Celebration

Today we celebrated Sunny's first birthday!

She finally went down for a nap around 5:30pm after a day of festivities. We started off eating oatmeal with her Poppy Ron and Grandma Sandy then took a little doze in the stroller as we walked around. For her birthday, I dressed her in a little shirt that I used to wear at her age. Kinda of hard to believe that it was my shirt! Soon, everyone else started arriving. The first thing Sonia noticed were the ribbons, which she had to show to her Grandma and Aunt Jen. She had almost as much fun with the presents before they were opened as she did afterwards.























For lunch, we had toddler specials. Sloppy joe, fruit salad with lot of berries, potato salad, and guacamole. Maybe guacamole isn't for every toddler, but Sunny is a fan. She ate and ate then we brought out her loot. The cool thing was, she liked and paid attention to each and every gift. Jen and Ian got Sunny a cute squeezy-noise giraffe and monkey that she could not stop looking at. Our neighbors, Bette and Richard and their son Jeremy got her some cool self-propelled cars and a wading pool. It was too cold to try it out, but we know she will love it. Poppy and Grandma Sandy got her a bouncy turtle that plays little songs. We thought she had danced all she could while we were singing her happy birthday, but then she came in and kept groovin' with the singing turtle. Finally, her Poggy and Grandma got her a "Princess Coupe" that she took for a spin this afternoon. With all this cruising and dancing, I am getting a sense of what it is like having a teenager. (I know, I have no idea, but I am not worried). At least I did not have to worry about her sneaking out; I put her to sleep and after about thirty seconds, there was not a peep from her monitor.



























Sonia was very serious about her berry cake and Poggy's homemade vanilla ice cream. She squished it and stuffed it in her mouth by the handful without even cracking a smile. I think she decided it was pretty good stuff since she tried to give me some as well.









Thanks, my little Sun, for an unforgettable year. I love you!

Bursts

Sunny has been a little giggle fairy lately, sprinkling her charms here and there, often seemingly without provacation. Her laugh is bubbly and clear. We are all entranced, including Alan and I, Jeff and Tammy, Ron and Sandy, Ian and Jenny, random retirees at the grocery store, the clerk at the pet store. We all laugh at her, then she at us, around and around until she catches sight of something new to look at and dashes off to inspect.





Since she learned to crawl about six weeks ago, she has been bursting with energy and new ideas. Suddenly, her developement is appropriate for her age without correcting for her prematurity. She rolled over when she was just over six months then learned to crawl at about nine months, and then a week ago, just before turning eleven months, she started cruising around the furniture. She can climb down a step and up a ledge. Able to leap small buildings in a single bound. Well, not quite, but I would not put it past her. Whatever speed she progresses is fine, I have just been amazed how quickly she progressed once she learned to crawl.

























There is so much to explore:

Funny Faces

As Sonia gets closer to celebrating her first birthday, I find myself looking back at her little baby pictures. She is getting so big now! I always try to get pictures of our Sunny's smile, but some of my favorites are just goofy shots of her many facial expressions.

One month:



















Two months:

















Three months:
















Four months:

















Six months:


















Six months:


















Eight months:

















Nine months:
















Nine Months:















Ten months:
















Imagine what faces the next year will bring!

Ills

Sonia got her first head cold. Then the day after that, she got her first stomach bug. They had to come sometime, but couldn't they have given her a break? She continues to have some malaise, but remains a pretty active baby. Actually, we were kind of lucky she was slowed down about because she had a just gotten into the habit of crawling away as we attempted to change her diaper. Trying to wipe and put a diaper on a moving bum was a challenge even for two of us. Trying to remove a soiled onesie without help and without getting Sonia dirty is even tougher, so the other day Alan just cut it off. It's good to know I have a resourceful husband.

Crawling is so passe. Now all she wants to do is pull herself up. She does this so much that sometimes she just turns around and lets go. We try to catch her, but often she falls and cries. Then Ezra howls and howls...

Her she is, pointing to let her dad know she wants to go up to the counter.



We still entertain her, especially in the evening, by dancing and singing with her. She likes to sing along with us or even clap when she is really moved. We have a Pandora station with children's songs. It is cute to see her stop what she is doing so she can clap with a song. She also really likes being swung around, like in the photo below.

Waves

Yesterday's post was going to be longer, but I accidentally published it instead of saving it.

For the past few weeks, Sunny has been noticing the indoor heat. When the furnace comes on and she feels the hot air, she looks up at the duct, smiles and points at it. So I should not have been surprised when this morning she felt the breeze, looked up, and waved at the duct. I had to laugh, but she does have a point. The heat is a friend. Waving is a favorite activity these days. She waves hello when we come into a room after being gone for a minute, hello to Ezra and Ira and the chickies. We wave goodbye when we are leaving her and waving back distracts her so she only fusses for a minute.

Just so everyone is aware, we have decided that chickies run around our backyard and give us eggs. We eat chicken, not chickies. I know that eventually the truth will be revealed, but I want to put that off for awhile.

We got some new chicks! Starting in the back row and going clockwise, the breeds are americana, wyandott (pronounced wine-dot), light americana, baird rock, and buff orpington. We're working on the names. Anyway, you can see why we want to avoid the subject of chicken.



Sunny has been spending a lot of time in the dirt at her grandparents and here. Mostly she likes inspecting the pebbles, dropping them, then picking up some more. Occasionally she tries to put the dirt in her mouth, but usually the chickies eat it from her hand. In the first picture below, I believe she is deciding, "should I eat it or put it in my ear?"