Tales from the Crib

Shabbat Bag

2012-02-06T13:43:00.003-05:00

One time each school year, one of Sophia's classmates gets to take home the class Shabbat bag. This weekend was Sophia's turn! The Shabbat bag is a bag that contains all of the items you need to have Shabbat at home...candlesticks, candles, challah, and a kiddush cup. There is also a Shabbat bear that the kids get to play with for the weekend. Sophia was so excited to have her turn, and impressed us by knowing all of the words to the prayers!

Decorating her kiddush cup with stickers

Saying the prayer over the candles

Saying the prayer over the wine (in her very own kiddush cup)

Singing the hamotzi

Family Fun

2012-02-06T13:29:00.004-05:00

The past few weeks we've been having a lot of fun with the family! William has started playing in his exersaucer, which he loves, and Sophia loves to help him play with the toys. We also got to visit with our cousins when they were in town.

All smiles in the exersaucer

Hugs!

Wearing her hat she made at school

Being silly!

Sharing with William

Cousins Ben, Sophia, and Julia playing a game

Aunt Jenn and William

4 months

2012-02-06T11:53:00.003-05:00

Our baby boy is 4 months old! William has become a very good night time sleeper, but still not the best napper. He's still waking up once to eat, but goes to sleep at about 7:00 so that's not surprising. He's getting better at tummy time, but still doesn't want to push up with his arms yet. He loves to eat his hands and pull Mommy and Sophia's hair. He loves kisses on his cheeks and on his belly. He's gotten very good at grabbing the toys on his play mat, and is starting to hold toys that we give him for a few minutes. He watches everything, and especially likes to look at his big sister. He really likes his touch and feel books at bedtime, and likes us to help him feel the different textures.

4 month stats:
Height: 25 inches - 54%
Weight: 14 lbs- 32%

Eating his Sophie teether

Singing into Sophia's microphone

Random Cuteness

2012-01-21T15:11:00.004-05:00

We haven't posted many pictures lately. Having 2 kids keeps us very busy! Just wanted to put up some random cute pictures we took lately.

Sophia wearing Daddy's hairnet that has has to wear at work sometimes.

William having fun in his Bumbo

Of course Sophia had to play on the Bumbo too! Amazing she didn't get wedged in there.

Playing with her doll, giving it its "chooch" (paci)

Sophia started ballet last week...she loves getting dressed up.

Ta-daaaaa!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-07T20:58:00.003-05:00

Family Hanukkah parties

2012-01-07T20:38:00.006-05:00

The kids were so lucky to get to celebrate Hanukkah for all 8 nights! In addition to celebrating at home, we had 2 family Hanukkah parties. The first was with Cousins Laura, Greg, Allan, and Ben. They invited us over for a delicious meal and then we lit the candles and exchanged gifts. Sophia had so much fun playing with her cousins, especially ring around the rosie.

Doing stamps with cousins Allan and Ben

Saying the prayers

Ring around the rosie....

....we all fall down!

Reading her new book

Playing with her new puppy

William watching the action with Pop and Aunt Jenn

The second party was with the Segal cousins. We had a yummy dinner and Daddy made some delicious latkes for everyone to eat. We also celebrated cousin Brenna's birthday. Sophia loves hanging out with her cousins Madelyn, Ava, and Levi.

Doing stickers with Cousin Madelyn

Lighting the candles with Madelyn and Ava

Singing into the microphone from her new dress up chest

My happy little man

First night of Hanukkah

2011-12-28T14:18:00.004-05:00

Celebrating the first night of Hanukkah. Sophia likes to help light the candles and knows the whole blessing!

Almost present time!

Opening her first Hanukkah gift

Helping William open his gift

Aunt Jenn and William

Giving Daddy his gift

William's room

2011-12-28T14:11:00.002-05:00

William just started sleeping in his room a few nights ago and he loves it! Once we have the name plate for his crib, the room will be complete!

3 months old

2011-12-28T14:00:00.006-05:00

William is 3 months old! In the past month we have started to see a lot more of his personality. He has started to coo at us and smiles all the time! At the very end of the month, he even started laughing! He is such a happy boy. William loves looking at toys on his play mat and does a great job following a toy with his eyes. He has started rolling onto his side, but not rolling over yet. He sleeps most of the way through the night now, generally sleeping 7-9 hours before waking up to eat, and then going back to sleep for a few more hours.

There's no 3 month check up, but at a sick visit to the pediatrician's office he weighed 12.9 lbs

William and baby playing during dinner time

With both babies. William is so sweet to share!

Smiling at Mommy. (I promise he doesn't sit in his bouncy seat all day)

Sophia's Hanukkah Performance

2011-12-21T16:51:00.007-05:00

Last week Sophia's school put on a Hanukkah performance. Sophia's class was the gelt group. At the beginning of the show, each class paraded across the stage with their class dancing and waving their hands in the air to the song Dynamite. Then each class danced and/or sang for their individual performances. Sophia's class danced around the stage and played their guitars. We were worried that Sophia would be shy, or possibly even cry, but she had the time of her life! She clearly is not shy!

The opening parade:
"I throw my hands up in the air sometimes, saying AYO!"

So excited to see Daddy in the audience!

Coming out on stage for her class performance

Playing her guitar

The whole class

Jumping and having so much fun!

I see Mommy, Daddy, and Nana!

Enjoying being the center of attention

Below is a video of her performance. If it doesn't show up, go to the blog and you can view it there.

2 1/2 years old

2011-12-21T16:22:00.006-05:00

Sophia is 2 1/2 years old! She has become such a grown up and independent little girl. She speaks so well, and amazes us with some of the words she knows. She speaks in long and complex sentences now. She is such a jokester and is always making us laugh. She is very active and loves to run, jump, and roll around. She absolutely loves her school and is sad on the days she doesn't get to go. She is very opinionated and hard headed sometimes.

Sophia is now halfway potty trained! She goes pee pee on the potty and even wears underwear! She has great manners and is always saying please, thank you, excuse me, and I'm sorry. She's super loving and loves to give hugs and kisses. She always wants to hug her friends and hold their hands. She is very helpful around the house, and loves to bring things to Mommy and Daddy. She is not a fan of cleaning up her toys and clean up time can often result in a melt down. She loves anything that is Mommy and Daddy's (She stole my phone in the picture below. She also snuck a sip of my Diet Coke when I was upstairs getting William out of bed). Sophia is always reading, singing, and dancing.

Took Mommy's cell phone

"Checking her email"

Wearing Daddy's apron

Sophia sandwich!

Sophia's 2 1/2 year stats:
Height: 38 inches - 93%
Weight: 31 lbs 10 oz - 79%

Sibling Love

2011-12-21T16:07:00.005-05:00

Sophia absolutely loves her baby brother. She is so excited when we let her hold him. She loves to show him her toys, lay down on the play mat with him and read stories to him. And William loves her too! He gets so excited when he sees her and smiles at her more than anyone else.

Snuggles

Smiling siblings

Sophia and her 3 babies

Showing William her latke art

Reading a story to her brother

Sharing the play mat

3rd Annual Pink Pig

2011-12-15T16:00:00.004-05:00

Every year Sophia and I go to Lenox with Nana to go for a ride on the Pink Pig. This year was Sophia's 3rd year! This was William's first visit, but he didn't get to ride the train. Sophia was so excited to go for a ride on Priscilla!

Sophia rode with Nana the first time

And with Mommy the second time

Everyone with Priscilla the Pig

Holiday Party

2011-12-12T15:47:00.005-05:00

Last weekend our friends threw their annual holiday party. We had delicious food and a book exchange for the adults and the kids. The kids also had a blast decorating and eating their own cupcakes! There are now 9 kids and counting!

Brady and Abigail, Zachary, Olivia and Addie, Sophia and William,
Anna Claire, and James

Sophia with her bff Olivia

Putting sprinkles on her cupcake

More icing (after she snuck a spoonful in her mouth!)

Eating her delicious creation

Reading her new book from the book exchange

Opening her gift from Mandy

Brady, Olivia, and Sophia

2 months

2011-12-01T16:09:00.004-05:00

In the past month, William has become a lot more alert. He loves to play on his play mat and kick his legs and swing his arms around. He's very interested in his hanging toys, and in the lights and fans. He absolutely loves to look at his big sister. William started smiling when he was 5 weeks old, and now smiles all the time. He has started to have one longer stretch of sleep at night, only waking up one time before morning. He started cooing a lot at 8 weeks. William is generally a very happy baby when he isn't eating!

2 month stats:

Height: 22.75 in - 46%

Weight: 10 lbs 15 oz - 35%

Played so hard he fell asleep!

William with big sis Sophia

Go dawgs!

Smiling

2011-12-01T15:55:00.004-05:00

William started smiling at about 5 weeks. Now he smiles all the time! He loves smiling at mommy, daddy, the lights, but he especially loves to look at and smile at his big sister! When he smiles, he has a dimple in his left cheek, just like Sophia.

One of his first real smiles

Sophia in the past month

2011-12-01T15:40:00.004-05:00

I've been to busy to blog lately, so I'm very behind. Here are a few pictures of Sophia from the past month.

Stealing Mommy's diet coke (luckily it was empty!)

Loving Daddy's prosciutto

Swinging at a birthday party

Helping Daddy make pasta

Watching tv

Helping Mommy make monkey bread for Thanksgiving

Chopsticks Time!

2011-11-19T21:47:00.000-05:00

Sophia loves eating her Asian dinners with her chopsticks. We got her a set of Japanese level 1 training chopsticks and she's been practicing for a little while now; she's gotten pretty good with them!

Tonight was beef pad prik khing, a delicious thai curry with green beans, of course she had to get her chopsticks out!

Halloween

2011-11-08T15:26:00.005-05:00

On Halloween this year, we had a few friends come over to go trick or treating. We practiced trick or treating ahead of time so Sophia would know what to do. She had so much fun going from house to house with her friends and getting candy to put in her bag. She said "trick or treat!" at each house, and "thank you" after getting her candy. Each time she got a piece of candy, she of course wanted to eat it. She definitely got her fill of sugar that night!

Twirling in her fairy costume

Sophia and William in their costumes

Ready to go trick or treating!
Olivia, Zachary, Sophia and Brady

Running up to the first house

Putting her first piece of candy in her bucket

Having so much fun!

Snuggles from my pumpkin

Holding hands with Olivia

Showing her friend Joshua all of her candy

The babies in costume
Anna, Addie, and William

Newborn pictures

2011-11-02T21:28:00.007-04:00

When William was 6 days old, we had newborn pictures taken with a photographer. We had a bunch of pictures taken of him by himself, a few of him and Sophia, as well as a family shot. We love them! Here are a few of our favorites.

1 Month

2011-11-02T17:50:00.003-04:00

William is one month old! We are so in love with our little guy. It has been quite the adjustment getting used to having 2 kids, and quite a different experience with a boy this time around. This first month William ate, slept, and ate some more. He loves his play mat and has fun laying on his back and kicking his legs. He's not the biggest fan of tummy time, but tolerates it for a few minutes. His favorite place to sleep for naps is the swing. He loves to be snuggled, and likes to be carried around by Mommy in the sling. At night, William will sometimes sleep for up to a 4 hour stretch, but generally wakes up every 3-3.5 hours to eat. He is having longer periods of awake time, and we're looking forward to him starting to smile and interact with us soon!

Daddy's weighing William to make sure he's gaining weight

Sleeping like Daddy

Some awake time

William is 1 month old!

William's 1 month stats:
Height: 21.25 inches (37%)
Weight: 9 lbs 7 oz (39%)

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-02T17:26:00.004-04:00

A couple weekends ago we took Sophia and William to a local pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins. Sophia was excited to see all of the pumpkins, but not so excited about smiling for pictures. William of course slept the whole time.

I like this one!

Smiling with the scarecrows

Mommy with her babies

Trying to find the perfect pumpkin

Last few weeks

2011-10-29T15:53:00.004-04:00

Here are a bunch of pictures of the kids from the last few weeks.

Snuggles with Mommy

Sophia loves to help William with tummy time!

Sophia making herself beautiful

William hanging out in his bouncy seat while we eat dinner

William's First Bath!

All clean!

Daddy and his babies

Sophia is a pro with her kids chopsticks!

The Molinari family visits

2011-10-25T21:31:00.000-04:00

Sophia and William's Nonno and Nonna visited for the week of William's bris. Sophia was so excited to see them and had a great time getting lots of attention. She would make them push her on her swing set for hours! Of course Nonna and Nonno happily obliged!

Nonna and Nonno with their FAVORITE grandkids:) Sophia was squirming to get out, but Nonna's iron grip was able to keep her at least for the duration of the picture.

Nonno and William. Nonno made his usual funny faces, oddly William appeared unamused.
It appears Nonno was trying to camouflage into the sofa.

Nonna and William. William actually seemed to be looking at and paying attention to Nonna!

All the male descendants of G. Molinari, all in 1 place. A pretty rare occurrence!

Sophia loved playing with her cousin Luca in her house on the porch.

Sophia and cousin Max loving on cousin/brother Luca.

Sophia would swing all afternoon if someone stayed to push her. Nonno lasted longer than most at her favorite activity!

Sliding might be her 2nd favorite activity. I think at this point Nonno was worn out from pushing her on the swing.

We're so glad Nonna and Nonno made the long trip from Italy ! We can't wait for them to come visit again soon; Sophia wouldn't stop asking where they were the day after they left.

William's bris

2011-10-23T15:37:00.004-04:00

We had William's bris at our house when he was 8 days old. We had our families over for a short ceremony, and lunch afterwards. William was a trooper, and didn't even cry! We gave him the hebrew name Yaacov Avishai after his great grandfathers, William Pearlman and William Toran, and great grandmother Agnese Molinari.

Mommy and Daddy with William

The Pearlman family

Mommy and William

The whole family

William wearing his yarmulke

Reading our parts during the ceremony

Getting ready for the bris

Nonna reading her part

First days home

2011-10-23T15:23:00.004-04:00

When we got home from the hospital, we had a stork waiting for us in the yard.

The next day, we had a birthday party for William. We had a cake and sang happy birthday to him, and Sophia blew out the candles.

Then we opened presents. William gave Sophia a big sister gift. And Sophia picked out a birthday gift to give to William.

Sophia loves to help out, and when William gets a bottle, she likes to help hold it.

William's first play date, his girlfriend Addie who is 1 month older

William is born!

2011-10-22T21:23:00.005-04:00

William Alessio Molinari was born on September 22nd at 10:26 am. He weighed 7 lbs 8 oz, was 20 inches and had a full head of hair! He was named after his great grandfathers, William Pearlman and William Toran, and great grandmother Agnese Molinari.

A few minutes old

Being weighed and measured

All clean after his bath

The official measurements

William with his proud Daddy

Baby William's first day

Meeting Pop

Rocking with Aunt Jenn

Big sister Sophia can't wait to meet William!

Holding William for the first time

Snuggling with Nana

One day old

Going home!

Zia Micol's Visit

2011-10-17T15:19:00.006-04:00

Last month, Zia Micol came to Atlanta to visit for a few days. We had a wonderful time with her, and Sophia knew exactly who she was even though it had been a year since she had seen her last, thanks to Skype. Sophia had a blast playing with her, and was so sad to see her go!

At Shabbat Sing at Sophia's school

Out to lunch

Watching Daddy cook on the wok

Swinging with Zia

Listening to Sophia sing the Hamotzi over the challah

Being silly with Mommy

Waking Zia up in the morning!

More swinging (Sophia's favorite activity)

In spalla

Swapping sunglasses

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-08T15:37:00.001-04:00

Last weekend was a busy one for our family. Cousin Brad and his family came to Atlanta and Sophia was so excited to see her cousins. Sophia and Julia had a lot of fun blowing bubbles and sharing a snack on the sofa. Sophia was in heaven holding her new baby cousin Evelyn. She is going to be such a big helper when her baby brother gets here.

Blowing bubbles

Holding baby Evelyn

Sharing a snack and giving hugs

The next day we had a BBQ at our house and some of Sophia's friends came over to eat and play. She, Olivia, and Brady had a great time and played so well together.

Playing with baby dolls in the house

Olivia and Sophia having some tea

Cooking for everyone

Holding hands

The playroom at the end of the night. Do you think they had fun?

On Monday, Nana and Pop came over for some of Daddy's homemade pizza. It was delicious as usual, but even more so this time because Sophia helped make the pizza!

Patting the dough

Putting on the prosciutto (and sneaking in some bites for herself)

Sprinkling on the cheese

Favorite new toy

2011-09-08T15:10:00.002-04:00

For Sophia's birthday, Grandma got Sophia a great new toy....her very own house! We decided to put it out on the screened in porch so it's easy for her to get to, and we can use it even when it's raining. She loves to talk on the phone, ring the doorbell, and feed her baby doll at the table. Here are a few pictures of her first time playing in her house.

Checking out the new phone

Washing her hands in the sink

Checking the mail

First day of school

2011-08-28T21:05:00.005-04:00

Monday was Sophia's first day of school. This year she is in the 2 year old Panda class. She missed school and all of her friends, and was very excited to go back. She had a fun week playing with friends, doing art, going to music class, playball, and shabbat, and playing on the playground.

My big girl is ready for her first day of school!

First day of school last year. What a difference
one year makes!

Swimming with Nana and kisses for Colin

2011-08-28T20:52:00.003-04:00

The past few weeks have been full of fun activities for Sophia. We are trying to fit in as much as possible before the baby comes. A couple of weeks ago, Nana came to our neighborhood pool to swim with us. Sophia loves her new float, and loves to jump off the wall with it on.

Kissing her boyfriend Colin

Ha-motzi lechem min ha-aretz

2011-08-11T07:12:00.000-04:00

Every Friday in school Sophia does Shabbat and says prayers over their bread before eating it. Last night she was showing us how well she knows the prayer over the bread.

Making brownies

2011-08-07T15:42:00.005-04:00

Yesterday Sophia wanted to help me make brownies! We pulled over a chair and she helped pour in all of the ingredients and mix them all up. But her favorite part was licking the brownie batter! We used pasteurized eggs, so it was safe for her to eat.

Sticking her finger in the batter

Mmmm...so good!

Being a troublemaker

Messy face

The fire station

2011-08-07T15:19:00.005-04:00

Last weekend we were invited to join Sophia's friend Colin and his parents at the fire station to celebrate his birthday. When we got there, they first gave us a tour of the whole station. Sophia wasn't very interested in that part, but was very excited when we got to check out the fire trucks! She loved pretending to drive the truck and squirting water out of a tank. Daddy even got to put on all of the fireman's gear!

In the driver's seat

Sophia and Colin driving together

Buckled in and ready to go!

Climbing up the back of the truck

Playing with the hose

Squirting water

Mommy, Daddy the fireman, and Sophia

Tot Shabbat at the park

2011-07-29T16:04:00.004-04:00

Last weekend our synagogue held it's monthly Tot Shabbat at the park on Saturday morning. We brought our big blanket to sit on and sat in the grass with all the other families while Rabbi Brad sang songs and told a story. Sophia even got up and danced! After saying the Hamotzi, the kids got to eat donut holes instead of challah. That was Sophia's favorite part! She scarfed down 4 of them in about 5 minutes! After the service, we went and played in the park for a little while before heading to lunch with some friends.

Watching Rabbi Brad sing songs

Cheese! With Daddy

Eating her snack and listening to the story

Donut time!

Going for a ride

Swinging with her friend Evan

Whee!

The Sinai Circus

2011-07-29T15:51:00.002-04:00

At Sophia's camp, there is a theme for each week of camp and the last week's was the circus. They do activities and artwork during their days there that have to do with the theme of the week. For circus week, the whole camp puts on a performance at the end of the day on Friday, and parents are invited to come and watch. Each class is a different act in the circus. There are clowns, strong men, tight rope walkers, elephants, etc.

Sophia does not like to dress up and wouldn't wear her costume for the performance. She was a little shy up on the stage, but ended up dancing and having a great time! Her class was the clown group, and they did a freeze dance for the show.

Introducing the clowns! Lily, Sophia, and Chloe

Dancing with Ms. Lora

A big smile because she just spotted Mommy!

Cousin Ben was a strong man. Look at those muscles!

Got her to put her clown collar on at home for a quick picture

Summer time

2011-07-29T15:44:00.003-04:00

We have been having a fun and busy summer so far! Here are a few cute pictures from the past couple of weeks I wanted to share!

Eating soba noodles with her chopsticks

Made it!

Sophia's favorite new activity- stickers

Snuggling with Mommy after nap

Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

My beautiful big girl

First night in a bed!

2011-07-02T15:48:00.004-04:00

Last night Sophia spent her first night in a big girl bed! She was so excited about it, and went right to bed! She woke up with a fever so she didn't get the best night's rest, but I'm hoping this will be an easy transition! Until we get the headboard and the rest of the bedding, her mattress is on the ground. More pictures to come when it's finished!

So excited to sleep in her new bed!

Sound asleep and snuggling with Hop

Birthday party at My Gym

2011-07-02T15:08:00.006-04:00

Last weekend we celebrated Sophia's birthday (our last celebration of many!) with all of her friends at My Gym. We chose a bunny theme for her party since she is obsessed with her lovey, Hop, and all other things bunny.

Sophia's absolute favorite thing to do these days is jump on the trampoline. She probably spent 75% of her time at the party jumping!

My little jumping bean

There are so many activities for the kids to do at My Gym. Sophia had fun jumping on the trampoline, playing in the balls, doing her warm up during circle time, riding the roller coaster, and many more fun activities!

Singing the welcome song and warming up

Jumping in the balls

Swinging from a trapeze

In one of the special swings

Swinging with her friends
Olivia, Alex, Sophia, and Lily

After playing for a while, everyone gathered around to sing to Sophia and she got to take a special wagon ride around the room. We also attempted to get a group picture of all of the kids, but only managed to get about half of them to sit together.

Riding in the wagon

Holding up her legs because she didn't like the feel of the pom poms

Group photo
Front row: Colin, Brady, Davis, Sophia, Joshua, Olivia
Back row: Lily, Lacey, Chloe

Cake time was of course Sophia's favorite part of the party. We sang happy birthday to Sophia, she helped blow out the candles, and then everyone had some birthday cake, bunny crackers, juice and fruit. After a little more play time, it was time to go home! Everyone got a bunny cookie to take home with them.

The bunny cake

Helping sing to herself

All the kids eating cake

Jumping a little more with Nana

Cookie party favors

When we got home, Sophia was so excited to open all of her presents. She is a pro at unwrapping gifts now, and wanted to play with each toy as soon as it was unwrapped. Now, every time she sees a present, she thinks it's for her!

Opening gifts

Another one!

Snack time with Daddy

We had a great time at Sophia's 2nd birthday party! Thanks to everyone for celebrating with us!

"I'm two!"

2011-07-01T06:14:00.015-04:00

Wow, what a wonderful two years it has been. Every day Sophia does something to amaze me. And every day I think how lucky I am to have such a beautiful, funny, smart, silly, loving daughter.

My silly girl

When you ask Sophia how old she is, she can proudly tell you "I'm two!". She has a great vocabulary and is starting to make 4-5 word sentences. She can count to 12 in english and 10 in italian. She understands everything Daddy says to her in italian, and can often answer him back in italian. Sophia knows most of her colors, but sometimes mixes up orange and yellow, as well as red and blue. She loves that her baby brother is in Mommy's tummy, and likes to talk to him and give him kisses before bed every night. When we tell her to tell him goodnight, she gets a big smile on her face because she is going to be silly. What started out as telling him to "eat" (yes, she is Daddy's child) has turned into telling him to "Eat pie today" every night.

Eating cake

Sophia has become a very picky eater lately. One meal she will do amazing and the next meal she will only eat one thing from her plate. But she definitely has some bizarre tastes! What child other than mine doesn't like fresh mozzerella but will eat a whole can of sardines?!? Sophia loves school and her friends, and loves giving people hugs and kisses. She is obsessed with bubbles and can blow them by herself, but has a tantrum when we can't go outside to blow them. She loves singing songs, especially Shabbat music, and every time we get in the car says "Sophia's music please!" over and over until we turn it on. At least she's polite! Every time we go on the highway, Sophia looks for trucks and tells me what color they are. Her favorite is white...probably because there are so many of them.

Messy eater

Sharing with her friend Ava

Hugs!

Blowing bubbles by herself

She has become very independent, always telling us "Sophia do it". She likes to help pull up her pants and thinks she can put her own diaper on. She also insists on buckling her car seat, bike buckle, and booster seat at the table every time. Sophia has gone potty a handful of times, but is now scared to actually go. She knows when she needs to go and will tell me "no pee pee floor" and then "it's ok" when she starts to go in her diaper. She can finally jump, at least on the trampoline. It is now her favorite thing to do. We are still working on jumping on the floor though.

Going for a ride

"Unlocked it!"

Sophia can now sit through a tv show, and her favorite is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She likes to help sing the opening song, and will try to answer their questions they ask. I love watching her do the hot dog dance at the end every time.

2 year stats:

Height: 36 inches- 94%

Weight: 30 lbs- 85%

Head: 47 cm- 37%

Happy Birthday to you!

2011-06-28T08:31:00.000-04:00

This was Sophia's morning birthday song. She was rather excited about it!

Birthday at camp

2011-06-24T15:32:00.003-04:00

The day after Sophia's birthday, Mommy and Daddy brought donuts into camp for her and her friends. Everyone sang Happy Birthday and ate lots of donut holes. When they were done, we went to the activity room and got to watch Sophia play with all of her friends!

Happy Birthday to You!

Sitting with her friends

Eating her yummy donuts

Riding a bike in the activity room

Showing Mommy how she goes on the slide

Sophia is 2!

2011-06-24T14:55:00.006-04:00

Sophia is 2 years old! We had a super busy, fun day on Sophia's birthday. She woke up happy as usual, chatting to Hop in her crib.

Giving Hop kisses

After breakfast, I gave her her gifts from Mommy and Daddy. She was so excited to sit at her new table and play with the cool appliances! Her favorite was the coffee pot.

Then we met Nana and Aunt Jenn at the mall. This mall has a kids play area that was so much fun! They also have a Disney store and Sophia got a Minnie Mouse as big as she is!

Finally came the real reason we came to this mall...The American Girl store! Sophia enjoyed checking out all of the dolls and accessories, and Nana even got her a Bitty Baby to take home! We then had lunch in the bistro with her new doll. Everyone sang happy birthday to Sophia after lunch, and she sang along with them. She even blew out her own candle!

Pushing around the baby doll

Loving her new baby!

Helping baby take a sip

Now it's Sophia's turn!

Helping sing Happy Birthday to herself

Chowing down

After lunch, we went upstairs to the carousel and Sophia chose a horse to ride. She had so much fun, and cried when the ride was over and it was time to get off.

That night Nana, Pop, Aunt Jenn and Chase came over to play and have pizza and cake.

Opening her gift from Aunt Jenn

Singing to herself

Loving the attention!

Blowing out the candles

We are looking forward to Sophia's party with her friends this weekend!

18 month class pictures

2011-06-06T08:14:00.004-04:00

School ended a few weeks ago, and Sophia has been having lots of Mommy time and play dates! We're having a lot of fun together, but she misses school, her friends, and her teachers. She can't wait for camp to start next week so she can play with everyone again!

18 month class picture

At the end of the school year, the teachers make a collage for each student to take home. They take pictures throughout the year, and you can really see how much they've grown and changed! Here is Sophia, starting out in Mother's Morning Out and not even walking! She then moved up to the 18 month class and started to play with friends, do a lot of art, and play on the playground.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEN!

2011-05-27T11:24:00.000-04:00

Sophia loves doing Shabbat at her school every Friday, it might have something to do with eating lots of challah or with yelling "AMEN!!" louder than all the other kids at the end of the bread and "wine" prayer!

Spring Break at the beach

2011-05-10T14:27:00.008-04:00

For Sophia's Spring Break, we went on a family trip to Santa Rosa Beach. The weather was a little cool in the mornings, so we'd go down to the beach late morning until lunch time. Sophia loved to play in the sand with her buckets. She had fun transferring water from the big bucket to the small bucket and then pouring it back in. She also liked to stand up in the bucket and make cakes in the sand and then squishing them.

Playing with Mommy at the beach

Hugs for Aunt Jenn

Happy to be at the beach!

Playing soccer with Aunt Jenn and Chase

Laying out

Standing in the bucket

Playing in the pool at the beach

Beach curls

Pouring water into the buckets

Reading to Daddy

Big girl in her chair

Hanging out with Pop

At lunch time we'd go up to eat and then head back to the pool before nap time. Sophia loves to do humpty dumpty on the wall and have Daddy throw her up in the air. She also learned how to jump off the wall standing up.

Humpty Dumpty

Swimming under water

Jumping off the wall

Flying through the air

Swimming in her floaties

After her naps we would play at the condo and then go out for dinner or Daddy would cook for us. Sophia loved being the center of attention!

The family

Wearing her Dora jewelry

Being so silly

View from our condo

Coloring with Daddy

Hanging around the house

2011-04-26T16:34:00.004-04:00

Here are a few pictures from the last month of Sophia hanging out around the house. She is constantly moving and always keeping us entertained!

Wearing Daddy's shirt

Making muffins with Mommy

Swinging with Daddy

Watching Dora before bed

Sharing Daddy's ice cream sandwich

Sophia's latest trick. I'm such a proud Mommy!

Posing for the camera (This was not staged!)

Aquarium and Petting Zoo

2011-04-26T16:02:00.004-04:00

These pictures are from about a month ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting them.

Our trip to the aquarium with Colin:

Colin and Sophia checking out the fish

Sophia loved standing and looking through the big window

Hi Mr. Fish!

There was a scuba diver in the tank that scared Sophia, but she finally got brave enough to go check out the fish.

Farmer Sue came to Sophia's school and brought some animals from her farm! It was a day that Sophia doesn't go to school, so we were invited to bring our kids to see the animals. Sophia loved it and was not scared at all!

Touching a baby chick

Petting a sheep

Holding a bunny with her teacher Ms. Julie

Brushing the horse

Hugs for her boyfriend Joshua

Sophia loves babies

2011-04-02T14:42:00.010-04:00

Sophia loves babies. Not just likes them, but truly loves them. Anytime we see a baby, she has to stop and look and talk to them. She wants to give them hugs and kisses, share her food and drink, give them their pacifier, and feed them their bottle. So we know she will be thrilled when she understands the news that she is going to be a BIG SISTER!!!

Baby Molinari #2 is coming in early October 2011!

Peek a boo!

I see you!

Getting practice

Hurray! I'm going to be a big sister!

Swim Lessons

2011-04-02T14:21:00.006-04:00

Sophia has been taking swim lessons for the past month and she absolutely loves it! She has so much fun playing in the water and is going to have a blast when we go to the beach. When we get in the pool, first she floats around on a noodle.

Next we sing our hello song and a few other songs to get them used to the water. She then sits on a raft to practice her balance and to strengthen her middle.

Next we practice floating on her back.

Then we do Humpty Dumpty and jump off the wall. This is Sophia's favorite.

After jumping in, she tries to climb back out of the pool.

Finally, she practices swimming under the water from Mommy to the teacher and then back. She's been doing a great job of not drinking the water.

21 months

2011-03-27T10:32:00.005-04:00

At 21 months, Sophia seems so grown up! She is full of energy and always entertaining. She loves to be the center of attention, and if you're not paying attention to her she will get an inch from your face and say "Hi, hi, hi" until you acknowledge her.

Sophia loves to read and sing. She likes to sit on the sofa and look through books herself, and will not go to bed at night without reading. A couple of her books, Goodnight moon, I Spy Hearts, and a few others, she will even "help" read! If we read the first few words on a page, she can tell us what comes next. She is constantly singing too. She doesn't know all the words, but loves to sing "Ditsy Ditsy Spider", ABCs, Twinkle twinkle, Wheels on the bus, the "Motzi", and Bim bam.

Reading with Aunt Jenn

Cheese!

She is obsessed with baby dolls and loves to change their diapers. Her baby has a potty that she likes to put her on. She climbs in or under anything and calls it a house. Under my legs, under the desk, into her tent, under a table. She is constantly asking to watch tv, but is over the Wiggles. She is now obsessed with Dora, and thanks to Dora has added a dance move to her repertoire. She loves to dance to the "we did it" dance and twists her body back and forth with her arms bent.

Sophia is talking a lot, and has started making 2 and 3 word sentences pretty consistently. She now understands the difference between you vs. me. When she wants to be picked up and we say no, she tries to trick us and puts her arms up and says snuggle ("shuggle"). She recognizes something about our neighborhood from the street and every time we pull up to the entrance Sophia yells "Home!".

She is still super loving and loves to give hugs and kisses, but has definitely started the terrible twos in the past few weeks. She has started having some tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants and has been in time out a handful of times. She's gotten more particular about food and refuses to have something on her plate that she doesn't like. She's started throwing food when she doesn't want it on her tray.

All bundled up on a snow day

Napping with Daddy out of town

My little girl, all grown up

Gymnastics

2011-03-23T15:30:00.004-04:00

On Mondays, Sophia goes to a gym class with some of her friends from school. She has so much fun playing on all of the equipment, but doesn't always want to do the planned activities. Since Daddy worked all weekend, he got to come with us this week and took pictures of us.

Sophia's favorite activity, hanging from the bar

Whee!

Walking on the balance beam

Sliding

Face first into the ball pit

Swinging like a monkey

Doing a handstand with the teacher

Silly with Mommy

Weekend fun

2011-03-23T15:18:00.005-04:00

Last weekend was an exciting one for Sophia! We had a weekend packed with lots of activities. On Saturday Aunt Ronni and baby Max came over to play! They were in town visiting some family, and came over for a play date with Sophia. Sophia loves all babies, but she had a blast playing with Max. She showed him all of her toys, gave him hugs and kisses, and had lunch with him. She was sad to see him leave!

Giving baby Max kisses

Kisses for Aunt Ronni

Helping Max eat his bottle

The next day we went to the synagogue's Purim carnival. Sophia is still a little young for most of the games, but there were still several activities for her to do. She made a princess crown with Daddy, rode the train around the parking lot, ate lunch, and saw a bunch of her friends.

Doing art with Daddy

Wearing her cool crown she made

Choo choo! Going for a ride on the train

That night her friend Olivia came over to play. It's so much fun to watch the girls together now that they can interact with each other. Sophia shared all of her toys, but their favorite was the swing and slide. They pushed each other in the swing and took turns running around and going down the slide on their bellies.

Sophia pushing Olivia

Sophia's turn!

Visiting Valdosta

2011-03-16T14:46:00.004-04:00

Last week Sophia, Mommy, and Nana went to Valdosta to visit Gramdma for a couple of days. We had a long ride down, and Sophia was very happy to get out of the car and run around when we got there. That night, cousins Brad, Sarah, and Julia came over for dinner and to play. Sophia absolutely loved her cousin! Julia and Sophia are only a little over a month apart, and Sophia was so excited to see her. She wanted to give her lots of hugs and kisses! We had lots of play time at Grandma's house, and even went over to Julia's house to play for a little while. We had a great visit and can't wait to see everyone again soon!

Playing with her new purse from Cousin Julia

Giving Julia hugs

Loving Julia

Cousins

Looking for the imaginary squirrel

Wearing Nana's glasses

Being silly with Nana's glasses on

Reading before bed with Nana and Hop

Grandma, Sophia, and Nana

Nonna and Nonno come to visit

2011-03-16T14:37:00.006-04:00

A couple of weekends ago, nonna and nonno came to visit! Sophia hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving, but thanks to skype she talks to and "sees" them all the time. We had lots of fun playing with toys, going to the Asian market, going for a walk, and eating lots of yummy food. She loved having nonna take her upstairs to read and go to bed, and still asks for her when we go in her room! We weren't very good about taking pictures this time so I only have a few to share.

Sophia loved nonno's ipad

Nonno feeding Sophia apples

Sophia sharing with nonno

Sophia oversharing with nonno

Hello??

Eating ribs with Daddy

Mmmm....delicious

Morning coffee

2011-03-03T07:40:00.000-05:00

Every morning I (Jason) go to our basement for my morning espresso. I'll have my first, and Sophia will wake up shortly after that. I'll go get her, and she wants to go back to the basement for "caffe'" (coffee). We go back downstairs together, I'll make another, she'll lick the spoon and then while I sit on the couch drinking it, she'll get in her box with her espresso machine and make her own.

Here she is in her box!

Play date with friends

2011-02-20T15:37:00.005-05:00

Last weekend we had a play date at Sophia's friend Zachary's house with a bunch of their friends. All four of the babies are within about 6 months of each other, and we've loved watching them grow up together. Everyone had some yummy snacks and lunch and a lot of play time together.

Going for a Sunday drive

Playing with all of her friends

Brushing her hair with a baster

Friends looking out the window, February 2011:
Olivia, Zachary, Brady, and Sophia

Friends looking out the window, August 2010:
Sophia, Zachary, Brady, and Olivia

Zachary, Brady, Sophia, and Olivia

Using Utensils

2011-02-20T15:28:00.003-05:00

Sophia has loved using utensils for quite a while now. She's been pretty good at using a fork for a few months, but in the past month has gotten good at using a spoon. She seems to finally understand that if she tips the spoon upside down, the food falls off of it, and keeps it steady to her mouth. Of course, she still can make a mess (and usually does)! When she sees her yogurt coming, she yells out "foon" and often tries to tell me what color it is. Her favorite is "orangish".

Having some yogurt for breakfast (note the bed head)

Here it comes!

Big bite!

Cheese face

Talking to the baby on the container (she likes to
share her yogurt with the baby)

Shabbat Bag

2011-02-08T17:25:00.005-05:00

Last weekend, it was Sophia's turn to bring the Shabbat bag home from school. The Shabbat bag is a bag filled with lots of Shabbat goodies that each child brings home once each school year. There is a Shabbat bear, a kiddush cup with stickers, a challah, candle sticks, and candles.

We had such a fun Shabbat together! We ate a yummy dinner first so we could wait for Nana to come over and celebrate with us. First Sophia decorated her kiddush cup. She put lots of stickers on her cup, and was so excited and proud of herself after each one. She couldn't wait to drink juice out of her cup!

Putting stickers on

Having so much fun!

She kept asking for more stickers

Go me!

The finished masterpiece

After she finished decorating, we did all of the prayers together. Sophia took a sip of her juice from her cup, ate some challah, and even said a little bit of the Hamotzi that she learned in school!

Saying the prayers

High five after helping with the Hamotzi

Eating her challah

A few cute pics

2011-02-08T17:20:00.004-05:00

Here are a few cute random pics from the past month:

Pop reading Panda Bear, Panda Bear while Sophia snuggles her panda

Sophia finally gets to face forward in the car! She kept calling it a treat!

Eating an orange for dessert. She calls it "orangish" or "arancio"

Sophia rocking with her friend Zachary

Sophia and Zachary reading with Daddy

Sophia playing, jumping, singing

2011-02-08T07:38:00.000-05:00

Just a quick video of Sophia playing our our office. She seemed to be on caffeine that night, running around spouting various songs and playing games.

Snow day activities

2011-01-19T16:16:00.007-05:00

Last week we were trapped in the house all week! It snowed on Sunday and Monday, and the roads were icy until the end of the week. School was cancelled, as were the rest of our activities. Sophia and I both were going a little stir crazy and had to come up with some new activities to entertain us.

Trying on Mommy's rain boots

Laughing from Daddy's tickles

One of the days, I decided to try baking with Sophia. She loves to watch Daddy cook, but she's never actually helped cook. We decided to make chocolate muffins. I measured out the ingredients and let Sophia pour them in the bowl. She helped mix everything up, and watched as I spooned the batter into the muffin tins. She watched the muffins bake through the window of the oven, and when they were done she got to taste them! Yum!

Mixing up the liquid ingredients

Stirring everything together

Watching the muffins bake

Look what I made!

Mmmm...I'm a good cook!

Being so silly

Later that day, we decided to get out the art supplies and do some art together. She loved coloring with the markers and using the do a dots. She also liked touching them with her fingers and seeing how the color rubbed off on her skin.

Sophia's masterpiece

More snow

2011-01-12T13:57:00.005-05:00

This week we had a big snow storm! It started snowing Monday night, and we are still stuck in the house on Wednesday. We got about 6 or 7 inches of snow at our house! Monday we took Sophia out in the snow to play. She was a little unsure of what to do! We dressed her in warm clothes and rain boots so she wouldn't get too wet.

Checking out the snow

Lots of snow on our porch

Backyard

Almost 7 inches

I'm stuck!

Lots of snow in the cul de sac

Walking around with Mommy

Making silly faces

Happy to be outside

Sausage Fest

2011-01-12T13:50:00.003-05:00

Last weekend we had our 8th annual sausage fest. Every year, Jason makes an Italian sausage called cotechino, and lentils to bring us luck and money in the new year. The food was delicious and Sophia had so much fun playing with her friends!

Cotechino, lentils, and cabbage

Sophia loves to read about Elmo

Brady, Sophia, and Olivia playing

Playing in a basket

Mommy reading to Sophia and Olivia

Sophia saying "Hiccups"

2011-01-09T15:50:00.000-05:00

HAH! Sophia trying to say "hiccups". Rather funny.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T16:06:00.002-05:00

Snow day

2011-01-03T15:58:00.003-05:00

Last week we had some snow in Atlanta! Sophia remembered snow from Thanksgiving in Vermont, and pointed out the window and said "snow!" Mommy was sick, so Daddy took Sophia out in the snow to play. It was cold, but they had lots of fun!

Learning to use a fork

2010-12-31T21:29:00.002-05:00

Sophia loves using her utensils....some nights she wont eat much until we give her a fork or a spoon to eat with. Her aim is still not that great, but she sure is proud when she skewers something!

18 months

2010-12-27T20:23:00.011-05:00

This past week Sophia turned 18 months old. She is becoming such a big girl! Sophia loves to talk and is so chatty. She definitely has over 100 words now. She knows most animals and animal sounds, body parts, please and thank you, trouble, happy, sad, and love you. She has started to say people's names and when she picks up the phone she says talk and hello. In the past 2 weeks she has started putting 2 words together to make a sentence. Most of the time it's "more food" or whatever particular food she wants. But when she bumped her head she said "boo boo head". When she gets a boo boo she says kiss and wants us to give her a kiss to make it feel better.

Sophia is very active now. She walks, runs, and climbs all over the furniture and up and down the stairs. She tries to jump, but is really just bending her knees bouncing up and down. But she looks so proud of herself because she thinks she's really jumping! She is very independent now and won't let us feed her anymore. She uses silverware and can get it to her mouth, but has trouble getting the food on the fork or spoon. She still loves to eat but has definitely gotten picky. She'll let us know what she wants to eat and tells us no if she doesn't want it. Her favorites are most fruits (mangos, blueberries, grapes, watermelon), pretzels, snacks ("nak" anything out of the pantry), corn, and cheese.

Playing in her "house" with her friend Joshua

She is obsessed with The Wiggles "wih wih" and it's the only tv show she'll watch. She loves anything with elmo "elbow" on it. She likes to give hugs and especially kisses all the time. She likes to play peek a boo and will hide behind her hands and then open them up and say "peek!" She loves music and dancing. She is a great helper: she likes to put toys in a basket and after each one will say good job "jahbah" to herself. She loves her stuffed animals. She has a bear upstairs and one downstairs that she asks for and carries around when we're on that floor. She'll look around for it and say bear "beer". Her bunny that she sleeps with is named hop or foo foo, depending on her mood. Sophia is doing great at school and doesn't cry anymore when I leave her there. She is going to have a blast when she starts going 2 days a week in January. Sophia loves to be silly and is always trying to make us laugh. She won't smile for pictures anymore unless it's her silly cheese smile.

18 month stats:

Height: 32 3/4 in = 80%

Weight: 26 lb 10 oz = 80%

Being silly. Cheese smile and messy hair after

she pulled out her "tail"

Our first attempt at Play Doh- poking at it

This looks tasty!

More Hanukkah 2010

2010-12-16T15:01:00.003-05:00

During Hanukkah every year, we have a family Hanukkah party. All of my aunts, uncles, and cousins get together for lunch and so the kids can exchange presents. Sophia had fun with all of her cousins and was very excited to see cousin Levi who is about her age. She really understands the concept of opening presents this year and had so much fun ripping into them to see what was inside.

Family photo with a serious Sophia

Being silly with Mommy

Opening a gift

It's a shopping cart! So cool!

Opening more presents

So many fun toys

Another gift Sophia got this year was a wagon! As Daddy was putting it together, Sophia was climbing inside wanting to go for a ride. Even though it was freezing out, we decided to take Sophia for a quick ride. She loves it!

First Night of Hanukkah

2010-12-14T13:24:00.004-05:00

For the first night of Hanukkah, we had a nice family dinner at our cousin's house. We ate lots of delicious food and then lit the candles and exchanged presents. Sophia loves hanging out with her big cousins, and had so much fun playing with them.

Holding hands with Cousin Ben

Opening her present

So excited about her new toy!

Reading her cards made by her cousins

Chasing the cat around

"Hot, hot"

Playing Allan's guitar

When we got home, Sophia got another Hanukkah present...her new kitchen from Nana and Pop! When she saw the kitchen, her face lit up! She had so much fun checking everything out and opening and closing all of the doors. This is one of her favorite Hanukkah presents this year!

Talking on the phone

Opening the freezer

The Pink Pig

2010-12-03T13:54:00.005-05:00

This week Sophia went on her second annual ride on the Pink Pig at Lenox Mall. I knew going in, she would either love it or hate it. And she loved it! The first time Sophia, Mommy, and Nana all rode together. Then Sophia had one turn with Mommy and the next turn with Nana. When we started going, Sophia said "whee!" and each time the train stopped she said "more, more".

Looking at all of the decorations

Pointing at the pig

Riding with Mommy

Riding with Nana

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-30T20:59:00.009-05:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Rothberg/Molinari family in Vermont and Connecticut. Our first day in Vermont we hung around the house with Uncle Michael's family and Nonna and Nonno. It was cold outside, so Sophia bundled up before going for a walk.

Nice and warm

Running around

This is fun!

Kisses

Riding the tractor

The next day was Thanksgiving Day. We all drove to Connecticut to Chamard Vineyards (Uncle Jonathan's vineyard) for a nice lunch with all of the family.

Having appetizers before the meal

The huge table for 40 people

The table starting to fill up

Daddy, Mommy, and Sophia

Sophia and cousin Max eating lunch

Cheese!

After Thanksgiving, we drove back to Vermont to spend a few more days there relaxing and hanging out with the family. Sophia had a great Thanksgiving and so much fun hanging out with all of her aunts, uncles and cousins!

Roasting marshmallows with Mommy

Mmmm...delicious s'mores!

Do you think I liked it??

Snuggling with Tante Judi

Happy baby in the morning

Bath time!

Catching bubbles

Breakfast with Daddy and some of the cousins

Snow!

Justin, Judi, Daddy, Andrew and Sophia

The Children's Museum

2010-11-30T14:24:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago, Jason and I took Sophia to The Children's Museum. She had a blast exploring and running all over the place. Her favorite thing to do was sit on the tractor and say "beep beep". She also played with balls and gears, played musical instruments, went on the slide, and played with pretend food in the shopping area.

Beep beep!

Pulling the gears off the wall

Turning the wheel and watching the balls go up

Sophia loves the slide!

Playing the drums

Making music on the piano

Going shopping

Messy hair and pigtails

2010-11-11T14:45:00.004-05:00

One morning of each weekend Daddy gets up with Sophia and takes her to the farmer's market. This means that he gets her dressed and ready to go by himself. I've gotten up quite a few times to find mismatched outfits and messy hair, but he tries! Here is Sophia's hairdo from last weekend:

A couple weeks ago I decided to try giving Sophia pigtails. It's pretty hard for me to do because it requires her sitting still for about 3 or 4 minutes. Since there's no way that will happen, it ends up taking even longer to get it done. But when I do manage to get them in, she looks so cute! For some reason she looks a lot older with pigtails.

More Cheeeeeeese

2010-11-09T18:07:00.000-05:00

Sophia says cheeeeeese and answers some questions:

Halloween weekend

2010-11-03T21:53:00.007-04:00

We had a busy and exciting Halloween weekend this year! On Saturday, one of our neighbors threw a party for a bunch of her friends. We, along with a bunch of their friends and other neighbors, went over to their house for lunch and to play. They rented a jumpy for the party which was a big hit. At first Sophia didn't want to go in it, but after Jason took her in for a little bit she was having a great time. We even went back later that night to jump some more before it was gone.

Munching on some ice

Sophia and Mommy

Going for a ride

Playing in the jumpy

Sunday was Halloween! Sophia knew what a busy and exciting night she had ahead of her, so she was anxious to take a nap so she would be well rested. Late in the afternoon a bunch of her friends and their parents came over to our house to play. The kids ran around and played with toys and then we had a delicious pot luck dinner. After dinner, we dressed the kids in their costumes and got ready to trick or treat! Sophia got the hang of it pretty quickly! She wouldn't say trick or treat, but she understood that she should take a piece of candy and put it in her basket. It was a little hard to understand that she couldn't take it back out and eat it though! Sophia's favorite decoration was a big blown up cat in someone's yard. She kept staring at it and saying "meow." I finally got her to leave the cat and she let go of my hand and tried to run back to see it again!

Napping during lunch

Dr. Sophia makes house calls!

All of the kids: Olivia, Sophia, Brady R, Brady B, Lacey

Going up to the first house

Blown up cat

Trick or treat!

Ready for some more candy

Wagon ride to the next house

Sophia hugging her bff Olivia

Olivia hugging Sophia

We had such a fun Halloween and can't wait to do it again next year!

Say cheeeeeeeese!

2010-11-02T22:44:00.002-04:00

Sophia makes some hilarious faces...such as these she sometimes makes when she sees a camera, and says "cheeeeese"

Pre-Halloween Festivities

2010-10-26T13:40:00.008-04:00

In the week leading up to Halloween, Sophia wore her costume 4 times! The first of these was to the zoo. A week before Halloween, Sophia went to Boo at the Zoo with her friend Brady. We had so much fun walking around and looking at all the animals and decorations. Sophia even went on a merry go round for the first time!

Kitty cat Sophia

Checking out the flamingos

Sophia and her monkey friend

Holding hands!

Taking a break

On the merry go round with Mommy

That weekend we also went to a pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkin and take some pictures. Sophia loved walking around and checking out all the pumpkins and gourds. She also did some coloring and spin art with Mommy. Then we went to a little petting zoo down the street. Sophia loved looking at and touching all of the animals with Daddy.

I like this one!

Can I have all of these too?

Family picture

Silly scarecrows

Petting the bunny

Poking the chicken in the eye

She then wore her costume to music class for our last class of the session. Sophia had fun singing, dancing, and playing with instruments.

Checking out Colin in his clown costume

Yay! So excited for music to start!

Shaking her bells

Playing with sticks

Later in the week, we had a play date with Sophia's class at school and all the kids dressed up in their halloween costumes.

The Goldfish Gang: Sophia, Brady, Lacey, Levi, Jason

Sophia and her cousin Levi

Lacey, Brady, and Sophia

Dance dance dance

2010-10-23T15:17:00.001-04:00

Sophia clearly takes after me, her father, when it comes to dancing skills. We're waiting for Dancing With the Stars to call after this goes viral....

Lots of play dates

2010-10-15T14:36:00.005-04:00

Last weekend was a busy one for Sophia. She had not one, but two play dates! Saturday we met up with Sophia's friend Brady at the park next door. They loved climbing, sliding, swinging, and walking all around. A little girl even let them check out her bike! Then we went to Chinese for dinner where both of the kids chowed down!

Slide with Daddy

So much fun!

Where is Sophia?

Peek a boo!

Checking out the bike

Ready....set....go!

On Sunday we had a play date with Zachary and the other Brady (Sophia now has 3 Brady friends!). We ate some yummy brunch and had some fun play time. All of the kids loved Zachary's fire truck toy the best. But they also enjoyed playing with the toys in the playroom and rolling around on the floor together. Sophia and Zachary loved giving each other hugs all afternoon!

Sweet hugs

Being silly

Rolling around

Random cuteness

2010-10-15T14:30:00.003-04:00

Just a few cute pictures that we wanted to share!

Loves the swing!

Wheee!

Messy hair! Reading a book

Chilling in her chair

So silly!

Botanical Gardens

2010-10-15T14:19:00.004-04:00

Last week, Sophia and I went to the botanical gardens for the first time. It was a nice fall day and we met Sophia's friend Lacey there. We walked around looking at the flowers and scarecrows and let the girls walk around a little bit in the kids section. Then we went to a big grassy area to let the kids walk around and play with the pumpkins. We had so much fun and want to go back again in the spring!

Bye bye paci...hello pillow!

2010-10-07T15:26:00.005-04:00

Jason and I have been talking about getting rid of Sophia's pacifier for a little while now, but kept coming up with reasons not to. First we wanted to wait until after Italy so we could use it in a new place and on the plane. Then we wanted her to get readjusted to this time zone, so we were going to wait a little longer. Then we had a busy weekend and school the next day that we wanted Sophia to be rested for. So we finally decided Monday at nap time the pacifier would be gone. We were just going to go cold turkey so we didn't have to go through the withdrawl symptoms twice. She's only had it in bed for quite a while now, so we figured that should make things easier. One of our friends told us their daughter started using a pillow right around this age, so we decided to do a swap. We hoped she would be excited about the new pillow and forget about the pacifier.

First nap with her new pillow

Well...it seems to have worked! She didn't even whine when I put her down and told her to put her head on the pillow, and she is still just as excited as ever to go "ni ni". She loves her pillow and will sit down in the middle of it, rest her head on it, and lay her whole body across it. And for naps and the first part of the night, she even keeps her head on it or close to it. Getting rid of the pacifier was a success and we are now a paci free home!

15 months

2010-09-30T13:52:00.005-04:00

The past couple of months have been pretty eventful in the Molinari household. Sophia started school, went on her first trip out of the country, started walking, and learned a lot of new words! Sophia's first steps were in Sardegna when she was about 14 1/2 months old. Nothing we did could convince her to start walking. Sophia is a very stubborn girl, and likes to do things when she feels like doing it. All of the sudden one day, she just stood up and started taking steps! She definitely is not a pro quite yet, but she can now walk most of the way across the room and just a few days ago started to run a little bit! She's still a little unsteady, and has to stop to catch her balance. Nana bought her her first pair of shoes last week and she loves them!

Walking to Pop

Sophia knows a lot of words now, and we love that she is starting to tell us what she wants. At 15 months, some of her words are no, that, hot, mama, dada, mommy, daddy, hop, more, boob, pane, kaka, uhoh, baby, Pop, ball, bye bye, bib, night night, giu' (down in italian), snack and uh oh. She also knows about 8-10 animal sounds and can understand the question "What sound does a xxx make?" in both english and italian. She picks up new words every day!

Sophia loves to imitate everyone and will clap, laugh, and make noises that we make. She always wants our food and drinks, and wants to use our fork to eat. She gets mad if we put the food on the fork for her. She still loves to eat. Her favorites are bread (pane), goldfish, and cheese. She definitely prefers salty over sweet. Sophia has 10 teeth now, the 4 front ones on top and bottom, and her top set of molars.

Making silly faces

One of Sophia's favorite things to do is go to bed! When we ask her if she wants to go night night, she gets a big grin on her face and starts giggling like crazy. She points upstairs and even says night night (ni ni). She loves her bunny and paci so much!

At her 15 month check up, Sophia's stats were:
Height: 31 in. (68%)
Weight: 24lbs 4oz (72%)

Sophia's 1st steps and some cute dancing

2010-09-21T21:20:00.002-04:00

While we were in Italy Sophia took her first steps unassisted and without holding on to anything. It was really cool! We were able to capture them on video. (actually these were her 2nd set of 1st steps...after i got the camera out!).

She also really enjoyed watching Elmo on the iPad. Her favorite part is a segment with Elmo singing with some ducks. When the ducks say "quack quack quack" Sophia says it as well. She also lets us know that she wants to watch it by going to the iPad and saying "quack quack quack". It's rather funny.

Here she is dancing:

If you can't see these videos, click on the link below to go directly to the blog.

Milan and the duomo

2010-09-21T14:39:00.006-04:00

Our last stop on our trip was Milan. In Milan, we went shopping for some Italian books and toys to bring home for Sophia. One night for dinner, Jason and I went out to eat with some of his old friends. We also took a day trip to the center of Milan for some sightseeing. We took the metro into the city and Sophia loved people watching and trying to make new friends. We had lunch, walked around the center, saw the sights, and ate some gelato.

Sophia's first metro ride

The duomo

Spinning on the bull's balls (for good luck)

Worn out! On the way home

After visiting Milan, our two weeks were up and it was time to go home. Thanks nonna and nonno for a wonderful vacation! We miss you and hope to see you soon!

On the plane, ready to go!

Watching elmo

Sardegna

2010-09-20T13:31:00.007-04:00

After Gignese, we flew south to Sardegna for a week.

Ready to go!

On the ferry with Daddy

Windblown hair

Cheese!

View of the house from the ferry

We had warm, beautiful weather while we were there. Every morning we'd wake up and walk into town. Our first stop was the cafe where we'd have a cappuccino and pastry for breakfast. Then we'd walk to the fish market where Jason and nonno would pick out the fresh seafood we'd eat for the day. While we were there, we had mussles, calamari, cuttlefish, and lots of different kinds of fish. Mmmm. Then we'd go back to the house for Sophia to nap, or we'd head to the beach!

Before:

After: (Sophia ate the whole fish!)

Sophia had a wonderful time at the beach every day. The water in Sardegna is a beautiful bright blue. The water was pretty cold during our visit, so we didn't go in too much. She loved splashing in the water, playing in the sand, and having her snack of focaccia (pane, or as Sophia says, "pa-beh").

Sophia and Daddy climbed up on the rock

One of the beaches

Playing in the sand

Another beautiful beach

Hugs

Peek a boo!

Watching the seagulls with Daddy. Sophia
thinks they're ducks and says "quack quack."

Splash splash

Getting nonno's nose

After dinner each night, we'd walk into town again...this time for gelato. Sophia usually only wanted a couple of bites, but she absolutely loved eating a cone!

Out for pizza one night

Sophia's pizza

Eating her cone. We strapped it on to the
stroller so she wouldn't drop it.

Sophia learned a lot of new words while we were here, and even started taking some steps! Nonna taught Sophia how to crawl down the stairs backwards too. We had such a fun, relaxing time in Sardegna and hope to go back soon!

Bye bye Sardegna!

Next stop.....Milan!

Ciao Italia!

2010-09-19T14:35:00.005-04:00

At the beginning of the month, Sophia took her first trip to Italy! We had a long long plane ride with a cranky baby who didn't want to sleep, but when we finally got there we were so excited! Sophia hasn't seen her nonna and nonno in months, and has changed so much since they last visited us. When we arrived in Milan, we went straight up to Gignese. We spent a couple of days there before going Sardegna.

The first day there, we were adjusting to the time change. After everyone took a little nap, we walked around town and went to play at the playground.

Having fun swinging!

Riding the seahorse with Mommy

See saw

The next day we drove to a nearby town for a delicious lunch on the lake. Sophia enjoyed eating outside (especially Daddy's snail dish!) and looking at Lago Maggiore and all of the boats and birds.

Our view from the restaurant

Wearing Mommy's sunglasses

Drinking nonno's beer (obviously it was empty!)

Nonna, Sophia, and Nonno

Mommy and Sophia by the lake

The next day, Sophia got to meet her bisnonna (great grandmother) for the first time! She came up to the house to visit, and we had a nice meal out on the patio.

Clapping with nonno

Daddy, Sophia, and bisnonna

Dov'e' il naso?

Lunch outside

Next stop..... the beach in Sardegna!

Sophia is a Preschooler!

2010-08-24T14:48:00.005-04:00

Yesterday morning, Sophia had her first day of school. She is now officially a preschooler! Because she is just over a year old, she is in the Mother's Morning Out program which meets one day a week for 2 1/2 hours. It was a big day for Sophia and for mommy, because it was Sophia's first time being left with anyone that wasn't family. Before we left for school, we took a few pictures of Sophia with her backpack on.

I'm ready Mommy!

Let's go!

I was convinced I wasn't going to cry, but as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, I started getting teary eyed. I used to be a teacher at Sophia's school, so I know her teachers and know she will be in great hands. We walked up with Sophia's friend Lacey and her mommy Sarah, and when we got to the door I started to cry. Sophia was probably wondering why her mommy was so crazy! We went to her classroom, and she was excited to get down and play! She got hurt right before I left which made it even harder to leave her, but I waited outside the door until I knew she was fine and Sarah and I went shopping to take our minds off of leaving our babies.

Sophia playing with Ms. Julie

Checking out all the cool toys

When we went back to pick them up, we got great reports from Ms. Julie and Ms. Sybil! Sophia was exhausted, but had a wonderful time at school and we can't wait until next week! Hopefully I can hold it together next time :)

Her class, the Goldfish Gang

Fun with friends

2010-08-23T19:33:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago, we had a get together with a bunch of our friends and their kids. The babies have all known each other since they were born, and it's so much fun now that they can play together. We had play time, dinner, and then it was back home for bed time!

Zachary, Olivia, Brady, and Sophia

Pointing and looking out the window

Loves the ride on toy!

Mommy snuggles

Mmmm...food

13 1/2 months- Walking, talking, and other fun things

2010-08-11T10:44:00.004-04:00

Now that Sophia is a year old, we have stopped our monthly updates and will do official updates and pictures every 3 months when we have our pediatrician checkups. However, so much has changed since Sophia turned 1 year old that I think we need a 13 1/2 month update. Sophia is at such a fun stage right now...there is never a dull moment. She is such a goofball, and loves to make us laugh. If she is not getting enough attention, she will yell or squeal, or do something to make sure we pay attention to her.

Swinging with Brady

Upside down!

Such a goof

About a week ago Sophia figured out how to use her walker to get around. At first she had a Frankenstein-like walk, but now she is getting much better at using her "walk along". She has been furniture cruising for a while now, and will go from one piece of furniture to another. I think it won't be too long before she starts walking on her own! She has been able to pull herself up to standing for a while now, but just recently started standing up without pulling up on anything.

So proud of herself!

Sophia has also started to say a few words. For over a month now, she has been pointing to things and saying "that". She has also been saying "yay" when we clap and cheer for her and "yummm" when she is eating...although it's sometimes when she's trying to convince herself that the food actually tastes good! When I tell Sophia no, she tells me "no no no" back. In the past couple of days, when I tell her something is hot, she says "hot" back to me, although I'm not sure that she understands the meaning of the word. I'm pretty sure she has been saying "dog" when I give her a toy dog to play with, but I'm not counting it as an official word quite yet. She understands so much that we say now, and understands new words after hearing them only a couple of times.

Sophia loves to dance and will bounce up and down when music comes on. She also swings her arms up and down to a lot of songs, like we do for the intro to songs at The Music Class. She loves when we say "How big is Sophia?" and she throws her arms up in the air to do "So big!". She is very loving, and loves giving kisses. She especially loves to kiss her baby doll and toys. She points to everything to show us, or to let us know when she wants something and loves to clap her hands. And she has finally cut one of her top middle teeth- #7!

Listening to music and reading Pat the Bunny

Snuggles with Mommy

Kisses

Playing with cousins and the aquarium

2010-08-11T10:32:00.005-04:00

Last weekend, Ronni, Gioel, Luca, and baby Max came to visit us. We had so much fun spending time with them. Sophia loves her cousins, and had lots of fun playing with them.

Giving baby Max a kiss

Playing with cousin Luca and her friend Brady

Showing baby Max all of the toys

Before they left, we had an outing to the aquarium. This was Sophia's first time going, and we knew she was going to love it. She loved all of the exhibits, but especially liked standing at the big windows and watching the fish and sharks go by.

Riding on Mommy's back

Pointing to the red fish

So excited to be at the aquarium!

Looking at the fish in the tunnel

The giant zucchini

2010-08-09T20:57:00.004-04:00

Our garden has been giving us lots of tasty vegetables, especially zucchini. They grow so fast it's crazy! We missed one hiding under some leaves for a few days and it was huge! So we decided to let the next one grow to see how big we could get it. This one made it to 4 pounds 2 oz! It's almost as big as Sophia sitting down!

This is one big zucchini Daddy grew.

I'm going to eat it ALL when Daddy cooks this for us!

Walkalong....walkalong.

2010-08-08T21:04:00.006-04:00

In the past week Sophia has started to stand on her own, without holding onto anything, for 5-10 seconds at a time. She finds it very amusing and will often laugh herself out of balance! Quite humorous.
In the last few days she also started pushing her Walkalong toy around the room and following behind it, doing sort of a Frankenstein walk, again, quite funny, and rather cute. She knows what her Walkalong is too if we ask her...she points right at it or looks around for it!.

Here is Sophia using her Walkalong:

And here she is on video using her Walkalong up and down our hallway.

Dinner at Olivia's

2010-08-04T20:24:00.004-04:00

Last weekend Sophia had a play date with her friend Olivia. Now that Sophia is older and more mobile, the girls are able to play together a lot more. They enjoyed a yummy snack together and then played with some toys.

They thought it was really fun to look out the window at Daddy and Olivia's daddy cooking on the grill.

After a yummy dinner, the girls played a little bit more before we took Sophia home to go to bed. First Sophia pushed Olivia around in her grocery cart, and then Sophia got in and Olivia pushed her! Sophia is getting good at pushing things and walking around the room. They had so much fun playing together!

Here is Sophia pushing Olivia around:

And then it was Sophia's turn in the car:

Trip to the beach

2010-07-25T17:27:00.008-04:00

Last week we took a family trip to the beach with the Pearlman side of the family, and we had so much fun! We went to Wild Dunes which is on Isle of Palms and stayed in a condo right on the beach. It was Sophia's first time at the beach, so we were very excited to see if she would like it. The first time we took her down to the beach, she wasn't sure what she thought. The first couple of days were really windy and she didn't like the sand blowing on her. Later in the week when it was less windy we took her out again, and she had so much fun playing in the sand. She wasn't a fan of the ocean though, so we spent a lot of time in the pool.

Checking out the beach

She loved climbing on the chair

Standing!

Playing with her toys in the sand

Fun at the beach

Walking with mommy

Sophia really enjoyed floating around the pool in her float. She loved to play with her toys, and liked watching the other kids in the pool. Her favorite was when daddy hid under water and then came up and surprised her. She thought it was so funny!

Looking at the water/drinking the water

Where is daddy???

There he is! Ha ha ha

Kicking and splashing

Flying through the air

Playing with Aunt Jennifer

Chilling in her float

Sophia had so much fun hanging out with her Nana, Pop, and Aunt Jennifer this week. She loved playing, swimming, eating, laughing, and just spending time with all of you! She can't wait to do it again next year!

Upside down with Pop

Hugs from Nana

Eating cereal with a spoon!
(Some of it made it in to her mouth....)

Sophia and Mommy

Discovering new places

2010-07-25T17:25:00.001-04:00

Sophia's new favorite spot to hang out:

I stand for cheese!!

2010-07-12T20:57:00.004-04:00

This afternoon Sophia decided to surprise us by standing up without holding anything for the 1st time, in an effort to get some delicious 3 year aged Gouda. I guess the cheese was so good it was worth the extra effort!