The Green Fig Tree

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Christmas Pics, Part 2

Plus, D/FW was graced with a beautiful (and chaotic) snowfall for Christmas for the first time in about eighty years.

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

Merry Christmas

“But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’ ” — Luke 2:10-11

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Gingerbread Cookies, Anyone?

Andy and Sophia made gingerbread cookies this evening, and she thoroughly enjoyed herself.

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Snow!

It snowed unexpectedly this morning, and Sophia insisted on checking it out.  Here are some pictures.

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

Enjoying Autumn

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

Halloween and Other Things

Sophia was Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz for Halloween yesterday, and it was our first attempt at trick-or-treating (last year we just hung out with friends who also had babies too young to walk around the neighborhood).  We went around the block to our friends’ home to join in their large trick-or-treating party.  Sophia’s little red shoes were not very sturdy, so she went in her socks, with her shoes in her basket with “Toto” until we got there.  She knocked on their door to get candy, but was a bit overwhelmed by the mass of children who emerged.  When we went up to the next two houses, she started crying as we approached the door.  She did not master the phrase “trick-or-treat,” but she did manage to say thank you in sign language after she received a treat.  By the time we got to the fourth house, we had held back a bit to let the older kids go ahead of us, and she didn’t cry like she had before, but it was obvious she wasn’t sold on trick-or-treating, in spite of the treats now populating her basket with “Toto.”  We decided that four houses was enough for the first attempt, especially since the type of candy she can eat is minimal with so few teeth, and she enjoyed having a Twizzler red licorice.

The seventeenth month has brought more understandable chatting, more energetic dancing, more independent playing and more determined actions.  She loves going to school, and usually does not deign a good-bye to Andy or I, whoever happens to be dropping her off.  She has decided she will only eat crackers or bread, fruits and cheese, with a smattering of chicken nuggets.  I have a hard time even convincing her to eat tomatoes and avocado, which were once favorites.  She has learned that “uh oh” means trouble or something negative, and will shout it before she launches something across the room.  She can sing “A-B-C-B-E” of the Alphabet Song, though it is usually repeated a number of times until she claps her hands and yells “yay” (which ends every song).  She has discovered that the word “no” means something, and will tell it to the animals when they are being naughty, or Andy and I when she is being naughty.  She likes to watch football, and can recognize it on tv.  She likes to be in charge of things, and hates to hold hands in the parking lot.  She has gotten better about sitting in the cart at the grocery store, but still has to “help” by holding things and then putting them into the cart.  She is doing great in her big-girl bed, and still loves to take baths (or showers with us if time is short).  She attempts putting her clothes on, and can occasionally get a shirt on her head, but doesn’t classify tops and bottoms and will sometimes put shirts on her legs, or pants on her arms.  She has started calling the animals by their name instead of all the cats “kitty.”  She gets very upset when our one temperamental cat hisses at her (or the one at Grammie’s) and Andy imagines her thinking “why kitty hate me?” a la that silly American Airlines commercial.  She recently discovered a picture of Andy and I on a low bookshelf, which she drags around the house, pointing us out in the picture.  She has also gotten her own email address (thesophiacolvin@gmail.com) because she asks to check her “email” any time one of us is on the computer.

Below are a few pictures of her costume that Grammie made for her.  There are also pictures of her “helping” make biscuits, one of her being a tv-zombie to her all-time favorite movie “Oz” (which she requests to watch no less than three times a day, usually as soon as it goes off), putting on my shoes, taking pictures with the camera and her wearing her new coat and scarf cause it was a bit chilly this morning.

Monday, October 12th, 2009

Autumn has Arrived in Texas

For the first time ever (or at least, as far back as I can remember), we have an actual autumn season in Texas.  Granted, it has been raining for the past month (or so it seems), but the weather has been cool and breezy, but not yet cold, and there is a necessity for a light-weight “fall” jacket, which no one in our family actually owns.  Sophia and I went to the Pumpkin Patch today, even though it had rained last night, and she really enjoyed it.  A few friends from church were there, too, including Sophia’s friend Caroline, and they had fun eyeing each other (they have not developed to the point where they play together yet) amongst the pumpkins.  She is currently locked away in her room “napping,” but here are pics from today and a few others from the past few weeks.

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Being Hot in August and the Zoobilee Zoo!

So, continuing our busy summer, Sophia has reached and passed fifteen months old.  At her check-up she was 23 pounds 13 ounces, 31 1/8 inches long and had a head circumference of 18 1/4 inches, all of which are at the 75th percentile.  At the end of July, I made a spreadsheet of words she “knew” and would repeat, and words she would use on her own.  She had at that point over 60 words she knew and was using with prompting, and over 30 that she uses on her own.  She has mastered saying “please” both verbally and in sign language when she wants something, but doesn’t quite understand that just because she says please she will get what she wants.  She knows her name is Sophia, and will point to herself if you ask “Where’s Sophia,” though if you ask “What is your name,” her response is “me.”  She has become best friends with the dog, and loves to throw things for him (and just to throw things) and give him treats.  She will haul his treat container from the kitchen into the living room for me to open so that she can feed him a treat, and gets very upset that she cannot feed him all the treats.  We recently adopted a stray cat that took refuge on our porch, and she is the only cat we have that will patiently allow Sophia to pet her.  However, Sophia seems to be mastering the concept of petting gently finally, which may endear her to the other three cats.  Sophia has also mastered using the iPhone, and can unlock it, choose music to dance to, and call people, though luckily for us it is usually Grammie and Grampie who end up answering!  She also likes to use the computer, and has crashed some of Andy’s programs using keystrokes Andy did not know existed.  She will also power-off any computer she passes by, including ones at other people’s houses and in public locations.  Lately she has begun to want to buckle herself into her carseat and high chairs at restaurants.  She can also put her shoes on herself, though usually the wrong feet.  Her favorite foods are still avocado, tomatoes, bananas and, of course, cheese.  She went to the zoo for the first time on the first week of September with both Grampie and Pappy, which was great for me because I was able to take pictures while they ran all over with her.  We went quickly and only lingered in the areas that Sophia was definitely seeing the animals, so we were able to see the entire Fort Worth Zoo in three hours.  The coolest part was when the male lion got up from his nap to roar for all the kiddos who were lined up watching him.  Then he promptly flopped back down and passed out.  Sophia really liked the gorillas, and there was an area in which she could walk right up to them (through thick plexiglass), and she leaned over and gave the gorilla a hug.  It was very cute.  Well, here are some of the pics from August and the zoo:

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

“I was the type that saw nothing, and then saw everything.”

I just finished reading The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer, the romance of Pearlie Cook, a young housewife, and her husband Holland, set in 1953 in San Francisco, with the end of World War II fresh in the characters’ minds.  It was very different from any other novel I have read, but in a good way.  Greer’s style was unique and exciting, keeping me as involved as if I were a part of the drama.  I really enjoyed it, and I thought it thought provoking.  I also was pleased to see how excessively Greer used semi-colons, as I have always been a fan of them myself.

“How could I have gotten it so wrong,” Pearlie repeatedly asks herself throughout the novel.  As the reader is quickly intertwined into Pearlie’s world, Greer creates an experience to rival what she is going through, and continually leads his reader into assumptions that are then revealed to be wrong.  Oddly, when the truth is revealed, it makes more sense that the assumption.  Pearlie begins to learn about the man she has married, Holland Cook, through a former friend, Buzz Drumer, who has appeared unannounced on her doorstep.  As Holland’s past life with Buzz is revealed, Pearlie then begins to make decisions based on the stories Buzz tells her, what she has come to believe she knows about Holland, and what Buzz tells her that Holland really wants.  As she and Buzz become closer, she sees in him a kindred spirit, another being who is in love with her husband.  What evolves is an odd love triangle in which no one seems to be truly happy, but does what they think is best for those that he or she loves.  However, Greer begins his discourse on love and marriage with the simple statement that “we think we know the ones we love” for a reason. Through the story of Pearlie, Holland and Buzz,  Greer proves that even when we believe with all our heart and mind and soul that we really know the object of our affection, we don’t.  Ironically, this is not because our love objects change, but because we misinterpret them, probably knowingly.  To be cliche, we are all wearing rose-colored glasses, but that does not do this novel justice because it is so much more than that.

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

Sophia So Far in July