It takes a zoo . . .

You have heard it said that it takes a village to raise a child. A reality in our house these days is that it takes a zoo to put a child to bed. Sophia has inherited her mother's childhood love of stuffed animals. She has a plethora of them, and they are all special to her. Right now, as Sophia sleeps, she is surrounded in her bed by Monkey, Bunny, Ducky, Puppy (all very original names, aren't they?), Nana Bear, Dolly, two Care Bears, and a horse (not to mention her "La La"--her name for her small security blanket). Sophia likes to have these animals tucked in with her as she is put to bed--we actually go through a roll call. I have to say that I think it is very cute. I love to sneak into her room while she is asleep to catch a glimpse of her hugging one of her animals as she sleeps. Fortunately, the reality is that she doesn't "need" these animals, she just likes to have them--when we stay somewhere other than home, she is fine sleeping with just one animal. When I was little, part of my bedtime routine also included being tucked in with my beloved stuffed animals--like Sophia, I had many animals that were special to me. It's fun to be on this side of the tucking in process.

In other big news, Sophia and I just returned from a fun Girls' Weekend. Travis treated us to a trip to visit my good friend Jodi and her family in New York. Sophia is a great traveler--well, with the exception of bad case of car sickness in Jodi's car. (Yep, Jodi and I spent our first evening together cleaning vomit out of all of the crevices in Jodi's son's car seat. What a friend!) Sophia enjoyed playing with Jodi's boys, Elias and Asher. I enjoyed late evenings talking with a good friend. Jodi's husband volunteered to watch the kids so that Jodi and I could have an afternoon and evening in NYC-- Sophia tried her best to make Justin regret this generous offer. Jodi and I had a wonderful time in the city--we rode the trains, walked all over the city, visited Ground Zero, had Tea at a little English tea shop, had dinner, and watched a street performance by a group of rather "eccentric" actors (think big city eccentric rather than Midwestern eccentric).

If you're beginning to feel sorry for Grant since he didn't get to go (we didn't have to buy a ticket for Sophia since she is less than two years old), don't. Grant and Daddy had a "Man's Weekend". They had a pizza party, went to the park, bought some new toys at the store, and had more fast food than I care to know about. I am proud of Travis for giving Grant a great weekend. He is a great Daddy!