After several weeks of diaperless Sophie – and only one accident – we decided to forego the diaper at nighttime as well. And so far, so good. She’s now at the point where she asks to go to the bathroom.

Good job, Sophie! And to think that we actually met the self-imposed deadline of the swim club opening…I must hand it to her – our little one is definitely a keeper.

She’s also developed into quite the dancer. She’s quickly progressed from the shake the booty stage to the shake the booty and arms and head and legs stage.

And she’s counting to ten. Usually in a sing-song voice, and with a big smile. She’s also starting to fight back when her sister bothers her. Becoming more assertive, more like a 3-year old. Even though she’s four months shy of three.

She’s still not a team player. She displays very little interest in group activities. Even tonight, among her family and our babysitter, she didn’t want to join in a game of catch. She was content to do somersaults, dance and jump on the bed. And when Chloe gently invited her to play, she was adamant in her refusal to toss the ball. Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing – since she has a really strong arm and could have bonked us on the heads multiple times.

Sophie and her Papa joined us later in the afternoon – after she had her daily beauty rest. She also enjoyed the pool, but she particularly enjoyed squeezing the cold water on my back and in my hair. Chloe actually dove off of the diving boards – or at least attempted to. She quickly realized that a successful dive from the side of the pool doesn’t necessarily translate into a successful dive off the board. But that didn’t stop her from trying.

After we came home and bathed the girls, the four of us rode our bikes to the local Mexican joint for dinner. Sophie rode on the back of my husband’s bike, and seems to have accepted the fact that in order to join us she would need to wear her helmet. She enjoyed the ride, and I enjoyed riding my new two-wheeler again.

So – it was a Sunday of activity. A beautiful almost-summer day. The girls got their exercise, and Chloe didn’t once ask me what we were going to do next. I’m really loving that swim club. Even with the freezing water.

This blog entry is in honor of our fantastic babysitter (pictured at left with Sophie), who has been working with us for seven years. She started in May 2001 – Chloe was about 3 months old, I was finishing up law school and starting to study for the bar exam.

She’s been with us ever since – through three moves, changing work schedules, and in sickness and in health. She’s like a family member and a second grandma to the girls.

She’s had a huge influence on their young lives, especially Chloe’s. And we’ve had countless people come up to us and say (with a mild degree of amazement) how wonderful and caring she is – an all-too-rare quality in nannies these days, apparently.

When Chloe and Sophie read these musings years from now or when they’re thinking about hiring caregivers of their own (perish the thought!), I want them to remember their dear babysitter with fondness, love and laughter.

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By the way, I haven’t recently mentioned that Sophie has had only one accident in over two weeks of diaperless activity. In fact, she went without a diaper at the swim club the other day. Which wasn’t particularly challenging since the water temperature probably froze the liquids inside her little body. But still – we’ll take progress wherever we can get it!

I’d like to write about our weekend in Boston – except if I write anything now it’d be fiction. Since it’s still only Thursday. But it’d be fun to try to pull the wool over my loyal readers’ eyes.

Anyway, I imagine that when this post appears, we’ll be in the midst of enjoying our friends’ wedding reception. We haven’t been to a friend’s wedding in many years – I believe 2002 was the last one.

And the girls, what will they be doing on Saturday? The Bronx Zoo, perhaps. Looking for animals, eating ice cream, and going on the merry-go-round. They won’t be missing us one iota. My mom will be missing us, but not Chloe and Sophie.

By the way, it’s been a year since I left my last job. I can’t believe how quickly time flew. How much things have changed. And yet stayed the same. All for the better, I think. It’s funny how things work out.