Oh, from the mouths of children

I'm at work right now, and I just had to tell you the question an eight-year-old girl just asked me. She saw the picture of Sofia that is on my computer screen. "Who is that?" she asked. "It's my little girl, my daughter," I replied. "Does it hurt having a baby?" she asked. "Whaaa...," I replied.

What the heck do you say to that? I could have been honest and said," Why yes, it did. It felt like my uterus was being squeezed and a giant rubber band was being wrapped around my waist by a sadistic monster." But I didn't (although, what a great form of birth control). Instead, I said, rather meekly, "Yeah, but just a little."

Ahhh...sex ed at the library. Gotta love it!

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

That spells vacation. Which, unfortunately, is over. Time went by way too fast but we had a lot of fun. I was so worried about Sofia and the plane ride and the time difference, but everything worked out great. Sofia wa really good on the flights, only having a couple of meltdowns on the way. It's taking her a little longer to adjust back to Ohio time, but we're working on it. As we speak, Sofia is softly whimpering in her room. However, that may have more to do with the fact that I put her to bed after telling her not to scratch the walls with her nails and when I picked her up, she proceeded to rake her fingers down my back repeatedly. OW!

We did a lot over the course of a few days in Phoenix, including going to the Phoenix Zoo, the Arizona Science Center, Tortilla Flat, swimming in the pool. Rather than me write a bunch of stuff, why don't I just show some pictures!

Sofia's first day at the pool. She is totally fearless, jumping off the edge of the pool into our arms and even letting me dunk her under water. We tried to go swimming almost every day, and the water was perfect.

Sofia really liked the Zoo, but I think in the beginning she was really hot. The tram ride around the park was fun, and we got to see a lot of animals. It's so hot in Phoenix that we were at the Zoo by 9 a.m. We rode the carousel twice and saw a really neat giraffe exhibit. Sofia was a bit whiny in the beginning. However, once she saw these fountains, she couldn't have been happier. It took a couple of minutes of standing there watching the other kids before she would venture in. However, once she did . . .

. . . she abolutely loved it!

Checking out the prairie dogs.

Enjoying the Arizona Science Center's Grossology exhibit. Yes, the sign says, "Toot, toot" and yes, it's talking about farts. You pump air into the tubes and then push down on the rubber stopper on top to create beautiful butt music...it was hilarious.

This is right before the wheel barrow tipped over, hitting Sofia in the head. She liked this little play area because it had a little house and tons of stuff to climb on. One of the neatest exhibits was a weather "immersion" theater experience. You stand with a bunch of people on a raised platform in the middle of the room, surrounding by theater screens, speakers, and lights. The screens talk about and display various forms of weather (tornados, thunderstorms, earthquakes) and while that is happening, you are able to experience it thanks to rain machines, wind, and heat lamps. It was pretty cool, and I was really afraid that Sofia would be scared, but she really liked it, especially the wind.

Our last day, right before we left for the airport.

Look at those smiling faces. All in all, we had a great time (thanks Mom and Ken!). Ryan got to take his first airplane ride and we all got to experience new things!

And now, back to the real world...sigh.

Countdown to Phoenix

Well, only 9 days until we all fly to Phoenix. I'm really excited to see my mom and get out of Columbus. Things have been a little rough around here. Ryan lost his job a couple of weeks ago, sowe've been going through that stress. Luckily those government economic stimulus checks came in around the that time, so things could be a lot worse. We've been enjoying our time together because it's been a long time since the three of us have been in the apartment together for an extended period of time. We've gone to the pool, made lots of good food, grilled out, played outside...everything that families should be doing in the summer.

This past weekend we went and saw my cousin play baseball. It was hot, but fun. Sofia really enjoyed herself and even learned a new word: baseball. She totally surprised us when we went to the game on Sunday and as we were walking torwards the field, she just pointed at the game and said, "Baseball!" clear as day. Pretty cool. We also took Sofia swimming yesterday. Well, I went swimming while Ryan sat at the side of the pool. Let me tell you, that little girl is fearless! She puts her face in the water, likes to float on her belly, you name it. Plus, she likes to stand on the side of the pool and jump into my arms. It's so cool! Also, she's addicted to playing outside, no matter how hot the weather. If Ryan steps outside to smoke, she freaks out because she wants to go out there too. We've been going out a couple of times a day plus every evening. Usually our neighbor Dan (Sofia's big crush) and our friend Tony are outside too. Sofia's just happy to be out there, pushing her baby stroller, kicking balls, or throwing baseball. What a fun time!

Potty!

So, this happened on Wednesday, but I think it is worth mentioning. Drumroll please....Sofia actually pooped in the potty! Cue the bells and whistles. We got the potty for her a few months ago because she seemed kind of interested, and I thought what the heck. So, we let her play with it and occassionally she'll want to sit on it. Well, now she's started to tell us when she has already gone to the bathroom. This involves one of two ways of communication. Either pointing at her diaper and saying something nowhere near, "I peed." or "I pooped." The other way is her pulling off her diaper and pants by herself. We prefer the other method. Anyway, on Wednesday Sofia started to making her usual grunting noises and I hurried up and put her on the potty and surprise! Sofia was only mildly freaked out. But we flushed it down the toilet and then she got a cookie. She hasn't done it again, but still. Pretty cool.

Wow. I never thought I would be so excited about, well, poop. I need to hang out with some grown-ups.