Ileana, Sophie and I celebrated our holiday with a gift exchange on Thursday morning. Sophie is now officially a couch potato and has perfected her slouch on a new overstuffed chair. She now “holds court” each evening in this position and we bring her food, drink and toys. She is trying to figure out how to get Princess to join her but I doubt that will ever happen.
The holidays would not be complete without our annual trip to Syracuse to spend time with the Paynes. Sophie did pretty well on the drive and with the marathon meet and greet at various family
households. She met her two great grandmothers and also got to meet her grandfather (seen here with both Sophie and cousin Lauren in his lap). She took to everyone very well and particularly loves all of her cousins.
One of the things that fascinated Sophie on our trip was the stairs. We live in a flat so her only previous experience with stairs was on the outside of the house. We first saw Sophie’s fascination with stairs a few weeks ago while visiting friends here in Chicago. This hardly prepared us for what it would be like staying with people with open staircases. She was very bold and walked up, down, and up, over and over again. Needless to say, by the end of the night there were makeshift barricades in that area of the home.
While on our short vacation, we also learned one of the advantages of our camera. My brother John pointed out to me that since our view screen swivels, we can take very clear pictures of ourselves. Imagine how Ileana and I felt as we are now plagued with about a hundred off-centered pictures of us in various locations in China. Morons. Hint to anyone about to travel: get to know your camera and video equipment prior to going to on a big trip.
The highlight of our Christmakuh celebration was when Sophie and cousin Ryan lit the menorah. It was only the first night of Chanukah but since we wouldn’t be in Syracuse for the remaining seven nights, we decided to light all of the candles. Ryan, age five (he is "so not four"), has been egging his parents to let him convert for over a year now. Since Christmas and Chanukah coincide this year, Sophie’s Aunt Lisa relented and finally bought a menorah.
All in all, it was a nice holiday. Sophie got lots of big plastic crap to litter the rooms of our house with. Hell, I only stayed up until 11:30pm last night unloading it from the car. I know I need some exercise but 8 trips up and down three flights of stairs in the middle of the night isn’t quite what I would have chosen for a work out. I am sure Sophie loves every last piece of that stuff and all of the beeping and bopping noises it all makes. Perhaps one day she will thank me for all that hard work.
Celebrating the Chinese New Year would not be complete without attending the annual Families with Children from China (FCC) dinner. This is the annual event 
where the local adoptees from China are put on parade (literally and figuratively) for all of the other parents to see.
two favorite pastimes - eating and dancing. Once she found her way to the stage, she couldn't be stopped. 
Stay tuned for tomorrows blog of Sophie's "once in a lifetime" moment - her first trip to Disney World. It is so cute, I 
promise you will lose control of all of your bodily functions. So grab your depends and log on tomorrow to enjoy the fun. Sophie's bean stuffed face and amazing dance moves are nothing compared to her reaction when she first met Mickey.
