Sophia interrupts, “I don’t want to go on the baby carrier.”

Michele responds, “We won’t put you in the baby carrier because it is for carrying baby’s and she is a girl.”

Sophia says, “I’m not a girl. I’m a monkey.”

Dave asks, “How do you know you’re a monkey.”

Sophia shoves her hands hands in her armpits and hoots, hollers, screams like a chimpanzee. There you have it.

The irony is that we were at the National Zoo earlier this summer, and Dave’s friend Larry asked if she was a monkey. Sophia said she wasn’t. When asked why not, she put her hands in her pockets and said, “I have pockets.”

Not sure which is the more structurally sound argument.

Clayton and Sophia at Sauder Village

Better late than never. The irony is that we posted pictures of our trip a long time ago. Admittedly, videos weren’t posted. (Until now.)

Casa Lennon visited Michele’s paternal family in rural northwest Ohio earlier this year. We wanted to introduce Alexander to the clan and fly while it was still free for both the kids. Not only did Michele’s cousin Cindy and family host us (thank you!), Cindy even drove all the way to Detroit to pick us up. (About 2 hours.) That is a small indicator of how gracious everyone was.

Some trip highlights:

• Meeting New Family – We met the newest cousin, Clayton, on this trip. Clayton begat from Shawn begat from Cindy begat… . He is absolutely adorable and will likely be the quite increasing handful. Sophia, Clayton, and Alexander had a great time playing together.
• Getting Together with Known Family – Aside from our hosts, we also spent time with Lois and Fran Baldwin, sister and brother-in-law to Michele’s paternal grandfather. We also got got together with Lois’ sister Elinor.
• Sauder Village – We spent one day visiting Sauder Village. Think of it as “Colonial Williamsburg – Midwest version.” It had a working farm, a train ride, a bunch of artisans, and convention center. The kids really enjoyed themselves. Sophia even churned some butter.
• Genealogy – Dave has started getting into tracking/recording our joint family histories. Aunt Lois is one of the Hane family historians. She has a wealth of information on the family. Dave purchased a scanner while in Ohio. Used the scanner to scan a a lot of records, pictures, and documents. So much so, that 4 months later Dave has barely made a dent in the information.

Pictures from Ohio Trip

Direct Link to Photo Album

View Photos as a Slideshow

Videos from Ohio Trip

Alexander being entertained by his great grand Aunt Lois. (Michele’s paternal grandfather’s sister.) Direct Link to YouTube Video

Alexander being entertained by his great grand Uncle Fran. Direct Link to YouTube Video

Casa Lennon relaxing with Michele’s Cousin Cindy and Dean. Direct Link to YouTube Video

The cropped "SFW" version of a super-adorable pic

Late as always. We got Alexander’s first professional portraits in early June. (He was almost 4 months by then.) Michele and Dave have both been “meaning” to get around to posting them. At least getting physical prints distributed to the grandparents has already taken place. (Thanks to Michele.)

This photo shoot produced what may be one of Dave’s favorite photos of all. The cropped, clean, family-friendly version of the photo is posted here inline.

View the Album

Direct Link to the Album

View the Album as a slideshow

Sometime between 7:15pm and 9:00pm, we try to start the “bedtime routine”. (OK, so that wide variety is not good, but at least it is honest.)

Bathe Sophia. Generally, she gets a bath after Alexander because she likes to “help” with his bath. (“Help” in this context means, sit on stool by bath and poor water on him.)

Brush Sophia’s teeth. Right now, we use a soft finger tooth brush. She is getting better about actually using her toothbrush as more than a mechanism to get water and tasty Elmo toothpaste into her mouth.

Get lotion and PJs. Sophia has some mild excema that flares up if we don’t moisturize her skin. We’ve used Aveeno, Aquafor, and hydrocortizone. Probably more stuff, too, but that’s all I can think of.

Read some books. Lots of them, actually. This can last anywhere from 5 to 90 minutes, but is one of the most rewarding of all experiences. We let her select the “next book” so she will remain engaged, even as she fades. We can tell that she is absorbing all of the content. What amazes me is when she starts reciting entire passages (if not books!) back to us.
Here is a sampling of current favorite literally selections: (Alas, the Amazon Affiliates program is not available in NC, so I won’t get any credit if buy any of these. )

• Cuentos populares españoles – (Sophia alternately refers to this as the “special book” or the “spanish book”. Michele described it as “special” the first time Sophia asked her to read it. Sophia now only asks Daddy Dave to read it.
• Winnie the Pooh, Nature’s True Colors
• Curious George Collection (Thank you, Mimi)
• Goodnight Elmo
• Silent Night (Thank you, abuela)
• Curious George Good Night Book (Thank you, Mimi)
• Nursery Rhyme Collection. This one has been popular for a long time.
• Good Morning, Good Night. (Thanks, Turner Family!)
• How Do I Love You (Thank you, Marcela)
• All the Ways I Love You, a  book with a recording of Sophia and Alexander’s Mimi reading the book (Thank you, Mimi)
• Love you forever (Thank you, Marcela)
• The Going to Bed Book (Thank you, Layna)

This next part is what motivated me to write this post. Saying “good night” to the room. Not really sure how this started, but I *thinkit was an idea from another blog. Daddy picks up Sophia and walks her around the room to individually say “good night” to different things in her room. With very little variation, and in this order, here is what we say good night to:

1. “The Painting” or “Girl on the swing” – A friend gave us a lovely print that perfectly matches her room colors. As you guessed, it’s the silhouette of a young girl swinging on a tree swing. (Thank you, Maryjo for the gift!)
2. The Clock – Sophia used to be consumed with a desire to grab the hands of the clock. Problem is that the she would break the clock. A few weeks ago, I counted off the numbers on the face of the clock, to encourage her both to count and associate the numeral with the number. Now she wants to count them off. But I think it is pretty much a delaying tactic because she always gets to 5 and restarts. Clever girl.
3. The Door – The closet door to be precise. Ever since she learned “One, two buckle my shoe. Three, four knock at the door”, there has been a fair amount of knocking.
4. The Butterflies (part 1) – Sophia’s room has a bit of a butterfly theme. We got some butterflies from Pottery Barn. (See the original post to see these.
5. Los libros (“books”) – Sophia’s night time books are next to her silla. We bid them good night as we go by. Sometimes she will try to each down to read some more. A delaying tactic.
6. La silla (“chair”) – Sophia has her own “toddler-size” chair. This is where she sits most of the time that we read to her for bed time. She lovesthe chair.
7. The curtains -The only time she ever really wants to say good night to those now is to open then and look outside. A delaying tactic.
8. The Ladybug Piggy Bank – This lady bug has a pair of metal coil antennae with spongy balls glued to the tips. Sophia just loves to smack at the antennae and flick them. Amusingly, one of the sponge tips fell off after about 2 smacks. It took Daddy around 20 months to get some glue to re-attach. (Seriously.) The night I did, Sophia said, “Daddy fixed it.” Which was interesting because she did not see me do it, and I did not point it out. (Thank you, Turners for the gift.)
9. The lamp – Sophia has never really said good bye to the lamp. We usually skip it now.
10. The Butterflies (part 2) – Sophia has a butterfly mobile above her crib. We say good night to them. Actually, she just likes to smack them. See the original Casa Lennon post to see these. (Thank you, Cousin Flippins for the mobile!)
11. The Fan – The ceiling fan has, you guessed it, butterflies. What can we say, everything for girls rooms in 2008 had butterflies on it. Now that Sophia is old enough, she likes to pull the light chain to turn the light on. She invariably smiles when she does that. In the last couple of weeks, she has started turning on the light, looking at me, and saying, “it’s not dark.” Too cute.
12. The (whatever I feel like pointing out) mirror – Next we walk to the mirror in her room and say good night to whatever strikes our fancy. Popular choices: Daddy’s glasses, our teeth, the design on Sophia’s PJs, you get the idea.
13. One last “Good night Room” – We turn around and say good night to the whole room.
14. Sophia now wants to throw the switch that turns off the lamp light. Sometimes she’ll act surprised and exclaim, “It’s dark!”
15. Get Ellie and Paco – We store Ellie the elephant and Paco the pachyderm in the top drawer of her chest of drawers. This is where they go “nite-nite”. After we turn off the light, we knock on the drawer door and Sophia calls for her cherished friends. When I hand them over, she gives them a huge embrace. She really likes them.
16. Get in Crib – We put her in her crib and ask her if she wants her blankie. She always does. Amazing.
17. Sing Songs – Something that Mommy Michele started doing a little while ago was singing her songs when she put her in bed. The 3 songs that are musts, because she always requests them, are “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, “ABC”, and “Silent Night”. And normally in that order. Recently she has asked us to sing he such-and-such song. (Dog Song, Boy Song, etc) I told her I did not know how that song went and asked her if she would sing it to me. Invariably, any song she makes up is either to “Frère Jacques” or “Twinkle Twinkle”.

Generally, that routine does the trick. When we first started it, it worked like a charm. There really is something to be said for comforting your young children through routine. Of course, this entire philosophy and approach will end up being completely backwards for Alexander. We’ll need to figure out what works for him.

As you can also tell, we also have very thankful to have such generous friends and family.

Pix from the outing

Link to the Album of picutres

View the pictures as a slideshow

Some Videos from outing

Direct Link to the ladies enjoying some cooling water

Direct Link to Alexander fascinated by plant

Abuela appreciating her birthday collage

Casa Lennon’s abuela, sometimes know called Juana Antónia Lennon Gutierrez Magro Ibañez Alonso Palacios Barona Ruano García, delighted everyone by turning 70 years young. Much of the family converged on Las Tapas in Old Town Alexandria in what unexpectedly turned out to be a surprise party. More a function of the Lennon clan’s well communicated inability to communicate well.

That said, it was really fun. People came from Florida, North Carolina, New York, and even Maryland to take part. The primary “gift” abuela always wants is the time spent with her family – namely the grandkids. That is what she wants more than anything else. That said, Michael coordinated a gathering of lifetime photos and stories to put together for abuela. I highly recommend viewing the awesome collage that was the product of that effort.

ASIDE: We had the good fortune of being at the Spanish restaurant while Spain was beating Paraguay in the World Cup. (In case you hadn’t heard, SPAIN WON!!!! VIVA ESPANA!!! )

One last thing, we’d like to thank our niece Chloe for snapping so many candid photos.

Pictures from the Celebration

Here is the photo album gallery.

Here you can view it as a slideshow.

As background, you need to know that “Ellie” is Sophia’s most treasured posession. Ellie is a Carter’s pink, elephant plush toy. (Get it, “Ellie”?) Once we realized how much she loved this toy, we started hunting for a duplicate. We called multiple Targets in multiple states. (Really.) No dice. We wanted insurance should something happen to Ellie. Our solution was Paco (the Pachyderm). You can see a pic of them side by side. Alas, what we got was a daughter who now needed two elephants to go to sleep.

Sophia giving Alexander an unprompted hug

Well, last week Mommy Michele texted Daddy Dave cuz we thought we might have found a suitable stand in.

And (finally) on to the point of this post.

We came downstairs and Sophia spotted the 3rd elephant and yelled “other Ellie!” She lit up and was delighted. She grabbed and hugged her. Alexander was already awake at this time but a wee bit fussy. Sophia-being the sweetheart she is-walked over to him and started trying to appease him by playing with him. When that didn’t settle him down, she leaned down and gave him a big old hug. (Proud, beautiful moment for a parent to have your 2 year old hug her 5 month old brother without prompting.)

But then things got even cuter.

Sophia's "pink choo-choo"

As I calmed Alexander down (read, found pacifier), Sophia went off and entertained herself. When I turned my attention to her, I saw she’d definitely found a way to keep herself busy.Without any intervention or input from me, Sophia had set up a “pink choo-choo”. Her words, not mine. She had arranged to kitchen chairs back-to-back, put the Ellie and other Ellie in one chair, and sat in the second chair. Her “pink choo-choo” was complete with the requisite “choo-choo” sounds. Of course, the highlight was when she asked if I wanted to ride the pink choo-choo. Of course, nothing is beneath me.

Once the rest of the house was awake, Mommy realized she needed to go upstairs for something. Sophia very much wanted to stay with Mommy. As we all began heading upstairs, Sophia turned around, looked at me and said, “Daddy, go downstairs.” I guess I had outlived my usefulness.

Small Album of pix from this AM

Click to view the photo album

Click to view as a slideshow

What happens when you take on Sophia's head

Mommy consoled her as much as we could. Sophia was already tired and pretty soon thereafter fell asleep on Mommy. We’ve been putting bags of frozen veggies on the back of her head to try to keep the huge bump on the back of her head from growing. Fingers crossed. Given Daddy’s history with head injuries, we’re obviously nervous.

She seems to be doing pretty well now that she is resting on Mommy in their mutually loved glider chair. I think Mommy and Daddy’s hearts are probably done racing now, too.

Oh, yeah, Alexander is out cold on the kitchen table.
Quick Update: Sophia just had her first ever “Children’s Ibuprofen” as opposed to the previous “Infant’s Ibuprofen”. I know we age, but it just seems like she shouldn’t be there yet. :/

As may very well become our custom, we hosted an open house for Sophia’s birthday. The event serves the dual purposes of getting to see many of our friends that we haven’t seen in a while and celebrating Sophia’s birthday. Aside from the fact that the sun decided to be an active participant in this year’s festivities, we all had a really good time. Most importantly, Sophia had an absolute blast. We also were able to get several of our friends together that we have been trying to introduce to one another.

Of course, this format may not work as well for Alexander’s birthday, since he is in mid-winter. Oh well, I am sure his celebration will be great, too.

Note to all other parents of young children: We got a lot of feedback that the “format” worked very well. We opened our doors in the early afternoon and invited folks to drop by whenever they wanted for as long as they wanted. This definitely helped with toddler/infant nap schedules. Some stayed for 30 minutes as they squeezed us in between competing weekend events. (Thank you!) Some stayed for hours. It was great to be able to see people for any period of time.

We are so blessed with so many wonderful friends who would take time of their hectic lives to help us celebrate. We are genuinely grateful.

We are especially grateful that Dave’s parents (a.k.a. abuela and grandpa) made the trip down from DC. Especially since two days prior they had just arrived back in the country from a month in Spain. WOW! We love you.

Photos from Sophia’s 2nd Birthday

Here are the pictures from Sophia’s second birthday.

Videos of Sophia’s 2nd Birthday

Terrible recording of us singing happy birthday to Sophia. Direct Link to YouTube video

Sophia having fun, as usual, with the Mackes. Direct Link to YouTube Video
(Forgive Daddy’s awful singing)

Cherry Garcia was a hit

This actually happened a couple of weeks ago. I am just now getting around to posting it. I hope to post a bunch of stuff, even really old stuff, in the days ahead. (Promises, promises.)

The story here was that the day after Sophia’s second birthday, we went out with the grandparents to Bond Park in Cary. It was rather toasty. Abuela, aka, Daddy Dave’s mom, really wanted to get Sophia some ice cream. That’s what grandparents do, right? Anyway, as you’ll see in the video below, Sophia rather enjoyed her first ever Cherry Garcia.

Some Pictures

The few pictures in this album illustrate the point as well.

Video Evidence

Direct Link to YouTube Video