Sophia's Boston Tea Party

Sophia and Dad watching the break dancers....









Colin had a long layover in Boston and Sophia and I decided to join him in Bean Town. A fun time was had by all and we returned home, all tuckered out. Colin flew the plane we took back to Chicago and Sophia thought that seeing Daddy at work was pretty cool but nearly as fun as having her all to herself.

The journey consisted of four flights all together and she was well behaved on three of them. On our way from Chicago to Boston we lucked out and got first class. WE lucked out but the same can't necessarily said be said for the other passengers. I am not sure if she was still bothered by her ears or she was simply just exhausted from having been woken up at 4:30 in the morning, but approximately 15 minutes into the flight, she began emitting a blood curdling scream. Naturally the seat belt sign was still on and we all endured 10 minutes of her unabated wails. I felt so bad for her (and everyone else) that, I too, was reduced to tears. The second the seat belt sign came off, I bolted out of my seat and headed to the lav with her. In approximately 3 minutes, she was out like a light and when she awoke nearly 2 hours later, my fellow passengers seemed to have forgiven us. She proceeded to charm them all-except the guy sitting next to us.

She has an innate talent for wrapping everyone around her finger. Throughout this brief trip, she had people smiling and cooing over her. Her biggest fan club turned up in the bathroom at the Chicago domicile. She had 6 flight attendants fawning all over her.

While there is no question she is exceptionally cute and charming when she chooses to be, Colin and I are still a little taken back by how much attention she gets when she is in public. She has this unnerving way of furrowing her brow and intensely staring at new people for a really long time. If they choose to interact with her, she will suddenly reward them with one of her million watt smiles. That seems to do the trick and from that point on, she is irresistible. I had one female passenger say to me "usually I'm afraid of kids but she is just so cute!" Hmmmm....maybe that is why the universe decided we were a perfect match.

She suddenly seems to be growing up soooooooooo fast. During the trip, she started to point and say 'Da Da'every time she saw Colin. She repeated this phrase and tone every time I opened my cell phone which has a picture of Colin on the screen saver. Tonight, she decided that she wanted to learn how to get on and off her Push and Scoot without Mom's help. She started to systematically practicing getting on and off her toy. Just to make sure she covered all her bases, she practiced from both sides and even tried facing backwards. She did this no less than 20 times. Then while I was giving her a bath, she decided she wanted to take all her bath toys out of her blow up tub and line them up on the edge of the real tub. She placed them in an elaborate order and then solemnly handed me each toy when I asked for it.

Verbally, she is exploring new sounds but does not seem to be interested in saying words just yet (besides Da Da that is). All in all, I am amazed by how much she is changing on a daily basis. It is so difficult to describe how gradually our relationship with her grows. I am grateful that she seems to be bonding with us a little more each day. This is not to say we don't have our challenges. When she is tired or angry, she takes delight in pinching or biting me. I can't quite believe how much damage such a tiny little girl can inflict. All I can say is, OUCH! Of course, all she has to do is smile at me and all is forgiven.