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!

Sneaky Sofia!

This face is a normal, day-to-day Sofia face: filled with sneaky! Our little girl is quite the clever child.

A quick update while she's napping:

While no new "real" words are making their way out yet, her sounds are getting more sophisticated and, when prompted, she is working on saying such words as "Nonna" (her grandmother), the names of her daycare teachers Nadia and Jessica, "MeMa", "banana" and, yes, even "Mommy." Though, here is a conversation Sofia and I have had now on more than one occasion:

Me: "Sofia, can you say M-O-M-M-Y"?
Sofia: "Mmmm....PAPA'!"

Sure knows how to make a girl feel loved! Ha!

Her walking is really progressing - her little Frankenstein/chimpanzee style is getting very fast and no real toppling over is happening unless she's exhausted. Her latest obsessions are shoes and clothes in general (uh-oh...please tell me it's a phase, or she'll have to get a job soon!) practicing walking, sitting in her rocking chair by herself and 'reading' and, as always, her father!

We are still majorly fixated on sleep issues: it's just not happening yet. We had a meeting with her daycare teachers to get some advice and have put some of it into action already and are waiting to deal with the rest until after Thanksgiving.

Fingers ever crossed!

Oops!

Oops! Time sure has flown...my last post was in AUGUST??! Ah!

These past couple months have been rough - mainly because (I bet you can guess...) of sleep issues. Though - fingers crossed - things seem to be improving this week, since she's starting to give up her morning nap and have a nice, long nap in the afternoon. Night sleep is improving, hooray - and I never thought we'd get here! Let's hope it sticks now....

On all other fronts, Sofia's doing great. She started walking on October 6th and is getting stronger and faster daily - though, when in a rush, she does still rely on her ultra-fast crawling! She's still eating up a storm, too, especially at daycare where she takes seconds of pretty much everything. As is normal I believe for bilingual kids, her talking is taking a bit longer as she tries to sort out the confusion in her head! But her sounds have become more sophisticated, so I'm sure she'll be talking in no time. For now, she says "Papà," "Feh!" (Yiddish for "yuck"!) "Up" and has said "Mama" once. But you wouldn't believe how much she understands....

I will try my hardest to update more often, peeps, but I know you understand!

Happy Autumn!

Vacation?

Been here in the ol' U.S. of A. for nearly a month and it's been hard going. I wouldn't quite call it a "vacation", as that would be defined as "vacating" from your actual life to re-group and re-charge. Let's call it an..."exhaustation"? Meaning, with nearly no full night's sleep and Sofia 24/7, Andrea and I took shifts to keep ourselves sane and survive. So, yeah. Vacation will come when she's older and either we can ship her off for a few days to summer camp, or she's old enough to color on her own and won't need such full attention all the time. Not quite yet.

Anyway, we did lots of stuff while here, however. Visited NYC, even stayed overnight (Sofia loved it). Went down to Florida for a family reunion (Sofia loved it). Went up to the Catskills to visit the theater (Sofia loved it). Went to the Turtle Back Zoo (Sofia loved it). Ate a lot, played a lot, ran under the rain (Loved, loved, loved it). If she has any sort of long-term memory yet, she will look back on this month fondly. Which was, of course, our goal =)

Happy End of Summer!

1 year!

(unhappy at being oversqueezed but about to dig in to her delicious millefoglie cake)

So, we made it! To quote my friend Nic, "One down, the rest of our lives to go!"

Sofia had her first birthday on Friday, and it was a lovely day. They had a little party for her at daycare (apparently she loved being the center of attention), then we had a family lunch at a great restaurant in the park. She got some fun gifts (including a new pair of sunglasses from moi -- in the hopes that she'd stop grabbing everyone else's glasses now that she has her own - good idea, in theory) and the day was memorable, for her parents at least, even if she won't remember a second of it!

Then we left for the terme (spa) with Mema and Pop Pop, where things were nice but a bit tougher. Seems that as soon as Sofia realized she had turned 1, she decided she wanted her independence, so now she's fighting us on fun things like changing her or feeding her, putting her in the car, that sort of daily, unavoidable event. *sigh* More experienced parents listen to our tales of woe and smile knowingly. I have a feeling this is the beginning of the end.

Anyway, reflecting on the fact that 1 whole year has passed since the birth of Sofia, I mainly feel relief. It's been a rough year. From her birth week in the hospital being induced, to the C-section to all our nursing problems and mastitis and then pumping for 10 months, then her not sleeping...when I think back on it, it's nothing short of a miracle that (a) I'm still halfway sane and (b) that Andrea and I never even uttered the word "divorce"!!

But, seriously, for all the pain of the past year, the joy has been threefold. Sofia is a strong, smart, healthy, funny, loving creature who makes us belly laugh daily. She reminds me of the fundamentals of life: to love and be loved, to find joy in the small things, to appreciate the details. That look of amazement on her face is inspiring and I thank her for it. So, yeah, she keeps us on our toes and there are times, often over this past year, that we've despaired, thought there was no way we could find the energy to complete another day. But then she does something, learns something. Like today for example. Probably due to some more teething, I was up with her from 4 to 6 am and was practically crying as I put my shoes on for work. And then, I walked her down to the car and as I gave her my usual "See you later, Sofia" and a kiss on the cheek, she raised her tiny little hand, smiled and waved goodbye. And, right then, for the millionth time in the past 365 days, my heart did a little dance and I thanked the universe for making her just the way she is.

Happy 1st birthday, Peanut (a.k.a. Princess Poopie, Poopie Goldberg, Poopy or Mirtillino)!

p.s. Can't forget a shout-out to Sofia's baby Daddy! Andrea - THANK YOU, for everything, and that includes not throwing me off the balcony, even when I may have asked you to. =) Ti amo, grazie di essere mio compagno di avventura, sempre e nonostante.