The Arduous Journey of Potty Training Begins Today

About one month shy of Sophia’s 2nd birthday, today marks our commitment to potty train our little girl. She’s been ready for awhile, but I will be the first to admit that I am not ready to have Sophia out of diapers. I HATE PUBLIC TOILETS!!!  Did I say that loud enough? 

Sophia’s first experience on the potty was more of an accident.  I was getting her ready to jump into the bath tub when I sat her on the toilet.  I thought I heard something trickle.  Lo and behold.  The deed was done.  Now I suppose we have to keep up with it.  I called my husband to report the news.  He quickly mentioned that last night Sophia kept insisting on peeing in the potty, which he didn’t really allow her to do because of pure laziness on his part.

I am proud that she has reached this milestone.  Diapers are expensive!  I am sure we have a long road ahead of us, but at least now Sophia has experienced peeing in the potty.

Kudos!

Kudos to the First Lady for wearing a $29.99 Gap dress. I think she has excellent fashion sense.

A New Beginning…

Yesterday, I took a yoga class with Carey Albertine at Devotion Yoga (Downtown).  After Savasana, which is the corpse pose (Picture yourself laying on your back with your arms and legs spread out in what yogi’s call “light sleep”.  It’s harder than you think.  When you have perfected the pose you won’t be around to tell anyone about your experience. Ha!), Carey asked us to roll onto our right side.  While resting my head on my bicep, I listened carefully to her as I embraced the position which she said is “a reminder of the opportunity for new beginnings”.  I am not quite sure what new beginning for which I am about to embark (or when), but I do know it sure sounds exciting.  Returning to my yoga practice (after a LONG, LONG hiatus) is sort of a new beginning and, so far, it screams excitement for me.  The end of something usually signals a new beginning so closing a chapter of my professional life definitely points to something new and exciting to come (or NOT so ask me again in a few months. Ha!) I guess I can also share in Sophia’s journey of endless new beginnings. On Thursday, she had another “Yes, I did it!” wiggling-side-to-side moment as she transferred a piece of my sushi roll from the container to her plate.  I think that’s impressive even though she wasn’t holding the chopsticks correctly.  My friend, Andrea, thought the moment was absolutely hands down You Tube worthy.  My husband jokingly added that he’s less impressed since Sophia’s asian and using chopsticks should come naturally.  Oh, dear husband.  You have a lot to learn about the Philippine culture.  I might as well tell you now that they were colonized by Spain so Filipinos use forks, spoons and knives like everyone else (or our kamay, Tagalog for “hands”, which I used to think was kind of gross since we used those same hands for more earthly matters that I probably will get into some other time).  Another interesting first for Sophia is she’s learning to match colors.  She desperately needs help in this department since as of lately she’s been very particular about what she wears.  It’s so hard to get her out of her jammies and into a different outfit so we just let her put on whatever makes her happy.  Doesn’t this sort of stuff foster creativity?  Often times the outfits she puts together does not necessarily match.  Picture a little girl with unruly hair wearing white with red and pink polka dots pants (she has a fascination for polka dots), a red top and a black, blue and gray animal print hooded sweatshirt.  I don’t think this look will make the runway anytime soon.  I am just glad she can match green with green, red with red, blue with blue, on and on. This may help her in the long run since I don’t think she’ll be starting a new trend with the looks she’s been sporting lately.

To add to the list of “new beginnings”, I cut my hair, which I haven’t done since August of last year. In fact, I had to tell my stylist that I am not cheating on him since I have been gone so long, which, sadly, seems to be my relationship with him these past few years.  I even admitted to breaking up with my colorist.  I haven’t seen her since I got pregnant with Sophia.  My stylists’ advice is to “be realistic”.  If you don’t have time to keep up with it, just don’t mess with color.  I am sure there are plenty more aspects of life for which “be realistic” and “just don’t mess with it” applies.  Feel free to drop some suggestions.  I can’t get into those right now.  There just seems to be so many that come to mind.

Off to enjoy more new beginnings… Until next time…

Selling yourself is tiring…

I spent the entire day meeting what seems like EVERY recruiter in NYC.  Selling yourself is tiring.  By the time I got home, I had just enough time to prepare Sophia’s dinner and catch a yoga class.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have much Sophia/Mommy-time today.  Sometimes I wonder if I am overscheduled, and so I realize what’s life if we’re not constantly in motion? It would probably be boring.

On a side note, the tandoori chicken turned out great.  I’ll add the recipe some other time. 

It’s time to rest my head. Good night!

 

Sophia’s Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie

This evening, I blended strawberries with ice, the juice from one lemon, sugar and water. Again, I don’t have portions to give you. Add sugar, lemon, water, ice and strawberries little by little until you achieve your desired taste.

I just wanted to share the concoction above because it’s a great refreshing summer drink.

A day in the life of a Sassy Mom…

I have been home for a couple of weeks now.  My husband asks, “What do you do all day?” (Augh! The nerve.) Kidding, honey! I know he reads this blog religiously (or at least he better!).  While I have your attention, Joe, I need a new computer (preferably a laptop – I can get into specifics with you later). =P To answer my well-intentioned hubby’s question, I sit at home on the couch while Tita/Lola Chuchi and I watch soaps and eat bon-bons.  We let Sophia frolic in her dirty diaper until her hearts content.  Ha! Ha! Now you know this isn’t true because Joe does the grocery shopping and he knows full well he has not once bought us bon-bons. 

I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen.  For lunch, I made Sophia a dish with beef and onions over rice.  The beef was marinated in soy sauce, vinegar and garlic for about 45 minutes before I simmered it.  I also got a head start on tomorrow’s lunch.  I had this crazy idea to attempt Tandoori chicken.  I surprised myself when I realized I had all the ingredients except the chicken and plain yogurt.  Don’t you just love when that happens??

Last week, Tita Chuchi and I went to Karma Kafe in Hoboken.  http://www.karmakafe.com/  I love this place!  Even though the space is small and it’s too tight for the spacecraft I call Sophia’s stroller, they always find a way to accomodate us.  The servers make funny faces at Sophia to get her to laugh (to me this adds to the kid friendliness of the place), and this particular time one server pretended to take Sophia’s water to get a reaction our of her.  Sure enough he got the “No, that’s my water”. Adorable! When we were having lunch, I let Sophia have some tandoori chicken, which she devoured.  For those of you who know Sophia know that it’s unlike her to devour anything (but fruits and vegetables). 

My daughter has developed a sophisticated palate.  I let her try everything and when I see she really likes something, I end up making it whenever I can.  She’ll be eating sushi in no time at all.

Summer Strawberry Salad

Yesterday, my husband said, “What are we going to do with all these strawberries?”  I can’t recall who suggested strawberry shortcake, but I know my husband definitely told me we have bisquick in the cupboard.  He’s always so helpful.  Since neither of us should be allowed within ten feet of a strawberry shortcake (I gained 5 pounds just typing the word “cake”) or any kind of dessert for that matter, I opted to make a nice salad. Lo and behold what I call my Strawberry Summer Salad. (Note: It’s not officially summer yet, but close enough).

I don’t have a recipe to give you per se, but here are the ingredients.  I used Romaine lettuce, gorgonzola, bacon (It’s just leftovers because my daughter didn’t finish her breakfast.  I can’t take credit for that. Tita Chuchi suggested I add it to our lunch.) and, of course, the strawberries from our trip to Terhune Orchards. 

Here’s the link to Terhune Orchards in case you’re interested.   http://terhuneorchards.com/

For our dressing, I used one part olive oil, 3 parts basalmic vinegar, juice from one lemon and voila.  You can add salt and pepper to taste if you’d like.  Just stir and drizzle it all over.

Sharing some moments…

I wanted to share some of the things we have done in the past couple of weeks.

On our recent trip to the Central Park Zoo, Sophia enjoyed watching the polar bear swim.  She was so moved by this experience that she wrapped her arms around a little boy standing next to her.  After the penguin exhibit, she decided to make friends with another little boy.  I am not quite sure where she picked up this fascination with boys (just boys, she could care less about little girls), but daddy thinks it spells trouble. Anyhow we already know Sophia likes penguin but since our visit to the zoo, every now and then as she walks she starts to “waddle waddle waddle”.  Below are a few pics from our visit to the zoo. First, Sophia’s face pressed against the glass of the red panda exhibit. Next is a photo of the penguins.  Finally, Gus, the polar bear, who recently lost his pal, Ida. I actually thought it was quite relaxing to see Gus swimming gracefully for the crowd.  His friend and longtime companion suffered from liver disease and was euthanized on Friday, June 3rd.  I am sure she will be missed. 

Sophia enjoying an ice cold beverage (it’s just water) after a long day of swimming in our friends’ pool.  One thing is for sure: Sophia enjoys swimming! 

Afterwards, she hosted her first cousins’ sleepover where the girls partied (okay I let them watch “Finding Nemo” until the wee hours of the night. Here’s a pic of the girls after breakfast.  They ate chocolate chip pancakes with strawberries.

Yesterday, we went to Terhune Orchards in Princeton to pick strawberries. Surprisingly, my little girl is a good hunter.  She also likes to steal from everyone else’s basket.  Below is a photo of Sophia stealing strawberries in the strawberry field.

 And, finally, this is Sophia feeding her farm animal friends with no fear. 

After all this we have learned Sophia adores all kinds of animals.

M.I.A. NO MORE!

I have been missing from this blog for over two months.  SORRY! I mean it!  I can’t promise I won’t do it again, but I do promise to try harder to make time to write.  Pinky swear!  I don’t want to bore you with my excuses, but I will say life has been crazy busy (with good and bad stuff) the past two months.  

Since I have been unemployed (it’s only been a week), I have kept myself pre-occupied with all the things I have been saying I planned to do but never had the time until now, namely, taking Sophia to the zoo, library, park, practicing yoga, etc.  Usually, I don’t have energy for this sort of stuff, but it’s amazing how one gets a burst of energy knowing one doesn’t have to report to work the following day. 

This past week has left me feeling less hurried.  Today, I read two books to Sophia before bedtime, but she requested I read it over and over and over again.  She kept turning the page to her favorite spot and asked me to read it again and again and again as she closed her eyes, tossed he head back and laughed hysterically.  I was able to “be present” and enjoy the moment as it unfolded rather than hurry threw the book and shove my little girl into bed.  In fact, out of habit I picked up my blackberry to check my messages when Sophia took it away, put it down on the couch and said, “Mama, put it down”.  Shame on me!! 

I have to remember to thank Sophia in the morning for teaching me to check my messages less often and for reminding me that I need to focus on her and on myself right now.

Playing nice

This past weekend, Sophia had a playdate with her two friends, Charlotte and Olivia.  I have to say that the chemistry between the three girls is great.  With the exception of a short-lived tug-of-war between Sophia and Olivia ending quickly (seriously, it was 2 seconds) with an “I’m sorry”, would you believe no one fought over toys?  (No tantrums and no meltdowns either).  Honestly, they are all sweet little girls and, of course, their parents are doing fantastic jobs raising them.  {^_~}  I didn’t really know how Sophia would react to other kids playing with her toys, and I guess I can put that thought aside with a lot of fears I have of Sophia turning into a bully who doesn’t know how to share.  As it turns out, we’re not doing a terrible job as parents after all.  When Olivia had a bit of trouble getting out of Sophia’s car, Sophia made her way over to check up on Olivia asking “Are you okay?”.  At one point, I took out my camera to snap photos of the three adorable girls having snacks, and Sophia placed one arm around each of her two buddies.  When all was done, she clapped her hands together since she was completely aware that she had done good.  I must admit that Tita Chuchi, who spends a lot of time with Sophia, helps tremendously.  We have to give her a lot of credit for enforcing the values we are trying to instill in our little girl.  Every parent at one point or another (even for a split second) has a fear that their child will bully other children.  I am not sure why, but that’s the kind of thing that makes me lose sleep at night.  Strange, I know.  After witnessing Sophia interact with her friends, I could not be more proud of my little angel.