Month: April 2009

Last week we met the beautiful Anna Jo Klems. Sophie enjoyed a shoulder rub from Anna’s big sister, Ella. Again, congratulations, Brian and Brittany!

“Babies are such a nice way to start people.” —Don Herrold

A couple Saturdays ago my parents watched Sophie while Andy and I celebrated our good friend Kristin’s birthday at her very swanky “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”-style cocktail party. It was so fun. Angel lent me her grandmother’s beautiful party dress circa the 1950s. I also donned false eyelashes for the event, many thanks to Andy. After a messy and failed attempt, Andy patiently applied them for me—one by one—while I held a squirmy Sophie. Love.

“You can always tell what kind of a person a man really thinks you are by the earrings he gives you.” —Audrey Hepburn

As promised, here are pictures from the zoo! Mom, Aunt Katy and Uncle Tom carried me a lot so I could better see all the animals.

Maybe they know Shane!

Uncle Tom and Aunt Katy

I LOVED the giraffes.

Mom said I couldn’t have a real one. But Aunt Katy and Uncle Tom bought me a little one!

“Life is a zoo in a jungle.” —Peter De Vries

(Thanks, Katy, for the great picture—and the great visit!)

“My uncle ordered popovers
from the restaurant’s bill of fare.
And, when they were served,
he regarded them with a penetrating stare.
Then he spoke great words of wisdom
as he sat there on that chair:
“To eat these things,” said my uncle,
“You must exercise great care.
You may swallow down what’s solid,
but you must spit out the air!”
And as you partake of the world’s bill of fare,
that’s darned good advice to follow.
Do a lot of spitting out the hot air.
And be careful what you swallow.” —Theodore Seuss Geisel

“The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy; walk and be healthy. The best way to lengthen out our days is to walk steadily and with a purpose.” —Charles Dickens

Only yesterday did Sophie really start standing on her own, without holding on to anything, for any significant period of time. And today, after lunch and before her nap, she took two small and wobbly sideways steps. Like many firsts, I wasn’t sure if they counted. Just like her first words—”da da,” “dog,” “ma ma,” and “no”—the steps weren’t quite clear. I wasn’t even sure if what I thought had happened, happened. Still, I called Andy. He wisely told me to get the video camera. I did and watched as my baby, my baby!, took five amazing steps toward me.

First steps are so significant. They require such courage. Today, she had to be brave, knowing she might fail, that it might not work out in the way she hoped it would—that, upon taking that first step, she might fall. But she didn’t fall. She stepped and stepped and stepped and I hope, somehow, someway, those first steps remain with her, always—walking excitedly to school on her first day, walking nervously to home plate for her first at bat, walking hand-in-hand with someone she’s hopelessly in love with, walking lost around a campus, walking confident into her first job interview, walking slowly down an aisle and maybe, maybe, walking hand-in-hand with her child someday. And she might fail. She might fall. But I hope she has the courage to try. And I hope she has the tenacity to get up and try again when she does fail, when she does fall. And I hope she knows that no matter where I am I’ll be cheering her on—if not in person, then in spirit.

She walks!

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” —Lao-tzu

Great Grandma gave me a pretty red Easter basket with a bath toy in it.

There were pretty daffodils on the table.

I had the best meal.

Nini made me the softest bunny rabbit.

I climbed the stairs over and over and over …

… and made funny faces in my pretty dress, which Grandma bought for me.

I played with the buttons on Nini’s shirt.

And I found out that I really, really, really like homemade whipped cream.

I sat on Great Grandma’s lap for a long time.

I also sat with my Great Uncle Roger and …

… Sam, too (sorry I was so upset, Sam).

Grandpa let me play with the remote (which Mom and Dad never let me do).

Mom tried to get me to sit still—without Cheerios—for a family photo. Maybe next year.

“Fancy cream puffs so soon after breakfast. The very idea made one shudder. All the same, two minutes later Jose and Laura were licking their fingers with that absorbed inward look that comes only from whipped cream.” —Katherine Mansfield

A hidden basket.

She found it!

Plastic eggs …

… filled with sort-of-weird-but-turns-out-she-loves-them-freeze-dried yogurt.

Good day.

“Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin’ down the bunny trail,
Hippity hoppity,
Easter’s on its way

Bringin’ ev’ry girl and boy
A basketful of Easter joy
Things to make your Easter
Bright and gay.” —Water “Jack” Rollins

Saturday Sophie, Nini and I walked to Tower Park in Fort Thomas so Sophie could participate in her first egg hunt—she just made the cut-off.

Twelve thousand plastic eggs filled with candy and slips of paper guaranteeing a prize were placed around the park. Thankfully there was a 1 to 3 age group so Sophie didn’t have to battle older children for eggs. Children expectantly held onto their baskets, barely able to wait until the “go” siren rang from the nearby firetruck. And some didn’t wait! Every few minutes you’d see a small child make a break for it, clutching her basket, smiling so big at being alone in a field full of plastic eggs for the picking. And then you’d see her harried (but often laughing) dad running after her, camera bobbing around his neck.

Here’s Sophie, holding her basket.

Her first egg!

We tried to put her down on the grass, so she could pick up an egg on her own, but she was a little overwhelmed (and to be honest, once the siren rang, I was, too!).

Sophie ended up with two eggs, filled with candy that made a wonderful noise when she shook them, like a homemade rattle.

“If you put out 8,000 eggs, you’ve got a huge Easter egg hunt. The eggs will probably be picked up within five minutes. It’s like a vacuum.” —Bob Hall