Sophie's Yoga

As part of my yo-yo weight situation, I have started a 90 day, really intense workout program, and one day each week is Yoga. I am terrible at yoga. I've never had any flexibility (I once had a personal trainer tell me I had the flexibility of an 80 year old- I was 25), and I enjoy exercises that involve movement and throwing and playing. Yoga doesn't exactly satisfy any of these criteria, but I know it's crazy good for you and, more importantly, is part of the program so I have to do it. Anyway, Sophie came down from sleeping and saw my yoga mat on the floor and thought it was the greatest thing, so we started teaching her some yoga. And she's a natural. Later, she wanted to give a demonstration for us in the kitchen, so we documented it for our faithful blog readers. While it is obvious that she has some work to do to get these positions right, I can safely say that she is still better than me.

Warrior 1

Warrior 2

Down Dog

It's not fair that anyone could be this cute

And it's even more not fair that the picture isn't in perfect focus.

A few of my favorite things... Sophie edition

My top 5 favorite things that Sophie says:

5. "Nice." I swear she says it just like Borat. It's kind of creepy.
4. "Sossie." This is her version of Sophie, and it took her 2 years and 1 day to start saying it.
3. "Go Cubs!" The best part is that she can identify virtually every version of the Cubs' logo and then shouts "Go Cubs!"
2. "Lub oo Daddy." (translated "I love you Daddy")
1. "Pray again." She says this a lot, and I hope she never stops.

Two Years Ago

Two years ago today...
Two years ago tomorrow...

It's all true

1. Although there are only 2 comments listed on this post, I have had many people ask me if this is real, how I did it, if I planned it out with string or graph paper, etc... So- here is the truth: there was no planning whatsoever. It wasn't even premeditated. I was mowing the lawn and dreading mowing the long grass on the hill, so I started making letters just to entertain myself. After Nancy encouraged me, I decided to do the entire name. There was no string, no laying it out, no nothing. That fact that it even fit, let alone fit centered, is a complete accident. Now, regarding the centers of the "O" and "R": weedwacker. Sorry to disappoint. With that said, I now have plans to spell several different things through the course of the year, which I will tag as Lawn Art.

2. Here's what else is true: Sophie is the cutest 18 month old in the world. I can't think of anyone more unbiased than me to offer that opinion, but just in case you don't believe me, here are some pictures.

Back to the Blog

We've been away from the blog for a few days, so it's time to get caught back up...

1. As I wrote here on April 23, the last 17 games were going to be an important indication for just how good the Cubs were this season. It was a brutal stretch, with a lot of division and road games and ending with a home series against the team with the best record in baseball, the Arizona Diamondbacks. So, what did we learn? The Cubs went 8-9 over 17 games (4-2 at home and 4-7 on the road). On its face, I would find that mildly discouraging, but the weird thing is that they played 3 series in a row where they outscored their opponents but lost 2 of 3. So, it's discouraging that they lost, but encouraging that they have a high value in expected wins. In the long run, that is encouraging. On a more personal note, WHERE WERE THOSE WINS AGAINST THE DIAMONDBACKS LAST OCTOBER?????

2. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, most importantly my wife, my mom, and my mom-in-law.

3. Sophie is learning to pose for the camera. Let's just say that it's a work in progress:
4. I'm feeling pretty good about the Mountain Dew challenge. It's a little harder than I thought it would be, but I'm feeling good nonetheless. I also grow more appreciative every day not to be participating in Mustache May.

5. The guys I've worked for just opened their first of several new Dunkin Donuts in Lexington. Nancy & I grew up with Dunkin Donuts, but they are new to this area. So, we went to our first ever Donut Party on Friday, and took home copious amounts of free donuts to share with anyone who would take them. I have now officially had my fill of donuts for some time to come. But if you haven't- Go to the new Dunkin Donuts on Main at Rose!

Toilets

It's a big moment in every blogger's life when he can write a post about toilets...

Anyway, we had two major toilet related events in our household this weekend. I removed and replaced our downstairs toilet, which was leaking. We now have a shiny new toilet to break in. It doesn't feel the same, though. They make the new ones taller ("Comfort Height"), but there's something just kind of weird about that. In any event, I felt like quite the handyman. It's not leaking yet, so hopefully I didn't mess it up too bad.

In much more exciting news, Sophie officially and somewhat accidentally used her potty for the first time this weekend. After her nighttime bath, we have been sitting her on her potty for 5 minutes or so, just to get her used to it and if she happens to actually use it, then all the better. This time, she did actually use it. At first she was startled and maybe even a little scared. But Nancy & I made quite a big deal out of how awesome it was, clapped, let her look at it, and I think she gathered that it was a good thing. So then she tried to step in it.

I vaguely remember a time where my weekends were... different.

Spring

There are about 2 days each spring where the front of our house is actually quasi-attractive, thanks to this tree:The white flowers only last about 2 days before littering up our lawn, but they are pretty while they last.

Speaking of things that fall down, Sophie is now learning to climb DOWN the stairs. It has gone well so far...

Sophie's Late Winter

For those of you with 6 minutes and a burning desire to see what Sophie has been up to in the last month or so, this is for you (in other words, if you are one of Sophie's grandparents, you'll be interested in this). You can see that she likes snow as much as I do.

Good for the Soul

-Going to church

-The Coffee Queen literally waiting at the Coffee Times door for today's free coffee
-60 Degree days in March
-Fresh Air
-Playing Outside with Sophie
-The year's first round of Disc Golf
-Baklava
-Pizza Night
-New Simpsons episode
-Feeling healthy again
-Weekends

25 Days of Christmas: Gingerbread House

Sophie had a very busy afternoon...

The BIG 1

Birthdays

There is a line in one of the Matrix sequels where The Oracle explains to Neo that no one can see beyond a choice they don't understand. I don't know about the choice part, but I can certainly relate to not being able to see beyond certain events in my life that I don't understand. When Nancy was pregnant, I couldn't see beyond the birth of the baby. I just didn't have a way to conceptualize what that was going to be like. Once Sophie was born, I knew that the next couple of weeks leading up to Christmas were going to be extremely hectic and out of the ordinary, and that "life" with Sophie wouldn't begin in earnest until after we got back from Christmas (although I'm sure Nancy had a different perspective on that...). So, I couldn't see beyond Christmas. Once we got to January and all was quiet, I began to understand, if only a little, what this whole parent-child thing was all about. Still, I could only picture Sophie, at the time a person-shaped lump, as a new-born baby. I couldn't even begin to imagine her first birthday. I am generally fairly good at envisioning the next month, 3 months, 6 months, or year or so, but this last year I have become extremely near-sighted.

Sophie's first birthday is now only 2 days away, and we will have the extremely appropriate joy of celebrating it on Thanksgiving Day this year. Even with my new-found near-sightedness, I feel like I have a pretty good idea what that's going to be like. Sophie Erickson has developed into a full-fledged person now, with her own personality, desires, preferences, teeth, mobility, and the growing ability to communicate her personality, desires and preferences. I can't even begin to tell you what a difference this makes. I know now that Sophie likes it when I chase her, push her, tackle her, bounce her, spin her, hold her upside-down, tickle her, and otherwise engage her in all manner of rough-housing. I know Sophie does NOT like it when you do anything that prevents her from getting to her food or milk when it is time to eat. I know that Sophie loves her "Tails" book, so much so that she broke off the tails and now she can't love it as much.

All of these things, and much more, make Sophie into a real person, and a real person is something that I can understand. I'm not going to claim to be able to see much farther into the future yet, but at least I'm beginning to understand the events I can't see past.

Happy Birthday Sophie! Your Mom & Dad love you!

Kentucky Fall

Why not

Halloween

This was Sophie's first Halloween and marked her last "first" holiday. She found the whole thing extremely fascinating. Every time someone came to the door she would race over to see them and see what all the commotion is about. Eventually, she just set up camp at the front door and waited for people to come by. She also wore her pumpkin suit again, for presumably the last time. Here are a few pics:

Weekly Sophie Fix

Camping

Our fall camping trip is always my favorite. Here is all you need to know about this year's trip...

Eeyore Update-10 months

the one not sitting nicely...