Fair day

For this post, I thought I would describe going to the state fair with Sonia. I highly recommended it.

Sonia has started noticing details in life. She has this radar which has not yet been trained to gloss over the mundane and is constantly pointing out these details. Her latest favorite is airplanes. I considered planes a preoccupation of a three year old and did not realize that such a young child would notice them. When she hears the sound of airplane she looks up and points, It turns out that planes fly overhead while Sonia is outside at least five or six times a day. They had some military show planes zooming around the fair grounds and Sonia would notice and look up even when she was surrounded by kids, animals, music and general noise.

Fortunately, she is noticing music in addition to noise. When there is a particularly moving song, she will turn and bounce with great passion. The cutest thing is when she does this little genie-arm motion, weaving her hand and twisting her wrists and shoulders. She definitely has her favorites. For months she has been groovin' to Burl Ives at Poggie and Grandma's house and lately to the Cabbage Patch Kid's record at our house.  She has some favorite sing-songs as well:  Six Little Ducks, Do Your Ears Hang Low?, Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes, and Rubber Duckie.  I got sidetracked there, but she also loved the background music at the fair provided by an omnipresent (in Albuquerque) group called Inca Gold.  They play  Peruvian music with traditional instruments and are good, but Alan and I are so used to hearing them in public spaces that we did not even realize they were there until Sonia started dancing and singing.  We took her over to stage so she could share her joy with the musicians and they seems very appreciative. 

The main reason we thought about taking Sunny to the fair (besides to get me my yearly gluten-free green-chili cheese fries) was to show her the animals.  I think her favorite animal exhibit was the pony ride, which was probably the first time she realized a girl could ride a horse.  She was a bit too young to ride, but she cheered on the other kids and their ponies until we had to drag her away.  She also got to see some rabbits, chickens, goats, horses and cows.  Each one got an adoring gaze and hopeful hand reaching toward the pen.  It is difficult to imagine this girl in a pet-free household.

I had to post the third picture for her great-grandparents, Drew and Janet, who are originally from Iowa.



At the fair, knee deep in corn provided by Future Farmers of America



Sunny with her chickens at home



Sounds

Lately, the English-Mason family has been taking evening strolls. It was a good move. We did it because we wanted to be more active and the evening is much cooler than the afternoon. In addition to those benefits, we also found that we have the opportunity to chat with, or at least wave at, our neighbors. Sonia is the most outgoing of our group, followed by Ezra, and loves seeing new people and smiling at them. The walks also give Alan and me a chance to chat. One of our favorite topics, of course, is Sonia. We talk about strategies for difficulties like throwing cups from her high chair (email me if you have something on this)and marvel at her little accomplishments and activities. So the other day we were just about home and talking about what she had eaten or pooped or something and suddenly we heard a little, "Uhhhh!" just after we said her name. We turned and Sonia was patting her chest. "Sonia?" we said, just to confirm. She patted her chest some more and looked at us. I could almost hear her saying, "Guys, I'm right here and I know you talking about me."

Sonia has been listening and speaking more and more. She now makes the sounds for a duck ("qa, qa k"), cow ("mmmm"), horse (blows a raspberry), and a snake ("sssss"). In addition to da and ma, she says, "Daw" (dog), "Es" (Ezra), "Baa es" (Back Ezra), "Behr" (blueberry). Her play is becoming more intricate and she focuses on things longer. Yesterday, she did the cutest thing while we were walking. We were walking into the sun, and she started placing her silky on her head so that it covered her eyes. She would then take off running the best she could and making a gurgley aaaaagghhh sound. After four or five steps, the silky would fall off. She would stop in her tracks, pick it up, then position it very deliberately on her head and over her eyes. The moment it was right, she would take off running and growling. This lasted for about 15 minutes, even after we turned around and were not in the sun any longer. By that time, it was just plain fun.

I usually try to link my narrative and my photos, but this time I am just posting some from our recent trip to Jemez Springs and at the Rio Grande Nature Center in Albuquerque. I had to dress Sunny in tie dye for Jemez Springs, as those from New Mexico will understand.

Headfirst

We took Sunny to the mountains for my cousin Stephanie's wedding and came back with a confident climber. She started by climbing out of her seat on the airplane and kept it up running down hills and stepping up rocks. Her confidence really picked up and she started venturing further away without even glancing back for reassurance. It was a little bittersweet. I miss my cuddly little infant, but I feel proud of her progress and eager to see what is next.




The plane rides could not have been better. Thanks mostly to many, many grapes and Goldfish as well as strangers entertaining her with funny faces. We had a great time visiting with my family and exploring around Estes Park. Sonia loved the river we stayed next to, but I think she appreciated the little things, like opening pinecones and peeling tree bark, just as much. It was nice to escape as a family.







Sunny continues to enjoy adorning herself with various objects. She likes necklaces, but she is flexible. If an actual necklace is not handy, she will put pretty much any clothing item around her neck or on top of her head. Including, to my embarrassment, my underwear. No pictures of the former, but here she is with one of her skirts as a hat.

Free Flowing

I never had thought of 14 months as a special age for kids, but Sonia is so sweet right now. Part of it, I am sure, is that she is not only able to communicate her wishes to us better but also understand what we are telling her. Just a few weeks ago, I tried to toss her onesie into the hamper and missed. "Hey Sonia, can you put your onesie in the hamper?" I almost heard her say, "Sure Mom!" as she charged over, picked it up, and flung it in. She likes to do things with flair and gusto. One of my favorite moments is when, from across the room, she will suddenly break into a run with a big smile and her arms out. She continues running full force into my chest then gives me a big hug. I do not think I have ever described her odd expressions of affection for her silky. When she is really excited or upset, she grabs it and buries her face in it, biting it and stuffing it in her mouth while moving her head back and forth. I think she would be very pleased if she knew just how dramatic it looks.



Of course, she does not have any self-consciousness of how anything she is doing looks. She is a vessel of free flowing emotion. I think this is part of what makes toddlers so awesome. The painful emotions are even more distressing for her than physical injury; she has cried for twenty minutes after being told "no", but just seconds after a fall that gave her a bruise. At the same time, she can get so joyous she runs, yells and kisses all at once. That only happens to me every few months at most, but for her, it's every few hours.

In addition to understanding more, she is also able to do more. She is running, walking down small steps (not stairs, yet), and climbing. I was finally able to get a picture of her walking. Most of my attempts look like the bottom one.


















I read a blog a friend of mine posted on Facebook that mused over our tendency to admire and compliment little girls on their looks. They are adorable. Yet, what are we suggesting when this is the first thing we remark on? The author proposed asking little girls what books they are reading as a way to initiate conversation. I am trying to do this because I think it is important that appearance not be a major concern, especially for children.

People remark to me all the time how beautiful Sonia is. She is lucky, as one stranger commented to me, as things are easier for good-looking people. She always has been and always will be gorgeous to me, so I love to photograph her. It is also fun to share charming photos. Sometimes, though, I worry that by taking so many photos of her, I will make her preoccupied with how she looks.

So, with that, here are some new photos of our little girl. That red shirt reads, "All You Need Is Love". It's one of my favorites.

Accessories

I never thought I would be posting about Sonia wanting to accessorize at this age, but she has made her wishes clear. She figured out how to put a necklace over her head the other other day. Now, she does not feel quite right unless she has a least one, but sometimes three things hanging from her neck. I guess name tags on wide cloth bands are big in the baby fashion world these days, but if she can't find one of those, then a necklace will do. Her legs are often a bit too wobbly to deal with a necklace hanging at her knees but that does not even give her pause about putting them on. She just gets back up and keeps walking.






Another really cute thing she has been doing recently is plugging our noses when we speak then laughing at how it changes our voices. The other day she was riding in her car seat when I heard a little nerdy sounding "babadadada". She was plugging her own nose then talking through it. Ha! I still crack up when I see her do this. She has also been plugging her mouth with a wine vacuum-seal cork that I had given her to play with while I cooked dinner. Just walks around with it in her mouth.

If she cannot plug out noses, then she likes to cover us up and whisk away the cover. The game is an oldie but a goodie. Here she is covering her dad with her silky then giving him a big smooch.







Her eating adventures continue as well. Her are before and after photos of Sonia munching on a lime.






















Sonia's after dinner mint.