A More Vertical World

All grown up and walking 

I looked at Safia the other day and had the realization that we no longer have a baby, we have a little girl.  A walking, talking, opinion-having little girl.  It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but somehow it was looking at our little baby who is no longer a baby.  As she learned to walk, and it took her a while to get there as she went through cyclical periods of independence and extreme clinginess, it seemed that she was scared of what this newest stage might mean for her.  She’s since found her feet, and with that, she’s begun to discover a whole new world – a world of exploration, a world of wonder, and a world of discovery.  It’s also a whole new world for us, a world of constant attention, a world of temper-tantrums (earlier than we expected), a world of running from here to there, and a world where sitting is a thing of the past. 

Puzzle fun!

In the last month or so she’s also begun communicating with us more and more.  She is becoming proficient with sign language – at least her version of sign language, often accompanied with the word.  She can tell us she wants more, she’s all done, she’s starting to request certain foods, and activities, her favorite by far is “outside,” followed closely by milk.  Her communication abilities have both alleviated and increased all of our frustrations.  She can tell us what she wants, most of the time, but she doesn’t have much patience for those time when we either can’t figure out what she wants, or when we want her to do something different from what she wants to do.

Easter kisses!

In other news, Rube is out for the summer and we’ve entered into a whole new world of existence.  The day school ended we all piled into the car and headed to DC for just over a week.  We ate lots of good food, visited with lots of people, relaxed, and enjoyed ourselves.  We spent a few days on the Chesapeake Bay - Safia discovered how much she loves the water, and we found out how much more fun the beach is with a one year old.  She would have stayed in the water all day if we didn’t drag her out.  We wanted to stay longer, but had to get back for Safia to start swim lessons.  Safia was a bit apprehensive of the pool at first, but once she realized it was just a smaller version of the bay, she’s loved every minute of it.  She’s not caught onto to the idea that we’re supposed to be doing certain things at certain times but as long as she’s in perpetual motion she’s happy.

Practicing her Mandolin skills

Rube being out for the summer has also allowed for some familial structural changes – mainly he’s taken over for as the primary caregiver for Safia and general house maintenance, while I’ve tried to catch up on all the work that I’ve let slide the past year.  The first week we were incredibly productive – for me, it was amazing how much work I could get done when I could get up and go to work without having to worry about getting Safia ready and getting her to daycare, and picking her up.  For both of us, it was amazing how much we could accomplish around the house when one of us was home full time.  Rube and Safia have been having an amazing time.  They’ve been playing hard, learning lots, and having more fun than you could possibly imagine.  After the first week, we settled into a more reasonable routine of getting things done, and balancing our lives the best we can - just like we’ve always done.

Summer fun on the beach

Four generations of Kohls

Cuddling with her PopPop

Slide!

Telling secrets with her Grandma Reenie

Beach Fun

The Isty-Bisty Spider Great Seena (my grandma) style

Beach self portrait, Safia wasn't very cooperative

Easter wagon ride

Rube and Safia 

All dressed up and ready for Passover Sedar

Shoes, it doesn't matter whose,
she loves them

Hanging with the big kids

Happy Birthday to Grandma Reenie - you better believe
that everyone gave her bites of chocolate cake

She didn't like it all that much - but
she did like the icing

Flowers with PopPop

Yum

Swimming in the bay

Walking with Daddy on the Bay

Chicken Eggs

Her First Trip Around the Sun

Safia at 1 year

Safia at 1 week

Safia…well, who am I kidding, WE just celebrated Safia’s first birthday.  We celebrated with some friends and were amazed at the proliferation of babies in our lives over the past year.  There was a veritable pile of babies at points during the celebration.  Ellen definitely gets the award this year for her amazing ducky cake she made from scratch.  Yes, all from scratch…and, no, not chocolate.  It was carrot cake, thank you very much.  Safia was sure to show her appreciation by devouring quickly. 

So, we’ve had many chances to reflect on the past year and we can’t quite decide whether it’s gone by quickly or slowly.  It certainly was a time vacuum.  And to be honest, I really don’t really remember much from the first handful of months of Safia’s life.  I know there were hard parts (especially after re-reading some early posts from this blog…sheesh!), but there were clearly plenty of happy parts, too (smiling, giggling, eating, etc).  I’ve come to find that parenting has a time zone all its own.  We’re definitely still getting used to it.  We’ve had a lot of help this past year.  Thanks to all our friends and family that have supported us, listened to us, gave us advise, food, companionship, and love.  We couldn’t have made it without you.  We’re ready for another adventurous year!

The Auntie's Came to Town (and we went to New York!)

Two weekends ago both my sisters came to town to celebrate Maura's birthday.  We had tons of fun eating, laughing, and playing board games.  Safia especially enjoyed herself, being spoiled by both her aunties at the same time!  Happy Birthday Aunt Maura!  Thanks for visiting Auntie Ray Ray and Auntie Maures, some back soon!

Playing Cards with Auntie Ray

Aunite Ray snuggles

Aunite Maura snuggles 

Playing with Aunite Maura 

You'd think that we'd easily be able to get a picture of all four of us together . . . not as easy as it looks!

Finally a nice one! 

Reading with Iris

Last week, I had a conference in New York, so Rube, Safia, and I all went for a mini (working) vacation.  I had to work all day Friday so Rube and Safia and my mom adventured in the city.  They went to the MOMA (The Museum of Modern Art).  I am told that Safia preferred sculptures to other art forms, and when she really liked a piece she would talk to it (or talk about it, not sure which one) for a long while.  On Saturday, we meet up with my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins at the Natural History Museum, where once again Safia was enthralled by all the exhibits.  She especially liked the animals that she could walk up to and look at herself!  It was so great to get to spend some good quality time with family and friends while we were in New York.  Saturday night, Rube and I left Safia with my mom for the night and went out to dinner with my friend Amanda and my cousin Zach.  We didn't stay out too late, we were in bed by 11:30, but we didn't set an alarm (why would we, Safia always wakes us up) but the next morning at 9:10 we were shocked that we had slept in so long . . . we didn't get to enjoy the bliss too long because I had to get to the conference and Rube had to meet friends for brunch on his way to the airport, but I had forgotten how rested you feel when you get nine hours of uninterrupted sleep!  I think Safia is going to have to visit her grandparents more!

Dinner with Leo

Rube and my mom left Sunday, but Safia and I stayed in New York/New Jersey until Wednesday.  For the first half of the trip we stayed with my friend Amanda, for the second half of the trip we stayed with family friends.  We had a great time hanging out, catching up, and playing with their amazing kids.  On Tuesday Safia got to spend the morning with her Great Aunt Kathy and Uncle Richard while I worked, and then we headed to New Jersey to spend the night with Great Fish (my Aunt Trisha) and her family.  It was a whirlwind trip, but lots of fun, and once again Safia proved herself to be a great traveller.

Playing with the big kids (Iris and Leo)

Safia is getting more and more mobile.  She has a cart of blocks she loves to push around.  She actually likes to push around anything that she can, chairs seem to come in a close second to her cart.  She is talking up a storm.  Her intonation, inflections, and facial expressions indicate to us that she definitely is having a conversation, with who, we're not sure, and we have no idea what she's saying, but she sure does love to talk.  She is finding other ways to communicate with us.  She's mastered the baby sign for all done, she shakes her head "no" when she doesn't want something, and she claps when she's excited, which is often.  When she claps she hits the palm of her left hand onto the back of her right hand, which is exceedingly cute.  She still loves to eat, although she is getting more opinionated about what she wants to eat.  She's started eating off our plates more, which has lead to such discoveries as she loves blue cheese.  We still haven't found anything she doesn't like, hopefully this will continue!