If you’re reading this, chances are good I owe you an email or a phone call. Give me a little bit; I’m still getting over not seeing this face in the morning and I really need to go to bed right now or I’m going to be up till 3am finding out what the internet did while I was gone.
I missed you all.
I talked to Avi today; he’s going to become an uncle for the first time in August, and considering how oddly fond he is of children I suspect he’s looking forward to it even more than he lets on. Jenn and I have been emailing a bit this week after a little hiatus, and I haven’t quite figured out her post-Rwanda plans yet but it sort of sounds like she’s going to be doing less traveling than she’d originally thought—I suspect that’s because she can’t wait to come home and meet her two brand new nieces.
Me, I’m about to meet my own brand new niece. My sister recently wrote to me about Sophia.
Here are some thoughts about the munchkin with the gravity defying hair.
Most of the time she is a really happy baby. She loves people. If you are the first person she sees when she wakes up the morning (usually 6.30-7am), she rewards you with violent hand flapping and the HUGEST smile. Like you’ve totally made her day. She’ll flip over and grin and grin.
She’s smart too. She watches people all the time and listens intently when they talk. She gets quiet and sometimes frowns (she frowns JUST like her grandpa).
When mummy (as in Grandma) rocks her to sleep, she sings along! She coos and coos and gurgles. It’s hilarious. Mummy loves it. When you carry her she loves to reach out and touch your face, she’ll pinch too :)
She’s determined. Since she learned to flip over she’s never stopped trying. Now she’s trying very hard to crawl and works at it ALL the time till she’s pooped from the effort. She can push up on her palms with her backside high in the air swaying like a frog about to leap, but hasn’t yet gotten the hang of moving / crawling yet. If you eat or drink something and you are carrying her, she’ll immediately reach out with both hands to grab it for a bite! She puts everything in her mouth these days.
She loves to laugh and cackle and giggle….and is ticklish. She gets grumpy if you walk past her and look like you are going to pick her up but don’t. She has a special fussy noise she makes when she sees her grandpa. She’ll insist he carry her by arching her back & bum and she makes these….for want of a better word…………really MANJA noises!
When she’s been fed & has drunk her milk she can play by herself in the playpen. She eats up pillows, talks to her toys etc.
However, she’s a stubborn ass when it comes to sleeping and never wants to be put to bed even when she’s dying.
I can already tell she’s going to be grand.
It’s been far too long since I overwhelmed you with the cuteness of my family line. And since Susan recently made a special request (I got your letter, darlin’! Thank you!) for pictures, I thought it was about time you saw how tall Asher is getting, and how tall Sophia’s hair is getting.
Look at how long that kid is. He’s all folded up and he still takes up the whole height of that bench. Huge!
This may be the most adorable photograph ever taken. I love how Asher seems to be grinning to himself about something he’s just gotten away with. Most likely eating one of Sophia’s fingers.
I don’t know if saying so will get me in trouble, but I don’t think Asher has ever looked more like his dad than he does in this picture.
Could this baby be more perfect? Well, I suppose she could be made of marshmallow, but then there really would be no chance of saving those unbelievably soft-looking cheeks from being eaten.
Feel very free to ignore.
………
I just ordered these for Sophia. Don’t anyone tell her about it though, because they’re a surprise.
You’ve already heard the good news, if you’ve a sharp ear for the gasping terror and joy that is the sound of a new baby being born into the world. But I’ll make it official, because I like ceremony around here.
Sophia’s arrived. Safe and sound and, by all accounts, swift. Eager to pierce the veil and see what’s to be seen on this baubled earth of ours, which is a trifle muddied by those who came before her but still full of marvels. Marvels enough for a lifetime.
But shhh, don’t wake her. There’ll be time for that later. Right now let’s just enjoy looking at her while she’s sleeping. Sophia. Sweetheart. Whom I wanted to call Sophie, but whose mother, like so many before her, believes an extra syllable or two in a name will lend grace to its owner. Never mind; she’ll be Sophie to me, in quiet moments.
Sophie of wisdom and wonder. Sophie of sense. Sophie of knowledge. Sophie of questions and learning. Sophie of dreams. Sophie who is really Sophia but who could also have been Saffy; Sonja; Zosia.
She’ll carry that soft sigh at the end of her name well, I think. And when I see her I shall say Sophie! Ah… and wish her every good thing in the world.
It’s been a while since I celebrated Asher here, and since he has only a month and a half left in his life as an only child, I thought I’d give him his due while he’s still the sun around which all the planets of my family revolve.
Asher is currently heavily into The Fiddler on the Roof and all associated songs, particularly those sung by Tevye. I just heard him sing, “If I were a rich man, I wouldn’t have to work hard…” on the phone and believe me, the kid has got a voice to die for. Or is it die from?
I don’t know what he is listening to here, but I do have to say it sort of terrifies me that he knows how to use a click-wheel on an iPod. Also, how frickin’ sharp does he look in that singlet and those headphones? So stylo-milo.
Powered by WordPress
