What kinda contract is this without any sick days!!?

For relatively healthy people like Andrea and I, one of the most frustrating parts of parenthood has been how often Sofia's gotten sick this winter. Starting from precisely January 2nd, one or more of the three of us has been sick, in a continuous cycle of mucous and visits to doctors that has our heads spinning.

Here's what they don't prepare you for:

1. Parents don't get sick days.

2. Not only will you have to continue parenting even while with 392 degree temperature and a migraine to rock the heart of all migraines, but this will be precisely the same time your own child will get sick (read: you can't even get rest while she's at daycare).

3. Not only will you have to continue parenting with a 392 degree temperature and a migraine, and your own child will be sick and (therefore) a total crankypants so you can't send her to daycare, your in-laws will come down with PNEUMONIA so you can't even have them come over to watch her while you try to rest.

So, the next time you hear a parent say "It's the hardest job in the world, but also the most rewarding," you will know that what they're *really* thinking is "This sucks!! I don't care if my kid turns into a vegetable - he/she's sitting in front of that tv all day or I'm going to jump out the nearest window (at least that way I can sleep)!!).

Of course, though, my own daughter hates tv.

Adventures in Rebellion

The other day, as Sofia moved on to her newest phase (climbing up on the furniture), I found myself uttering the words "Sofia, we don't stand on the couch." As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I knew I was an idiot. The look I received from her can be likened to those eye close-ups in old Westerns at the beginning of a duel. I swear, if she were older and slightly better equipped, the next scene would have involved her blowing the tip of a smoky pistol.

Sofia likes to rebel. She has this hallmark devilish grin that simultaneously makes you want to hug her and scream. She's a tricky one, for sure. Whether we're talking about climbing on furniture or coloring the couch, touching the outlets or trying to open the knife drawer...our girl is cunning, and totally frustrating. I've tried many a tactic: time outs, calm explanations, ignoring her, the dreaded even-your-father-says-it's-not-ok. She's not having any of it, at least not yet.

The positive thing is that she's not hyper-sensitive, so while she kicks and screams like bloody murder, 3 seconds later she's already onto something else, cooking up her next plan of attack. She never stays mad for long, and she totally gets the joke: when we're in a good mood and the only response we have to such shananigans is to laugh like heck at how screwed we are, she laughs right back.

As she gets older, I'm sure I'll feel way more frustration at her rebellion - though, a part of me has hope that it will wear off as soon as she hits her teens (ha - denial, you say?). For now, though, except on those really awful days or when she puts herself in dire danger, underneath I kind of like it, I like that she's testing the waters and has a mind of her own. And in those moments, when I realize that I like it, I also realize who she probably got such chutzpah from.

Bring it on, little lady!

Been a while..again...

Andrea and I are home sick today, so I thought I'd take a minute to update my long-ignored blog. I am also toying with the idea of re-starting my Project 365 photo blog, but that's another idea for another day. Not a flu day, for sure. Blech.

Sofia's growing and changing and flourishing. Her language has started slowly, but she understands EVERYTHING (eerily...) and is now starting to mimic. Less in English than in Italian, but I guess I'm her only easily accessible English speaker here, so I suppose it's normal. Some of her vocabulary:

Papa' (that's her one constant, in so many ways)
Pasta
Caduta ("fell" in Italian)
Up
Porta ("door")
A posto (an Italian concept meaning "in its place")
Ba (Banana I believe)
Ciuccio ("paci")
Piu' ("more")
More
mamamamamam (also for "paci")

She's got some more in there, too, and the list grows daily now. This part is a lot of fun!

Also a lot of fun is that fact that she's finally becoming a good sleeper, minus the times she's been sick and thrown off. She knows her routine and is comfortable with it and, while sometimes she whines for a few seconds before she nods off, she likes bedtime and her bed. THANK THE GOOD LORD. It means we're slowly, slowly, slowly, heading toward easier times, physically. That is, just as soon as we get over this flu..!

Happy 2011 everyone!