Backyard Fun

As the weather has been warming up, the lawn in our backyard has been getting a little brown. In order to get it looking green again, Will scheduled our automatic sprinklers to go on 3 times a day, and when he's home, he hand waters it once or twice a day as well.
The other day, Sophia and I were playing in the backyard, and what do ya know, the sprinklers come on. Sophia instantly runs over and starts playing in them, which I don't mind because it's only water. Once they turned off, I took her shirt off and started trying to ring it out. When I turned around, she wasn't behind me anymore.
It didn't take me long to find her happy as can be splashing in one of the many mud puddles in our yard. This was the first time she'd ever played in the mud, and as a rookie, I have to say I was impressed at how quickly she covered herself from head to toe in the stuff! Once I pulled her out of the puddle, she started rubbing the mud all over her belly. I guess it probably feels pretty good - some people pay a lot of money to have that done at spas!


Showing a little modesty in this picture

I stripped her down and cleaned her up as best I could. As I was washing her shoes off, I turned around and noticed she had opened the screen door. She's never done that before, but I wasn't too worried because she's usually hesitant to go down the step to the backyard without holding my hand. But that was before she had discovered how much fun mud puddles are. She dashed out that door so quickly I could barely snap a picture of her!
So now our days of leaving the sliding glass door open are over.....sigh.....

A Vocabulary Quiz from Sophia

Name the following objects:

1.

2.
3.
4.
Answers:

1. bubble

2. bubble

3. bubble

4. bubble

Disclaimer: This idea was stolen completely and shamelessly from the Cautero's blog, Amateur Hour.

A Day at the Fair

Since we didn't have any plans for Memorial Day weekend, we decided to go check out the county fair. We usually go to the the state fair every year, but I had never even realized there is a county fair. The weather was kinda icky, but we decided to go anyways thinking that Sophia would have fun.
The first stop was at the corn dog stand, and next we headed off to the petting zoo. I was kinda scared of some of the larger animals, but Sophia wasn't scared at all. She got to pet some goats, sheep, llamas, deer and even a wallaby.






Next we decided to try some rides. Sophia has always loved being hung upside down, spun around, thrown in the air, etc, so we thought she'd really like the rides. She thought the carousal was really cool... ...but once it started moving, she looked pretty scared.

We weren't sure if she really liked it until it stopped. The tantrum she threw was pretty similar to the reaction we get when we take her off the swings at the park.

The next ride was the exact opposite. She cried when we first got on...
...but once it started moving, she thought it was pretty cool.

By the time we got to the third ride, she was a seasoned pro and there weren't any tears at all.

(I love the matching father-daughter hairline in this pic!)

We then went and looked at the exhibits. There was a science demonstration for kids that had all sorts of magnets, balls, blocks, and other things for kids of all ages to play with. Sophia had a blast playing with all the toys, but some of the older kids didn't think it was very funny when she would destroy their magnet creations, lift her hands up and say "oooooooohhhhhhh!"

She became obsessed with the balloons that were tied up to a booth and we could not pull her away without making a huge seen, so the nice people gave Sophia a balloon of her own. I think it was definitely the highlight of the day for her.

It was so much fun doing all these new things with Sophia. Now we can't wait for the state fair to start so we can do it again!

Round and round she goes...

That is my favorite new Sophia trick!

We were on our way to a family get together, and before we left I had her model her dress for me. I'm glad I did because she ended up playing in a fountain and spent most of the afternoon in just a diaper!

This Is The Way....

This game was a HUGE hit on our flights to and from Tennessee. It's difficult to see, but she is clapping her hands at the end. And I have no idea what the scrunched up face is about, but it made me smile!

Tennessee Trip

I came down with a nasty cold on our last day in Tennesee, and now Sophia has come down with it too. The combo has left me short on time and energy, so I'm just going to post the link to Christy's blog so you can see some pics of our trip. There are some REALLY cute pics of Sophia with her Daddy, so it's definitely worth checking out. http://adventuresofpipandsqueak.blogspot.com/2008/04/family-trip-to-tennessee.html

Barely There Hair

Sophia seems to be ahead of the curve when it comes to most milestones, but she is definitely lagging behind others her age when it comes to hair. As a newborn, she had a full head of thick brown hair. In fact, she actually had too much hair - she had a dark layer of hair on her back, shoulders, and even her ears! Fortunately, the body hair fell out, but unfortunately, the hair on her head fell out right along with it, and is coming back at a snails pace.

I am so envious of all the little girls in her Kindermusik class who have been wearing hair bows and pigtails for months now, and some have even had to get their hair cut to keep it manageable. I was so excited when I realized I was able to make little pigtails in Sophia's wet bath tub hair. As soon as I got her out of the tub and dried off, I tried to put rubber bands in. I quickly discovered that her hair is so thin, I would have to twist them around at least 5 times, and there's no way a toddler is going to stay still that long.

At the recommendation of some of my online friends, I decided to go ahead a buy some bows for Sophia from a company called Bows2Cute. They specialize in hair clips for "fine, thin and barely there hair." I LOVE THESE THINGS!! Sophia hates them and tears them out after a few seconds, but I'm determined to get her used to these adorable little clips. Even Will admits that they "multiple her cuteness factor by at least 10!"

Here are the pictures I was able to snap before she tore them out:

(She doesn't use a pacifier, but she found an old one and decided to chew on it for a minute or two)

Here she is in the act of pulling one out:

(I think she looks like her Aunt Christy in the pic above)

And here she is being a goofball!!