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I'm not quite sure how I feel about it, but I got on the Twitter train. This is essentially blogging for people who are too lazy to blog. Or, you know, interact with other human beings. Twitter limits you to 140 characters per post, and other "tweeters" can respond to your short "tweets."

So I linked up my "tweets" to this blog. It's rather fun, it indulges me when I'm not up for writing a full post. It also has the potential to be a creative challenge for those who care enough to try to communicate as much as possible in 140 characters or less. But as you can see, it's also displaying my tweeting responses to other tweeters' tweets. So until I get my settings the way I like them, any tweet with an "@" symbol in front of it is me tweeting at another tweeter's tweet. Phew.

Yay for internet trends! We'll see how long I last with this one.

Mildly perturbed

Along with the joys of being able to pull oneself up to standing come some new issues. Case in point -- now if I put her to bed when she doesn't want to go down, she can stand up at the edge of the crib to scream her little head off.

My poor little mama heart just can't take it, so the last couple days I've returned to her room to get her out of her crib. Of course, little smarty pants figured that one out pretty quickly, and has been trying to work it to her advantage. Last night we knew she was exhausted, so decided to let her cry it out. It worked, but...when we checked on her before we went to bed, we discovered that she had fallen asleep folded completely in half. She had obviously been sitting up, then it appears she just passed out and fell face first onto her legs.

Around midnight she got fussy, so I unfolded her, thinking it was the ungodly position she was in that was making her uncomfortable. She started wailing again, then eventually drifted off. When I got her this morning, she was folded in half again.

Surely this can't be the healthiest way to sleep? But is it worth waking her up to unfold her? I am mildly perturbed.

One tooth, two teeth, three teeth, sore teeth

Chances are, if you've talked to me in the last couple days, you've either heard Sofia screeching or heard me talking about Sofia screeching. Poor child has four teeth coming in simultaneously. She's no longer interested in her teething toys, and believe me, we're trying everything. We've got water filled teethers, vibrating teethers, smooth ones, bumpy ones, hard ones, soft ones. I've tried frozen washcloths, wet washcloths, not to mention the homeopathic teething gel, tablets and drops. Bottom line is, it just plain hurts.

So, seeing as John conveniently choose this time to go to Fairbanks on business, my sole purpose in life right now is Mission: Distraction. This has led to the discovery of the drum, which Sofia absolutely loves. She bangs away on it, and when I play it she "dances." I love my girl!

And two more "big girl" milestones -- she crawled *to me* for the first time this week! Also, I came to get her from her crib this morning and she was standing up. Oh my.




Yeah, yeah, not the best picture, but she's working so hard at it I just have to post it. Besides, who doesn't love round, squishy baby butt?

Blue 42! Blue 42!

In the end, it was a football that did it. A little nerf football on the floor was what finally got Sofia crawling. She's been inching toward this milestone for weeks, and she successfully crawled several "steps" this morning. After she got her football, she went directly to my bag and pulled out all my cash.

Something tells me we're in trouble.

Love affair with the bowl

Besides the chapstick, Sofia's other favorite toy is the silver mixing bowl. It's remarkable. You can put things in it, take things out of it, push it around, chew on it, and even sit in it. The possibilities are endless!





And here's a little photographic evidence that Sofia doesn't just look like me. She's got PLENTY of her father in her*:




*This was NOT premeditated in any way. The shot of Sofia was taken yesterday, the one of John is from New Year's.

Winter adventures

Now that we've broken out of our cold snap and gotten new snow to make up for the warm snap, we're right in that sweet spot of winter. Temps in the teens to 20s, a beautiful snow cover and blue skies. So, like all good Alaskans, we're doing our best to take advantage of it.

On Superbowl Sunday, Mom and I continued our annual tradition of skiing as a Mother-Daughter team in the Ski for Women. I think this was my tenth year, and Mom's 13th doing the ski. This year we even got it together and made costumes! Here we are, Devils with Blue Dresses On:

This last weekend we were finally able to break out the snowshoes. Mom, Dad, John, Sofia, Lucy, Bella and I headed for the hills and spent a beautiful afternoon trekking around Prospect Heights/Powerline Pass.

How many Casellis does is take to adjust a snowshoe? I like that Sofia's not even a year old and she already finds her parents amusing.

The little things at 9.5 months

It's been a while since I've recorded all the little things about Sof that slay me on a daily basis. Here they are, in no particular order:

- How she can travel so far without actually crawling. She has mastered getting on all fours, then rolling back onto her butt, sitting up and starting over. She's also become quite adept at pushing herself backwards on her belly, especially on the pergo.

- She's discovered how to shake her head "no." She loves doing this, and loves it when other people do it. She'll giggle and then copy the movement. It's especially funny to her if you stick your tongue out at the same time.

- Her facial expressions are developing like crazy. This is going to require some video...

- Chapstick is her new favorite toy. We have baskets full of carefully researched child development toys sitting around the house, and she wants the chapstick.

- She giggles and gasps and gets excited every time I pull out books to read to her.

- She LOVES flying with Dad.

- She can drink out of a regular glass no problem. It's the sippy cup we're still working on.

- She digs hanging out in her walker, but so far can only move backwards. Maybe if she weren't so preoccupied with feeding the dogs her little snacks she could get it figured out.

- Her need for stimulation is growing. The child has learned what it is to be bored, and lets me know when she feels that way.

- Girlfriend's got a mind of her own. She's figured out that she doesn't like it if you take something away from her that she's not done with.

- She "talks" with her buddy, 2-year-old Danika. They'll sit across from each other and scream back and forth, each copying the other's tone and volume. This can go on for quite a long time...

- Dad's Mets cap is still one of her all-time favs.