20 Months

Sophia is at an awkward age when it comes to telling people how old she is. She's not really 1 1/2 anymore, it sounds strange to say 20 months, and I just can't bring myself to say she's almost 2. Hopefully, at the rate she's learning new things, she'll be able to tell people how old she is herself.
Sophia's language skills have continued to flourish. I've totally lost track of how many words she knows now, but some of my new favorites are tiptoe, pumpkin (sounds like "pumpky") and Bert and Ernie. About a third of her words are very clear, while the others I would still consider toddler-speak. She mixes up her m's and b's on a few words, so that baby is "mamy" and milk is "bilk."

One of the other cute things she does it put "-ya" at the end of Mommy and Daddy. She doesn't do it all the time, but she does it enough that we tried to figure out why she was doing it. It dawned on me the other day that sometimes we call her Sophie and sometimes we call her Sophia, so sometimes she calls us Mommy and Daddy, and sometimes she calls us Mommy-ya and Daddy-ya. I think it's adorable!

Sophia knows the entire alphabet now, which is incredible for her age. We're trying to get it on video, so stay tuned. We're also working on her colors, and she's doing pretty well considering the mixed messages she gets from me and her color blind Daddy! We've been going over numbers too, but she doesn't seem to be catching on yet.

She can now officially run, climb, and go up stairs, but she still has a little trouble climbing down stairs. This new set of skills has led to constant collection of "boo-boos" and "owies" that Sophia likes to point out to everyone repeatedly. She has also discovered the joy of picking scabs, and she will actually throw tantrums if I put her in pants if she thinks she won't be able to pick at her skinned knees.

She still loves watching TV and would be a total couch potato if we let her. First thing every morning she asks for the remote (mo) and the TV (tee-tee). And when we turn off the TV or go outside she'll say "bye-bye tee-tee!" The nice thing about having a TV junkie is that when she wakes up at 5:30 am, we can put her in front of the TV and go back to sleep for a few minutes, knowing that she'll be right where we left her as long as the cable doesn't go out!

Sophia can't dress herself yet, but she does like to accessorize. We let her pick out her shoes in the morning and she almost always chooses the same shoes I would have. She'll now keep a barrette in her hair for about an hour or so before she pulls it out and exclaims "uh oh!" She also likes to wear headbands now, but unfortunately she likes to wear them on her forehead, which looks hilarious!

Sophia is getting old enough to actually play with the kids in the neighborhood, so they come knocking on the door almost daily to invite her out to play. She's now discovering the challenges of sharing and taking turns, but luckily she's learning from a great group of kids. She's starting to do more pretend play, like pretending to eat meals and wash her hands in her playhouse, and pretending to feed her dolls. She also loves to play in forts made from the couch cushions.

And here are a few more of my fav pics from the last couple months.

Smelling the mint plant in the backyard

Watching football with Daddy

Giving her "blue magnum" look Playing in the leaves at William Land park

Posing as a little joey at the zoo
And being a goofball!