The L.A. Dime

Labor Day weekend was a very special one at Hamlin House as our little one turned two. It began with the arrival of Nana & Opa, opening presents that family & friends had sent and a flourless chocolate cake (which sadly didn’t turn out very good but Sophie liked the candles on it nonetheless). After dinner we took Sophie to her room to show her one last present – her very own kitchen!! Mom-Mom Saundra and Aunts Mandee & Tasha furnished the kitchen with all the necessary accessories and food ingredients to cook up some yummy dishes. Sophie squealed with delight upon seeing it and now plays with it on a daily basis. “I want to cook” is something we hear frequently now and we’ve even seen her line up her dolls and bears to serve them meals.

On Sunday we hosted an “end-of-the-summer/b-day pool party” which included all our closest friends. The weather was in the high 90′s so we were happy to be able to provide a cooling off opportunity with the pool.

On Sunday we checked out the LA Zoo which we decided wasn’t our favorite. There was a lot of construction going on, the animals were very far away from us and there was little shade. Turns out however that while all the other kids seemed to be content sitting in their strollers being pushed by their parents, Sophie preferred walking (the entire 2+ hours) or sitting on Opa’s shoulders to get a better look at the swinging monkeys.

There was a lot of preparing, cooking and cleaning up all weekend, but it was so very worth it to have our family and dear friends surround us.

Happy birthday Sophia — we love you so!!

Enjoy a serenade from Miss Sophie-Bophie…performing live at Hamlin House!

Sophie has always had a highly energetic, but overall very pleasant and happy-go-lucky demeanor. Over the past two weeks though, and ironically as we quickly approach her 2nd birthday on September 4th, she is turning into quite the drama queen. She’s gotten very whiney, gets very frustrated if things don’t go her way or we don’t immediately respond to her request for attention (especially while we try to get dinner done) and grabs things, even if someone else is using them and/or knowing full well that it’s not hers.

Today however, there was a break in all of that. She was her usual sweet self, smiling, singing her ABC’s (which include a whole lot of D’s!!), coloring, practicing her shapes and playing on her own.

We know this is all part of growing up and while we try to remind ourselves to stay calm while she’s having a complete meltdown over not getting her milk within 1 second of asking for it, we were very happy to have “the old Sophie” back today. Let’s see what tomorrow brings…..

Since Brad was a lifeguard for many years, he was excited about the prospect of teaching Sophie how to swim. There have been 3 lessons so far, and there has already been much progress:
- Sophie has graduated from only sitting in the frog pool to now being allowed in the big pool.
- She used to only jump off the side while holding onto Dada’s fingers…well, after watching a 4-yr old girl do it without holding on, Sophie now leaps in without assistance (we still catch her of course)
- She used to cling on to Dada for dear life, but now is starting to relax and even enjoys riding on Dada’s back like he’s a dolphin
- She has learned how to use the first two steps to get into the pool
- The latest lesson included practicing how to kick with her feet and blowing bubbles into the water

We had a nice weekend here in the San Fernando Valley.  Tina was off from work on Friday, so after a lazy morning, we went to the beach to visit with New York Sam, and local friends Rachel, Tracy and their three gorgeous kids.  Saturday saw us head to NoHo to visit Mark, Faleena, Caitlin, Jim and Martha for an Independence Day BBQ and impromptu cornhole tourney.  Jim and I needed to play one more game to decide a winner, but decided a cool drink in the shade, and a gentlemen’s tie, was more the order of the day after Sophie took over the boards and bags.

That night, I went with New York Sam to see The Hurt Locker, a riveting film about a U.S. Army bomb squad operating in Iraq. I highly recommend it for those who can stomach the strain.

Sunday, we spent 4 hours watching Wimbledon. Poor Roddick.  He sweated ten times more than Federer and still lost.

Photo Documentation of our 4th in NoHo, and some shots of Sophie at her new Tiny Scholars School:

Time to get those bangs trimmed again! This time we actually did some research to find a place that specializes in kids…I know, I know…something we should have done earlier. In any case, walking into Lollicut this evening immediately made us feel like Sophie was in good hands. There were lots of cars and trains and trucks as “chairs”, the walls were painted with a beautiful scenery and the best part (for Sophie anyway) was that Nemo was on tv!! Sophie even got a fancy new hair style with 2 bows, a little envelope with the hair clippings and a certificate showing this “accomplishment”. The parting gift was a balloon which we had to release shortly thereafter as it caused much frustration for our little one in her attempts to “hug the baboon”.

Just to refresh your memory on her previous hair cut experiences, below is a quick flashback to haircut # 1 (with Atila, Dada’s hair master), haircut # 2 (at SuperCuts which made Sophie look like the doll Mathilda for 2 months) and finally, haircut # 3….not too shabby for $9.

We were invited to Santa Monica on Sunday to celebrate Father’s Day with Mark, Nancy, Ben, Roberto and batch of delicious homemade taquitos.  After chowing down, the kids got to playing, and before we knew it, Sophie had taken a header straight into the corner of an apple box, earning her first shiner.

Photo documentation below, including a bonus eye-booger.

Dada and Bophie headed to the park this morning where the one thing that she talks about as soon as she recognizes where she is and loves the most right now (the “ming”, aka: swing) was broken. Dada did his best to explain that because the swing was broken, Sophie wouldn’t be able to use it today. He did his best to distract her and all she could do was stare and try to process. After about 5 minutes, she turned her back, started to walk away and has said “broken ming” every 3 minutes since then. All afternoon…and into the evening. Even when Dada told her in the car: “Sophie, I love you”, she responded with: “broken ming”.

In other, and much, much happier news, our dear friends Mark & Faleena finally got to meet their baby girl last night. Caitlin Marie was born at 10:44pm, weighing 8lbs, 1oz and is doing great. We had the pleasure of meeting her today — she looked us right in the eye and through her hiccups, let us know that she was going to be a lot of fun to be around. Congrats you guys!!

This is what we heard Sophie say over and over while enjoying our breakfast on the patio this morning. Over the past two weeks, she has turned her so-far-single-words into short, but consistent phrases like: “hallo mama/dada”, “big ball”, “baby fall down”, “bye-bye dog”,  “no cry baby”, “____ all gone” and “mama/dada’s shoes”. She’s also added some new words like “octopus”, “broccoli”,”airfart” (airplane), “eat”, “mami” (salami), “turkey”, “heim” (home) and “box”.
The most exciting development over the past few days however is that she can now say her name!! While it’s mostly “Ophie”, she’ll say it when you ask her what her name is or who she is. For the longest time we thought she thought her name was “baby” so we’re thrilled to hear her say her real name.
Below are some pics from Mom-Mom’s visit, her new hat (that she actually wants to wear) and taking a rest from playing.

After celebrating Derby with a meal of bourbon chicken, green beans, cole slaw, potato salad, cornbread and Derby Pie, Sophie decided to vamp for a few photos in naught but her sunglasses.