Sunday, October 26, 2008

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!



Friday, October 24, 2008

Bubble Blower

We used to have a bubble machine, but it recently stopped working, which meant Sophia finally had to learn to blow her own bubbles. It was a little frustrating for her at first, but now she loves to practice her new skill almost every day.

Despite my attempts at coaching her, she still holds the wand up way too close to her mouth and ends up with bubble solution all over her mouth and chin. It doesn't seem to bother her at all, and sometimes when she talks, bubbles will actually come out of her mouth!!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Sophie's Place

Welcome to Sophie's Place, where grown ups aren't allowed and diapers are optional!!

Make yourself comfortable while I make you some tea and tell you all about it. At Sophie's place, the cabinets aren't childproofed....
....and you can even stand on the furniture without getting in trouble!
And best of all, you don't have to use your inside voice, so feel free to scream at the top of your lungs - I do it ALL the time.

The doors are always open, so feel free to drop in anytime (except naptime)!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

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!)

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Monday, September 22, 2008

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.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

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!