Look-a-likes!

Dear Sonia,

You look exactly like your Nana. It's official. Just look at these photos!

When your second cousins H & N got your birth announcement in the mail, your Great-Great Auntie E looked at it and said, "That's C!" (C is your Nana!) Then, on Father's Day, your Nana and Papa and I spent some time going through a bag of old photos that your Nana had stashed in some corner


somewhere, and there it was! This photo of your Nana and her Nana, and on the back it said "C - 8 weeks". That's the same as you right now! And you could be the same baby, 63 years apart! Amazing. Genes are cool, huh?

Well, you're in for a good-looking childhood and young adult-hood then, because your Nana was gorgeous. She still is, really, and hardly has any grey hair and looks way younger than she is, so there you go.

Your Mom looks a lot like your great-grandmother (your Papa's mom). We didn't even know that until not too long ago, when we found a photo of her and someone said, wow, that looks like S! How about that? Everyone looks like their grandparents!

Love,

Auntie K

What a Visit!

here you are, hanging in your carseat bucket

Dear Sonia,

We had a wonderful visit in Houston this past weekend! Here are some of the highlights:

1. R. Uncle was visiting too, so I got to know him better. He's really cool. His wife, G Auntie is having another baby this summer, so you'll be close in age to him/her! He brought you three GORGEOUS dresses, one of which your cousin A picked our just for you.

2. You learned to smile just in time for my visit. You smiled a lot at me. Your mom declared that I am your favorite person so far, since I made you smile so much. I think that you just figured out how good it feels to smile and kept doing it! :) We spent a lot of time laughing and me booping your nose, which you thought was hilarious! It was super fun.

3. You projectile pooped on Daddy! It was awesome. Your mommy and I were sitting downstairs and Daddy volunteered to take you up to change you. He hates poop. (When I say hates, I mean really hates, and you need this info to truly appreciate this story.) All of a sudden, Daddy yelled a not-so-nice-word and Mommy ran up to see what happened. You had pooped while your diaper was off, and it shot out across the room, onto everything (everything!) on your changing table, into your crib, onto the floor, EVERYWHERE! Your mommy was laughing hysterically and I came up to hold you so they could both don rubber gloves and clean everything up. Both your parents have COPROPHOBIA, which I just looked up: the fear of poop. So the whole thing was that much more hilarious! You, of course, smiled as soon as you did it and then just happily laid in my arms, clean bum and all and we watched them run around wiping everything in sight together. I'm glad I was there for the Great Poop-Bombing of 2008, which is what I dubbed it.

4. You can roll! You go wherever and whenever grown-ups need you to. You laid in the car, or went in and out of the stroller 13 times, or chilled in your bucket on the booth in IHOP while Mommy, Daddy and I had a late breakfast. It's super convenient and we appreciate it!

5. You are 10.5 pounds and 23 inches. We weighed and measured you at Mommy's office. Good job growing!

6. You are already growing out of clothes! I went through all the 3-6 month clothes and found the ones that look small and some of them are only going to get one wearing or so before they are too small! And speaking of clothes, your mommy has declared anyone who puts buttons on infant clothing (instead of snaps) to be idiots. I have to agree. :)

7. Your mom is chill! She is a relaxed mommy, at least where I was concerned. She handed you over no worries, trusted me to walk up and down stairs with you and never once said "Careful" or "Don't drop her" or anything like that. I'm not sure I'd be that chill if you were mine, so I give her major points for that. It's going to make being your Auntie much easier. And, maybe I can take you on some crazy travel adventures and your parents won't worry too much!

I think that's it, little one. You are really amazing. I love you a lot. Thanks for a kick-ass first visit. We'll have hundreds and hundreds of visits in your life, but there's nothing like the very first one.

Love,

Auntie K

You're the best!

Dear Sonia,

Your mom called yesterday and said that when she takes you places, you are the best baby ever. You sleep or hang out in your bucket and you don't complain about being in the car or in a store or in the doctor's office.

Fantab, girly. Keep it up!

Love,

Auntie K

Growing Pains

Dear Sonia,

Hi girl! Your mom had a hard couple of days this week. Your Uncle S and other Auntie K were there to visit you and meet you last weekend and then when they left, your mom got really sad.

Because your mom and I have both lived far away from home a bunch of times, we really know how this feels. It's horrible. You see people you love, and then they leave, and it's just this weird empty feeling. It's usually only when people visit you. When you visit, there's always the happiness of returning to your own home and your own bed and your own everything that somehow makes the sadness of leaving them bearable. When I was only 10 or 12, and your Great Auntie P would leave to go back to New York after a visit, I would have this icky feeling in my tummy that I couldn't explain to your Nana. Come to find out, this is what it was!

So, even though your mom has had this feeling before and knows how it feels, it still is hard when it happens. She'll be fine, of course, and your family is really great there in Texas. Your daddy, and your mom, and your grandparents. You're a lucky girl to have so many people who love you.

I'm coming to see you in one more week! One more!

Oh yeah! I just found out from your mom that you do the same twisty thing with your hair that I do! (Now, my dear niece, this is in fact a curse. Perhaps YOU won't be 35 and still doing it -- in the middle of meetings at work no less -- but maybe you will. We'll talk. Oh, and I'll teach you to tie knots in it with one hand, that's the best part!) I started doing it when I was tiny in my crib, before I even had hair. Just a little twisty motion with my finger. That's what you do. But since you have as much hair as a two-year-old already, you apparently sometimes get caught up in it and grab it and pull, and then you cry because you hurt yourself! Careful!

Anyway, I've included a photo of you with Uncle S. He digs you. He sent me a text while he was visiting you that said "U will love her." He has clearly understated how I am going to feel about you, because I already love you and I haven't even met you. Imagine what will happen when I hold you? Imagine!

Love,

Auntie K

Boston, Boston!

Dear Sonia,

I'm coming to visit you in only two more weeks! I'm so excited to meet you. I bought you this cool Jamaica Plain onesie so you can proclaim your allegiance to Boston in a secret way (because who would know Jamaica Plain is Boston in Texas?)

Here it is:



Cute, huh? I also bought you an adorable little pair of socks from Life is good. They are a great store that is headquartered here in Boston. They have little peas on them and on the shirt (which I didn't buy because it was $28 and that just seemed insane for a shirt that would fit you for about a minute and a half) it said "Sweet Pea".

I have to really be careful, because I was at the SOWA Open Market (an amazing artisan market in Boston in the summers) and everything I saw I wanted to buy for you! Alas, your Auntie K is not made of money. Oh well.

I'm counting the days till I meet you!

Love,

Auntie K

A Uncommon Name?

Dear Sonia,

For someone with a relatively uncommon name, there are sure a lot of you around all of a sudden.

I've already posted about Sonia Gandhi and I sent your mom a card when you were born that said "Hello Sonia" cut from a Target ad, because they have a new line of beauty products by Sonia Kashuk.

And now, Sonia Chang-Diaz is running for State Senate here in Boston. She has a headquarters building right down the street from my house.

You can check her out here.

And here I thought you were so lucky to get a more unique name, considering I've got one of the top 25 most popular names for the decade I was born. I guess this is all a little weird, actually, since a little research just proved that Sonia has never broken the top 150. In fact, when it was at its most popular in the 1970s, it was only ranked 183 and in 2007, the most recent year for data, its rank was 646. (Of course, in Spain, it's in the top 100, but has declined in popularity over the past 5 years.) So there you go.

Okay, little one. It's a nice day and it's supposed to rain later, so I'm getting off the computer and heading out to take advantage of the lovely weather.

Added on July 29, 2009: Sonia Sotomayer was just approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to be the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice and the third woman Justice.

Love,

Auntie K

Lookin' like me

Dear Sonia,

Today I got a text message from your mom that said this: "Can I just tell u that today it looks like I gave birth to you! :)"

So I called her right up and she, of course, was running low on minutes, which is why she texted to begin with. She said that for some reason, you really look like your Auntie K today!

Cool, huh?

Love,

Auntie K