ALICIA HAS A BABY! (AND SO DOES JOE)

How to Turn Three for the Second Time

2012-01-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

Sody's first Third Birthday was on her actual birthday, January 2. It involved a family trip to Chuck E. Cheese, fun with Grandpa and Grandma and a few presents. In other words, a nice little age appropriate low key birthday celebration. I am slightly mortified that I haven't even mentioned the day til just now - my baby is THREE! it's a big deal! how can I have a blog about her and not talk about her birthday?! - but I am going to pretend that my sloth in blog-keeping is only because I was waiting to talk about her second Third Birthday as well.

Birthday #2 was this past weekend. Slightly late but hey, at least it's still January. And let's face it: she is three and has a limited awareness of the calendar, so she doesn't care when her birthday party is. Actually, closer to the truth is that she wouldn't even realize she needed a birthday party. But since Mommy loves a theme and everybody likes cake, a birthday party it was. A few of Sody's buddies, the accompanying parents who are our buddies, pre-nap start time: your basic preschooler rager.

Theme: The Sound of Music (Sody's favorite movie)
Food: Quasi-Austrian (apple strudel, red cabbage salad, "schnitzel" with noodles - it was really chicken nuggets)
Cake: golden yellow from a mix (THE HORRORS. what have I become?? a mix?!) with homemade chocolate frosting and decorated with edelweiss
Decorations: warm woolen mittens, snowflakes and cream colored ponies, of course.
Dress: Sody and I wore our white dresses with blue satin sashes. No one else embraced the theme - not even a single Hitler mustache in the bunch. Hmph.

So we frolicked and sang and ate and partied and wished Isota a happy birthday again. She deserved it.

Putting 2011 To Bed

2012-01-09T21:43:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, 2011 wasn't our greatest year ever. I don't want to dwell on the negatives of the past 365 days (Resolution #27: Accentuate the positive! Eliminate the negative!) but I will say I am not too sad to see this year go. But we are all healthy and happy, so here is to that and to looking forward. Here is how we closed out our 2011:

We put up our Christmas decorations. Sody decorated the trees all by herself.

We BARTed to the city with Grandma and Grandpa for Mommy's birthday: Burger Bar in Union Square and getting caught in hordes of Christmas shoppers and stuffing our faces. Fun!

Sody did get a little tired on that trip, though.

There was a Christmas party at Mommy's office. Our Santa was one of my coworkers (shhh! don't tell Sody!) and when Sody realized it was almost her turn to sit on his lap, she solemnly turned to me and said, "I am not going to cry, Mommy." She wasn't *totally* comfortable, but she did not cry, as promised.

Then I took her for a ride around the halls at work on one of our red carts, which was awesome until she put her hand between the wheel and the frame and smooshed her finger. Totally my fault for letting her ride on here. Not cool, Mom.

She got a new doll for Christmas, which was obviously a hit. Another favorite present was a dollhouse, and I know that one was a favorite because that is the toy she would describe to strangers after Christmas. "Hi, my name is Sody...I got a DOLLHOUSE!" She also likes to ask random people we meet if they like her outfit, which cracks me up...but I digress.

One of our best days ever was New Year's Eve. We took Sody out to her first movie ever, The Muppets. Not only was the movie great, but her reaction to it was beyond anything I could have imagined. It was just so fun to watch her watch the movie. She was totally into it. She got the magic of the whole experience, I think...like, she would just turn to me in the middle of the movie and all incredulously exclaim, "MOMMY! We are in a MOVIE THEATER!" like it was the best thing that had ever happened to her. I can't explain it, but it was just one of those simple perfect nights that are hard to come by. The nights you can't really plan, they just serendipitously come together and the pieces fall into place and you look around and just think, Yes. This is a perfect night, a perfect memory, a perfect life.

Also, she was allowed to have popcorn that night, which was a very big deal and probably the real reason she was so happy.

At any rate, a great way to end the year on a high note. Thanks Muppets, thanks family, thanks friends, thanks everybody. Let's all have an amazing 2012, ok?

School Report

2011-12-19T16:29:00.000-08:00

December, you always escape me. I thought I was doing pretty well this year until I had the horrifying realization that Christmas is THIS WEEKEND. Oh, lordy. Unprepared, always unprepared. My holiday To-Do List is nowhere near completion. I have visions of cookie baking and gingerbread house making and doing Christmas-y crafts with Sody...but in reality, none of that is going to be happening in the next few days because of work. Plus, when you are broke you need to make your Christmas presents - actually, I still like to make presents when I am not broke - and that means finding the time to make Christmas presents, which is definitely hard to come by this year. It been a big, messy, busy month so far: my birthday and preschool parties and work parties and all of us getting sick at the same time and a short last minute trip to NJ for Joe because his grandma died. I think we are all a little exhausted already.

But I realized that in all the hubbub I have not yet done a report on what Sody thinks of preschool. She has a few weeks under her belt now and I would say so far it is going swimmingly. The first couple days were no trouble at all - dropped her off, she was ready for adventure, left us in the dust. After that, I think she started to realize this wasn't going to be a once-in-a-while adventure, so there was a little more trepidation (worse when I dropped her off than when Joe did, as neither she nor I wanted me to leave) but all in all she has been a total champ. The best is all the stuff she comes home with: the menorah finger painting and Kwaanza noodle necklace and glittery Christmas card she made. And the songs! She is singing us new songs she is learning, and I am eating them all up. My favorite thing is picking her up at the end of the day - I am never a worse driver than when I am going from my work to her school, all impatient and excited and zooming there too fast - and watching her play and interact before she realizes I am there. I get a teeny glimpse into her world without us. I want to know so much: does she like the kids there? do they like her? does she miss us? is she happy? did she eat her lunch? what did the teachers talk about today? did anyone try to take her baby doll? does she stand up for herself? does she share? etc etc etc.

Above all though, she seems to like it there. Thank God. Here are a couple of shots we took on the first day of school (she called her braids "Dorothy braids" as in Wizard of Oz) :

Time, Time, Time, See What's Become of Me

2011-12-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

There is just no time for anything anymore. I realize this is the dumbest complaint in the world because everybody and their grandma has this problem. Have you ever met anyone who has had enough hours in their day? No. I know this. But, Jesus... everything is just about rushing these days. Rush to get out of the house with everyone's teeth brushed, rush to get to work on time, rush to pick Sody up from school, rush to get dinner on the table and Sody in the bath and then, finally, wrestle Sody into bed. Bonus points if it's actually anywhere near her bedtime of 8 o'clock. And then all I can manage to do is zone out to some idiotic tv show, pass out, and start all over the next morning at 6 am. It's exhausting. And it's life. That's just the way it is, the way we live, the way of the world.

I'm not really into it, I gotta say. I do like being busy and I do like having a job, but the relentless schedule of constant motion seems hard to keep up with. Where is the time for my kid? My husband? For keeping my house in order, or working out, or cooking healthy meals, or - god forbid - a hobby for myself? Where do people find time for their lives?? I truly do not understand. Every moment is starting to feel accounted for, which scares me. I don't want to keep moving and moving and moving and then miss everything important. I need to take a breath. I need to have an afternoon with absolutely nothing on the agenda. I need to have many uninterrupted hours with my kid to do absolutely nothing with her but hang out together. Slow down, smell the flowers, blah blah blah.

How do we keep up on this hamster wheel? Or, WHY do we? Short of escaping to some bizarro locale in the middle of nowhere to live in a cheap little shack, I am struggling to figure out an answer to all of this. My saving grace is that I have an easy job that is close to home - one that I don't have to think about once I leave the building. How do working moms with actual stressful jobs and commutes even begin to do this? It's so puzzling. I feel like I am missing out on some key piece of wisdom about making it all work. Maybe there was something other moms studied in school and I was absent that day. Something about making all the little pieces of your life fit together nicely so that all the trains keep running smoothly. Because, really, I feel like my trains are seconds from derailing most days around here.

More Shocking Than if She Had Flipped Me Off

2011-11-14T22:35:00.001-08:00

The other night Sody said the most shocking word I have heard her say yet: "hate." She had been having a little tantrum out of nowhere about her pajamas...who knows why: because I forgot to let her do the zipper or because the pajamas have hippos and she decided not to like hippos that day or because of anything, really. It could have been anything. But she freaked out for no reason in that special two-year-old way and then was sitting on her bed in a crying screaming mess about it and suddenly started screeching, "I HATE these pajamas! I hate them, I hate them!!" and I stopped in my tracks.

Hate.

Such a strange word to come out of the mouth of such a small person. It was awful because she knew it and said it and used it correctly. Such a negative emotion I don't want her to know and feel and say, not yet. She is still too little and pure for such a thing. And it got even worse after we put on new pajamas (yep, I gave into the irrational desires of a toddler - what of it? You wanna come over and wrestle my crying, snotty kid into bed when she is wailing for ridiculous reasons?). I told her to go give Daddy a kiss goodnight and she told me, "NO. I hate him."

Oh man, I could have cried right there. Where is my baby getting this? How is she learning and spewing about hating things? And worse, hating people? Worst of the worst - hating *Daddy*?? It wasn't just perplexing, it really, really bummed me out. Something about it seemed like a little loss of innocence in a weird way. And I wondered about it, and was sad about it, and was confused by it...until the very next night at bedtime again. We cuddled up and cracked open our first book of the night: How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This was a brand new book that Daddy had been reading to her a lot in the preceding days, so much so that she has already memorized a lot of the lines. Maybe you are familiar with the book: it starts out with, "The Grinch *hated* Christmas..."

OHHHHHHHH.

Duh.

Obligatory Halloween Post

2011-11-08T23:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween already feels like a good long while ago, but I am not skipping a post about it because I was really excited at how the costumes turned out this year. I finally hit the jackpot with family costumes with a theme: Burger Time! Sody was a cheeseburger, Joe was mustard and I was ketchup (of course).

I had been mulling over the Halloween costume question for a bit, and trying to determine if Sody wanted to pick out her own thing this year. Actually, at the store she saw the same chicken costume she had the last two years and wanted that one, but I had to put my foot down on that. And then I saw the burger costume, fell in love, and then fell in love again when I saw it was missing the pants - no biggie, she already had brown pants - so I could get it for 50% off. SCORE. Next, I had to convince Sody she actually wanted to be a hamburger...an interesting task since this is a girl who barely touches meat and has never tasted a hamburger in her life. (Her choice, not mine! Lest you all think I am forcing her to be vegetarian). She was a good sport about it. Burger it was. As for me and Joe and our condiments, that was done with felt and a glue gun and some plain t-shirts from Goodwill. Easy peasy.

We crammed a lot into our Halloween weekend, maybe too much: carnival at Sody's new preschool (yes, you heard that right, and more on this later - my baby is going to be starting preschool in a couple weeks!! I am freaking out!!!) and a parade in Piedmont and carving pumpkins (Sody was waaaaaaay into this this year) and cookie baking for work and of course, trick or treating. Her clear favorite in the treat race is lollipops, and we let her eat about sixteen of 'em on the night of Halloween. Now we just have to break her of the habit of asking for candy morning, noon, and night. Guess Mom and Dad need to help get rid of the goods so it's out of sight, out of mind. A sacrifice we are forcing ourselves to make.

Now That's What I Call Friendship

2011-10-27T22:07:00.001-07:00

It was ridiculous and inexplicable 85 degrees last weekend around here, so Sody and her good buddy Trent went for an ice cream date. I think they are both doing great at sharing, don't you?

New Skillz

2011-10-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

One of the trippiest things about being being back at a job all day (I was going to say being back at "work," but that isn't correct, as being a stay-at-home mom or dad is absolutely work. Right, Joe?) is that Sody knows and says all these random things now that surprise me. Things that I didn't know she knew. Things that obviously came from someone other than me. I am so used to knowing her abilities, knowing all of her words, or at least knowing where she is getting new words. Now she catches me off guard by walking past a trash can and saying, "People left their cigarettes there." WHA-HUH? You know the word "cigarettes"?? Or the day when we taped up a picture of hers on the wall and stepped back to admire how it stayed up, she gave me a high five and exclaimed, "We're a TEAM!" Which was so cute and so unexpected.

What really floored me was watching her color this a.m. Up until now she hasn't done much beyond circular scribbles and up-and-down zig zags, but this morning she told me she made a happy face and it WAS. A head! Two eyes! A smiley mouth! It was a full, clear, obvious happy face. I couldn't believe it. My daughter knows how to draw a happy face. How does this happen without me knowing? How does she acquire all these skills behind my back? I am a teensy bit sad about it because I hate missing those moments of her learning new things. I used to get so much more of those. But mostly I am just so, so excited for her. Daddy gets to teach her all these new things that she wouldn't necessarily get from me. All these new things to surprise me with.

S-S-S-Saturday Night

2011-10-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

OK, I have just spent a gazillion hours trying to upload a video of Sody singing "My Favorite Things" (trust me, it's ADORBS) and it isn't working so now it's late and I am annoyed and my husband is bugging me with his "jokes" tonight and I am getting a cold and blah blah blah Saturday night woo woo woo. Y'know? I can't really think straight at the moment so what you are now going to get is our day today in pictures.

First up:

I took Sody to a cupcake shop in Berkeley for their kiddo storytime. We had time to kill beforehand so we headed up to the Goodwill up the street and Sody found a pair of hot pink jelly sandals that she fell in love with and insisted on wearing immediately. Can you get some gross foot disease from someone else's jelly shoes that haven't been properly cleaned yet? I am really hoping not. So far, all of Sody's toes are still attached. Anyway, we went to the storytime hour and ate mini cupcakes (a "Molly Ringwald" cake - pink, pink, and more pink) and drew pictures and listened to the stories. Then Sody spontaneously started singing songs from "The Sound of Music" to the lady who read stories (I am telling you, the girl is obsessed with that movie) and then we left.

She fell asleep on the way home. This is a rarity these days.

Then we headed out to a birthday party for our good friends' one year old daughter. There was a pinata and since most of the other kids had already left, Sody got to take a lot of cracks at this thing. There was a LOT of candy. Sody's sugar high kept on truckin'.

Here you can see her eyes glazing over a little bit and the tireds hitting. The combo of sugar crash and a half hour nap leads to this look.

You know what perks her back up? Cake and ice cream! Fingers crossed that Mother of the Year award will not be judged upon the insane sugary menu I served up to my child today. Or the fact that there is a can of Bud next to her in this shot. Sigh.

Shyness Must Skip a Generation

2011-09-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

I was shy kid. This may be hard to believe now - I overcame it and then some - but it's true. I am not sure of how young I was when shyness set in, but I do remember that feeling of being small and keeping quiet and afraid to speak up for who knows what reasons. So far, I don't think this gene has been passed on to Miss Isota. Like, AT ALL. The girl busts out in song in line at the post office, she waves hi to just about everyone we pass on the street (even better is, after she does it, she turns to us and says "I said hi!" which always elicits another smile from said passerby), and she meets new people everywhere.

Last weekend we had a play date fall through due to a misunderstanding. The place we were supposed to meet was closed so as Sody and I sat outside to figure out our next move, a mom and her two kids walked up. When they saw the place was closed they turned around and headed on the path down to the beach. Sody started to get fascinated by the two kids who were obviously close to her age and started along walking with them. She looked up at their mom and said, "I'm going to join you." Before I could jump in and protest, the mom said, "Oh, great! We would love to have you come with us!" And before you know it, we had ourselves a two hour playdate at the beach with perfect strangers. The mom was super cool, the kids played together nicely, and now we have new local friends to call on for beach dates. Friends I never would have met if it weren't for my gregarious little daughter inviting herself along. Who knew a 2 1/2 year old would expand my social life?

What I Have Learned About Having a Job Again

2011-09-13T21:47:00.001-07:00

1) If you are nice to people, they might bring you food.

2) As soon as you bite into said food, someone will call the front desk and I will need to speak.

3) Sody will not wither and collapse when I leave in the morning.

4) It is pretty terrible to hear, "I don't want you to go to work, Mommy" while she lays in bed with me and cups my cheeks in her hands.

5) I definitely need to join a gym again because sitting at a desk all day does not compare to running after a toddler all day.

6) It is fun to have a good excuse to buy "work clothes" and "work shoes."

7) High school never really disappears. We may be grown ups in offices but there are still cliques and cool girls and gossip in the halls.

8) Some people get way too excited and stressed out about things that don't need to be stressed out about. (No, Joe, I am not talking about myself here!) In my working life now I am finding that I am not as concerned about things that really don't matter in the grand scheme of things. Because now I know what really *does* matter in the grand scheme of things.

10) I picked a great husband. This is reinforced by seeing what an amazing stay-at-home dad he is.

11) It is no fun leaving this face in the morning:

But there is nothing better than coming home to it at the end of the day.

Bitter and Sweet

2011-08-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

There have been tears around here lately. Not from the two year old, from me. I got a job. A full time job. And it's just so damn bittersweet. Sweet because...well, it's a job. We need jobs! Those things you get so you can buy stuff! Yes! Someone picked me out of a whole mess of candidates and offered me a job! Yay! But it's so bitter because this means my stay-at-home mom career is now effectively over. And yes, I realize I am so lucky that I got to do it this long. And yes, I realize that she now gets to be home with Joe for the time being, which is great. And yes, I know that it's a slap in the face to all the moms who don't get to stay home this long with their kids to complain about this...and yet I can't help it. I am just really sad. Sad that I don't get to know her entire day, everything she eats and says and sees and poops and wants and needs and cuddles and hugs. I am going to miss the biggest chunk of her days Monday through Friday, and it stabs me in the heart a little bit every time I think of it.

If I were a better person, a bigger person, I could be so happy that Joe gets to have a turn to be with her now. I could realize that grown-up job time might be a good thing for me, for all of us. I could see the bright side of, Hey, maybe this won't suck after all. But I don't think I am that person quite yet. It might be interesting for a day or two...until I realize this is our new reality and I have to be there every single day. Away from her every single day. I just don't think I am built for this.

Craigslist is My Frenemy

2011-08-22T21:43:00.001-07:00

It's been a strange summer here at Finlaw HQ. (I have to leave off the "Baby" part of "Baby Finlaw HQ" as there is really not much left about Sody that is babyish anymore...) Earlier in the summer Joe got laid off, and I of course have mostly been home with the Kid. My weekly babysitting job is ending next week, so basically things around here are...shaky. A little scary. And filled with a lot of craigslist job searching on both our parts. I feel like we are on the brink of major change around here, which is exciting and unnerving all at once. Either I get a job and Joe stays home with Sody, or Joe gets a job and I continue to stay home but maybe find part time work, or we both (hopefully, because we do need the money) get full time jobs and Sody goes to daycare or preschool, assuming we can get her in somewhere when we need to. Any of these options are going to bring new schedules and new people and new experiences to all our lives. I like that, and I look forward to that, but sometimes it's hard to see your way out of the transition times when you are right in the middle of them. I am in a tizzy now. A bit of a confusing "oh, woe is me, what is going to become of us?" tizzy.

In a perfect world, and kind of what I was mentally prepared for, was going back to work part-time to ease our way into Sody going to school. Make the transition to school easier for all of us, not to mention easier on the pocketbook. I don't think I actually took into account trying to find a job that was in perfect accordance with part time preschool schedules (impossible!)...but in my head that is how it went down. But now there is no real choice in the matter, there is no time to mess with part time anything, we gotta get down to work. And truth be told, Sody going off to school/daycare is really only going to be hard on me. Based on the few places we have visited and the way she left me in the dust the second we walked in the door, she is going to be just fine. I've said it here before, but...she is itching to go to school, to play with more kids, to learn learn learn. I know she will love it. The girl is a social butterfly of the highest order. I think I just can't believe I have a kid old enough to be going to school.

But all is not sad and mopey around here. We are still having (cheap) fun, creating adventures for ourselves and trying to make the most of our time together. And we of course continue to bake. Sody had her first strawberry shortcake ever this month:

...and also got to try her first taste of Mom's homemade marshmallows this weekend.

Both were huge hits. Our little sugar fiend.

I'm Siiiiiinging in the Rain. Or Not.

2011-08-05T14:54:00.001-07:00

I tend to sing a lot. Not crazy loud or professionally or anything, of course, just around the house and as I go through my day. And definitely in the car. Always, always in the car. I have always done this and probably always will, much to my husband's chagrin. (To be fair, he just doesn't like it when i "'Glee' it up.") It's to the point where it's sort of subconscious sometimes...just singing along but not realizing I am until someone points it out. I distinctly remember a moment with the first family I ever babysat for in my early teens. Making dinner for the two boys, singing as I shuffled around the kitchen, whistling while I worked, blah blah blah ...and the older boy - maybe 6 at the time - was good naturedly asking me to stop singing. "Oh, ok, sorry, no problem." And literally thirty seconds later starting up again without realizing what I was doing. He asked again, I stopped again, and this repeated maybe three times. The boys were cracking up because they thought I was playing a joke, but sadly, no - I am just that dense. It's a character flaw.

So, cut to today, the singing continues. And yesterday in the car Sody and I were rocking out to her Sesame Street cd (ok, using the term "rocking out" extremely loosely here). After the three millionth listen of this particular record, I know the words pretty well. Actually, she does too, which surprises me sometimes. But sure enough, a couple lines in, what do I hear from the backseat?
"Please stop singing, Mommy."

Drat. Another kid who is just hoping I will shut up. Hate to tell you, Darling Daughter, but this is only the beginning...

Quotey Isoty

2011-07-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

So the talking thing has taken off. I guess around 2 or 2 1/2 language is supposed to explode, and it sure has for Isota. Suddenly we have this little person around our house who speaks in sentences. Sure, she still switches Fs and Ss ("smart" becomes "fart" for example) and she has her own names for some things (Curious George = "Monkey George") but for the most part, she is a Full-On Human Talker. She gets stuff. She responds to stuff. And it's super cute when takes a second before she talks because you can see her trying to find the right words. I can't understand every single thing every time, but it's exhilarating when I finally figure it out. It's awesome when she can tell I am struggling to understand and she gives me other similar words to help me out.

And did I mention she is hilarious too? I can't believe some of the things that come out of her mouth. Some of my recent favorite moments:

*At a park, she was watching the girl next to us who was dressed in a black/white shirt. She tends to identify strangers by their shirt color, so she asks me, "What that white girl doing, Mommy?" (also, this girl was African-American. oops.)

*She started humming a tune and I started nodding my head in time. She says, "You a good dancer, Mommy!"

*Dinner at IKEA the other night (have I mentioned this is my favorite cheapo food place? Kid's meal for $2.50! Plus, she gets to play in the children's section while I dream of having a bigger house and all the cute things I would put in her room. Then we go pick up cheap ground coffee and jam. Yum.) and when I offered her a meatball, she said *exactly* this: "No thank you, Mommy, I have my own dinner." The politeness of this response just killed me.

*To understand this quote, you should know that Sody loves the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. She is taken with the one part where Willy Wonka first comes out of the factory and pretends that he cannot walk, but then suddenly does a somersault. We explained that that is Willy's trick. So...the other morning I woke up to "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" so I went to go see her and she wasn't in her bed. I turned around and saw her sitting on the couch with two little stuffed animals next to her, all tucked in under the blanket. I started laughing and telling her that she tricked me because I thought she would be in bed. And she said, "Willy Wonka play trick on ground. Sody play trick on couch!" So so proud of herself.

*Spilled her cup of water last night, grabbed a towel from the kitchen, started cleaning up and said over and over, "Don't worry Mommy, it's only water."

*Tonight, watching a man spinning dough at a pizza place, she told me "Sody want to be 'may-er' when I grow up." Aside from how cool it is that this was the first time she said something about what to be when she grows up, it took me a while to figure out this one ('may-er' was "maker" which she eventually explained further by saying "cooker" who "mays pizzas"). But she was basically saying she wants to be a PIZZA MAKER when she grows up! We are thrilled. Joe is set for life.

Sody vs. the Ice Cream Cone

2011-07-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

For a while after the trip, the first thing Sody would say about it was, "I got ice cream on the boardwalk!" Here is the proof:

NJ Pictorial

2011-07-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

Home Again

2011-07-02T14:55:00.001-07:00

Oh my, it has been a while. Apologies for the loooong delay, we were in New Jersey for our two week summer vacation. It was especially busy this trip, with Joe's youngest brother graduating high school (WAY TO GO, CORRRRRRRY!) and a huge graduation party at the house and a side trip to the shore for a few days. As per usual, a great time. Made even better now that Sody is a little bit older and a busy little energetic chatterbox. She knows everyone so well now (and believe me, there are a *lot* of people and friends and relatives to know there) and gets to fully explore all the nooks and crannies of the house and huge backyard of the house Joe grew up in. Every morning it was, "Where's Pop Pop?" as soon as she woke up. And every day it was a struggle to get her to come back inside. The girl just wants to be running around in grass outside at all times. Or in a pool. Or at the beach. Or splashing in the ocean. We seem to have an outdoorsy little lass on our hands. The best thing was watching her discover her first lightning bugs at dusk...simple and magical and worth letting her stay up past bedtime to catch 'em.

She had some other Firsts on this trip: Devil Dog, Pop Tarts, Capri Suns, Kraft Mac and Cheese, a Happy Meal from McDonald's...I could go on. Believe me, she LOVED the food. I think it has been a rude awakening to come home to the whole wheat and dried fruit that I serve up. She keeps asking for snacks and it is a challenge to try and convince her "peas ARE a snack, Sody!!"

I don't have any of my trip pics uploaded yet...so here is an oldie but goodie to tide you over til I do:

Next up: New Jersey pictures! I promise!

Signs of Preschool Readiness, Exhibit A

2011-05-30T16:35:00.001-07:00

I think Sody is going to be a pretty well-adjusted little kid. In general her adaptability in various situations, different places, or meeting new people is great...she pretty much goes with the flow, and seems to like doing just that. But my latest piece of evidence comes from last week when we visited a preschool. Now before you get excited, this was not a preschool visit for her. I do not have my sh** together nearly enough to have even started searching for preschools for the dear (which induces total panic in me, especially when you hear of insanity like mothers going on preschool tours WHEN THEY ARE STILL PREGNANT...not to mention the cost of preschool is basically going to be like having another rent to pay) but we were tagging along with her friend Kyler who is about to start at said preschool. Just a quick visit of an hour or so to play and hang out and check out the lay of the land. It was as eye-opening for me as it was Sody, as this was the very first preschool we have gone to together.

In a nutshell, I loved it. Loved the house it was located in, loved the location, loved the kids, loved the mix of employees, loved the outdoor space for the kids, loved the tiny little english muffin pizzas they got for snacktime, and *really* loved how well behaved the kids were: everyone goes as a group to line up and wash hands, then everyone sits nicely and waits their turns for snack, and everyone raises their hands quietly if they want more. It is ADORABLE. I wanted to hang out all day. I want to get a job there.

And guess what, Sody loved it even more than I did. My first indication was that as soon as we walked in to the place, I basically lost her. We were talking to the director a bit, hi-how-are-you-blah-blah-blah, and before I knew it Sody had blasted off to the backyard where all the action was. She jumped in to joining the other kids' play so fast that when I found her she was over around the side of the house, trying to get onto a bike with another girl. Absolutely no qualms about leaving my side, about who all these kids were, about what this magical place was. She just jumped in and tackled it all. She tried everything out, sat with Kyler for snacktime, answered the kids who asked her what her name was. (p.s. Do you get to hear a lot of not-prompted-by-adults conversation between preschoolers? It is pretty awesome. Non-sequiturs like you wouldn't believe.)

The visit reinforced for me that she is going to adore going to preschool. Sure, it will be different when I actually leave and when she actually goes to a school for many hours of the day...but this was a good start. A good sign. I am definitely going to be the one who is crying more when I drop her off on her first day, whenever that day is. The best part of our trip was when she saw us getting ready to leave, putting on jackets and backpacks and gathering things. She was across the yard playing with some block type things with other kids and she looks over and goes, "Not ready, Mommy." Ha! Not ready to go. Want to play more.

I know, Babe...I am not ready for you to go, either...

May Roundup

2011-05-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

Well, OBVIOUSLY, I am having a hard time keeping up-to-date here. Is there anyone out there even checking this anymore? Apologies to my two readers for disappearing...but we are still here! We are alive! We are busy! The past few weeks have mostly been full of babysitting. Lots of work this month but soon will be down to just a trickle...which is fun for the stay-at-home mom part of my life but terrible for my pocketbook. But that is a whole other blog post for another time. For now, here is my shorthand for what has been happening during our May:

*Discovered, fell in love with, and repeatedly visited an all mac-and-cheese restaurant in Oakland

*Elvis Costello concert on Mother's Day. SO fun. Thank you to Doo, best present ever.

*Sody had her first non-family babysitters put her to bed when we were at the concert. Apparently she was a champ. Thanks Ian and Celina!

*Working on potty training. Some hits, some misses. Literally.

*Sody started climbing out of her crib so we switched it to a "big girl bed" (take one wall off the crib and voila!) It's going ok so far...only been a week but she has yet to spend the entire night in said bed.

*First trip to the dentist!! She did great, of course, and I could have cried seeing how big she looked sitting in the chair.

*For the first time, all three of us got sick at the same time. It sucked. Who goes out to buy the juice and soup when everyone is sick?!

*Tantrums. A few more than usual to make us we see how two-year-olds get their reputations. On the whole she is still the World's Best and Most Perfect Child (of course), but I will admit it is wild to watch her go from happy as a clam to completely destroyed in the span of an eyeblink. Usually over something like, oh, her sock getting twisted wrong on her foot. It's really hard not to laugh sometimes...but hey, it's hard to be 2.

*Yesterday I got my first "Go away, Mom." HEART BROKEN. Also, Daddy is apparently a "bad guy." WHA WHAAA? Where does this come from??

"Babymarch"

2011-05-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

...is what Sody said all day last Saturday when we did the March of Dimes "March for Babies" walk in San Francisco. Gorgeous weather and a gorgeous route to walk along the water towards the Golden Gate Bridge that morning. Sody walked a good portion of it, but of course 2 year olds don't exactly stay focused on the task at hand. She wanted to run on every grassy area we passed, jump off every rock, and run on the beach and roll in the sand. So we took our time - about three hours start to finish. A great day, a great cause, and a reminder of how lucky we are to have our healthy girl.

Also - have you tried those Plum Organics fruit sauce-in-a-pouch thingys? They were one of the sponsors so they would give out samples along the route and Sody discovered a new favorite snack. She must have had five or six of those pouches that day. Loving free food - she gets that from her mother, definitely.

Easter Sunday

2011-05-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

Easter was a low-key affair around here. We convinced Sody that the Easter Bunny dropped by while she was playing in her room and she just happened to miss him. Amen to gullibility at this age. So we had a small egg hunt and a basket hiding in our room for her. She definitely had fun but was most interested in throwing Easter grass all over the living room and getting all the jelly beans ("gee-wee beans") out of the eggs and into her mouth. The girl has a one track mind when it comes to jelly beans.

March for Babies

2011-04-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that Joe, Sody and I are going to do the March of Dimes "March for Babies" event again this year! We did the march in Sacramento two years ago when Sody was a teeny tiny thing and had a great (inspiring, exhilarating, fun) time. Now we are going to tackle the S.F. walk at Fort Mason on April 30 and I am really looking forward to it. 6 miles! It'll be interesting to see how much of it Sody will want to actually walk.

If you want to find out more or donate to the cause - or even walk with us! I swear it's fun! - check out my fundraising site: www.marchforbabies.org/aliciapeterson

Thanks!!

Monterey Interlude

2011-04-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

After our hospital visit of the last post - like, literally, 12 hours after - Sody and I headed to Monterey. Why, you ask? Well, I unexpectedly found myself with no babysitting work for the week (Random Event #1) and my parents just happened to be in Monterey for a little romantic getaway (Random Event #2). Since those two random events rarely happen at the same time, we decided to take advantage of it and crash my parents' party. We lived it up: getting soaked at the beach and eating fancy food and sleeping on the floor of the fancy digs and Sody making her first trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Thanks for letting us ruin your romantic weekend, Grandma and Grandpa! We loved it.

The Stuff That Really Makes You Feel Like a Parent

2011-03-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

Sody got hurt last week. Not at all seriously, but it was out of the ordinary enough to warrant an emergency room trip at four a.m. FUN!! What she had was something called nursemaid's elbow, which I had never heard of before that night but is apparently pretty common in kids under five. Basically a little bone in the elbow gets dislocated and it hurts and the kid stops using his/her arm. (Side note: Don't yank on your kids' hands! Don't swing them around by the hands! Don't pull their little arms hard through sleeves! All of these can cause nursemaid's elbow. It's real!) Joe had been getting Sody ready for bed and held her hands to pull her up from the changing table. She usually pushes herself up onto her feet but this time resisted and Joe heard a little pop. And that was all it took: busted baby arm.

So she cried for a bit and while there was something obviously wrong with her arm (she just kept holding it at a ninety degree angle and close to her body), she wasn't in constant pain or anything. We gave her some baby Tylenol, tucked her in as usual, and spent a few hours wondering if we did the right thing. What we should have done. Stressing about how much an ER visit would cost. Looking up "nursemaid's elbow" on the internet. Feeling like crappy parents because we didn't take her straight to the doctor when everything on the internet about nursemaid's elbow says to take the kid straight to the doctor. Etc. It was an odd, confusing night. One where you realize this parenting stuff is so not clear cut at all.

She eventually woke up around 3:30, not able to sleep, still not able to use her arm. Seeing that little bent baby arm stuck in that position where she couldn't move it was just too sad - and that was when it finally got through to our thick heads to take her in and get her fixed up. Nothing else really mattered at that point. And it definitely ended up being the right move: the ER was dead at that time in the morning, our triage nurse was Swedish (!), and the fix for Sody's arm took about ten seconds - all the doctor did was a little rotating and flexing move and that elbow popped back in. It seemed to really hurt as the doctor was doing it, but literally seconds later Sody was fine and moving her arm and totally happy. It was an amazingly quick transformation. Plus she got a juice box, so her world totally rocked at that point. I was completely flooded with relief when I saw her high fiving with that arm again. And I am pretty sure Sody saw the whole thing as a total adventure - being up in the middle of the night, driving around in her pajamas, getting juice at the doctor's. We were so stinkin' happy it was a simple thing and that our kid was back to normal...so much so that we got donuts and hot chocolate on the way home and let her feast on sugar and cartoons at six in the morning for being such a good sport. I am pretty sure she is going to have a very positive attitude toward going to the doctor from here on out. Or expect treats every time. Oops.

before: ouchie arm

after: working arm (and juice)

way after: donuts at home

Time To Start Playing the Bikini Kill Records

2011-03-11T15:57:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of International Women's Day this past week, I have to tell you: Isota seems to have some weird ideas about gender so far. We first noticed it whenever we would talk about school. Like, if we pass a school and talk about what school is and how she will go to one someday along with other kids, she consistently responds to the conversation with "Boy." Always, always just "Boy." And we try to clarify what she means, because it seems to be that she means boys go to school and girls don't. So of course we always tell her that girls go to school too, that girls do everything boys do. (We leave out the peeing-standing-up thing, because that whole ball of wax has got to be confusing to someone who hasn't even mastered the potty yet. Hell, it's sort of confusing to me, too.)

So the school thing was a little weird, but we figured maybe she just saw something on a cartoon where a boy goes to school (I am thinking Caillou, perhaps...Does anyone else watch that little Canadian cartoon? She is way into it) and now has it stuck in her head about that boy going to school. Who really knows what's going on in a 2 year old brain, eh? No biggie. But now I am noticing a new trend: at the park, when she tackles something a little out of her comfort zone like a tall ladder, she gets a little scared at the top and asks for me to help get her down. Then when she is safely back on the ground she says, "Boy." Sometimes it's, "No Sody. Boy." Like a boy can do that crazy ladder climbing, not her. Whhhaaaa? OF COURSE you can do it too, Sody!! This is not a good development. Where would she get this sort of idea? I would normally be able to explain it away with the thought that the older and bigger boys can climb up those ladders easy peasy, but we have seen plenty of girls her age and younger tackle them, too.

She is not shy and not afraid to try things, for which I am so grateful. So it makes these little "boy" episodes even weirder to me, and it gets me worked up. I know she is too young to be worried about inferiority complexes and things, but it's a tiny little glimmer of what may crop up down the line. And I want to end it right here. I want her to know that she is not inferior to anyone. I want her to know how strong, smart, and capable she is. I want her to know her worth. I want her to think for herself and tackle things and ideas and park ladders for the rest of her life.

A Life in the Arts

2011-02-28T16:06:00.001-08:00

practicing xylophone

playing records with Daddy

painting with watercolors

and, uh, fashion? yes, this is three pairs of panties at once, a diaper and my hat. Sody's idea of an outfit.

This is My Latest Butter Tree

2011-02-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

Isota's speech has been coming at us like a freight train these past few weeks. Everyone says when it happens it happens fast and that has been true for us so far. Honestly, for a while there, I was a little...not "worried" per se, but definitely wondering exactly where all her words were. She has had plenty of individual words for a while, but I keep meeting kids around the same age or younger who seem to be a little more advanced in that department. Of course, it's not fair to compare kids and everyone has their own little language timetable and blah blah blah...but at the same time it does make you step back a little and go, "What is going on here?"

But man, the last few weeks have been crazy. Repeating all sorts of things we say, busting out two word phrases all over the place, sometimes three words, and even a couple of full-on sentences: "I love you Mama" was the first one. Sure, it wasn't spontaneous and she was merely repeating what Joe said, but the point is that she said it! Those little words came out of her little mouth! In her sweet little voice! It's enough to melt your little black heart, eh? Another sentence I caught her saying the other day was "Happy Birthday To Me" which cracked me up because that is pretty much her favorite song right now. She insists on me singing it every night before bed. She is a weirdo.

Last week she was going on and on about a "butter tree." And I was like, WTF? Butter tree? Half the fun of this new found speech stuff is the figuring out what exactly she is talking about. The butter tree threw me for a bit. And then she was playing with her little kiddie laptop toy (oh yes, they have those) and she pushed a particular button on it and it spoke: "Blog Entry!" And then Sody said, "Butter Tree!" AH HA! So not only have we gone from single words to simple phrases in a very short time, we have also made the leap into computer speak. Be sure to look for Sody's own blog soon. She is going to surpass me in smarts and talents way sooner than I would like, I can already tell.

Finlaw Family Fun

2011-02-03T15:50:00.001-08:00

The East Coast Finlaws left last week, and we have finally gotten our house all put back together. (Kidding! You guys are great guests! The living room looks downright empty without an air mattress in the middle of the floor...) We had lots of adventures, lots of quality hanging out, and lots of yummy food. Let's just say Sody really mastered the term "french fry" in the last couple of weeks. We miss you guys!!

It's a Finlaw Party

2011-01-21T10:41:00.000-08:00

Look who's visiting? And look who's loving it?

Ain't No Party Like a Sody Lou Party

2011-01-13T16:19:00.001-08:00

...cuz a Sody Lou party don't stoooooop...

Witness Sody's birthday party. There was a strawberry theme, can you tell? Joe and I had been a little worried pre-party about having enough space for everyone, but it worked out. I learned that no matter the size of the space, kids will always figure out a way to run around and have fun. And no one cares about sitting on the ground. Thanks, friends! I also learned that I never need to cook for a party because really all anyone wants to eat are frozen mini pizzas. Thanks, Trader Joe's! Friends and little ones and sugar and toys and mayhem and a little frosting mashed into the carpet = successful birthday.

Portrait of the Procrastinator as a Young Girl

2011-01-06T14:39:00.000-08:00

SCENE:
Last night, Sody's room, dim lights, cozy in the rocking chair together, just finished reading stories and ready for bed.

SODY: (leaning back in my arms) "Raw. Saw." (translation: "Rock me, please. And sing a song while you are at.")

MOMMY: "What song?"

SODY: "Happy boo-hee" ("Happy Birthday" - a current favorite because she has been hearing it a lot lately)

Mommy sings "Happy Birthday." Even the second verse where it asks "How old are you now?" a bunch of times and each time Sody diligently answers "Two."

SODY: (makes funny little moves with her fingers) "Di? Di?" (translation: "Can we sing 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' now?")

Mommy sings Itsy Bitsy Spider.

SODY: "Star?" (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)

Mommy sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

SODY: "Doe?"

Mommy sings Do-Re-Mi from Sound of Music.

SODY: "Happy Boohee?" (she ran out of song titles she knows so we start at the beginning again)

Mommy sings Happy Birthday. Again. And then finally tells Sody that it's lights out time.

END SCENE.

Yep, I can be a pushover at nighttime, but tell me how you would resist this face:

The One Where We Have a Two Year Old

2011-01-03T15:17:00.000-08:00

It was Miss Isota's 2nd birthday yesterday! I feel like she has already been two for a while, oddly enough...when people ask me how old she is, I have been saying "She's almost two" for so long now. And she has been practicing her answer on that same question for a long time - she says "Two" and can gets her little peace sign out to show people how many fingers "two" looks like. But yesterday was her actual birthday, the day where two very short years ago everything changed and we met this crazy little nugget. Who knew she was going to grow into such a hilarious toddler? Who knew she was going to be so cute and smart and so dang sweet? Who knew that after we put her to bed every night we would end up on the couch talking about how stinkin' lucky we are to have such an amazing girl? We didn't know any of that then but we do know. Happy Birthday, Sody Boo. We love you so much it's kind of ridiculous.

The One With Christmas

2011-01-03T14:47:00.001-08:00

The last three weeks of December are always kind of cuckoo-pants around here: there is my birthday and then my mom's birthday and then the biggies of Christmas and New Year's. So we have had a whole lot of merriment and wrapping paper and ripping open of gifts lately. Check out Christmas:

Before we left for Sacramento to celebrate Xmas with Grandma and Grandpa, we gave Sody her big gift from us: a kitchen. Joe put it together and hid it under a blanket in the living room for a couple days and miraculously she never discovered it. This is her first peek under the blanket and realizing what it was. She sort of got crazy eyes about it.

Burners that light up! Hooks to hang utensils! Oh my!

Miraculously, we are all facing the camera and smiling. This *never* happens.

New piggy bank from Dada. She is in love.

Shopping cart from Grandma and Grandpa! She got a ton of food to go in it, too.

Hi Grandma and Grandpa

Ready for New Years in her swanky robe

Fort Building Lessons With Dad

2010-12-20T21:51:00.000-08:00

I went into the kitchen to make dinner and when I came out I found this:

Sody vs. Hot Chocolate

2010-12-15T00:26:00.000-08:00

Hot chocolate, loads of whipped cream, white chocolate shavings, served with a chocolate stick. This may have been the greatest day of Sody's life.

Our Seattle Times

2010-12-14T21:34:00.001-08:00

Oh, bloggy blog, I have been neglecting you. I have a good reason this time though, even better than your run-of-the-mill holiday crunch time busy stuff that happens every December, and that reason is this: Sody and I went on a trip to Seattle! And it was awesome! And my girl is a rad traveler! It was interesting, to say the least, trying to navigate the airport and flights with a carseat and two carry-ons and a toddler all by myself, but all things considered it went pretty darn smoothly. Seattle is where I went to college so it was super fun to take Isota around to some of my favorite spots and show off the city to her. Or rather, show her off - I still have a lot of friends up there, some of whom haven't met Sody yet, so it was great to be able to finally introduce her. She was such a trooper the whole time, too...a messed up schedule, napping only in the car for 45 minutes instead of her normal couple of hours, being dragged around all over town in an attempt to fit in as much as possible...she totally went with it. It probably helped that we plied her with Christmas treats wherever we went. People of the Northwest are very generous with their Christmas cookies and lollipops and sugary goods.

We did a lot of Christmas-y things and a lot of eating and a lot of running around to my favorite restaurants. It was definitely a different kind of Seattle trip than I am used to taking: more kid-centered activities (natch) and less bars (zero, thank you very much). But the best thing - really, the whole point of the trip - was that I finally got to spend a good chunk of time with my best friend Beth, also known as She Who Started This Whole Blog (really! she has the very first entry here, go look it up!). She met Sody once before when she came out to visit us in Sacto when Sody was a teeny little four month old. But now was their chance to really bond, and bond they did. Sody fully fell in love and it just melted me. Watching them playing and reading together, me getting a break while Beth took over entertaining duties - you went above and beyond in that regard, Beth! - and the fact that "Beth" was the first word Sody uttered to me each morning because that is who she wanted to see...all amazing. Just knowing that my kid was so loved and that she was loving someone I love and trust so completely...can I say "love" any more in this sentence?? You get my point. There was a lot of love going around on this trip. We are both so grateful.

We love you and we miss you and I promise we won't always live so far apart!!

at Pike Place Market

my favorite pho place on earth, in part because they serve cream puffs before you have your meal. oddly enough, Sody didn't care about the cream puff but she absolutely DEVOURED the noodles. you don't even know how much it warms the cockles of my heart to watch my kid dig into a giant plate of vietnamese food. I just could not be prouder of her.

We met a giant dancing penguin. Can you tell Sody was not amused?

Late night hanging out with Beth. It's hard to tell in this shot but Sody was leaning on Beth for a long time, looking at pictures on her computer and the whole thing was very sweet.

Her favorite snack on earth, strawberries. Juicy and delicious and a great deal at Pike Place Market.

About to head home. Sody was completely and totally asleep here. So out that she stayed asleep while I took the carseat out of the car *with her in it*, strapped her all up to the carry-on, checked in at the airport, and rolled her all the way to the security checkpoint before she finally woke up. The sad part was she woke up crying out for Beth because she slept through the dropoff and didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Sleepyhead!

Thanksgiving Lite

2010-11-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we did a big Thanksgiving feast with my parents and friends because my parents left on a cruise and would be gone on the actual date. So for the real Thanksgiving, we kept it super low key here with just Joe and me and Sody, and it was pretty perfect. Football on tv, a leisurely family walk around the block (Sody pushed her penguin Fatty in a stroller), and an easy semi-Thanksgiving meal where the potatoes and stuffing came out of a box (soooooo not like me) and I didn't even feel bad about it. Sometimes, you just gotta let some things slide. I am slowly but surely learning that. All in all, it was a lovely and relaxing family day and that is pretty much all we could ask for.

As far as the food went, Sody ate one bite of brussels sprouts, one bite of potatoes, and about a barrel full of cranberry sauce, the nut.

the aftermath - thanksgiving leftover sandwich the next day!!

We Have a Winner

2010-11-24T21:38:00.000-08:00

Well, the "Got Ketchup?" bib has been occupying the #1 spot in our hearts for a while now, but I have found the new official Best Bib Ever:

Kiss Me I am Swedish!
Brilliant!

A Few Pieces of Evidence as to Why Sody Rules

2010-11-22T14:39:00.000-08:00

Because I don't talk about that enough, right?

1. She looooooves Thai food, especially green papaya salad and pad thai noodles ("noonles"). She is warming up to Indian food too, so I have an excellent lunch buddy.

2. When she got her flu shot last week, she not only didn't cry - she didn't even flinch one single bit. It was like the nurse high fived her instead of sticking her with a sharp needle.

3. She played in her crib so quietly the other morning that Joe and I slept in until 9:30. NINE THIRTY, PEOPLE! That is totally insane. (of course, in case you are getting too jealous of our kid, I should temper this by saying that the morning after that she was awake in our bed from 3:30 to 5:30, refusing to go back in her crib and refusing to fall asleep with us. Although this is really rare for her, it was plenty annoying, believe you me.)

4. I brought home a donut for a special treat the other night and she willingly broke it in half and handed it over to save for the next day. Also, she made this face:

See, she rules. Case closed.

Super Awesome Fall Tradition #3

2010-11-14T20:51:00.000-08:00

Since carving pumpkins (tradition #1) and spiking the hot apple cider with whiskey (tradition #2) have been crossed off the list, it was time to tackle the next one: eating pumpkin pie for breakfast. And this was the year Sody got to participate in this one. I think she was more excited about the idea of pie more than actually eating the pie.

Sometimes, I Still Can't Believe She is Real

2010-11-10T22:17:00.000-08:00

I always wanted a little girl. When you are pregnant you do the "healthy baby, who cares what it is" song-and-dance, but let's face it, most people lean towards one or the other. I definitely leaned towards girl. So way back when in 2008 when the ultrasound tech told us that Isota was, in fact, Isota, we were pretty darn thrilled. Like, Best Day EVER thrilled. Like, immediately rush to Old Navy and start picking out girl's clothes thrilled. On that day my mind's eye conjured up a picture of what this little girl was going to look like. And what my mind's eye saw was pretty much exactly this:

Leggings and boots, pigtails and smiles, healthy and happy and so gregarious. This is exactly what I saw when I dreamt about having a girl.

What We Made On Halloween

2010-11-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

We made roasted pumpkins seeds, even though none of us really like them.

We made a vegan cookie tray for a party (rice krispie treats, gingerbread biscotti, caramels, macaroons, peanut butter cookies).

We made jack-o-lanterns.

We made a mess while making our jack-o-lanterns.

And we made ourselves exhausted from trick-or-treating.

It was a truly great Halloween, mainly because you could tell Isota was starting to get it this year. We took her to a neighborhood parade on Saturday, and then to a party at her friend Remy's house on Sunday. She very quickly got the hang of trick-or-treating. Candy for no reason? For saying "Trick or Treat"? Sign this girl up! The best part was that she was so serious about putting each piece of candy into her treat bag herself. Up to the house, get the loot, then immediately crouch down and wrestle with her bag to get the candy in. If someone made the mistake of dropping it straight into the bag, she would hold her hand out for more so they would hand it right to her. Putting things into other things is a huge deal right now.

As for costumes, I was candy corn, Joe was a retired hockey player, and Sody was a chicken. Yes, I recycled her costume from last year because she doesn't know any better yet! She had so, so much fun. We let her run a little wild with the candy that night (because we are awesome parents, natch) and her favorite type of candy seems to be lollipops so far. Which of course leaves the chocolates for Joe and me to steal when Sody goes to bed. Don't tell her.

She went to bed at 10 pm that night(!), probably with lots of sugary dreams. And she woke up the next morning still trying to say "trick-or-treat!"

Little Miss Independent

2010-10-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

You know how you can try and trick kids to make them do what you want them to do? Like, psych them out for a brief moment, all in the name of manipulation? Say they are fooling around and not getting out the door fast enough, so you say, "See ya, kid, I am leaving now, bye..." and pretend to leave and then they fear being left alone and come running. You know that trick? Well, it doesn't work with Isota. I really don't think that she is worried about being alone. She'll pretty much do things when she wants to do them.

Example: we were babysitting yesterday for her two little friends and we were all gearing up for a walk to the park. I put the two kids in the double stroller (what's funny is how I have started thinking of them as "the kids" as though Isota is separate from that. I actually say things like, "Sody, let's take the kids to the park," like she is the Grand Dame of maturity since she is a few months older than her friends) and Isota was going to walk next to me. Usually I put her in the Ergo pack on my front while pushing the stroller - you have to see all this to believe it - but yesterday she wanted to walk. (My big girl!) As we left the gated yard, she spotted some toys in the corner that she wanted to play with and made a beeline for them. Convincing her to come back and join us proved futile so I said, "Ok, well, the kids and I are headed to the park...I guess you can stay here then," thinking that would get her. Nope. All I got was, 'Yeah. Bye!" So I walked out of the gate and stomped my feet, pretending to be walking away, thinking that would make her run over. Nope. So we stayed outside the gate (I could spot her through a hole in the wood) and I watched her, trying a little experiment to see how long before she would actually get scared and come find us. And the thing was, she never did get scared! She just played by herself for a good 5 - 10 minutes (a lot in toddler time), not caring that we weren't there or that we "left" her, until she seemed to get a little bored and then finally wandered back over to the gate. Which she then opened by herself. And she seemed very surprised to see us on the other side.

Other days, she decides to walk in the complete opposite direction of where we are supposed to be going. She just tells me "Bye" and goes. I find it pretty amusing until I watch and watch and watch and realize she has no intention of turning around and coming back. And then I have to chase her down like a crazy person. How we have gone - in less than two years - from a seven pound crying little dependent nugget to this opinionated little lady who seems to think she can stroll down the sidewalk alone is beyond me. I live in a constant state of bewilderedness.

File Under: Things I Want to Remember Forever

2010-10-18T14:46:00.001-07:00

Have I told you yet about the way Isota runs? She really puts her arms into it, swinging them at little 90 degree angles, like a serious racewalker. Like she is on a mission to get where she is going. It's pretty amazing. She also started doing this little shoulder shimmy when she is really happy about something. If you ask her about something she likes or wants, she grins and shakes her shoulders up and down a bunch of times in quick succession. Total ham, this one.

There are all these tiny little things cropping up now that I want to hold onto because I know she is going to outgrow them soon. The shoulder shake, the funny run, the way she says her own name ("A-zsha-zsha") while she scrunches up her face. She shocks us near-daily with something new. It's like she has reached a new threshold of how she plays. A new savviness about the world around her. Sometimes just witnessing that could bring me to tears. How she knows how to pour us pretend tea with her new tea set and serve it with a spoon so we can stir in our pretend sugar. How she knows to cover her ears when a siren goes by. How she finds a lipstick in my bag and takes the cap off and pretends to put it on. How she goes "mmmmmm!" when she eats something yummy and how she says "ooooooh" when she admires her own artwork. Today I asked her if she was a baby and she said, "NO WAY!!" Then I asked if she was a big girl and she said, "YEAH!!"

She's fun as hell right now.

Whys

2010-10-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

Last week Sody and I were driving home from Davis and we stopped at the Nut Tree. It used to be this great restaurant/store/complex that everyone who has made the drive between Sacramento and San Francisco has been to. When I was a kid it was a given that we would stop at the Nut Tree on the way to SF, and I would check out the veggie dip samples in the back and drool over the gigantic iced cookies in the front. Of course in the 90s the place got demolished and what is essentially a mini-mall was put up in its place...because that is the kind of world we live in, where anything remotely original and interesting gets replaced by homogenized junk, but I digress. The good news is that they kept some of the kiddie rides from the original Nut Tree and set up a new little kiddie wonderland.

So we stopped and we went on some rides. Sody calls them "whys" and when she says it she does a little arm motion like she is driving a car. It kills me.

I Swear This is the Last One

2010-10-07T15:53:00.001-07:00

Since our NJ trip was now a full month ago, I suppose I should wrap up this "New Jersey Is..." series. For our final installment we bring you: family. Going to New Jersey for us means hanging out with family above all else. We stay at Mom Mom and Pop Pop's, Joe's siblings come over for late night Risk games, cousin Ryan comes over to play, we visit grandparents and other various members of the (huge) family, you get the idea. There are plenty of playmates for Isota and a whole lotta love to go around. One of the best part of this trip was she learned everyone's name. Some came out a little funny - Courtney was "Der Der" and Cory was "Der" - but she was saying them. Constantly going around the room pointing and repeating names. Waking up every morning asking, "Pop Pop? Mom Mom?"

This was also part of the hardest part of the trip. As Sody gets older and more aware of people around her, realizing who everyone is, knowing she is safe and loved and adored by this part of her family too, it is just so hard to leave. It gets harder every time we go east. And it feels unfair taking her away and only being able to make the trip once or maybe twice a year. And it's a huge thing Joe and I struggle with, wondering where we can live so that everyone is happy. Where everyone who wants to love this little lady can do so, where will be best for her to grow up. This is the stuff that keeps me up at night because there are no easy answers to any of it. But I take comfort in the fact that all of this means that there are just so many people that want to love our little girl. So much family, so much love, and for that we are thankful.

New Jersey Is... (Yes, Still Continuing With This List)

2010-09-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

...all about EATING. Pizza, pasta, cheesesteaks, strombolis, fries and especially sweet treats that Mom doesn't allow that often at home. There are no rules in Jersey, people.

New Jersey Is... (Part Two)

2010-09-26T23:34:00.000-07:00

...being a superfan!!

GO EAGLES!

First football game (mom's too)

Loving Aunt Courtney

Sody, Courtney and I all got the Eagle logo painted on our faces at the game. It made a huge impression on Isota. Even now, weeks later, we can still ask her, "Sody, where is your Eagle?" and she will point to her cheek.

Phillies Stadium

At Uncle Cory's soccer game

New Jersey Is... (Part One)

2010-09-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

...falling in love with THE SHORE!!

If Anyone is Still Checking This...

2010-09-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

...well, I apologize for the mini-disappearance. We were in fabulous New Jersey for a summer vacation with Joe's side of the family. And it's a big side: Mom Mom and Pop Pop and aunts and uncles and cousins and every other kind of relative you can think of coming out of your ears. Sody had a blast. Actually, let me rephrase that: Sody had a BLAST. All capitals. So much fun that coming home was extra bittersweet this time. There is much to say and much to show you but we haven't really had time to breathe since getting back, let alone upload pictures yet. So sit tight, keep your fingers crossed that I can make it through this busy weekend, and I promise to be back soon with some new Isota tales and pictures.

You Call This Summer?

2010-08-30T15:04:00.001-07:00

We have had exactly two hot days this whole entire summer here - nope, not exaggerating for once in my life - but that ain't going to stop us from inhaling summer melons or heading out to the beach.

It's exhausting, trying to enjoy this weird, cold, non-summer summer.

You Know You Are an East Bay Kid When...

2010-08-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

...you spend a sunny weekend afternoon at Lake Merritt, running after Canadian geese (and avoiding Canadian geese poop) and end the day at Fenton's with a giant ice cream sundae. Awesomesauce.

The bonus was while we were waiting for a table at Fenton's a fire truck parked outside and let the all the kids around take a look inside. Since Sody is so little I went in the truck with her, something I've never done before. They actually got a call while we were inside so we rushed out and they took off, sirens wailing. Pretty cool. And this explains Sody's new hat in the last picture.

.

How Sody Learned the Word "Beach"

2010-08-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

This is a total cliche but I will say it anyway: sometimes, the best stuff is the simplest stuff. This applies to so many aspects of life and especially with kids - like how they can end up liking the wrapping more than the presents, for example. Another example is what happened to Sody and me yesterday. We went to the beach. I didn't really set out to make a trip to the beach, but that's where we ended up and it was perfect. What I had originally set out to do was to get some actual exercise for once: get Sody in the jogging stroller and run the trail along the beach right by our house. However, I am not a runner by any stretch of the imagination so this turned into more of a brisk walk pretty quickly. And when I got tired of that I took Isota over to the sand to check out the beach.

We live so close but for some reason don't head over there much. So I wasn't quite prepared by how much she would love it now: the wet sand that is so different from park sand, the way you can poke your hands in and glop the sand around, the seaweed and the little shell fragments and most of all the water. She had so much fun just walking down along the water's edge, getting her feet and hands wet and greeting passersby. Part of me was kicking myself for not having my camera to capture her happy little face in the sunshine, and another part of me was glad I didn't have anything there to distract me from taking it all in with her. The air was clear and the sun was out and the SF skyline was ahead of us and we were just stupidly happy to be outside by the water. She ended up soaked and sandy from the waist down and I was sort of cursing the cleanup when we got home, but it was all so totally worth it.

Sometimes I feel guilty that I am not able to give Sody certain experiences. When I was a full time nanny I took my young charges to various (expensive) activities like Gymboree and music classes and I kind of wish that I had the time and money to take my own daughter to those type of things now. But I snap out of it pretty quickly, knowing that she doesn't need expensive classes to have fun, she just needs me and my time. And a simple, perfectly free, long expanse of beach.

Chugging Along, Falling Behind

2010-08-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

OK, so, obviously I am having a rough time keeping up here. Been so busy living life that I don't have time to document it properly. Sody and I have been babysitting a ton, four days a week. Some are half days, some are full, some have been double booked (babysit for one family in the morning, rush home to let Sody nap, then straight to another family house for afternoon babysitting), and some afternoons I have had two kids to watch along with Sody. Which is all about as hectic as it sounds. Basically we are just always running around somewhere, to and from Berkeley a thousand times a week, and Isota is logging lots of carseat time. Too bad they don't give out travel miles for that like they do for airplanes.

In any case, because of all this running around I haven't been whipping out the camera much lately. And lord knows that I don't want to spend my limited free time on the computer. Even right now, writing this as Sody is napping, all I am thinking of is the laundry that needs to be folded and the laundry that needs to be washed and the dishes piling up in the sink and the cupcakes I want to make but the real food I need to make for Sody's meals this week and how I have hardly any produce left for her but god knows when I am going to get to the grocery store. Etc. This is what my days have been like. Just trying to keep my head above water and everyone happy and fed.

The good side to all of this is that Isota is getting regular playmates. When I tell we are going to So-and-So's house to play, she laughs and claps. She knows their neighborhoods now, too, so when we get close to the houses she starts getting super excited. There's lots of walks and parks and friends and different toys, so all of that can't be too bad, right? Hopefully a fair trade-off for getting dragged all over town all week.

Hip Hop

2010-07-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

...hippy to the hippy to the hip-hip-hop and ya don't stop...

We're Back

2010-07-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the little hiatus, folks. I have a good excuse for last week, so let's rewind a bit: we went to Sacramento for Fourth of July weekend. Hung out at my parents empty house (yes, they were on another cruise), went to our favorite pizza place, tried the pool and discovered Sody was so not into it this year as she was last year. Always fun to take a half hour to get sunscreened up, squeeze her into a swim diaper and suit and baby floaty thing...and then two minutes after being in the pool the whole thing ends in tears. Ah well. We'll keep trying.

On the Fourth we headed to our friends BBQ - they have 2 boys and a ton of backyard toys so it pretty much spelled heaven for Isota. It was great up until our car started making very bad noises on the way home. Took it into the shop and sure enough, the transmission was nearly kaput. Soooo...sent Joe back to the Bay on the train - some unfortunate souls have to get to real jobs - and Sody and I hung out in Sac for the remainder of the week waiting for the car. It was...quiet. We took many walks. We made interesting meals foraged from my parents' pantry. We snuggled in their gigantic bed. We splashed our feet in the pool. (Sitting at the edge with only feet in = fun for her; whole body in = terrifying). A sort of forced vacation, I guess. Not where we thought we would spend the week, but relaxing in its own way.

So that was last week. This week I've just been too busy/lazy to update. I will try to be better!

Eighteen Months

2010-07-02T15:47:00.001-07:00

"I am one-and-a-half and FABULOUS!!!"

Cute Product Alert

2010-06-26T11:59:00.001-07:00

So I bought this new snack tray for Isota and I love it so much I am devoting a whole blog post to it. It's called a Nibble Tray, and in addition to being uber-cute and pineapple shaped, it is extremely useful: divided sections for an array of snacks, plus a removable and freezable green section that can hold cold stuff like dips, yogurt, etc. Plus a lid and BPA-free plastic. Score! The reason I am loving it so much is that Isota is definitely not thrilled about sitting so still for high chair meals at the moment. It's way more fun to run around and stand up and graze at the living room table to refuel. Not the best habit, but definitely a toddler trait at this age. I am kind of a stickler about nutrition and can get a little hyper over her meals, about what she eats and what she refuses. (Though I think I am getting a bit more relaxed about it, I swear!) She is getting a bit pickier now, not inhaling vegetables with the same fervor she used to, but I still need to offer up all the good stuff like that every day. As the wisdom goes, it's the parent's job to provide the healthful food and the kid's job to decide what and how much of it she wants to eat. This little snack tray wonder lets me fill it with calorie/nutrient dense snacks, Sody can choose what she wants and how much she wants, and I can rest easy that I am offering up a variety of nutrients. She may still refuse some stuff, but so far she seems more willing to try something if it's in the tray. Maybe it's just more fun to eat out of a pineapple.

Plus, the lid makes it portable and easy for when we go babysitting. Have I mentioned that I have sort-of gone back to work? Three days a week I babysit and Sody comes with me. Three different families, three great kids, all close-ish in age to Isota. The kids get a playmate, we get a little extra dough, I get exhausted. Fun times!

I Love My Dad, Even When I Am Sick

2010-06-22T12:29:00.001-07:00

Father's Day Weekend: the zoo, brunch with my folks, and mini ice cream cones. The reason Sody looks a little zonked in these shots is because she caught yet another cold, and this one is a really good and disgusting drippy one. Poor thing. Here's the pic that sums up the day:

We did have a lovely brunch, despite the looks of that one above. Though in a haze of brunch cocktails and chatter, we all neglected to notice Sody eating jam out of a packet WITH A KNIFE. A dull butter knife that can barely cut through toast probably, but still - a knife. Eating jam straight is one (terrible) thing, but doing it in that fashion is just a whole new level of parental neglect. Witness:

Later, she was feeling so crappy and acting like such a trooper I felt like I had to reward her efforts with an ice cream. She handed it back to me after only a couple bites. A kid who won't finish her ice cream is definitely a sick kid.

The day before we headed out for Isota's first time at the Oakland Zoo. The sun bear and the giraffes were a hit, but the carousel ride...not so much. Of course, who can blame her - sick and sleepy and your parents make you ride a giant fake chimp that goes in circles. She must think adults are totally nuts.

Australia, You Are Lucky

2010-06-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we lost some friends to Australia. That is to say we have some Australian friends who have lived here a few years and last weekend they moved back to Australia. I am not happy about this one bit. Not only did they take their rad selves back, but they also took their insanely adorable son Lenny with them. He is one week older than Isota and kind of her soulmate/boyfriend. We basically have wedding plans underway for the two little nuggets.

We met Dan and Alice when Alice and I were both pregnant and enrolled in Childbirth Preparation classes through our hospital. Joe and I clicked pretty quickly with them, which seems to be kind of a rare thing when you are an adult. It's hard to make new friends as a grownup. When you are younger you have the confines of the school day, or a dorm room, or whatever to throw you together and help you with those bonds. And you have the luxury of time. When everyone grows up, they get lives and jobs and kids and all of that stuff precludes all the easy going hanging out that seems necessary to find and keep a proper friend. You just have to work so much harder at making friend time as an adult. Coordinating schedules. Making sure the kids are all taken care of. Making sure you yourself can stay awake for a night out. Etc. But when you do find people that you click with, you really want to make that friend time happen. It's a little more precious. You want to hang on to it, preserve it, foster it.

That's Dan and Alice to us. Add in to the equation the fact that our kids get on so well, and it's pretty perfect. We noticed it from the very first time Lenny and Sody met - they were just itty bitty things, couldn't do much more than lay on a blanket, but still we saw how they gravitated toward each other. They would kind of stick together, roll to each other, grab each other's hands. Very very cute to watch your tiny baby make her first friend. We all didn't get to hang out nearly enough over the past year - jobs and schedules and lives be damned! - but we already miss you guys. We will think of you every time we read "One Wooly Wombat."

the happy couple meets for the first time

hanging out at ten months old

Isota on the last night she saw lenny

(really, this face is because she was waaaaay past her bedtime - but in her heart of hearts I think she was missing him)

Badminton, Anyone?

2010-06-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

With all this pretty weather lately, Isota thought she needed to brush up on her outdoor summer game skills. One always must be prepared in case one gets invited to a toddler badminton party.

Older and Hopefully Wiser

2010-06-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

June 2 brought Joe's birthday and Isota's 17 month birthday, not that anyone is keeping count around here. Since Sody so generously gave Joe a big fat gross cold for his birthday, we had a nice little low-key birthday dinner here to celebrate: mac n' cheese, brussels sprouts (yes, that is my husband's fave), garlic bread, marble cake and ice cream. Joe wasn't feeling 100% and neither was Sody, which became obvious when she didn't attack the birthday cake with much gusto. Still, it was lovely to sit together at the dining room table and share a meal - a rarity that hopefully becomes less so as time goes on. The little stuff like that really does go far.

Happy Birthday, Hubs!! Middle age looks good on you. ;)

Sody vs. Sugar. Discuss.

2010-05-29T10:08:00.000-07:00

Like most kids, the girl has a sweet tooth. I try not to feed into it too much, but she definitely has formed some kind of baby radar to search and find and just know what is a treat and what isn't. The other night I picked up some food at a Greek cafe and of course got a couple pieces of baklava for dessert. Now I am quite sure Sody has never had baklava or even heard the word "baklava" in her 17 months, but she still bypassed all the hummus and pita and falafel and zeroed in on the baklava and begged me ("uh, uh, uh!!!!") to open that package. She just knew there was a delicious treat in there. I have no idea how kids instinctively know this stuff.

Yesterday we made cupcakes together. I stand her up on a stool and she "helps" by pushing my mini spatula around the mixing bowl. Not to mention she makes a five minute task take about 25 minutes...but what can you do? Anyway, the second I turned my head to check the recipe, Little Miss took a measuring spoon and dipped it in the bowl and ate a spoonful of sugar. I caught the tail end of the act and she had this crazy bewildered look on her face at first, like she couldn't believe what she was eating. Then it turned into this face:

It reminds me of a something that happened a while ago that still cracks me up every time I think of it. First, I need to paint a little picture of what a typical morning looks like around Chez Finlaw: Sody wakes up first, duh. Sometimes there is some crying, sometimes she is babbling to her stuffed monkey, Chuck D, and sometimes she is just waiting quietly for someone to come rescue her from the confines of the crib. We get her and bring her back to our bed and if it's really ungodly early (like pre-6:30 am) we pray that she falls back asleep with us for a bit. This usually does not happen, as no one seemed to give babies the memo that sleeping in rules. So she plays in our bed for a bit, like with the books sitting on the headboard (have I mentioned how awesome it is to be woken up by a fat hard cover library book falling on your head?) or the few toys I have stashed up there while Joe and I try to catch a tiny bit more rest before really having to get up and face the world. Sometimes in my groggy state I let her climb out of the bed and go explore. I can usually tell where she is and what she is playing with based solely on the sound the toys make. And you know if there is complete silence she has found something naughty that she shouldn't be playing with.

So the other morning I let her out of bed and she toddled out to the living room. Instead of heading to her toy box with all its lively and noisy toys, there was nothing but quiet. I dragged myself out of bed to investigate, turned the corner to the living room, and found this little nugget:

Doublefisting the chocolate chip cookies I had (stupidly) left out on the coffee table the night before! I cracked up and she offered me one, like, "Here, Mom, join me for this amazing breakfast!" So generous, no? Needless to say, I check and double check the coffee table now before heading to bed.

Lest You Think it's all Rainbows and Butterflies

2010-05-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

Today was kind of a rough one. "Rough" is all relative, though, and having an off day with Isota is nothing compared with how some kids act. Believe me, I know how good and easy I have it. But today was the first time where I started to see what we may be in for soon. As we close in on a year and a half, we are flirting dangerously close with the infamous Terrible Twos. Today was a glimpse: Isota doing a lot of her demanding grunts/noises ("Uh! Uh! UH!" along with pounding on something) and pulling books off shelves and touching things she shouldn't touch. As well as my new personal favorite where she lets lets her whole body go limp and tries to fall to the ground in protest of me picking her up. Oy. And intellectually, I *know* it's all age related and I *know* she has to go through this stuff to mature...but sometimes it's just hard not to take a smack in the face personally, you know? She is just getting so big and turning into her own person. And realizing she is her own person. Complete with the power to do what she wants instead of what we tell her. "Hm, should I toss this plate of pasta onto the floor even though every time I throw food on the floor Mama tells me not to? Sure, why not??"

I know what you are all saying: It's only the beginning, Mama...

Genius

2010-05-17T16:03:00.000-07:00

Ever feel like putting your lima beans in the dishwasher when you don't want to eat them? She is clever, this one.

2009 = 0, 2010 = 1

2010-05-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

So last weekend was, of course, Mother's Day. And this year's Mother's Day totally kicked last year's Mother's Day's tushie. Last year we had big brunch plans and I was so excited to dress my tiny baby up in a cute little ridiculous dress and show her off for my first official Mother's Day. Yes, that is shallow and misses the real point of why we celebrate the day for our moms, but c'mon - what good is it to have an adorable baby girl if you can't dress her up and show her off every once in a while?? Plus, I need to embrace these moments before she starts getting opinions about clothes and doesn't let me dress her. Which I fear is actually not that far off. But I digress. So, anyway, last year: the day before the big day I had a gallbladder attack which left me in pain and scared to eat anything, so our brunch plans got canceled. Boo. We still had a nice time with my parents at their house but later I realized I didn't even get a picture of my girl and me together. And by the time I thought of it Isota was in the middle of a meltdown over something or other, totally ready for bed and hating life in that moment. So the only picture that exists of our first Mother's Day together has her red and and bleary eyed and crying, which really isn't a decent representation of our dear at all. Oh well. Memories, right?

Cut to this year: Brunch happened, a cute dress happened, showing her off happened. And the hubs got me a gorgeous cookbook from a gorgeous restaurant that I love. 2010 definitely wins this round!

East Coast Invasion, Part 2

2010-05-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

The influx of Finlaw family members continued last week with the arrival of Joe's parents and brother, also known as Mom Mom and Pop Pop and Uncle Cory. The sole purpose of the trip was to hang out with Miss Sody (natch), and we managed to squeeze in some donuts and cheesesteaks and sightseeing and the Jelly Belly factory along with that. 'Twas awesome. Check it:

One of the cutest things about this trip was how Sody fell a little bit more in love with her uncle. Sometimes we would just catch her looking at him with this goofy smile, just totally happy and content. Look at these two - storytimes, feeding each other, serious conversations. I think it's Isota's first crush.

She Probably Doesn't Miss the Couch, Though

2010-04-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

Joe's sister Courtney flew out from the East Coast last week to get some serious hang-time with her niece. And maybe even to see Joe and me a little, too. She provided much fun and entertainment and even a little babysitting for us. And we provided the deluxe accommodations of our living room couch for her. You live large when you stay with us, people. Isota had a ball with her aunt here. Every morning was a little treat for her to come out to the living room to find a sleeping Courtney...you could almost see her little baby brain trying to figure out the best way to wake her up so they could start playing. Sorry you didn't get to sleep in on your vacation, Courtney. Come back soon, we miss you!

Don't You Forget About Me

2010-04-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

So woefully and hopelessly behind on posting; have you given up on us? I just noticed the last pictures I put up showed Joe clean shaven...well, folks, he has a beard again. That is how long it's been. My excuses? Pretty much your garden variety "busy" stuff: Easter and a visit from Joe's sister and life and babysitting jobs and entertaining a one year old until you are too tired to dig out the computer once you get her into bed. The usual. So I will back up to where I left off and keep the yapping to a minimum because all you really want to see are cute pictures of the Babe, right?

For Easter we went to Napa to meet up with my parents and our friends the Hughes for a lovely brunch. Isota was so well behaved that I could actually enjoy my meal, too - AND she managed to keep her new white-and-peach colored dress clean. So...success! Her Easter basket was comprised mostly of play balls of various sizes because she is currently obsessed with balls. (Go ahead and get your mind out of the gutter, please.) I also got her some totally-inappropriate-on-many-levels Mardi Gras beads at the drugstore because she picked them out herself and fell in love with them and I am a big ol' pushover sometimes. Fear not, we quickly realized what a hazardous toy those beads are and they have since mysteriously disappeared into Mom's sock drawer. Let's hear it for the short memories on a one year old.

Next up...Aunt Courtney comes to visit!

If You Don't Think a Baby in Sunglasses is Cute...

2010-03-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

...well, then, I am pretty sure you don't have a soul.

2003 Was Good, Though

2010-03-25T23:06:00.000-07:00

So I went out the other night. This was remarkable not only because I don’t often go out at night anymore, but also because I am hardly ever without the baby, period. I guess that is weird. It doesn’t feel weird until I say it in a sentence like that – we are always together. I used to think people who were never apart from their kids were definitely strange. That it was sad they didn’t understand the need for time alone, for time with their spouses, for the time to take care of themselves so that they would be in shape to take care of the kids. But here I am. Intellectually I understand the need for all these things – and I do get all them, not in big doses, but I do - but when it comes down to it, in a nutshell, I find her hard to leave.

One explanation for this is that she is just such an insanely easy baby. She is happy all the damn time! Good sleeper, good eater, so friendly and good-natured. People really do stop me all the time to say what a happy baby I have. But beyond all that…before she was born, I just think I didn’t expect to like being around her quite so much. I knew I would love her more than anything I had ever laid eyes on, but I guess I didn’t know how much I would just plain like her, too. She is fun. She makes other things more fun when she is there. So leaving her behind – even for a few hours – isn’t easy. Especially when she is bawling her eyes out and reaching for the door when you leave, like the other night.

All that said, it was delicious being out in the world by myself. Old friends, cold beer and live music is pretty much always a home run, and this night didn’t disappoint. There was a definite air of going back in time. As my friend TaggyLee put it, “Tonight we are partying like it’s 2003!” And we did, and we made the most of being out, and we came home too late and paid the price the next day. But it was worth it. Fun to step back into my old life for the evening but I wouldn’t trade my new life for anything. I mean, look – this little face didn’t exist in 2003 – why go back??

Well, At Least it Will Be Easy to Pick Out Christmas Gifts For Her

2010-03-23T00:06:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows the old adage about kids liking packaging more than the actual gifts they receive, yadda yadda yadda. I have always just kind of thought it was a silly/cute thing people say but the other night I saw the idea in action and it truly is a wonder. *Anything* can be a toy. Case in point: Isota got into Joe's laundry and bonded with a particular pair of (clean) underwear. She spent at least twenty minutes with this pair of shorts, just walking all over the house putting them on her head and then taking them off. Fitting her head through the leg holes. Walking around with them covering her face. Laughing her underwear-covered-head off. Etc. It was a little bit weird but a lot bit funny.

Green Day

2010-03-17T22:31:00.000-07:00

Isota partied hard for St. Pat's Day. Did you?

I Simply Cannot Get Anything Done Before My Morning Caffeine Fix

2010-03-10T21:28:00.000-08:00

Happiness is Living Close to a Good Park

2010-03-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

The insanely beautiful weather yesterday necessitated a walk down to the park for us. And now that Isota is a card-carrying member of the Walking Upright Society, she has waaaaay more fun at the park than she ever did before. Mastering her balance on the sand, following other kids around, picking up little bits of nature (and sometimes trash, ick) off the ground: it all has become a very big deal. She beams with happiness. Which means we do, too.

Moving, Walking, Settling In

2010-03-04T22:34:00.000-08:00

So, obviously, a lot has been going on at Baby Finlaw HQ but I haven't found a lot of time to properly document it all. I do believe a few posts back I said I would report on the difficulty of a move with a newborn vs. a one year old...and I am going to officially say it is harder with a one year old. For the simple fact that one year olds MOVE. We were lucky enough to have friends and family pitching in a lot to help us out - and my parents watched Isota a lot as well - so the actual physical part of moving tons of boxes from one city to another was smoother this time, actually. After all, we are sort of becoming pros at this move-every-year thing (unfortunately) so we can get it down to a science. The hard part came after all the boxes were in, everything waiting to be unpacked, everything stacked weirdly and perched precariously on top of each other, everything threatening to be a danger to a toddler on the move. And as anyone with a one year old can attest to - it is very difficult to get anything productive done while they are awake. Slowly but surely it is all shaping up to look like a home, though. We will get there.

But! Amidst all the hubbub of moving, Isota managed to hit a huge milestone: she started walking. Literally, like, the day after we moved in, she just kind of walked off away from me across the room like it was no big deal. Up to that point she had been doing little steps here and there, maybe three at a time, but that day was it. And ever since she just keeps practicing and getting better and seems to love being so mobile. The crawl has been left in the dust, friends. And it's insanely cute to see the stumbly little walk in action. I could watch it forever.

Unfortunately I didn't really get any good walking pictures yet (took some video but it's sideways so I don't think you want to tilt your head and watch it that way) so you just get some recent random stuff. Settling in. Happy times.

...except for the colds we caught...

A Question

2010-03-02T23:36:00.000-08:00

So Sody, what do you think of our new neighborhood so far?

Yep, that about sums it up.

Happy Anniversary, Doo

2010-03-01T21:42:00.000-08:00

This post is dedicated to my spectacular husband on our 2nd wedding anniversary. One these years, Joe, we won't move anywhere near March 1 and thus have the energy to celebrate. Next year, maybe?

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T12:55:00.001-08:00

A day late and a dollar short, as they say...but if you saw the state of my house right now you would commend me for blogging at all. The dismantling and packing up of our abode continues: a flurry of boxes and tape and a little one who tries to unpack the boxes as soon as you fill them. I wonder what she thinks is happening right now. Her toys and clothes are slowly disappearing into big brown boxes and each day there is increasingly less space to play in here. We forge on; she is a great sport about it.

We had a sweet Valentine's Day. The Friday before we went out to a fancy dinner with my parents and Isota behaved perfectly. It helped that there happened to be live music that night so no one would care if a small child decided to, say, sing "Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!" over and over at a louder-than-normal volume. And then yesterday there were lovely gifts from Dad and a lunch date/last hurrah at our favorite pizza joint here. Now I am going to go water my roses and enjoy these last few moments of naptime with a delicious piece of chocolate. Or three.

And I, I Will Survive

2010-02-08T23:14:00.001-08:00

Sheesh, what a week. So after Sody was sick the rest of us all fell like dominos: me then Joe then Grandpa. Somehow Grandma mostly managed to avoid The Illness (stomach bug, virus, who knows what it was? I will spare you the gory details) and I think the worst is all behind us now. Whew. Beyond feeling icky, the big news in these parts is that we are moving! Again! Yes, folks, it's time to once again make room for yet another entry in your address books for us. (Perhaps you should start writing those in pencil...) Destination: back to our beloved East Bay. When: two weeks. Question to ponder: what's worse - moving with a one year old in tow, or with a newborn like we did last year? I'm going to vote one year old, but time will be telling very shortly. Will report back with the results. Over and out.

i love this chair because i can get in it all by myself

gettin' bored

"stop taking my picture, mama!"

Buggy

2010-02-01T15:12:00.000-08:00

Sody caught a bug so we are taking a sick day today: staying in our jammies, downing the Pedialyte and setting up shop in the living room with about a thousand blankies and pillows. There is a lot of cuddling going on today. Here is what it looks like:

Monkey

2010-01-29T16:40:00.000-08:00

Isota has really started climbing up on things as of last week. I am not sure if it is the recent Gymboree classes (thanks Beth!) that have inspired the acrobatics, or if it is just her age...but it was kind of shocking the first time I left her contentedly playing on the floor and then turned around - literally, five seconds later - to find her sitting in the big green chair. Whaaa?? When did you learn to climb up in the chair?? And the couch? And the ottoman? She does look rather adorable, like a miniature grown-up chilling in the chair and kicking back with the tv after a long day of work/play/mastering the art of drinking from a cup. The best part about it, though, is the look of satisfaction that comes across her face when she gets herself up there. It's this smile she smiles just at herself and you can just tell how proud she is. Hang onto that feeling, Sody-boo. Always be proud of your accomplishments, no matter the size.

Hi Dad

2010-01-25T22:51:00.000-08:00

Kissing is Fun

2010-01-22T22:58:00.000-08:00

They Say It's Your Birthday...Yes, Again.

2010-01-14T23:44:00.000-08:00

If anyone is keeping score, Isota had three First Birthday celebrations this year. #1 was the East Coast party with family and where Sody got her first-ever taste of delicious sugar and fat laden supermarket bakery cake (my personal favorite naughty food). She ate a whole piece and yes, loved it. Duh. The second celebration was her actual birthday here, in which we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory with my parents and the waiters brought out a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a candle in it. Sody looked SO confused about why these people were singing to her. She kept trying to pick up the whole ice cream scoop with her hands and shove it in her mouth. Pretty priceless.

The third and final celebration was this past weekend: her first Real Birthday Party. The kind where you invite over kids and friends and get everyone hopped up on sugary treats and the birthday girl gets to rip open presents. In all honesty I have been thinking about and planning her First Birthday for weeks and weeks – ok, more like months and months, you got me. It is just such a milestone and even though she is too young to remember and really get it, the birthday thing is a big deal. Maybe more of a big deal for us right now, but still a big deal. Plus, party planning and thinking up menus and spending days baking up goodies is all so far, far up my alley…this is truly my idea of a good time. You should have seen the semi-elaborate themed dinner parties I would have in college – Indian Dinner Feast where I made people wear bindis, or Fifties Housewife Night with pot roast while wearing heels and pearls. Etc. What can I say, it’s a sickness. Sody is staring down a future childhood of weird birthday parties, I am afraid.

Anyway, the birthday party was a definite success. The food worked, I think everyone had fun, I made too much candy but that always happens. The party was small enough that we got to hang out with everyone but big enough that it felt festive. Sody got to eat more cake and play with some bigger kids (her favorite thing) and get more practice opening packages. The highlight was the rainbow layered birthday cake – six thin crazy bright layers of cake separated by buttercream frosting. I literally jumped up and down when I cut into it and realized it turned out. Thank you to everyone for your presence and for the presents and for your love in celebrating our baby.

Happy Birthday, Darling Girl. Party season is finally, officially OVER!

Christmastime

2010-01-07T17:42:00.000-08:00

Already feeling like Christmas was ages ago so it’s time to get these pictures up here. Our holiday was fantastic. Basically we spent half of December in New Jersey with Joe’s family. My parents came out for a few days too, so everyone could be together for the baby’s first Christmas. It is always great when we go back for a visit, always hard to leave and come home…but all of that is tenfold with the baby in tow. I am starting to realize how much I truly love big families – Joe has four siblings, FYI – and all the love and camaraderie and teasing and shared meals and chaos and noise and late night talks that come with them. There is always someone to hold and love and play with Sody, always someone to hang out with, always someone to entertain you. Sometimes it feels like utter craziness, too, but it’s the best kind possible. And it makes you even more appreciative of peace and quiet when that comes around!

It was a little more magical in NJ this year, too, because we happened to be there for a huge snowstorm. We bundled up our little lady, made a snowman one day, sledded around a bit and had tons of cocoa when we came back in. It was all very Norman Rockwell. We also discovered Sody loves eating snow – even when her hand was so cold it hurt she would keep going.

So, she had her first snow and first birthday cake (we had a little East Coast pre-birthday celebration for her, along with her Aunt Courtney on her birthday – thanks for sharing the date Courtney!) and first Xmas, where she was spoiled with treats and with love and with family. It was a beautiful trip, one we wish we could make more often. We love and miss you, Mom-mom and Pop-Pop and Cory and Courtney and Jason and Angelina and Ryan and Cousin Ryan and Grandmom and Grandpop and on and on and on! (I told you Joe has a big family.)

ONE

2010-01-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

We are back! It was a great, great trip but I have so many stories and so many pictures that I can't see straight so I have to put all that aside for a bit. My focus at this moment is further back in the past, exactly one year ago. One year ago today was the last day I was pregnant. One year ago today, I was still as big as a house, wondering what my baby was going to look like. And around this time of the evening one year ago, I was making a chocolate cake in my kitchen in Oakland. Then I went to bed. Woke up at 2 in the morning with contractions and a few short hours later we had a baby. When we brought her home the next day, Joe took the partially eaten chocolate cake and wrote "Happy Birthday Sody" on it. Her first birthday cake.

Tomorrow our little baby turns one. Unbelievable.

that was then

this is now

Merry Early Christmas

2009-12-15T00:33:00.000-08:00

We are taking a bit of a hiatus to visit Joe's family in NJ. Merry Christmas, Merry Everything, hope you get lots of goodies in your stockings!

Mom Has a Birthday

2009-12-15T00:07:00.000-08:00

My thirty-third birthday was last week and I spent it with my favorite people doing some of my favorite things: eating and shopping and wandering around a big city. So, birthday success! Started off with breakfast here with my parents (even got a muffin with a candle and the Happy Birthday song from the staff - most people hate/are embarrassed when that happens. I, however, eat it up. Me and my only-child ego love the attention. Love it. Ha.) then the Hubs and the Babe and I took off for San Francisco. In a nutshell: Sody got her first trip on BART, we walked around Union Square and ate at Burger Bar in Macy's. (Nutshell review of that place: SO. GOOD. The meat, the boozy milkshake, the fat fries, the skinny fries, the sweet potato fries - oh, yes! we had them all - I am still thinking about them.) All in all, pretty perfect day.

Eleven Months, holy cow

2009-12-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

Sody turned 11 months old last week, which means the monumental First Birthday is upon us. And it also means we are dangerously close to having a TODDLER on our hands. Peace out, Babyhood.

How, oh how, am I going to remember this little baby body? The way her chubby tummy feels when I kiss it? The softness of this thigh or that roly-poly arm? Sometimes I just stare at her or hug her too long or bury my nose in her little neck and breathe her in – all as though I am trying to burn the senses into my brain. I want to hold onto these things forever, just as I wanted to hold onto her newborn self forever too. You really forget how they feel, how small they are at first. And sometime soon the way she feels now is going to feel so faraway, too. I don’t want to forget.

Last night I let her stay up a little late because we were having too much fun. I sat in a chair and stood her up with her feet balanced on my thighs and looked at my big, strong, amazing girl. She moved in to kiss me (this is a new thing – we ask for kisses and she is just starting to understand) with an open mouth and we both erupted in giggles. I tried so hard to commit the moment to memory: the kiss, the laughs, her sweet face with the gap between her front teeth. And then I gave her about three million tummy kisses and pretended to eat her. There is a script that always goes along with the fake nibbling: “Oh, I am going to eat up this little baby because she is so delicious! Yum yum yum, what a yummy baby!” (yes, I really do sound like this) Over and over and over. Then cue her giggling and the goofiest little grin you have ever seen.

She is just so happy about life. Sometimes I still can’t believe someone this good exists.

The Reader

2009-12-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

Recently I started taking Sody to our local library for their “Baby Lapsit Storytime.” It’s about seven or eight moms and their babies, sitting in a semicircle on the floor while the children’s librarian reads a story and leads some songs and activities. It’s fun. It’s free. It’s sort of social…a little for me but more so for Isota. The chance to see other babies always seems to be a bit of a thrill for her.

What is funny to me about storytime is that the word “lapsit” is in the title of it. Isota has absolutely zero interest in sitting on my lap for any length of time during the half hour. And who could blame her? There are babies to visit, moms to wave to, the librarian to climb up on (how else will you get a closer look at the book??), strangers’ purses and cell phones to find and other kids’ pacifiers to grab. Really, it’s like Baby Disneyland for a half hour. Which means I am basically on my feet going after her the whole time. Up, down, up, down, Sody why don’t we stay here and look at this nice story?

What is strange to me about storytime is that the other kids aren’t quite like this. They all just calmly sit in their mom’s laps. Who are these robot children who don’t move? I don’t get it. On the one hand I think, well, that’s nice – the moms get a little break since they aren’t running after their spirited child the whole time. But mostly I am just dumbfounded and find it a little weird. I know that every kid is different and some there aren’t even at the exploring age yet, but still…where is their curiosity? I love that Isota wants to know everything that is going on in that room. Her curiosity is truly something to behold and encourage. And her charm wins everyone over when she comes over to check them out. I have gotten a couple looks from some particular moms who give me a vibe of “Why can’t you manage your child?” which of course drives me batty as we are talking about the under-1 set. Babies need to explore and do their baby thing! That's how they learn! But whatever, their children will never blaze trails because their moms won’t let them. My girl is going to rule the world. Or at least the library.

We Thanked, We Gave

2009-11-28T10:59:00.000-08:00

More like, we ate and we ate. So Thanksgiving 2009 can be labeled a success. And I think we all know what we were thankful for this year:

p.s. Sody seemed to like everything except turkey. go figure.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

2009-11-21T21:06:00.000-08:00

She’s just so big now, I can’t get over it. Each time I reach to get her out of her crib or I pick her up when she holds out her chubby little arms, it’s like, “Oof! When did you get so heavy!” How did this happen? How did 10+ months go by so fast? I look at her baby book – (actually, I should say I look at one of her baby books – we keep many: journals, photos, scrapbook, you name it) and I just can’t believe my eyes when I look at pictures from last winter. Brand new Sody with her wrinkly skin and scrawny chicken legs, stretching out her whole body and sleeping with her little fist propped up on her cheek. I miss that newborn baby, I do. I miss swaddling up that little bundle and being able to carry her around in one arm. I miss watching her sleep on Joe’s chest. I miss the teeny clothes and diapers and I really miss a baby that never wiggled around and objected during a diaper change.

But of course, that newborn has been replaced by the funniest and most fun baby ever, which is alright by me. Every single day more facets of Sody’s personality come out and I realize that we don’t just have a baby - we have a real Person now. A person with her own specific tickle spots and curiosity and desires and a cute cowlick on the side of her head when she sleeps on her hair funny. A person with a squishy scrunchy grin that comes out so often I can’t help but think there couldn’t possibly be a happier or friendlier baby on this planet.

This morning we lounged in bed together –as well as one can lounge at 6:45 a.m. – and she started her own game of peek-a-boo with herself and the bedsheet, just giggling to herself. My heart gets a little bigger each time I catch moments like this, and there are so many. She is just so sweet and funny.

Sody Lou, your mama loves you like you wouldn’t believe. Way more than I could ever describe with this computer.

Scary Bear

2009-11-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

Lately we have noticed a new emotion Isota seems to be experiencing: fear. She doesn't display often but there is one thing in particular that has set her off, and that thing is a stuffed bear. We have this big brown stuffed bear that has always sat around the house...either our room or her room but mostly in the living room with all her other toys. He is huge and soft and cuddly and she has always seemed to like him just fine. But one day Joe was playing with her and made the bear do a low growl and the noise freaked out Sody so much. Her eyes got wide, her arms started flapping like, "Get me outta here, quick!" and the tears were soon to follow. Cruel parents that we are, we found the whole scene a little bit funny because she is just never like that.

So now he is Scary Bear and I sit him in the corner so she can go play with him when she feels brave enough. Lately I have been watching her go up to him, feeling his face and trying to make friends with him again. My little girl, facing her fears. She is a brave little soldier.

Weeeeeekend

2009-11-17T21:17:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely, mellow-ish weekend around here: dinner at my parents with old family friends Friday, puttering around the house on Saturday, and a visit from my college buds Melissa and Adam on Sunday, who roadtripped down from Portland with their almost-two-year-old son Stellan. Unfortunately the visit was so short and sweet that I forgot to snap any pictures of the kids together (doh!) so you are just going to have to trust me that they were very cute. Stellan is adorable and very well-behaved, even when Sody was trying to swipe his toy trucks away from him. Come back soon, you guys!

Random weekend pictures:

When Dad is Away...

2009-11-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

...the mice have Dinner Dance Parties! Which means turning up the iPod with *my* tunes and dancing and singing like a fool for Sody while she eats her dinner. Oh, how I love a captive audience. And what an audience she is:

Ten Months

2009-11-07T10:35:00.000-08:00

Isota turned ten months old last week. I made a pumpkin pie in her honor but it came out pretty ugly so no picture of that. (I made it with a real pumpkin - the baking kind, sugar pumpkin - and it just wasn't as good as the canned stuff, it pains me to say.) So ten months, double digit age, and her skill set just keeps getting bigger and bigger. As of this writing she can now: crawl at lightning speed, pull herself up, cruise around furniture, clap her hands on command and babble really well in babyspeak. But her absolute favorite activity right now is waving. She waves at anyone and everything. We walk into a store and she waves at everyone we pass, smiling like a maniac and basically charming the pants off people. We go to a restaurant and every table around us and every waiter passing by gets a wave - the other night we eventually just turned the highchair around so she could face the whole restaurant and find more people to wave at.

But my absolute favorite wave is when I put her down for naptime. She gets all sleepy eyed and still in her crib and when I say "night night" right before shutting her door and leaving I see her little tired hand raise up and wave bye bye at me. Kills me every time.

Chicken Little

2009-11-02T10:30:00.000-08:00

Isota's First Ever Halloween: Oakland, street parade, pumpkin patch with her friend Remy the Snowman, hanging out with her friend Lenny the Leopard, pizza and trick-or-treating til she passed out. So, a success! She was dressed as a chicken, obviously, and I was a farmer and Joe was a chimney sweep, which had nothing to do with the farm theme but he looked cool. Good times.

Eating is Our Hobby

2009-10-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

Isota's eating habits have been one area of child rearing in which I have been particularly anxious. Not that she has given me any reason to be...just that, even before I had a kid, I have always been a little worried about getting a picky eater. Food looms so large in my life (shopping for it, reading about it, thinking about it, cooking it and of course eating it, duh) that I would definitely be a little sad if my child only wanted the classic "kid foods" like chicken nuggets or turned up her nose at vegetables. Apparently I was the sort of freak child who cheered when she could have seconds on spinach, and I would love love love if Isota could be like that too. I strive to make fresh fruits and veggies and whole, real foods part of her everyday diet so things like seeing green vegetables is just a normal habit.

Now, I realize Isota is still new to the whole eating thing - and of course she is going to change and what applies now may not apply next month or even tomorrow - but so far she is an amazing and fearless eater. Last week's dinners included things like salmon patties (salmon, mashed potatoes, egg yolk), pasta with my very chunky homemade tomato sauce (mushrooms, carrots, olives, celery, onions), chicken, garlic bread, beets, and brussel sprouts. She tries and seems to like everything. And I am not kidding - she cheers when she sees me get out the green beans or especially broccoli. The girl LOVES broccoli. I hope she hangs on to that feeling her whole life.

The last picture here is an apple she grabbed out of my bag and went to town on. Her little teeth were working so hard!

p.s. hi doobs! how is berkeley today?