Should I Call the Guiness Book of World Records?

I decided to count the number of times Sophia said "Mommy" in one day. The final tally is in, and Sophia said "Mommy"..................



(drum roll please)



......182 times today!!

This included a 2 hour nap and 45 minutes in the gym daycare where I was out of earshot. She racked up 42 "Mommy's" just during the 30 minutes we were at the grocery store, and the rest of the time, I was usually within 3 feet of her when she said it.....again, and again, and again!

It's funny how something like that can be equally sweet and aggravating at the same time!

(I think "Elmo" came in a close second!)

The "Excited Face"

Sprayground

When we were in Texas, we took Sophia to a sprayground and she absolutely LOVED it. A sprayground is basically a bunch of sprinklers and fountains that shoot water up, out and around. It's great for toddlers and older kids that are poor swimmers (and their parents) because there is no standing water to worry about.

One of our neighbors told us about a sprayground that was located in a nearby suburb, and when we heard it was free, we were there within 24 hours! As you can tell from the pictures, Sophia enjoyed it just a little bit ; )

This little boy couldn't get enough of Sophia and followed her all around. The way Sophia has been filling out her swimsuits these days, it's hard the blame the little guy!!

I'm a little disappointed we didn't discover this park earlier in the summer, but now we have something to look forward to next summer.

First Boo-Boo

We have a great park within walking distance that we take Sophia to almost every day. The park has some public tennis courts, and for some reason, Sophia thinks it's totally fun to run around like a mad woman on the courts. The other day, she was running around like said "mad woman" and took a pretty good fall. Before I could get to her, her buddy Teddy was there to help her right up, and she didn't shed a tear. A minute or two later, I noticed there was blood dripping down her calf. Our tough little girl got her first big boo-boo! I knew this day would be coming soon, so fortunately just the day before, I had bought some special Strawberry Shortcake band aids especially for her.

Now she likes to point out her "boo-boo" to everyone she sees!

California State Fair

Earlier this year we went to the county fair, and as we were leaving, we immediatley started talking about how much fun the state fair would be. This year the theme was Hollywood. There was a large exhibit hall filled with all sorts of movie memorabilia and information about the history of the movie industry in Hollywood. Sophia was proud to receive an Oscar for World's Greatest Daughter.

And here we are posing as Princess Lea and an adorable Ewok.
There was also an exhibit called Birds, Cats and Rats. Sophia had the chance to pet a hairless Norwegian rat, which was even creepier than a regular rat!
She really enjoyed looking at the baby birds, and she squealed with excitement when the chicks would scurry around their cage.
As we were trying to decide what to do next, some belly dancers were performing. Sophia was totally fascinated by them and protested loudly when we tried to move on to another exhibit. We decided to let her have her way, so we bought a beer and found a nice spot in the shade.

When Sophia tired of watching the dancers, we moved on to the agriculture portion of the fair. We saw some newborn cows and piglets, but we weren't lucky enough to watch any live births this time. Sophia said "hi" and "bye-bye" to each animal, which the other fair-goers thought was pretty cute.
This year they also had a great kids area that incuded boxes filled with dried corn for the kids to play in. Sophia would have played in there all day long if we had let her, but she wasn't really interested in playing with the other kids. The little girl in the lower picture pointed at Sophia and complained to her mother "Mommy, this one doesn't make noise!"

A trip to the fair wouldn't be complete without going to the petting zoo. Sophia is a pro at this now and she fearlessly went up to animals small and large and gave them pets on the back.


Last but not least, we went to the midway for some rides. Sophia had a great time and there weren't any tears shed.


After the rides, we had 2 tickets left. The only thing we could find that you could do with only 2 tickets is play the Goldfish game. The object of the game is to throw a ping pong ball into one of the many small goldfish bowls in the center of the booth. Sophia kept throwing the balls behind her back, so as Daddy was trying to show her how to throw it correctly, his ball actually landed in one of the bowls. Here is a picture of Sophia with her prize fish, which she named "Bubble":
I'm sorry to say that Bubble was with us for less then 48 hours before she passed on to fishy heaven, but hopefully she enjoyed the last days of her life with us. And if you know anybody who could use some fish food, we have a large bottle that was hardly used!

Ultimate Kiddie Pool

Those of you who have been to our home know that the main focal point of our backyard is a large Tuscany-style fountain. In the summer, it really doesn't require a whole lot of maintenance, but we admittedly have left it empty most of this summer. Last week, our internet was out, so I finally got off of my lazy behind and got the fountain up and running again. I instantly wondered why on earth I bought an inflatable kiddie pool when the fountain totally makes the ultimate kiddie pool!
Needless to say, our little water baby loved it from the moment she first stepped in. She immediately put her hands in the water spouts.


She then walked back and forth several times squealing with excitement.
She thought she should share some of the fun with Trent too, so she gave him a couple good splashes. At this point, she was feeling pretty comfortable in her new pool, so she put her head under the spouts...
...then her feet..... ....and then her mouth!!!

So now whenever we go into the backyard, she whines and fusses, and tries her hardest to climb into the fountain.....and I can't blame her one bit!

18 Months

If we had any lingering doubts that Sophia may still have some baby left in her, they're entirely gone now because this kiddo is ALL toddler!
At her physical she weighed in at 26 lbs 14 oz and measured 33 inches. This puts her around the 80th percentile for both measurements, which is lower than she usually averages. She had been battling a stomach bug, and she screamed and squirmed the entire time the nurse was trying to measure her, so I'm not totally confident in the accuracy of those numbers. Her head however, is still in the 90th percentile. Thanks Daddy!
Every day she impresses us with her ability to comprehend what we are saying, and she constantly surprises us with new words. I'd estimate her vocabulary to be well over 50 words (not including animal sounds) which is well above average. One of her favorite activities is a computer game that teaches the alphabet and animal sounds. We thought she just liked the game because it gave her a chance to bang on the keyboard, but she's actually starting to learn some of her ABC's. She totally shocked me the other morning by casually going up to the refrigerator and pointing out the magnets for the letters O, R, and Y. I tried to recreate the moment on film, but she was a little camera shy.

She loves to imitate us and we've quickly learned to manipulate this to our advantage. She will now put our dirty laundry in the hamper, throw garbage in the trash can, and take the clean silverware from the dishwasher and place it into the drawer. Unfortunately she still screams in terror when we turn on the vacuum, but hopefully she'll get over it soon! She also loves to put on Mommy's sunglasses and say "cool!"

She does the same thing with my headbands, but I don't have the heart tell her that it really isn't that "cool"!

Her interest in TV has quickly turned into an obsession. All day long she points at the remotes and asks "please,please"! We normally only let her watch TV in the mornings before breakfast, but that doesn't stop her from trying to wear us down with constant whining. However, her love for TV has resulted in 2 of her cutest words: Elmo and Barney.

We've pretty much abandoned the potty training for now. Sophia's interest in it seems to have waned, and we're definitely not in any hurry to start that process if we don't have to. Once she starts showing some interest in it again, we'll give it a more serious try. For now, we're all happy just reading Sophia's current favorite book, Everyone Poops.
Sophia still loves,loves,loves the water. I think sprinklers are still her favorite, but she's getting more and more comfortable in the pool too. Whenever we walk by our neighbors house, she runs up to his gate and throws a tantrum when we tell her that we are not going swimming. I think swimming lessons will definitely be in her future this spring.


And here are a few other random pictures that I decided to throw in.