ONE

I’ve been trying to write this post for a week and I just can’t seem to find the right words.  I’m now resolved to the fact that I can’t write about Sofia because the English language does not have the words – and I do not have the eloquence – to describe what a totally amazing person she is.

So here I sit, writing, deleting, re-writing, deleting, pausing, contemplating, writing and deleting some more – just trying to find the words to describe my perfect little girl.   They just won’t come … they just don’t exist. 

Sofia is something special.   

She smiles at everyone, she laughs at funny jokes, she can make even the most Emo of L.A. hipsters crack smiles and wave.  The grandmas at Costco are in love with her.  The checkout guys at Costco are also in love with her.  She yells “mama …MAMA … MAAAAMAAAAA!” when I come home from work.  She says “wa wa” when she wants to take a walk.  She knows the signs for more, hat, wash hands, milk and baby.  She gives great hugs and adorably sloppy kisses.  She is an amazing snuggler.  She throws the most epic tantrums.  She has been walking for three months and running at full pace for 2.  

She is getting hair!  It’s strawberry blonde. 

She and Aiman are getting much better at playing together.  He still wants to wrestle her to the ground, but whenever I step in to break it up, I usually find her with a smile on her face, laughing with her brother.  Aiman likes to hold her hand.  Sofia likes to pull his hair.  They love each other. 

She likes to hear me sing.  She loves Baby Signing Times.  She is learning Itsy Bitsy Spider.  She goes nuts when I sing the alphabet to Aiman. 

She prefers to be naked (but who doesn’t really).  

She is beautiful.  She has perfect rosebud lips, chubby cheeks, gorgeous olive skin and pretty brown eyes (which look green in the sun).  She has strong legs and a cute little bubble butt.  She can’t run as fast as Aiman, but she is trying. 

She is super mischievous.  She likes to do something naughty then look over at us with a funny little smile and squinty eyes.  She knows what she isn’t allowed to do, and that is exactly the thing she wants to do the most. 

At night before bed she usually wants to nurse for a few minutes and then stare up at me smacking her lips and laughing.  I cover her forehead with kisses and whisper over and over how much I love her.  It is the best part of my day – it is the best part of any day I’ve ever had.

She has filled my life with so much love and happiness.  It is impossible to be sad, depressed or upset when she is around.  She is pure light.  She makes me so proud. 

So here I am on Sofia’s birthday filled with love and wishing I had better words to commemorate her on this special day, because what I’ve written here really does not even scratch the surface of her awesomeness.  I promise to start now on her 2 year essay, maybe with a year to practice I’ll figure out how to do her justice.  She deserves at least that much for being such a spectacular little human being. 

We love you so much Sofia. 

Happy Birthday! 

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THREE

Conversation with Aiman this morning:

Me:  Did you have a good sleep?

Aiman:  Yeah.

Me:  Did you dream?

Aiman:  Yeah.

Me:   What did you dream about?

Aiman:  (long pause) Unicorns.

Me:  Ah … do you know what today is?

Aiman:  My birthday!

Me:  How old are you?

Aiman:  (holding up three fingers) Three!

Me:  How old is Sofia?

Aiman:  (holding up one finger) One!

Me:  What are we going to do today?

Aiman:  Kids … park … DINOSAURS! … PRESENTS!

My boy is three today.  I can hardly believe it.  There has been so much change this year that it has flown by in a blink.  I feel like it was two seconds ago that we were in San Jose picking out a truck for our freshly-minted two year old.  Time flies.  Kids grow so fast.  Back in my day, gas was a dollar and I walked uphill both ways to school.  Man it feels weird to be old.  And to have a three year old.

Aiman has become such a little human this year.  He speaks in complete sentences.  He has a sense of humor.  He is so shy with strangers.  But an outgoing little terrorizer once he gets to know you.  He loves wrestling.  And trying to knock his sister down.

And snuggles.

He is teaching Sofia sign language.  It is the cutest thing that anyone has ever seen – ever.  He likes to hear the alphabet, numbers (in English and Spanish if you please), Itsy Bitsy Spider and Mama’s Goin’ to Buy You a Mockingbird every night before bed — in that order.  He has to eat grapes before he goes to sleep.

He tells me he loves me “too much.”  And it melts my heart.

He is undeniably gorgeous – like seriously – a really beautiful kid.  He is super strong and incredibly quick.  He always wants to go to the park to play with the kids.  He is usually great at making friends, but he has engaged in a bit of playground fisticuffs.  I always break it up and lecture him about not hitting, pushing, shoving or engaging in full body takedowns of the other kids, but sometimes — in my deepest heart of hearts — I’m proud that he’s such a little badass.  He is still a terrible two/three year old, testing boundaries and pushing buttons, but he does it with such a playful glint in his eye, it’s hard to stay mad for too long (though after the 17^th time telling him not to hit his sister, my patience does run thin).

He is independent.

He is smart.

He is happy.

He is the best parts of Riaz and me.

He is easily the most amazingly perfect 3 year old I have ever met.

And we love him too much.

Happy Birthday Aiman.

Aiman’s Third Birthday!

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Bull Dog

Sofia is no shrinking violet.  She is outgoing and funny and a little stubborn and super adorable.  She is also a bit of a tomboy.  She doesn’t shy away from confrontations with her brother and when she doesn’t get her way she stamps her little feet, makes noises like a wild banshee and tries to scratch your eyes out.

She is our little bull dog.  And we love her for it.

And, what’s cuter than a little bull dog I ask you?

A little bull dog in little dresses of course!

Say Hello to My Lizard Friend

Maybe about a month after we got to Costa Rica we noticed a small little lizard was making his way into our living room (which was basically an open-air deck) every day at about the same time.

He was a cute little guy.  He would scurry around for about an hour or so checking things out and then take off into the jungle.  Sometimes he had one or more of his little lizard friends with him who would also hang out for an hour or so, but usually he came alone.

Aiman was totally fascinated by our little lizard and used to squat down on his haunches get really close to him and say “Look!  Lizard!”  Aiman would point and stare, but never wanted to touch him.   In fact, if the lizard took a step towards Aiman, he would squeal with delight/fright and run off.  It was a pretty cute little dance.

I’m saying all this so you understand that Aiman really did like that lizard.  It’s important that you know that before I get into the rest of the story.  Which, I’m sorry to say, does not end well for our little friend.

After probably 3 or 4 months of that lizard coming to visit every day, Aiman got over his fear.  One afternoon, Riaz was up chatting with the Canadian and Aiman and I were hanging out and getting things ready for dinner.  I wasn’t really paying attention, but at some point I turned around and Aiman was holding our little lizard friend in his hand.  The lizard was fine at that point, just kind of hanging out looking around (I learned later from the Canadian that these little lizards are actually really easy to domesticate and you just need to scoop them up, pet them and give them a little food and they will be yours forever).

Anyway, at the time I just thought, ah, cute – Aiman made a friend.

A few minutes went by and Aiman had let the lizard go and I noticed that he was kind of wobbling around in a drunken-looking stupor.  Then he started to have some labored breathing and things …. did not look good.

It was at that point that I decided Aiman and I should go for a walk because OH MY GOD, my 2 year old does not need to watch his first pet die.  And also maybe the lizard isn’t dying, he’s just playing dead (or playing like he is dying – whatever, don’t judge I felt BAD).

We went on up to the Canadian’s house and regaled him and Riaz with the sad sad story of our little lizard.  The Canadian informed me that those lizards actually do sometimes play dead so maybe he was ok.  I comforted myself with that knowledge for the next hour or so before I decided it was time to go home.

When we got home I made Aiman entertain himself with the water hose (his favorite Costa Rican pastime), while I went to check on the status of the lizard.  Unfortunately, our little friend was right where I left him and was …. not moving … at all.  Crap.  I gave the little guy a gentle poke and confirmed that he had gone to that great lizard playground in the sky and then scooped him up with a piece of paper and gave him a proper burial (put out back where I know the birds like to scavenge – Circle of Life yo).

After the little guy died, we had a few more lizards come and visit our deck, but none as regularly as our dear departed.  When we had visitors I made sure that Aiman looked but DID NOT touch – my conscious could not handle another senseless lizard death.

I’m happy to report that no more animals were accidentally loved to death on my watch — I’m such a good parent.

On The Go

Our kids are on-the-go.  Literally, they don’t stop moving – like, ever.

I know in my mind that all kids are high-energy and that is part of what makes parenting such a joy and also such a soul-sucking, energy-sapping, fall-into-your-pillow-and-pass-out-every-night experience.

Sofia Walking 1

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(Seriously you guys, look at her go!  She’s only 9 months old and she walks everywhere now, she is a sensation at the park)

(Also YOU GUYS, my apartment is a mess, I am a bad wife and hate myself a little bit)

(Finally, OMG YOU GUYS, Aiman gets a lot of timeouts, he hates every one as much as the last as you can tell from this video where he is screaming bloody murder in the background.  My life is awesome.)

These kids are crazy.

To top it off, Sofia doesn’t need any sleep.  No, I’m serious – the girl is perfectly content to subsist on a couple of little half hour naps through the day and then 7 hours or so at night.  Aiman used to sleep for 12 hours OR MORE a night.  Every night.  Like clockwork.  I miss those days.

I know we are doing it all wrong and I know I have littered this blog with my tales of woe many times, but I’m doing it again.  Deal with it.  With Aiman he had a very specific routine at night.  Bath, Bottle, Book, Bed.  The Four B’s of Good Bed Time Parenting.  Sofia, not so much.  She gets a bath around 5, then she runs around like a crazy person trying to rip all her brother’s hair out of his head.

Then we eat some food at 7 when I get home, then she maybe drinks a little milk, then she runs around like a crazy person some more, then more milk.  Then we put Aiman down around 8.

Then there is some more running around, then more milk.  Then I get frustrated because she won’t go to sleep and put her in bed and she screams her head off for 15 minutes.

Then I get more frustrated and take her out of the crib and put her in the Ergo baby carrier because she loves it and it always puts her to sleep.  She is usually asleep in 2 minutes or less and I proceed to lie her down on the couch because DON’T YOU DARE PUT ME IN MY CRIB MOM, I WILL CUT YOU.

She sleeps for about 30 minutes (until just about the time her dad and I are ready to go to bed), then wakes up and wants to run around the apartment screeching like a banshee for another hour or so.

She finally tires herself out, but she is not too tired to scream her head off if you even look in the direction of the crib.  In bed with mom and dad thankyouverymuch and please keep the boobs accessible at all times please so that I can have a little drink in the middle of the night which will wake mom up and keep her up for an hour or so cursing the day she ever letter her daughter get into bed with her.  WHY GOD WHY?

Riaz keeps telling me that it will only get worse and we need to break her of her really really bad bedtime habits, and I know he is right.  Crying it out just doesn’t work for her.  We have done some bedtime routines, but I have not been very consistent (it’s hard with another little one y’all – though I know it’s mostly because I am a bad mother).

I’m putting this out to the world because I need some accountability.

I resolve (starting tonight, damnit!) to enforce some consistency in that little one’s life.  She needs it!  I need it!  The neighbors that have to listen to her happy-but-totally-ear-splitting little screeches at 11:00 at night need it!  Riaz really needs it!

So that’s it Sofia, you have had your last late night missy!

Bath, Bottle, Book, Bed!

Wish me luck everyone.

We Miss You Costa Rica!

Things around here have been not so much busy … just overwhelming.  It’s overwhelming in the way that having two kids, a job, a small business and an endless list of tasks to complete that never seem as much fun as watching the new Twilight movie (Twilight movie won this weekend) just keeps you running around in circles most days.

That’s not to say that we haven’t basically settled in after our nearly-year in paradise, because we have, but the daily drudgery is definitely making us miss Costa Rica terribly and we are dreaming of our next vacation (which will unfortunately probably be a two week rather than nine month holiday).   Most of our dreaming/planning revolves around me playing the lottery every Friday – I’m nothing if not totally practical – but I think we will make it back there someday for a visit to Sofia’s motherland.

I have been trying to get all of our Costa Rica pictures loaded into some kind of web-based site where I can manipulate them and make some picture books, but there are over 4,000 pictures and my rinky-dink internet connection can’t seem to handle it.  Sometime in the next 10 years or so I will have more posts about Costa Rica and an album/scrapbook and maybe possibly a montage-video for the blog since I know how much you all love those!  In any case I really want to do some more posts about Costa Rica even though they are about things that happened nearly a year ago.  I have SO MANY stories y’all, and I am starting to get worried that the longer I wait to get them on paper the more likely they will slip out of my sieve-for-a-brain.

There’s that one about the frog that lived under our refrigerator that I used to get really close to so that I could take pictures and that we later learned was super poisonous and I could have DIED.

Also that one about the funny little lizard that used to come up on our porch every afternoon and sun itself and that Aiman wanted to “play” with one day, and before I could stop him Aiman had loved him and squeezed him and called him George and the little critter actually did die – but at least I have about 40 pictures of him so he will live on in our hearts and minds.

Also the time that Riaz dug a huge pit in our back yard and built a bon fire of epic size.  There are a lot of shirtless pictures, with sweat and shovels and wheelbarrows …. You guys, my husband is pretty sexy (Happy Valentine’s Day honey!)

And about those times the ocean came alive with a million little sardines and we could just sit and watch the water boil, the birds dive bomb and the fishermen pulling snapper out of the water like they were pulling up weeds.

And about the Canadian, who knew everything and who we miss.

Sigh.

Alright guys, gotta jet, the lotto calls.

7 months, 27 days

Walking!

Sofia Walking

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As a reminder … Aiman was walking at 8 months, 22 days.

Our children are amazing.

And, just for your amusement, Aiman couldn’t help himself but to photo bomb (video bomb?) poor little Sofia while I was trying to capture the momentous occasion on video.

Photo Bomb!

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What a goof ball.