt Amy. The gift was packed in the same box we sent Amy's gift in, so perhaps Amy needed to wait for proper packaging to get it in the mail. Amy sent little wooden turtles and Sophia loved them, playing with them by herself quite happily while I fixed dinner. I also baked a cake tonight, and Sophia has learned about licking the beaters. As soon as she realized what I was doing she pulled a chair over to the counter and said "bite?" She was quite anxious until I was done and it was her turn.

A few days ago I realized how terribly behind I was putting our pictures into albums. So I've been working on that, and Sophia loves the results. She really likes to look at photo albums and name all our friends and family. We like it because it helps her remember those folks we don't see every day. She's not the most gentle with the albums, but they were meant to be looked at, so that's ok.

We miss Daddy

During dinner tonight Sophia kept singing to herself, "miss Daddy, miss Daddy." It was cute, but also sad. Other than that, we're doing quite well on our own. My bath technique tonight was not her preferred (Daddy) method, she kept telling me I was doing it wrong, but she is clean and that's what matters.

Happy New Year

I know, we're 8 days into 2008 and I'm just now posting about the New Year. That seems about par for the course these days. The weekend before New Year's we went to Roseburg to see our friends there. Sophia had a great time playing with the boys, and they ran around - and us ragged - and had fun.

When we got back we put together 2 of Sophia's 'big' Christmas toys that required assembly. One of them is an enormous green ball and the other is a basketball hoop. I keep expecting her to try put the green ball through the hoop, but since she can't pick it up very well yet, she hasn't tried. Of course, you get a kid great presents, and she plays, or in this case pretenders to sleep, on the box. It sort of argues against spending a lot of money on toys! She is also enjoying her tricycle that she got for Christmas, although it's been a bit cold for much outdoor time.

Grandma and Grandpa came down for dinner last Sunday. Grandpa being the careful, technical person he is, is a good lego builder. But I think Sophia's favorite part is knocking down what he builds. Luckily, he takes it with a lot of amusement - I'm less happy when she knocks over my buildings - but that's what grandparents are for.

In a New Year's fit of organization, I was clearing out old electronics we no longer use and found my old camera. I hauled this camera all over Europe with me 12 years ago, and tried to take good care of it. Now, of course, we've gone digital and this former companion is a toy for Sophia. It's a little strange to see her playing with it, but she loves having her own camera. I doubt the entertainment factor will last long, though, when she discovers she can't immediately see the picture she just took on the screen at the back of the camera.

Paul is in Phoenix for training this week, so it's just me and Sophia. We'll do our best not to kill each other and even have some fun while he's gone. In other news, I decided not go back to my job at the library, I'm just not well enough to be good at my job anymore. I'm pretty sad about that, but I think it's the right thing.