2004 - WINTER

A NEW YEAR...

By the time the chaos of Christmas was passed, Sophia looked like many of the adults felt.  Dawn had battled a virus through the holidays and remembered little of Christmas Day.  Both Sophia and Brandon coped with low-grade fevers, coughs and runny noses.  Fortunately by the first of January, the ailing were recuperating, just in time for the next big celebrations.

First there was New Year's Day.  We shared the traditional meal, supplemented with dishes the attendees would actually eat:  green beans instead of black-eyed peas and lime jello salad instead of greens.  While everyone was together, we took a family picture ... plus a few more.

BRANDON'S 4!  IT'S A SCOOBY DOO BIRTHDAY...

Last year Spiderman was it for party decorations.  This year, Brandon requested a birthday party with Scooby Doo accessories.  He wasn't disappointed.  A table cloth, plates, napkins, cups, hats.  A helium balloon.  Gift wrap.  And, of course, the cake.

Brandon and Sophia spent another long weekend at Pap's and Nana's.  Bob dubbed Sophia "Shark" because she had an insatiable appetite.  She's also developed her own signing technique, combining the signs Brandon's demonstrating properly below: "eat" (tapping the mouth with the fingers of one hand) and "more" (tapping the fingertips of both hands together).

Brandon signing "eat"	Brandon signing "more"
Using the fingers of one hand, Sophia taps the palm of the other: "eat more."  As soon as an adult with access to food notices her signing, Sophia heads for the kitchen.

WINTER VISITORS

Maintaining a friendship requires work.  When the people involved live hundreds of miles apart, the effort demands dedication.  That's the kind of relationship Dawn and her friend from childhood, Inga, have.  Their friendship began when they were less than two years old.  Where one girl was, the other was generally beside her.  When they were eight, we relocated to Ohio; later, Inga's family went to South Carolina.  But they've remained as close as sisters, and their friendship has endured.

Dawn and Inga Two years old	Dawn and Inga January 2004

Mid-month, Inga flew to Ohio with her children, Hayden and Lydia, for a weekend visit.  It's interesting to me that Dawn and Inga are two weeks apart in age.  Brandon and Hayden were born six weeks apart; Sophia and Lydia, eight weeks.  Getting the six of them together was not difficult, but getting everyone to sit and look at the camera was.

Copyright ©2004  Kitty Park