Recovered from Thanksgiving

Sophie has officially recovered from Thanksgiving. We finally got her to eat some turkey by making it into enchiladas with plenty of garlic and cilantro and chipotle cream sauce. She was a trip and enjoyed every bite. She even ate some on her own off the "big persons" fork. She followed up her meal with alternating bites of mandarin oranges and pumpkin pie. She'll be in daycare tomorrow so hopefully they can deal with whatever appears in the diaper. Sophie also introduced us to her new camera smile. No, she is not squinting because of the flash, this is her new camera face when we ask her to pose for a picture. She finished her evening with a book and is now running laps around the apartment. Enjoy the pics.

Sophie's First Thanksgiving - Chapter 4 - The Big Day

Thanksgiving Day was very hectic and so was the day after. Is there any wonder why I am finally updating the blog two days later? Everyone seemed to have a good time and the food was enjoyed by all…except Sophie. The girl that never met a noodle or hunk of meat she didn’t like was not very enthusiastic about putting her eating habits on display for the whole family. She has gone the last three nights without eating and I don’t think it is because she doesn’t like turkey.

We tried to have a somewhat formal dinner this year (what a joke with four babies). We started with a course of rustic tomato soup with tomatoes and herbs from our garden followed by a course of grilled artichokes and aioli. Sophie was not impressed. When we brought out the remaining 8 dishes, she still showed no signs of relenting. I think next year we may have to save the macaroni and cheese for Thanksgiving night!

Regardless of her eating, Sophie seemed to enjoy everything else about the holiday. She spent the past few days following her big cousin Claire around the house, in and out of the laundry basket, and even had a quick romp on the inflatable mattress.

Friday was our annual Christmas / Hanukah celebration. We decorated the tree. Claire was very helpful at decorating the lower branches and Sophie was just as helpful at removing the decorations – I don’t think there will be too many photos of the bottom 3’ of the tree this year as it looks a little pitiful. The lights and ornaments enthrall Sophie – I think she sees the tree as the largest toy in the world.

It was a beautiful night as Chicago received 2” of snow cover. The kids went crazy over all of their presents. The evening was capped with the adult gift exchange. This exchange used to be called the “Chinese Gift Exchange” but now that all of the Yahoo adoption groups have made us more sensitive, we call it the “grab bag” (folks from the adoption community can insert your comments here). Andy chose the highest number, AGAIN, so he had the last pick of gifts. I don’t want to go into too much about Andy’s personality on the blog (someone could write a thesis) but let’s just say that it took a little wind out of everyone’s sails when he announced his number. He ended up with a cool Nano (just look at him, as happy as a pig in shit). Everyone else ended up with nice gifts as well. Chris Anderson really made out with that awesome oversize peppermill – if you knew culinarily challenged Chris, you would find this very funny.

On Saturday we took the family downtown to take in some of Chicago’s holiday traditions. We met Carin, Chris, Joshua and Crazy Nana at the Palmer House. We all posed for some photos by the amazing tree in the lobby. Afterwards, we went to Marshall Field’s and saw the holiday windows and Great Tree and then went to Daley Plaza to see Chicago’s tree, trains, and German Christmas Village. Sophie had a ball and was in a particularly good mood all day long. The downtown sojourn was met with mixed reviews by the rest of the folks but all in all it was a beautiful day and a nice end to the holiday.

Sophie's First Thanksgiving - Chapter 3 - The Sophie & Josh Love Fest

Dinner at our house tonight was something else. Ileana made a fantastic macaroni and cheese. Sophie was all over it. Or, better yet, it was all over her. Josh did not seem as impressed. I guess he hasn't heard of the mystical powers of macaroni and cheese.

Sophie and Joshua got to know each other a little better tonight. There was only a fraction of the crying we experienced last night at the Berghoff. Let's hope that this pattern holds true even after Claire and Ryan arrive!

By far the highlight of the evening when Sophie became exceptionally affectionate with Josh. It didn't look like Josh wanted to reciprocate but it is nice to know that they are at least getting along. It is nice to get photos like these to prove to Sophie when she is older how much she loved her cousin (the secondary bonus is that this photo also proves that Carin really is a vampire).

We started all of our cooking tonight and sicne the weather is good and cold, we are using the back porch as a refrigerator. Let's hope that no one catches wind of it and walks off with our Thanksgiving dinner!

Sophie's First Thanksgiving - Chapter 2 - Meeting Joshua

When Sophie and Joshua met, it was quite a moment. We decided to make the Berghoff, a huge German restaurant in downtown Chicago, the place to meet. Carin, Chris & Josh arrived today by plane from Florida and are staying downtown so we thought the Berghoff would be perfect. The fact that it is usually loud and crowded was just an added bonus!

The evening started with Josh crying because he was tired from the flight. Both Josh’s and Sophie’s crying marked the middle of the meal. The meal ended with Sophie and Josh crying and various chunks of food being thrown about the restaurant. All in all we had a nice time. Josh didn’t seem too interested in his new cousin but Sophie was fascinated and tried very hard to get a grab at Josh’s face.

I got a great photo of Crazy Nana chewing her venison but she swore she would never come back to Chicago if I posted it here. So, in order to keep Mayor Daley happy and to keep those lucrative tourist dollars flowing that Crazy Nana brings with her to Chicago, I decided against the post (I guess I’ll have to save the picture in case Crazy Nana ever gets on my bad side).

The only thing that seemed to placate Sophie at the end of the meal was when she got hold of my credit card. I assume this is a forecast of things to come as when I snatched it from her hand, she gave me a pouty look and threw a fit.

Andy and Libby arrive tomorrow with Ryan and Claire. Double the kids mean double the fun, I am sure!

Sophie's First Thanksgiving - Chapter 1

Preface: Before you all start bitching and moaning about there being no baby photos, calm down. There will be plenty of photos over the next few days so don't get bent out of shape.

It's a busy week. Thanksgiving is upon us and the entire Pollack clan will be spending the holiday in Chicago. I am sure that it will be filled with a lot of fun and insanity so I figure I better blog away to keep everyone up to date with what is going on.

Aunt Lisa and Uncle John just left yesterday and a quick stay. They came in for the SU Notre Dame Game (I am not really sure you can call what happened on Saturday a game, but they seemed to have enjoyed themselves). Sophie loves meeting new family members but has not been in such a good mood since starting on some new teeth last week. She has been throwing fits for three days now and is pretty miserable. If we can only teach her that banging her head on the floor will not help her teeth.

Not long after Lisa and John left, Crazy Nana arrived (that's Grandma Pollack for those of you that don't know it). I think that this is the first that Crazy Nana has seen the other side of Sophie's personality. She says that what we believe are tantrums are not tantrums at all and that Sophie is just tired. If this is how it is going to be, I hope to hell she catches up on her sleep because I can't take much more of Sophie being "tired".

Ileana and I went to work and Sophie is at day care today while Crazy Nana stayed at home to begin making pies. When I left this morning, Ileana was teaching her how to use the Kitchen Aid. I am sure there will be a story because of that situation but I guess we'll have to wait to find out what it is.

Uncle Chris, Aunt Carin, and cousin Joshua arrive tomorrow. I am sure the Mai Tais will begin to flow and things should get interesting. To be continued....

-Chris