crazy and fun

The frequency of my blogging has not been keeping up with my kids and all of their crazy antics. Almost daily now I think, "I should write that down somewhere." And since I don't keep any sort of journal or scrapbook, this is the only place I would record their shenanigans. Sophie's behavior has been especially noteworthy as of late. I'm starting to suspect that Sophie is a lot like how people who knew my sister Julia when she was a kid describe her. Crazy and fun.

Let's see - where to start? I have 4 or 5 stories to share with you. We boarded a second plane on Wednesday, the girls and I, in Dallas. The layover was short- 40 minutes was all- our first plane arrived late and it took us forever to get our stroller. We were the last passengers to make it to the gate. With both girls in the stroller, I breathed a sigh of relief and handed the attendant our boarding passes. As I waited for her to scan and return them, Sophie jumped out of the stroller and took off running. Franny was amused and ran the other way. I was able to get Franny's attention and eventual cooperation, but Sophie was off and running without so much as a backward glance. Frazzled, I saw a woman make a feeble attempt to grab Sophie and I called out, "Can you please grab her?" I caught hold of Franny and left her with our stroller and the attendant who took my tickets and ran off to locate Sophie. (To my chagrin, I noticed the lady had slowly turned to follow Sophie and stopped, even though I couldn't see Sophie.) I rounded the corner hoping to cut off Sophie from the other end of the smoking room she had run into, and I found the lady whose help I had requested. She looked at me curiously and said, "She's just laying down," with a shrug. Sophie ran away from me at full speed and just laid herself face down, next to a trash can, in the designated smoking area. So bizarre! Apparently she thinks if she can't see me, then I must not be able to see her. She LOVES to hide in public places and it scares me!

Despite wearing herself out everyday and not getting as much as sleep as usual, Sophie has had a difficult time settling down and just going to sleep at night. We've been putting her back in bed two, three, sometimes four times each night. My dad and sister Annie get up at 5 AM every morning every day to get ready for seminary. Annie slept on the couch the other night and sluggishly climbed the stairs at that ridiculous hour of 5 AM and found a little surprise when she walked in. Sophie was in her room and standing in the bottom drawer of her dresser and playing with her jewelry. What the crap? She was already adjusted to the CA schedule and sleeping until 7:00 AM most mornings. She cracks me up. As soon as Sophie saw Annie, she took off running for her room and went back to sleep.

Tonight I had to make a special trip to Target for some deodorant on account of Sophie eating the one I brought with me. How gross is that?! I've been sleeping downstairs since we've been here, and Sophie wanted me to put her down for a nap in my room. I made a quick scan of the room for anything hazardous or anything she could potentially make into a mess. Nothing concerned me, so I closed the door and went back to what I was doing. Half an hour later I found her asleep on top of a very large stuffed panda bear with one of my flip-flops in her hand. After transferring her to my bed, I made my way towards the door and noticed some white wet chunks on the floor next to a chewed up deodorant stick. "Oh gross," I thought. She ate my deodorant!! I called Poison Control and do you know what they said to me? They get this call every day!

I checked on her again an hour later and I found her asleep on top of our clothes inside our suitcase! Man, she is hilarious. Such a fireball.