Sody vs. Sugar. Discuss.

Like most kids, the girl has a sweet tooth. I try not to feed into it too much, but she definitely has formed some kind of baby radar to search and find and just know what is a treat and what isn't. The other night I picked up some food at a Greek cafe and of course got a couple pieces of baklava for dessert. Now I am quite sure Sody has never had baklava or even heard the word "baklava" in her 17 months, but she still bypassed all the hummus and pita and falafel and zeroed in on the baklava and begged me ("uh, uh, uh!!!!") to open that package. She just knew there was a delicious treat in there. I have no idea how kids instinctively know this stuff.

Yesterday we made cupcakes together. I stand her up on a stool and she "helps" by pushing my mini spatula around the mixing bowl. Not to mention she makes a five minute task take about 25 minutes...but what can you do? Anyway, the second I turned my head to check the recipe, Little Miss took a measuring spoon and dipped it in the bowl and ate a spoonful of sugar. I caught the tail end of the act and she had this crazy bewildered look on her face at first, like she couldn't believe what she was eating. Then it turned into this face:





It reminds me of a something that happened a while ago that still cracks me up every time I think of it. First, I need to paint a little picture of what a typical morning looks like around Chez Finlaw: Sody wakes up first, duh. Sometimes there is some crying, sometimes she is babbling to her stuffed monkey, Chuck D, and sometimes she is just waiting quietly for someone to come rescue her from the confines of the crib. We get her and bring her back to our bed and if it's really ungodly early (like pre-6:30 am) we pray that she falls back asleep with us for a bit. This usually does not happen, as no one seemed to give babies the memo that sleeping in rules. So she plays in our bed for a bit, like with the books sitting on the headboard (have I mentioned how awesome it is to be woken up by a fat hard cover library book falling on your head?) or the few toys I have stashed up there while Joe and I try to catch a tiny bit more rest before really having to get up and face the world. Sometimes in my groggy state I let her climb out of the bed and go explore. I can usually tell where she is and what she is playing with based solely on the sound the toys make. And you know if there is complete silence she has found something naughty that she shouldn't be playing with.

So the other morning I let her out of bed and she toddled out to the living room. Instead of heading to her toy box with all its lively and noisy toys, there was nothing but quiet. I dragged myself out of bed to investigate, turned the corner to the living room, and found this little nugget:



Doublefisting the chocolate chip cookies I had (stupidly) left out on the coffee table the night before! I cracked up and she offered me one, like, "Here, Mom, join me for this amazing breakfast!" So generous, no? Needless to say, I check and double check the coffee table now before heading to bed.

Lest You Think it's all Rainbows and Butterflies

Today was kind of a rough one. "Rough" is all relative, though, and having an off day with Isota is nothing compared with how some kids act. Believe me, I know how good and easy I have it. But today was the first time where I started to see what we may be in for soon. As we close in on a year and a half, we are flirting dangerously close with the infamous Terrible Twos. Today was a glimpse: Isota doing a lot of her demanding grunts/noises ("Uh! Uh! UH!" along with pounding on something) and pulling books off shelves and touching things she shouldn't touch. As well as my new personal favorite where she lets lets her whole body go limp and tries to fall to the ground in protest of me picking her up. Oy. And intellectually, I *know* it's all age related and I *know* she has to go through this stuff to mature...but sometimes it's just hard not to take a smack in the face personally, you know? She is just getting so big and turning into her own person. And realizing she is her own person. Complete with the power to do what she wants instead of what we tell her. "Hm, should I toss this plate of pasta onto the floor even though every time I throw food on the floor Mama tells me not to? Sure, why not??"

I know what you are all saying: It's only the beginning, Mama...

Genius

Ever feel like putting your lima beans in the dishwasher when you don't want to eat them? She is clever, this one.

2009 = 0, 2010 = 1

So last weekend was, of course, Mother's Day. And this year's Mother's Day totally kicked last year's Mother's Day's tushie. Last year we had big brunch plans and I was so excited to dress my tiny baby up in a cute little ridiculous dress and show her off for my first official Mother's Day. Yes, that is shallow and misses the real point of why we celebrate the day for our moms, but c'mon - what good is it to have an adorable baby girl if you can't dress her up and show her off every once in a while?? Plus, I need to embrace these moments before she starts getting opinions about clothes and doesn't let me dress her. Which I fear is actually not that far off. But I digress. So, anyway, last year: the day before the big day I had a gallbladder attack which left me in pain and scared to eat anything, so our brunch plans got canceled. Boo. We still had a nice time with my parents at their house but later I realized I didn't even get a picture of my girl and me together. And by the time I thought of it Isota was in the middle of a meltdown over something or other, totally ready for bed and hating life in that moment. So the only picture that exists of our first Mother's Day together has her red and and bleary eyed and crying, which really isn't a decent representation of our dear at all. Oh well. Memories, right?

Cut to this year: Brunch happened, a cute dress happened, showing her off happened. And the hubs got me a gorgeous cookbook from a gorgeous restaurant that I love. 2010 definitely wins this round!

East Coast Invasion, Part 2

The influx of Finlaw family members continued last week with the arrival of Joe's parents and brother, also known as Mom Mom and Pop Pop and Uncle Cory. The sole purpose of the trip was to hang out with Miss Sody (natch), and we managed to squeeze in some donuts and cheesesteaks and sightseeing and the Jelly Belly factory along with that. 'Twas awesome. Check it:











One of the cutest things about this trip was how Sody fell a little bit more in love with her uncle. Sometimes we would just catch her looking at him with this goofy smile, just totally happy and content. Look at these two - storytimes, feeding each other, serious conversations. I think it's Isota's first crush.