June and July 2000
The la-la girl turned one on July 4. We estimate her current weight at about 22 lbs and she is about 30" tall. She still has a pretty big head for all her brains, and she is still amazingly fair, with blond hair and blue eyes and very pale skin. She's a great crawler, and has been pulling up and "cruising" on furniture and people for quite a long time, so we think she'll be walking soon. Her favorite thing to say is "bye-bye" ("ba-ba," with Southern accent!) with a wave, which she does at every opportunity, whether appropriate or not. She'll wake up in the morning, realize that Noel has left, and say it. Sometimes she'll just be playing with her toys and say it! It serves as a general-purpose social declaration as well as a commentary after any notable "thing" goes by (car, deer, etc).
Sophie also can say "ball" and "balloon" (which comes out like "ba-oon"), and enjoys playing with both. She still loves to clap and play her drum and maracas and small piano, and she "conducts" and bounces up and down when she hears music. She is an avid book "reader". She still says "Mama," mostly when she wants to be held and/or nursed. Judy entertains her with peek-a-boo and tickling. She is completely in love with her daddy, of course. As soon as we hear his special "I'm home" whistle, she claps and then starts crawling over to the door to greet him, or sits up on her knees and reaches her arms up to him to be held. Of course, no matter what kind of day Noel has had, he just melts at her greeting.
Noel and I took Sophie with us to a week-long Hungarian dance camp at the end of June, and she loved it! Many of our friends generously offered to hold her so that we could dance, so she got to interact with a lot of different people and hear a lot of Hungarian. It was great seeing her share toys with Hungarian-, French- and English-speaking children without worrying about communication! At camp was where she first walked with assistance and learned to blow a kiss. All three of us had an incredibly wonderful week, relaxing, dancing, singing, and doing our thing.
This summer we've spent a nice amount of time with family. Noel's parents celebrated their 50th anniversary with a wonderful party in Amherst, Mass. Among the many friends and family in attendance were Noel's sister Julie Blobstein and most of her family, who are visiting from Israel. Sophie had a great time playing with them and with her only American cousin, Aleeza. The Blobsteins also came to visit us here at Lake Celeste for a couple of days at the end of July, and it was a great visit in spite of heavy rain.
We also visited Trumansburg, NY (near Ithaca) for the GrassRoots Festival (unbelievable music!) in July, and enjoyed hanging with Noel's old friend Keith from Nebraska, our friend John Levine (author of Internet for Dummies and Unix for Dummies, among others) and many of our Cajun-Zydeco dance buddies from this area. Sophie was her usual party-girl self, "dancing" up a storm, flirting and waving to the members of the bands and making them smile, and being such a good baby. I sometimes can't get over how right she is for us and for our lifestyle--it always makes me think that we got exactly the baby that we wanted!!! I just hope the next one(s) are as flexible.
In the steamy heat of early June we hiked to see the mountain laurel in bloom.
Noel organized a memorial for our good friend Erik Erikson with dancing, fiddling, and friends (click here to see the pix). We went to a Greek music and dance festival that same evening.
Datacap is busy and is riding the rollercoaster of the volatile high tech market and employment situation, demanding customers, and stiff competition. It's been almost 11 years!
