Belly Photo

12-28-05
Originally uploaded by Granik Family.

Just so you can compare with the sister.

The flip side

Here is how I found Zofia sleeping when I went to check on her last night.
Also, check out a bunch of new photos on the Yahoo! site.

For Cousin Julia and Grandpa

This video is specially dedicated to Grandpa and Cousin Julia, who have been volunteered to teach Zofia swimming and soccer, respectively. As you can see by the video, she shows early promise in both sports.

Father-Daughter Day

This past Saturday I had a training to do at H&R Block so Roger had Zofia all to himself for most of the day. They went to a gingerbread party at Whole Foods where Zofia got to decorate her own gingerbread man. According to Roger (and the pictures) the only decorations she wanted to use were Jelly Beans, and she kept eating the banana chips. They had a really fun day together.

Zofia can count!

Seriously...I don't know if this is unusual for a 17 month old child, but she can count to ten. And she is not just reciting, she gets what it means. Yesterday she was picking up pebbles outside and handing them to me; I said 1, then she said 2, 3, then I said 4, 5, 6 and she said 7, 8, 9 and 10! Today in the car she said 1 through 9 a bunch of times in a row (after 9 came 8 most of the time). I started holding up the right number of fingers and she did 5 herself!
Wow!

Don't get used to it ;-)

I'm not sure why I have had time to do this many videos lately...


p.s. who gets this reference?

Two New Videos!!

Here is the video from the rest of November:


...and here is a random video. When Zofia watches this video she keeps saying, "ON! ON!" every time the slippers come off.

New Video

I had to do two videos for November because Zofia was just too busy and cute. Here is #1:

A Little Bit of Culture

On Sunday we took Zofia to her first play. Our friend Sam (otherwise known as LaLa since that is what Z calls her) invited us to a special showing of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" at the Magik Children's Theater, sponsored by a company she works with. This theater company gears all of its performances to children and they really know their audience. This is what Zofia looked like practically the entire time:

That gorgeous dress was a gift from LaLa for the occasion; an early Christmas present, and Zofia looked so adorable all dressed up. She sat through almost the whole 45 or so minutes, and only started getting fidgety during the last couple of minutes. It was really fun. She also got to eat some popcorn and take a very reluctant picture with Santa...
All in all it was a lovely afternoon.
Later that night I went in to check on her and found her sleeping like this:

Looks like it might be time to convert her crib to a toddler bed soon.

Shiner

A few days ago Zofia and I were tumbling around on our bed when she rolled violently away from me, right into the hard wooden footboard. Now whenever we go anywhere people look at me a little suspiciously, and many have asked "did she fall?", as if they expect me to say, "Nah, she was annoying me so I popped her one!"
It looks even worse now, though it doesn't bother her a bit. The same day it happened, she kept pointing to her cheek as if looking for sympathy. The only problem is, she was pointing to the WRONG CHEEK! Roger keeps saying he hopes it heals before Christmas.
Click the Yahoo! Photos link for more photos from the last few days.

Funny

Roger: "Zofia has been talking up a storm since I got her up from her nap"

Me: "Have you been talking to Daddy?"

Zofia: "Yeah"

Me: "What did you say to him?"

Zofia: "Blah, blah"

Zofia's First Haircut

Early this month Zofia had her first haircut. She actually did not cry that much, even though it looks like she did on the video. In between the crying she was totally absorbed in watching "The Wiggles" on the video screen. The place we took her for her haircut is geared toward little kids, so she stayed pretty distracted through most of it.

Affirmative

Zofia's language acquisition seems to go in phases. Since she has been talking, she has used various different sounds or words to indicate agreement. Each one lasts at least a few days up to a few weeks. I'm not sure I have them in correct order, but pretty close I think...
First there was DA - this apparently was the Russian phase. Then there was HAI - the Japanese phase? Then there was YA!, which morphed into YEAH (said in a very laid back, happy surfer style). After that came GI - maybe someone knows the language of origin here - maybe Vietnamese? The latest (and this has been in effect for at least a week) is OK. She uses this in every situation as yes, sometimes shortening it to 'K. It is adorable.
I can't wait to see what is next.

October Video

Telephone call

Last night was Halloween, and I will post video later of Zofia and her friends trick-or-treating, but first, here is a video I shot on the way to the Halloween party last night. Enjoy...

P.S. there are new photos on the Yahoo! site.

new photos!

yep - there are some new photos over at the Yahoo! site. some are from the church nursery this morning and the others are Zofia enjoying the backyard over the last few days.

video

People talk

Starting first thing this morning, I kept a log of everything Zofia said. Here is the list, mostly in order...
MAMA - when I came in the room
DIAPER
DUCK - it lives on the changing table
BYE BYE - to her toothbrush after I asked her if she was ready for breakfast
YA - are you hungry?
YOGURT - when she saw me take it out of the fridge
BABY - there is a picture of one on the yogurt
APPLE - ditto above
NO
BUCKLE - on the strap to her highchair
ON - instructions on what to do with the strap/buckle
OFF - ditto above
ALL DONE - ...with breakfast
BUTTON
MORE
AZANIAH - actually sounds like "Aniah"...one of her best friends
CALLIE - actually sounds like "Dally"...ditto above
CRACKER
AMEN - during services in church, right on cue with everyone else
LOVE YOU
DOGGIE
BUBBLE - check out the new photos on Yahoo!
PEAR
NOSE
THANK YOU - when handed a cracker
KICK - actually "kick kick kick" while practicing swimming in bathtub
SPLASH
TOES
LA LA - while dancing with my friend Samantha, whose name Zofia thinks is LALA
HI
...working on a new video. check back soon.

New house

We are getting settled in the new house and Zofia is loving it. She wanders around the house exploring every nook and cranny. Every morning after breakfast we go out into the backyard for 15 or so minutes of exploring. It is going to be a great place for her and the "brister" to grow up. Here is a video of her enjoying the pool!

more video!

new video!

finally...

Cutie Pie

sorry it's been so long...here is a little video clip so you don't forget what Zofia looks like!

Hanging in there

It's been a while since my last post. I've been feeling rather poopy for the last couple of weeks. In case you've been out of touch with us lately, here is why...

So, I think I'm starting to come out of the woods. The last two weeks have been tough. All I've wanted to do is sleep; I'm nauseous on and off all day, I'm ravenously hungry, even five minutes after a big meal. I felt just like this when I was carrying Zofia, only then I actually could sleep all day. Poor Zofia has been watching way too much TV! Roger has been great. He has been taking her off my hands for chunks of time so I can sleep. But today I feel better. Very little nausea, and a good amount of energy. Yipee!
We all went to Sea World this morning and had a great time. We saw a couple of shows and went to the water park area. We totally pooped Zofia out. She actually fell asleep in her stroller, which she never does, and when we got home she took a two hour nap. That meant I got to take a two hour nap too! Yipee! Roger tried also, but couldn't fall asleep, but two out of three ain't bad!
Ok, that's it for now. I'll try to post again soon...

Amen

For the past few days, Zofia has really been amused by Roger's blessing before meals. She will clasp her hands together just like we do, and then try to get Roger to keep saying the blessing over and over again. She really loves the "Amen" part. Tonight we decided to start saying evening prayers with her during the after-bath routine. When we finished and said "Amen", she repeated it! "Amem!"...over and over again. Someone please come over with a mop and take care of these two puddles that used to be Zofia's parents.

Birthday Video

Well, Zofia's birthday has come and gone, and I'm finally done with the video. The party was great. Babcia and Dziadzio came to town, as well as my Aunt Connie and Cousin Julia and Roger's brother Doug. My mom, aunt and cousin helped so much before, during and after the party. They really were a God-send. It seemed like everyone had fun. Zofia definitely did. It's hard to see on the video, but while everyone was singing Happy Birthday, Zof was trying to sing along. So cute. Thank you all for your good wishes, cards and gifts for our little angel!
Here is the video from the party:

New Pictures

Here are some pictures from Zofia's birthday weekend taken by my Aunt Connie. Also, there are a few pictures in the new July folder under the Yahoo Photos link. Enjoy!

Zofia is 1 year old!!

The year has flown by so fast. It was amazing, challenging, exhausting, thrilling, heart-expanding, and wonderful. All those things my parents said I couln't understand until I had a child of my own, I now understand. We delight in her every happiness and accomplishment, and our hearts break with her every pain and sorrow.
Zofia is such an amazing little girl. She is full of joy, curiosity and affection. She has a flirtatious nature, loves to ham it up and make us laugh. She is developing quite a sense of humor. She is so girly and cute and has such a gentle soul. She loves to talk and we can't wait until we can understand her!
Zofia, you have brought joy into our lives more than we could have ever imagined. Happy Birthday Baby!

Roger's Birthday Party

Finally, here it is:

FROG

This here is Zofia's first official First Birthday Present, sent by Grandma and Grandpa Graham. Wow, does she ever love it!

They grow up so fast!

Zofia walked today. She and I go to church every Monday to count the collection. We do the count in the nursery so that she can play while my helper and I count. Well, she was playing at a bookcase full of toys about 3 feet away from my chair when she stood up, turned around and walked to me!!! 5 or 6 steps!!! I kept my cool so as not to freak her out, but she was obviously very pleased with herself. Then later, our church secretary Sandy and my counter Janet watched her do it again and we all clapped for her. She looked so proud. Almost one full week before her first birthday!
Later tonight we went to bible study. Usually she stays home but tonight our babysitter was not available so she came with. Instead of staying in the living room with the tiny babies, Zofia crawled off to play with all of the big kids and I realized, "she is really not a baby any more!" Such mixed feelings. So sweetly heartbreaking.

I think she gets this from me

this child is the most amazingly agile sleeper I've ever seen. This was last night, about 2am.

Swimming

We went swimming today with our good friend Sam. Zofia got to try out her new floaty. Our neighborhood pool has a regular swimming pool and then a shallow kiddie pool. I was playing with Z on the steps of the kiddie pool when she decided that she was no kiddie! She climbed out of the kiddie pool and crab-crawled speedily toward the big pool. Of course I followed her, but she would have dived straight in I'm sure. The kid knows no fear.

"Aunt Sam" never fails to get a smile

Water in the ear...dontcha just hate that?!

Visit from Grandma & Grandpa

After Roger's party (I'm working on the video) Roger's parents were able to stay for a few days. Zofia had such a good time with them. She learned new songs and tasted Oxtail and plantain (traditional Jamaican food) for the first time. She loved it! here she is playing with Grandpa.

P.S. - more new photos on Yahoo photo page...

Child Labor

let's hope she is always this happy to clean the floors.

Trip to California - Part 4 - The Food

While in California, Zofia ate practically non-stop. Babcia fed her all kinds of new and wonderful foods (as is her right and duty as a Babcia). Zof really loved Babcia's soups, especially the chicken noodle and the barszcz (beet soup).

Trip to California - Part 3 - The Music

One morning Babcia pulled out a xylophone for Zofia to play with. I think our little girl is a musical prodigy! ;-)

Trip to California - Part 2 - The Surprise

Here is a video of Dziadzio's reaction to seeing us. As most of you know, I love a surprise, so we only told Babcia that we were coming. He was completely shocked. It was great!

Trip to California - Part 1

Zofia, Roger and I had a wonderful visit in California. Zof and I flew out by ourselves on Thursday, May 19th, since Roger had some stuff to take care of. Our flight was uneventful. On the first leg of the flight, we had a row to ourselves, so Zofia got to sit in her car seat. It was really very comfy and Zof did great. I gave her apples to chew on at take-off and landing to keep her ears from hurting and she really didn't seem fazed at all.

She flirted with all the passengers she could get her eyes on and generally had a blast. During the layover at LAX she practiced walking around the terminal (while holding on to my fingers) and then spotted this little girl. At first the little girl was a bit scared by Stalker Baby. Zofia crawled around after her as fast as she could. But after a bit of encouragement from her daddy, she warmed up and was soon trying to talk to Zofia. They spent a bit of time pointing out the window at all of the fascinating things going on outside.

The second leg of the trip was a bit cozier, as the plane was packed and Zofia had to sit on my lap. It was just over an hour, though, and passed very quickly. We arrived in Oakland and were greeted by a very excited Babcia. Dziadzio didn't know we were coming and boy was he surprised when he walked in. We shot a video of his reaction and I will try to have that, along with more pix from the trip in the next post.

Cousin KK's visit

Roger's cousin Karen was in town last Wednesday on business. She came over to have dinner with us. After we put Zofia to bed, KK started having strange stomach cramps. She felt worse and worse as the evening progressed, until finally Roger drove her to the emergency room around 11pm. Thankfully, it turned out to be nothing serious, and the silver lining was that KK spent an extra day and night with us. We went down to the Riverwalk on Thursday night and went out to yummy Mexican food. We had a great time together. As promised, though a little late, here is a video from KK's visit...

Also, check out the Yahoo Photos link for some new pix of our trip to feed the ducks!

New Video

Here is a video from last week...and there should be another new one on here tomorrow if I can get my act together.

Big News

2005-5-7 009
Originally uploaded by Granik Family.

Zofia is now sleeping through the night! I finally had to take action, we were getting exhausted. She had escalated so that by last week she was waking up to nurse about every 2 hours. Something had to give. I bought a book called Good Night Sleep Tight which suggests a variation on the "cry it out" technique, where you let the baby cry, but sit right next to the crib so she knows she hasn't been abandoned. Every 3 nights you move the chair further away until you are out the door.
The first time she cried for an hour and fifteen minutes, and I about died! The next time she only cried for 30 minutes and after that only 10 minutes. On the third night she slept from 7:30 pm to 6 am!!!!! WHOOOOPEEE!
Here she is the other night after having cried for about 10 minutes. She collapsed like this and fell fast asleep. Notice that her cheek is resting on her right foot!

Big Girl

2005-5-7 005
Originally uploaded by Granik Family.

We moved Zofia's table and chair into the kitchen so she can hang out with me while I cook. She loves to eat cereal and fruit. Today she tasted cherries for the first time and kept asking for more. She is getting to be such a big girl. It looks like she will be walking within a couple of weeks.

Carnival

2005-5-7 002
Originally uploaded by Granik Family.

We went to a carnival at the local elementary school, which is just a couple of blocks away. Zofia was a little stunned by all of the noise and action. She got hearts painted on her cheek and tasted roasted corn. Yum!

Baby's got a new pair of shoes

2005-4-30 002
Originally uploaded by Granik Family.

...and she's not quite sure what to make of them yet.

It's been a hard day's night

Zofia is such a generous baby. She felt she really couldn't keep all this wonderful illness to herself, so she gave her cold to me and to Roger. We have been going through various stages of sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, so you can't rest and I can't take any medicine (still breastfeeding). I am starting to feel much better as of today but Roger's progression is about two days behind mine.

On Wednesday afternoon (coincidentally the low point for my cold), our good friends Jessica and Mike went into labor with their second baby. Their first daughter, Anna, who is 17 months old, came to stay the night with us. Zofia's first slumber party! Actually, the girls were both amazingly easy on poor poor pitiful me, and my friend Sam came over after she got off of work to help me bathe them and get them to bed. What a God-send!

Anna usually doesn't go to bed until at least 10pm, which had me a little terrified, sick as I was, but thankfully she had missed her afternoon nap for all of the excitement, and so she conked out at eight o'clock. Whew!



Jessica gave birth to Catherine just before 11pm on Wednesday and Grandma and Grandpa came to pick up Anna on Thursday afternoon after driving through the night. On Thursday evening Roger, Zofia and I went to the hospital at Lackland AFB to see the new baby. She is so tiny it is hard to believe the Zofia was ever that small! Makes me almost ready for another one. Hold it, hold it...I said ALMOST!


In other news, Zofia now has four teeth! Here she is brushing them:

And we have started to teach her sign language. We are trying to consistently make the signs for eat, drink, more, and milk. So far, she seems to have started getting the hang of the milk sign, which she makes sort of randomly. She seems to know what it means though, cuz she gets really excited when we make the sign to her just before nursing.

Sick again

I guess Zofia is getting all her illnesses over within the space of 2 weeks so that she can have a healthy summer. After getting over the ear infection last week, she developed Roseola (a very minor version of chicken pox), which had her broken out in a rash all over. Then a couple of days ago, she started coughing and that turned into a cold. Last night she really had trouble sleeping for all of the coughing, and she is too little for any cough medicine. Poor baby! She seems to be getting better tonight. She is sleeping right now, and no coughing! Yipee!!

New Video

I guess this is already a bit dated, but...

Whew!

It's been a while since Babcia's visit, I know. Zofia had an ear infection last week, with fevers and grumpiness and pain. That was not fun. She was on Tylenol and Advil almost constantly for 3 days to control her fever. She is now over half way done with the antibiotics and it is becoming increasingly difficult to get her to take them. She used to like medicine. The few times we have had to give her Tylenol, she eagerly sucked it out of the syringe. Even the first couple of doses of Amoxicillin, which smells like bubble gum and probably tastes like it too, went down without a problem. After about the 3rd day, though, she fights me on it, turning her head and closing her lips tight. Recently, she realized I could get the syringe in the corner of her mouth no matter how hard she tried to keep her lips closed. Plan B. She completely relaxed and let me give her the medicine, then she spit it out! Smart cookie.
Here she is overseeing Daddy's assembly of her new table. She is now standing up without a problem and climbing the first two steps on our stairs with no difficulty.



And here she is demonstrating one of the many uses of the new table.

Babcia is here!

Babcia arrived on Monday night and we've been in a whirlwind of activity ever since.

This was Tuesday night after going to swim class and shopping. Tuesday afternoon we went to see Dr. Sheikh and Zofia got a shot. The nurse did such a good job giving the shot and Daddy did such a good job at distracting Zofia, that she didn't even notice the shot. Whew! On the way home I gave Zofia a wrapper to play with and she was so pooped that she fell asleep with it in her mouth!

Then Tuesday night Babcia got the baby all to herself when both Roger and I were out working. They had lots of fun playing together.
On Wednesday we went to Gymboree and then out to lunch. Then Babcia and I got our haircut while the baby took a nap. Then we went home and played some more. Obviously, Zofia has been having a great and exhausting time. Here is one of the poses she struck while sleeping last night:

Today, after lunch, we are going to the zoo with a couple of friends. We will try to get some video of Zofia's reactions to the animals. Check back soon!
Oh, and of course, check the Yahoo Photo link for more pix.

The Daily Grind

Zofia now has three teeth; two on the bottom and one on top. We can't yet see the one on top. The reason we know she has one on top is that the other day I heard a strange noise coming from her mouth. She's grinding her teeth!! I guess it makes her sore little gums feel better, but it is so strange to listen to.

Here she is playing with her new activity table. She'll be walking in no time. :-O

Here is a new video. Enjoy...and of course, more pictures on the Yahoo site.

Not much new...

Yesterday we went to swimming class. For some reason Zofia got cold really fast in the pool and started shivering about half way through. It didn't seem to bother her at all, though. She was giggling and splashing and kicking up a storm. Right after class (which only lasts 20 minutes) I got her warm and dressed and we went to the grocery store to play with the lemons.
Today we had Gymboree class. Zofia was really into all the other babies. She kept crawling over and playing with them. Lots of fun.

Happy Easter!

Zofia enjoyed her first Easter. We got all dressed up and went to church for services.

But first, an Easter egg hunt! Of course, Zof didn't really catch on that it was a hunt, but she did get a couple of eggs:

Watch
Video
After the eggs, we went in to church. Zofia started out the service in my lap. She loves listening to the choir sing, especially since she can see Daddy from our usual pew, so she was fine during the beginning of services. When Father John started his sermon, she decided she had a lot to say also. She started babbling really loudly, so I took her to the nursery to play. You can see more pictures in the Yahoo photos folder.
After service we went out to lunch with a group of friends. Zof slept through most of it, but woke up in time for lunch and a taste of Mama's key lime pie.

Gymboree

I took Zofia to Gymboree today, and Roger surprised us by showing up just before the class started. I think Zof really enjoyed having Daddy there to play with her. Here is a picture, and you can find more if you click the Yahoo Photos link to the left.

Video, as promised

Here is the video of bath time. Actually this is video from two different baths: one from last night and one from the night before. Hope you like 'em!
Watch
Video

This will be a long one...

The camera is back!!! I've been taking pictures all day long. First off, this morning we had playtime with Zofia's hippo toy:








Then, after lunch we went to the grocery store:

Whenever we go grocery shopping, the first thing I do is go get lemons. I put one or two lemons in the front of the basket and Zofia will be occupied for the entire trip. Today, I pulled the cart up next to the oranges and Zofia started helping herself! She was so funny. She would pick up an orange and start trying to put it in her mouth. Then she would notice that there was a whole bunch more oranges where that one came from and grab another one, but in the process of putting the new orange in her mouth she would drop the first one. Then she would notice the bin of oranges again and go for another one. She did this about five times while I took pictures of her. Then an employee of the store came over and told me that photographs were not allowed in the store. Good thing I got some great shots before we were spotted.
There are a few more in the series, which you can see by clicking on the link to the left called Yahoo Photos, and then selecting the Z 2005-3 folder.
Later this afternoon, Roger and I gave Zof her bath early, since we were going to be attending services later in the evening. She had such a good time, and we got some of it on video, which I hope to post tomorrow, if I have time to upload it.
Then we went to church, where we participated in a foot-washing ceremony, re-enacting Jesus' washing of the disciples feet at the last supper. Roger was one of the foot-washers. Zofia got her little tootsies washed also and seemed to really enjoy it.
We headed home just before nine pm and she was tired. She craned her neck around from the back seat to look at me and fell asleep before she had time to turn back:
She didn't even wake up when I transferred her to her crib. Tomorrow is another long day, with Good Friday services and maybe a trip to Sea World after.

No Sleep

Zofia still has her cold. It woke her up this morning at 5am. Yes, people, I said 5, read FIVE, AM! Then, she would only fall asleep if I was holding her, and woke up if I tried to put her down. I finally got her to nap WITH me for two hours at 4pm. Then we had a bible study at a friend's house and so she didn't get to sleep until almost 10. Hopefully she will sleep for a few hours now.

In the good news department. I finally got a charger for the camera. The battery is charging as I type, so hopefully I'll have new pictures posted tomorrow.
G'night!

And another little video

...shot a couple of weeks ago. I've been slacking on my videos.

A week in the life

So, Zofia is sick with a raging, snotty cold. She is mostly in a great mood, and then she gets really congested and whiny and cries bloody murder while I suction out the enormous quantity of green mucous from her tiny little achy nose. And then she sleeps. She has not eaten any solid food for two days now, which means that we are back on the newborn schedule of breastfeeding about every three to four hours. Poor little muffin! Right at this moment she is giggling at me from her crib, conveniently located right next to my computer desk. She is standing up in her crib peeking over the top rail and giggling madly. Thank God we lowered that mattress!
Here is a compilation video from the past week. She is crawling even better now than what is on the video. Very fast and steady. Anyhow, enjoy.

NAPPING

Zofia took, like, 5 naps today. She was really tired, owing to the fact that her parents dragged her out to dinner with a bunch of their friends and kept her up until 10:30 at night. She woke up at 6:30 this morning, partied until 9, then fell asleep again until 11. Then she napped again at 1, 3 and 5. OK, I guess that is only 4 naps, but still; it's double the usual amount. She also seems to be getting a mild cold. Perpetually runny nose for the last three or four days. The beastly parents were going to leave her with the babysitters at church for "babies night out" tonight and go out to a movie, but we decided to let her go to bed at a decent hour. Maybe we'll go to a movie next month.

Random Ramblings

Here are a few things:
-Zofia fell off the bed yesterday. The days of napping on mama & daddy's bed are over. We had her all blocked in with pillows, but it looks like that is no longer enough. She is fine. She had a bad scare and cried for a while but she is fine. Of course I died from the guilt about fifteen times. -We finally lowered the crib matress last night. Z doesn't seem to mind it a bit, but she is already starting to try to pull herself up to standing.
-It's March madness - so Zofia is watching a little b-ball with Daddy. She really seems to get into it.
- The crawling is getting better and better.
- I finally found and ordered a charger for the camera, so I should be putting new pix up next week!
- Zofia has an adorable new habit where she touches everything with her index finger very thoughtfully. I'll try to get a picture soon!

Lesson Learned

Do not leave cassette tapes in the boom box which lives on the floor if you wish to ever listen to them again.

You learn something new every day!

And if you are 8+ months old, probably more than one thing.
Busy day for Zofia today. She was so busy playing this morning that she skipped her nap, so at lunchtime, she only managed to get a few bites down before her eyes started to close. She fought it valiantly for a while, but after the third or fourth time that her eyes closed between bites, mama whisked her to bed for a nice long nap.
After her nap she resumed playing and was really trying to perfect her crab crawl. For the first time today she got some real mobility:

Roger keeps teasing me for wanting carpet in the living room on the grounds that "it will be softer for the baby". As you can see, she prefers the tile.
Then, just a little while ago, Roger was leaving the house and waved "bye-bye" like he always does at the door. Well, Zof waved back and said "BAH BAH BAH BAH!"

You could have knocked us over with a feather! I mean, she has waved before, and she has said bah bah bah bah, but not together in that particular way, and not as an answer to Daddy. So I guess her official first word, spoken on Tuesday, March 15th 2005 is "bye bye". Not bad. At least it avoids the inevitable jealousy experienced by Mommy or Daddy when they don't get their name as the first word.
Later tonight, "Uncle Nacho", our fabulous handyman extraordinaire is coming over to install the baby gate at the top of the stairs and lower the mattress in the baby's crib.
Look out world, here she comes!

Bathtime

Roger called me at work tonight and asked me if I wanted the good news or the bad news...The good news is that Zofia stood up tonight for the first time! The bad news is that she did it IN THE BATH TUB!!! :-o

Note: this picture is from a bath sometime last week, not tonight's standing up bath.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

This morning we had a cleaning lady come to clean the house. When she arrived Zofia was happily playing on the living room floor. As soon as Adriana came in Z started crying! I picked her up but she wouldn't stop crying until Adriana left the room. She kept crying every time Adriana came anywhere near her. I guess she is getting into that "fear of strangers" phase...

The first post

Since the recent demise of Zofia's adorable website, I've been waiting in vain for word that it has been moved to a new server. It's been a while and I give up. I decided to start a family blog instead. That way I can keep y'all posted on Zofia's daily new accomplishments and adventures.
Today Z woke up in a fantastic mood, and stayed that way all day. She and I went to church early so I could do some work. The nursery is right next door to my office and is divided by a partition rather than a wall, so I could hear her in there with the nursery ladies having a gala of a time. Heather, one of the ladies was telling Marisa, who is new, that this is the Church Baby and they love her to pieces.
After church, we went to Chili's and had their wonderful Carribean chicken salad, among other things. Zofia sat in a booster seat all by herself! This was the third time she had done this, but she did have a first during this meal. She drank from a straw! Now some of you may be saying, "but she's done that before..." Well, yes, she has technically used a straw to consume water, but only by opening her mouth while some adult person used the straw to dribble water into her waiting mouth. But that is not what I mean. I mean she actually drank from a straw the same way you and I do. The waiter brought her her very own kid's cup with a lid and a straw and she got the hang of it on the first try. We were very excited, even though she did try to eat the crayons that the waiter also brought her.
On the way home she fell asleep in the car, and didn't even stir when I transfered her to our bed for the rest of her nap:






Then when I stepped onto the bed to try to get a better angle, she woke up of course and looked at me like this:

Then at bath time I sat her adorable naked heinie right in the tub without her usual baby bath seat. She sat there in about 3 inches of water and just splashed her little heart out.
Sundays are long, happy and exhausting days for Zofia.