Growing Up Savvy Posts

You will plainly see that, as my sister recently put it, little Sophia elevated her father to a state of a deity — something or rather someone above gender. 🙂

Mama: Sophia, is your cousin Sam (boy) a boy or a girl?
Sophia: Boy
Mama: Sophia, is Grammie (my mother-in-law) a man or a woman?
Sophia: Man
Mama: Sophia, is Baba (my mother) a man or a woman?
Sophia: Man
Mama: Sophia, is Pop (my father-in-law) a man or a woman?
Sophia: Man
Mama: Sophia, is Papa a man or a woman?
Sophia: Papa

So Little TIme So Much To Say

Traveling with a toddler is not really a vacation but rather a change of scenery. That said, there is nothing more exciting than witnessing your child(ren) discover the world that surrounds them. We had planned to be in San Jose, CA for four days or so including the day I had at my conference. After checking out the children’s museum, and the computer museum, we decided it was time to branch out just a little further. Only 70 miles away, Monterey lies on the coast of California south of San Francisco. Its climate is vastly different than that of the Silicon Valley where it was warm and dry. We drove out in the morning with a plan to see the famous aquarium, check out the sea lions, have some sea food and return home to warm up our chilled extremities. The aquarium was spectacular. It wasn’t too large, its exhibits interesting and we were there early enough to avoid a huge crowd. Sophia looked like she had encountered creatures from outer space. She was especially mesmerized by the jelly fish.

Big ones,
Little ones,
Pink ones and even blue ones.
One had a little dot.
And all the other ones I have now forgot.

That was clearly [loosely] inspired by reading all those Dr. Seuss books. We’re now into the Green Eggs and Ham and the One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

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Once we spotted the sea lions sunning themselves just outside the aquarium and visible from its patio, Sophia couldn’t be dragged back inside. She ran around and kept looking at the sea lions and the birds.

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Alas, hunger prevailed and we set off to get lunch. Seemed appropriate to get seafood after looking at a lot of it in tanks ;-). Overall, Monterey seemed lovely for a day-trip. This was Sophia’s first time at an aquarium and I am sure we will now make time to go the one in Baltimore (just an hour away from us).

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Travel

Not through any fault of his own, my husband has not had a full day with the baby — ever. He has never put her down for an afternoon nap or to bed. Well, this past Monday was THE day. I had planned a full day at the conference and he planned some fun activities for Sophia. He was excited to rise to the challenge and spend the day with his very own mini-me. Their agenda was ambitious: 1. the Children’s Discovery Museum wherefrom she couldn’t be dragged away and 2. lunch a deux.

I am told Sophia didn’t want to leave the museum and enjoyed it so much that she fell asleep on the way to lunch. Fear not, hubby took lunch to go and made sure she feasted when she woke up. I leave for ONE day and what does he feed her?! Cow head and tongue tacos! I have no evidence of these alleged culinary … erm … delicacies, but I do have evidence of good times at the Discovery Museum.

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Travel

Naturally, nature does not stop its work while we take a break from ours. While away in California, our little garden had quite a growth spurt. It may have had something to do with the insane heatwave that hogged onto this region for most of last week. Hubby and I did our best to reign in the unruly tomato plants and pick the first few tomato fruits along with the remainder of the peas and a few leaves of basil. Not huge, but the harvest was plenty for us and satisfying because it was ours.

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The tomato plants are taller than I am and may even tower over hubby. They must be reaching for sunlight.

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There are more to come. I just hope that they don’t encounter the same fate as this one:

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It is important that everyone helps. Regardless of the results.

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Gardening

When in Rome… or in our case, when in the Silicon Valley — you go to the Computer History Museum. I took hubby and baby to the Computer History Museum or as I called it a Geek’s Mecca. I thought the museum was great and we all enjoyed it. Even little Sophia found something that she liked (Clocks and Robots). She was such a great sport throughout the museum and really tried to find something in each exhibit that she could learn about. The museum can be toured in an hour or two and is not too large or overwhelming. The best part? The first place that I’ve ever been to where the ladies’ restroom was pristine and absolutely uncrowded and the gentlemen’s restroom was packed and had a line out the door.

I leave you with a picture of us in the IBM’s Watson Supercomputer exhibit.

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Travel

I mean that in the most literal and figurative sense. It has been quiet on our blog lately because we’ve been busy traveling. A while ago, I said that 1. we’ll be traveling again sooner rather than later and 2. we won’t be doing it without little Sophia. I like to hold true to my promises (even if we make them to ourselves). Alas, behold — one of the few recaps I’ll be posting of our trip.

One of the perks of my job as a scientist is that I get an opportunity to submit the results of my research to esteemed, peer-reviewed conferences. If accepted, I travel to interesting and sometimes exciting destinations to present the method and results of my research, interact with interesting and smart people and explore new places. I have previously traveled to Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and all over the United States to present my work, but had to take a break from publishing after we welcomed Sophia. Well… we’re back or rather, I am back. Earlier this year, I submitted my work to a conference to be held in San Jose, CA. Hubby and I decided to make a family trip out of this opportunity especially since my ticket is paid for, and Sophia doesn’t yet need a ticket to fly. So we could take a few days off by paying for a hotel and hubby’s flight — sounds like the perfect deal.

San Jose is located in the Silicon Valley near San Francisco and California’s Wine Country. We decided to tack on a week to my conference and spend it touring Napa, Sonoma, Calistoga, San Jose and San Francisco. Late in the game, we tacked on Monterrey which I’ll talk about in a forthcoming post.

The good news? We’re home. The better news? We had a great time. We loved it and we’ve decided that traveling with a toddler is nothing that we can’t do and enjoy. There were and will still be many challenges. The trick is to be positive, to go with the flow and embrace your new traveling situation.

 

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I leave you with a teaser… more posts detailing the experience and travels in getting there are coming soon.

Travel

Choices — we all like to have them and we feel deprived when we don’t. The same holds true for children as much as it is the case for adults. A few months ago, we had given some serious thought to the type of parents we were or were going to be and it have decided that we always have been and always will be free range parents. What I mean by that is we’re not keen on being helicopter parents and we are not keen on constant active play with Sophia. There are of course some exceptions like TV … whether or not preferred, it has crept into our daily lives and we are tolerating it — for now.

I am a basic believer that independence at an early age is a key to success in later life when your mom and dad aren’t always going to be there to help, entertain, or plan your life for you. As such, ensuring that Sophia is able to self occupy for a prolonged period of time and is essential. Self-paced exploration is key to self occupation and we try our best to allow her that basic freedom. Speaking of freedoms … sometimes you simply don’t have a choice. This is certainly true for kids… you have to eat or you have to brush your teeth and you have to do it now. I don’t believe in unnecessary tears, in forcing a child to do something they don’t want to do and am keen to quite frankly outsmart Sophia whenever I can. I noticed a few months ago that Sophia had started to take on a decidedly “No” attitude. It is entirely normal — she is just exercising her right to choose. Her choice matters and I would like her to always remember that… so we encourage her to choose but have steered her into a much more “Yes” attitude.

She always gets a choice and as the weeks go by, we try to introduce more freedom to her choice. Our “Yes” and “Choice” attitude shifts the emphasis on the action and more on the fact that it is her choice. For example, she gets to choose her clothes in the morning. She is sometimes not a fan of getting out of her pajamas (how many of us are?!), but she is much more willing when she gets to choose her clothes. Even then, she doesn’t get free reign of her closet, just a choice between a few shirts and shorts/pants. Even the smallest choices let her feel like she has a say. Having a say and exercising her choice and decision-making skills will hopefully help develop these faculties for a future as a rocket scientist or a high-stakes investment banker or … just a well-adjusted member of society where we have free choice.

From the Rocking Chair Life Uncategorized

The summer is in full swing. It is gorgeous outside … and our little girl is sick. I’m hoping it is just a cold and not an ear infection or strep throat. As most parents know, little ones don’t always tell you what is bothering them. She is very sad and a sad sight to see. I am able to steal a few moments to myself and since I cannot (okay, will not) leave the house. I leave you with a Travel Throwback Thursday Sunday.

Everyone travels differently. Some people like to get a taste of a place seeing many places on one trip. We like to really take some time an explore. We enjoy going to museums, but there is not a better museum than the place itself — the architecture, the people, the cuisine. On this particular trip, we toured Madrid, Toledo and Seville. We took two weeks to do it and have plenty left to see still. We’ll of course be back — one day and finish continue what we started.

We saw an evening Flamenco performance in an old mansion in Seville. Traditional houses there are built much like a moroccan Riad where they focus around a central courtyard that often has a water feature. The rest of the world falls away as you step into these old houses. The performance was held in one such courtyard and the dance, the music, the costumes spoke volumes about the Spanish people and their passions.

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Shortly after sightseeing in Seville and marveling at its glorious architecture, we moved on to Toledo. There is something tranquil and melancholy about Toledo. It was back in the day, the capital of Spain and housed a very large Jewish population. After the Inquisition, the houses and synagogues that once celebrated life and joy stood as empty reminders of those who are gone. One particular building, originally named the Ibn Shushan Synagogue and later renamed to Santa Maria La Blanca, stood out. The ornate detail showcased the richness of the Sephardic tradition and its columns punctuated the emptiness. The synagogue was empty when we visited and frisson of melancholy passed over me.
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Having seen the remnants of a once-thriving capital, we moved on to the new and thriving capital. This night, Madrid was washed over with an unusually large moon lighting the sky a cobalt blue. Glorious, loud, exciting and very now.

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Life Travel

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

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We worry about our children when they are not even born yet. We worry that they are born without complications, are healthy, …, worry about them catching colds, and falling and scraping their knees. I am starting to believe the worrying never really stops. In fact parents never cease taking care of their children even when those children are older and have families of their own. Well, maybe not all parents are like that, but the best ones are.

Hubby had a business trip to sunny Wilmington, Delaware this past Monday that had him taking a later train back home. Business trips to Delaware have their own perks like being picked up by your father-in-law, gourmet sandwich in-hand, and dropped off at the station making sure you make a too-close train back to D.C. The sandwich my mom made was good, but it was the fact that my parents offered, that they brought it and wanted to see their son-in-law, that reminds my husband that he has family here.

This is nothing extra-ordinary for my family. My Baba passed away in June of 1989 after a long battle with cancer. My mom spend many months at her childhood home, 2000 miles away from us taking care of her. I still remember my father’s culinary repertoire which was something of a carbohydrate-laden italian wedding soup alternated with soup kharcho. My sister and I couldn’t look at either soup for quite some time once my mom came back. But I digress… There were times when my dad had business trips to Russia or Ukraine. He once took an 8-10 hr train ride completely out of the way to come and visit with my Baba and take her for a walk. She was very sick then and frail. He only had two hours there, got back on another train, another 10 hr ride and went back to wherever it is he was on an assignment. My Baba and Deda truly earned his gesture by the way they treated him and my father would do it all over again. The best lessons are taught by example.

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