kara

Tuesday night, Dad made his homemade spaghetti sauce. And for the first time ever, Mom and Dad made me a plate, too!

At first I wasn’t so sure about it, preferring my apple wagon wheels instead. It felt weird. And can you believe they took my clothes off, and just left me in my diaper and a bib?

But eventually I tried it.

Then I discovered I could pick up the entire plate! But Dad stopped me and …

… just put the spaghetti on my tray instead.

Mmmmm.

It’s so good. My mom was so smart to marry my dad.

“Spaghetti can be eaten most successfully if you inhale it like a vacuum cleaner.” —Sophia Loren

When I woke up Tuesday morning, there was snow everywhere! But before we could go outside, Mom said I had to eat my Cheerios.

As always, Tucker sat underneath my highchair, waiting for me to drop some (or feed him some when Mom isn’t looking).

Dad shoveled the driveway, and then dried his snow pants and boots by the fire.

After Dad went to work and I ate my breakfast, Mom finally bundled me up and took me outside. And can you believe she actually put me down? In the snow? I calmly let her know I didn’t like that.

So she picked me up and we walked all the way to the back of the yard. This is what our house looks like from there!

Mom took a picture of both of us, in front of a tall, tall pine tree. Then we went back inside and ate cinnamon oatmeal cookies.

“Snow and adolescence are the only problems that disappear if you ignore them long enough.” —Earl Wilson

“The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.” —Ayn Rand

A couple Sundays ago I had to finish two articles that were due Monday morning. While I showered, Sophie insisted she help me write my lede.

As you can see, there was a lot of baby talk, a language Andy and I still aren’t quite fluent in, but there was one English word, a name—”Drasnin.” When I first saw this, I was dumbfounded. “Drasnin” is Dr. Drasnin, Sophie’s pediatrician. How did she manage to type that? And with a capital “D” to boot! Then, Andy asked me, “What’s the last thing you copied and pasted?” It was “Drasnin.” So in her typing, she must have hit “apple” + “v.” That or she really is a genius.

“It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.” —Gertrude Stein

A squirrel, in a tree.

“If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence.” —George Eliot

The last time I met my girlfriends for coffee after work, I came home to this.

But also this, so I can’t complain too much. 🙂

“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.” —Phyllis Diller

“Nap often, so you’ll be completely relaxed at bedtime.” —Garfield

For 10 years we’ve gone to Timberline Four Seasons Resort in West Virgina with friends for a weekend ski trip. Beginning with the sixth trip, our good friend Greg began making hilarious DVDs, filled with pictures, videos and inside jokes from previous trips, as a preview to the upcoming trip. A couple Saturdays ago we had friends over for the premiere.

Sophie hung out with lots of friends include Jack,

Julie,

Jenna and Greg,

and Jen.

The girls decided we needed a group picture, so we took one, although we’re missing some so we’ll have to try this again.

Sophie had a difficult time going to sleep that night, and everyone was so patient and waited until she was down to watch the DVD.

“I now realize that the small hills you see on ski slopes are formed around the bodies of forty-seven-year-olds who tried to learn snowboarding.” —Dave Barry

A couple Saturdays ago we went to our friend Erin’s art, yoga and meditation studio‘s grand opening. On the way we decided to stop at Chipotle for lunch. It was then that I realized I had nothing for Sophie—no food, no bowl, no bib, no spoon. I could have nursed her but I’m trying to cut back. She’s supposed to be eating finger foods now so Andy suggested we order her something. I was aghast. Sophie has never had fast food. In fact, most of her food is pretty healthy—Earth’s Best baby food, Gerber’s organic baby food, mashed-up bananas and avocados, Cheerios, breastmilk and the like.

But it was 12:30pm. Her lunchtime. She was hungry. Andy suggested a small cup of rice and a small cup of guacamole. That didn’t seem so bad. So I agreed.

We dragged a highchair to our table and plopped her in it. We stuffed paper napkins down her shirt and rolled up her sleeves. I dipped my finger in the guacamole and then in the rice (I really should keep a spoon in the diaper bag at all times). She tried it. And loved it. I mean, really, really loved it. She gave us a look that said, “I can’t believe you’ve been feeding me that organic mush when I could be eating this.”

Sophie’s not a big eater. At her last appointment I was so proud to tell the pediatrician that she was eating a half jar of baby food three times a day. The pediatrician kindly told me that most babies her age eat two jars of baby food three times a day. So in addition to me trying to nurse less, we’re trying to get her to eat more. Perhaps Chipotle is the key.

“Cutting stalks at noontime. Perspiration drips to the earth. Know you that your bowl of rice each grain from hardship comes?” —Chang Chan-Pao

A couple Fridays ago Nini and Grandpa came over to watch Sophie, and Andy and I went on a date.

We saw Slumdog Millionaire at Esquire Theatre. It’s a love story. Although difficult to watch at times it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time.

We then, appropriately, had dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant, Ambar.

In the past, we’ve left Sophie with my parents only to discover that she cried—for hours. But on this night, my mom and dad said she was so, so very happy. I think she really knows them now, which makes me feel good. She played and laughed, my parents gave her a bath, and then my mom rocked her to sleep. And Andy and I enjoyed a much-needed night out.

“Playwrights are like men who have been dining for a month in an Indian restaurant. After eating curry night after night, they deny the existence of asparagus.” —Peter Ustinov