nelno. alla. and tata.

today was an unseasonably warm winter day and we enjoyed it by going to the central park zoo and nearby playground. since we had only abt 10 minutes at the zoo before closing, sophia ate her snack while watching the sea lions jumping, diving and eating their own meal. then we walked over to the playground, met up with sophia's good friend and played some more. it was a good day.

sophia is nearly 21 months. she is communicating a lot more - still less verbal and more gestural/sign language. each morning she wakes up, calls for mama or baba (sometimes maba, and sometimes tata, who is jungles, her bestest monkey friend or nelno, aka elmo), nurses, goes on the potty (whether she pees or not is her choice and always a surprise to us), reads a few books (usually an alla, aka dora, book), brushes her teeth, eats breakfast and then is ready for the day. each day has an activity or two which helps provide some structure for her and sanity for me.

recently i've been working on the alphabet with her. she knows "O" and will find it and tell me where she sees it. i started playing a game with her that goes, "A" is for audrey, your very good friend. "B" is for baba, who loves you very much. "C" is for cyrus, you saw him today. "D" is for dora, she goes on fun adventures, "E" is for elmo, oh, how you love him, etc... (all the while singing the alphabet tune). it's amazing how she remembers things when she's 'connected' to them. now she will point out E for elmo, J for jungles, S for sophia, O, M for mama, B for baba, D for doo-chi (belly button) or dora.

during naptime and nighttime sleep, sophia always asks for nelno or tata. even though she knows she can't ever take nelno with her (cuz she plays with him too much by banging his plastic eyeballs against the crib) she will still ask each time. thankfully she quickly gives him a kiss and doesn't put up a fight when i say she can't take him. then she asks for tata. she loves tata so much. it's really adorable. her eyes light up and she makes me play this game she's been enjoying where tata's long arms cover his eyes, only to slowly come undone and jiggle towards her. she gets such a laugh from it.

ten things i love about you, my sweet SP.
{1} the way your eyes light up when you find something funny
{2} you doughy legs and chubby feet
{3} watching you sleep
{4} hearing you call 'mama' (over and over and over and over and over again)
{5} your big smile and loud chortle laugh
{6} the way your little legs (and arms) move so fast when you're running
{7} your love for YI
{8} your baobao (hugs) and ching ching (kisses)
{9} nursing time
{10} seeing you become gentler and kinder with your friends

and a proper blog entry isn't complete without some recent photos....

  

remembering...

the hurricane

a hurricane is coming our way. it feels surreal to me. as i watched our bathtub fill with water, i thought of the many natural disasters that happen around the world and the people that are affected.

i thought about hurricane katrina, about the aftermath and the many flooded homes. i remembered the oily soot on the floor of the home we demolished, the photo albums that were destroyed from the water, the mice and roaches that jumped out of the wall we broke down, the piles and piles of belongings that once meant something to someone, now unusable...

we're praying for mercy and for the hurricane to lose speed and head east into the water. pray with us knowing that our God is a powerful and merciful God.

you are one.

dear sophia,
you turned 1 yesterday! :) time has really flown by just as everyone said it would.

we were so happy to finally meet you!

i look at you and marvel at who you have become. sounds silly since you've only turned 1 but you've changed so much. in the beginning, you were so little (2 days past term and at a teeny 5lbs 11oz) and completely dependent on us. you looked like daddy, slept super well, nursed ok (though i thought 'never enough'), enjoyed observing everyone and were super mellow. in the early months, you made 'dinosaur' squeaks, slept with your hands in mid-air, spit up A LOT (sad), and often smiled in your sleep. your chubbiest ever was at 2 months when you were a whoppin' 18%! :) hehe. your cheeks were so full then and your legs had a few extra folds!

you always had so many different cute expressions within seconds of each other. mommy would snap away on the camera and would have 10 totally different photos within seconds. daddy always had so much fun looking at them too.

every day we read together. it's one of my favorite things to do with you. you used to stare at the photos, now you always turn the pages for us. mommy loves when you chuckle because you think something is funny.

you learned how to roll over, sit, crawl, pull up and walk while holding onto something. you started eating solids at 6 months and found much enjoyment in gaining ability of the pincer grasp. each day you seem to learn something new. it's exciting for mommy to see you develop each day.

there's so much more to say but mommy doesn't have time right now since your birthday party is on saturday and mommy has a few things to take care of! :)

we'll end with a few photos of some fun times you've recently had. we love you dear sophia.

at the playground. you are crawling and pulling up everywhere!

our first time at the conservatory garden in central park. :)

momma discovered something that you love to do!

we also realized that you LOVE doggies. this is shyla, the sharpae

oh, how you laughed so happily, esp when she licked your forehead!

at the brooklyn botanic gardens. to see the cherry blossoms. :)

back at the playground. you so enjoy this tic-tac-toe game.

i'm so confused. what happened to my daughter who loves to sleep? after a week of sleeping terribly, i thought sophia wanted to transition to 1 nap. we started fresh today by going out for a nice walk to the playground and i brought her back around 11 ready to implement this new plan. she seemed plenty tired but when i placed her into her crib at 11.40am (that's nearly 5 hrs of wake time which is not her norm), she did not go to sleep.

first she talked to herself and cried a little, then she sat up and scaled the crib bars. suddenly, she fell backwards and i heard the *thunk* of her head hitting the mattress and then some more cries. she proceeded to get up and is now half mumbling and half crying while up on her knees.

WHAT IS GOING ON? it's so frustrating to watch an extremely tired baby girl not go to sleep. it's also so frustrating to not know how to help her.

:(

transitioning from 2-1 naps

i never thought sophia would transition from 2 to 1 naps so early. she is 11.5 months and this past week she's been fighting her naps (and subsequently, bedtime) like mad. it drove me UP THE WALL since she normally sleeps so so so so well. it seemed she made a conscious decision on Tuesday to stop napping. WHAT???

looking online provided other accounts of similar experiences and made me realize that sophia, at 11.5 months may not be too young to transition over. it also gave me some hope that this is indeed what was happening to our previous sleep champ and not that she was just going to fight us for the hell of it.

on Tuesday, i put her down for her usual 1st nap at 915am and she cried til 1115, then slept til 12, when i woke her because the book i like says it's ok to wake them if you're trying to maintain their schedule. she refused her second nap which was at 250.

on Wednesday, i put her down for her usual 1st nap at 930am and she cried til 1130, then slept til 1250 when she woke on her own. friends had suggested i let her sleep as long as she wanted. instinctually, i knew this would be bad news for her 'schedule' but really, our schedule was not much of a schedule since she was rebelling all naps. i didn't put her down for her second nap since she wouldn't have slept and then it would have cut too close to bedtime.

on Thursday, i started really losing it. i put her down for her usual 1st nap at 930am (3 hrs after she woke on that day) and she cried for 2 hrs and then i finally picked her up since it became apparent that either she wasn't going to nap at all or she would nap but would miss her lunch and any play time for the day. i was so upset. we went out for lunch since i thought the fresh air would do us both good, got her back and put her down for her '2nd' nap at 145. she fell asleep so quickly - i thought it was magic and was so thankful for the peace and a sleeping baby. she slept for 2 hrs and then woke but when i went to get her, she started crying. in past times, this means that she's not ready to be picked up. still, i was already in her room so i picked her up. she continued to fuss and cry so i just put her back in her crib and within a few minutes, she was back asleep. she slept til 440pm, when i decided it was time to make some noise and wake her up since i had to preserve her bedtime.

this is when i really started to think that maybe our sophia was asking for just 1 longer nap. it didn't really make sense since she still seemed tired and ready for a nap in the morning hr (aka 1st nap) but she wasn't taking it. still, i had to try one more time.

so, on Friday (today), i put her down at 1015am (my logic being that maybe she just needed a little more wake time in the a.m.) and she just sat in her crib and talked and cried until i picked her up at 1140am. again, i was seething and not understanding why she didn't just nap when it seemed she wanted to nap. we ate lunch and i put her down at 110pm. she fell asleep shortly after. and she's waking now, at 320pm.

hopefully this entry will bring light to another mommy struggling to figure out why the sudden change in her child's sleep routine. when did your child transition from 2-1 naps and how did you know this was what was happening?

our trek to bay ridge, brooklyn ::

today, sophia and i went to her buddy's 1st birthday party. it was a beautiful day in new york and after her first nap, we ate lunch and then were on our way. the party was in bay ridge which is abut 1.5 hrs away from our home.

i am amazed by our little sophia. God has given us a baby girl with such a mellow and sweet temperament.

on the subway, she smiled and giggled with people and imitated their hand motions and head bobbles. when we crossed the bridge from nyc to brooklyn, she gazed out the window, her eyes filled with curiosity. when we arrived at my friend's apartment, she played on the ground by herself and had numerous 'conversations' with the other guests. my heart is filled with love for my baby girl.