Sofia Crawls....

Sofia started crawling recently, but she really just wants to walk...and walk....and walk...and walk!  Her crawling is hysterically inefficient.  She scurries along laboriously, but doesn't go very fast or far.  That said, if I turn my head for a second she seems to scamper out of view and find something she shouldn't.  The walking thing is also funny and back breaking.  She desperately wants to walk - actually run - and will often refuse to sit or even stand so I  hunch over her so she can walk and I can catch her every few steps.  It makes cooking dinner or playing with Charlie and Diego totally impossible.  Here she is heading down the hallway while her brothers fight for her attention....

We had a crazy past week during which we only had 1.5 days of school. I should have taken a picture of our house at the beginning of the week compared to the end of the week.  There was MLK day and then two snow days and a half day dismissal.  The kids were very industrious at home - they used every pillow and blanket in the house to build forts that spanned various rooms.  They built about 5 lego sets, dressed up as every superhero imaginable, played every game on hand and played "store" endlessly.  "Store" entails Charlie and Diego each having a store and then going shopping at the other's store with their wads of fake money.

One of many forts around the house - complete with tunnels and all!

 

braving the polar vortex to go biking

Charlie is getting better at skating! He is actually upright!

I tried to take all three of them out sledding one afternoon and I'm really glad no one I knew saw me.  It was a total disaster.  It felt about 7 degrees outside so it literally took me 45 minutes to get the hundreds of layers on three children.  It took another 15 minutes to get Sofia, with her multiple layers, to fit into the ergo.  The hill at Garfield park nearby should be perfect for sledding, but it's actually totally impossible.  One run shoots the kids straight into the street; the second run ensures they hit a fence and the third run is so far from the stairs that it takes forever to get set-up.  There is a barricade at the top so there is no way to get ready before heading down which meant that I had to hold the sled while charlie climbed on.  Sounds okay except that I'm on the other side of the barricade with a baby strapped to me so I was basically lying down on the sidewalk on top of Sofia with my arms stretched under the wall while Charlie slipped and squirmed his way onto the sled.  At least half the time he'd only get half on before he slipped off and I lost the sled.  Diego refused to participate in the madness so he was probably the best off of all of us.  Despite the fact that I saw the outing as sheer pain, Charlie enjoyed it so much that he was devastated when I decided I couldn't be prostrate on the sidewalk with commuters stepping over me while Sofia looked on helplessly.

Diego has been really sweet recently and comical.  The other day he woke me up by saying "mom, it's 7, 8 past 1 so it's time to get up."  "really, Diego, 7, 8 past 1?" "yes."  I've been feeling badly about focusing only on sports and no art classes so at night I draw them each a picture for them to color in while I read to them.  The other day Diego insisted that he was doing a great job, but wondered I could find him a "coloring-in class."  He is especially fond of purple and colors with it so much that we've run out of ink a few times.  He hasn't quite got the 'ink' thing yet so at first he'd say "I think this pen is running out of gas."  Charlie corrected him so he now says "I think this pen is running out of gink."  It makes perfect sense to me and I hope he doesn't stop saying it.

Diego "chefing" with me

Diego trying to teach Sofia how to swing

This weekend we had a fun SAIS wedding.  Sarah Rotman got married at a church on the Hill and the reception included an incredible piano performance by her father.  In typical Carlos fashion, he decided that before the wedding he REALLY needed to install a dimmer light so below is a picture of him in a suit and a headlamp prior to heading to the church.  I was a sorry sight as I got the big vein on my left leg removed (thanks to sofia) the day before.  I had to hide three layers of bandages under a very long dress that Carlos kept stepping on!  Nevertheless we had a great time and always nice to catch up with the SAIS team.