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.