Fourth of July

One of the best holidays of the year! It started out with the annual parade around the neighborhood. Dozens of kids, with their parents, decorated bikes, wagons, a strollers to march to patriotic music. Their were some patriotic dogs, too.

Later that day, we went to the neighbor's party for LOTS of swimming, BBQ, and drink (not necessarily in that order...). Sophia took some good swipes at the pinata, and was the center of attention from all the young boys. Daddy's watchful eye was on them.

Sophia wanted to play some ping pong with us, although she can barely see over the table. She grabbed the paddle, and repeated one of Daddy's favorite lines: "Here, I'll play left handed against you to make it fair!" Okay, she didn't really say that, but daddy has got her in training early!

Skeet Retreat in June

Well, it's that time of year again - summer. And that means we will be going to the condo as often as we can. Sophia is so much bigger than last year, and she is really starting to enjoy the outdoors. What with daddy's baby backpack, and mommy's hammock, she really is the queen of the house!

We went on a great hike along Donner Lake, and she loved our picnic and a chance to pick wildflowers.



Of course, it was so much work for her hanging on to daddy's shoulders that she wanted to take a nap in the hammock. She wouldn't let mommy join her, she wanted it all to herself - for a 30 minute doze!

Upon waking, we went to the pool across the street. She had a great time in the kiddie pool (water up to her waist) and playing with other kids. She did realize that she is way too cool for some of those screaming toddlers, and decided to rest in the shade for a while and just watch.

She's also realized how to open the latch on the gate from our condo deck. So...we'll have to keep the front door closed from now on so she can't wander off and climb into the hammock!

16 Months

Once Sophia hit the 12 month mark, I thought it would be easier to do these updates every other month rather than monthly. Boy was I wrong! I had no idea that the rate of change would grow exponentially! So, there are probably a ton of things I'm leaving out, but here are some highlights.
She can crawl!!! Although she started walking at 9 months, she crawled for the first time about 3 weeks ago. I can now tell the other moms at the park that yes, she can now crawl and thus will be able to learn to read! She can walk backwards and always has a coy little smile on her face when she does it - like she's doing something really cool for your benefit. She's really close to running, but I think technically it'd still be classified as speed walking. Gramma taught her how to "jump," and although her feet never leave the ground, it's really cute. She also likes to hold onto things and tilt her pelvis forward and swing her head back. She's not allowed to do it holding onto the oven, but we still let her do it everywhere else even though it looks really weird!
She now likes TV, which is dangerous as a parent. It can be very tempting to keep the TV on all day since it keeps her still and happy, but we've been holding up pretty good and she usually only gets to watch a show about 3 times a week.

She still loves music, and actually, her favorite thing to watch on TV is a series on HBO called Classical Baby. It's animation set to classical music that incorporates art and dance as well. It's probably not any better than letting her watch MTV, but it makes us feel better! She was very intrigued with the piano while we visited my mom and asked to play it again, and again, and again. She's the fifth generation to sit and play at this piano, so perhaps some lessons will be in her future.

Sophia now knows 15 body parts and is learning a new animal sound daily. She has said several phrases, such as "there it is" and "here you go." She is ALWAYS saying "that there," as in "duh mommy, what I want is that there!" She has a rotating vocabulary, so she'll say a word frequently for a week or two, then she seems to forget it and learn a few new words in it's place. Her latest words are button and potty.

Speaking of which, she has now successfully gone "poo poo" and pee pee in her potty. We're not really working on potty training her yet, but when she tells me she has to go, I sit her down and see what happens. Most of the time we just end up playing about 10 games of patty cake, but every once in awhile she'll get down to business.

One of our least favorite changes is how shy she has become. When we're in a group setting, she gets "noodle legs" and won't stand up, and when she finally does stand, she'll stare like a zombie at all the other kids while they are playing and having fun. She actually seems to have gotten a little better over the last week or two, but Will and I have been starting to get a little embarrassed by it. Our favorite change is that she is becoming even more of a snuggle bug. She loves to just lounge on us, roll around on our laps, and give the sweetest bear hugs. She'll also give kisses without us asking, which just melts our hearts!

We are so proud of this little girl and feel so privileged to have the opportunity to spend so much time with her. As she ventures deeper into toddlerhood, it'll be interesting to see if this changes!

Broken Smile

I'm so upset.

Last night Will and I were sitting in the backyard watching Sophia play in the sprinklers. She started spinning in circles under the water, and lost her balance. She fell head first into the side of the metal fire pit, and we both new instantly it was a bad fall. I scooped her up and noticed right away that her 2 front teeth were chipped. There was no blood and she calmed down quickly after some Tylenol and snuggles, but I'm not handling it quite as well.

These are the teeth she's going to have for the next several years, and I'm devastated that her beautiful perfect smile has been damaged. I'm going to make her a dentist appt on Monday and see if there is anything that should or can be done.

Here are some pics of her broken smile....

Girls Only! part 2

Since we were going to be without Daddy a little longer than usual, I decided to buy some fun water toys to keep Sophia entertained. I bought her a water table complete with toy boats and a water wheel. She had fun splashing, and Trent had fun trying to bite the splashes.
She also thought it was fun dunking her head in the water.
I also bought her a neat toy that attaches to the garden hose and makes a great sprinkler to play in. She nearly hyperventilates when she stands in the water, but this is by far her favorite summertime activity. Every time we go outside she points at it and tries to turn on the water herself.

My favorite part is bundling her up in a towel afterward and cuddling until she's ready to get wet again, which is usually about 30 seconds later!

Scottsdale business trip

This is Will's first post, we'll see if I get it to work...

At the end of May, Sophia and I had a great trip together - we went to Phoenix to attend a convention sponsored by my Broker/Dealer. Mommy had to stay home to work, so I flew down there alone with Sophia. The flights went well - she's just so good on airplanes - she made friends with everyone around us! The good news is: Nana and Pops were down there to meet us in Scottsdale for the convention!

They had such a great time being together. One of the highlights was playing in the "sprayground". Sophia would stand right over the water sprayers and let them shoot her right in the face. She loved it! She's such a nut around water!

We also went to my friend Matt and Monica Linnell's house in Mesa and got to visit them and their two children. What friends!

Of course, there was lots of daddy time too!

Sophia loves her Nana and Pops and can't wait to see them again!!

Girls Only!

This week Will was in Dallas for a check ride and training session, so Sophia and I were home alone. We're used to being without Daddy a few days each week, but this week we were by ourselves for one day longer than usual, so I decided to do some extra fun things for both our sakes.
We started by going to the zoo for the first time. Sophia quickly spotted the first animal: some sort of large grey bird.


Next we stopped by the primate exhibits. Sophia was a little freaked out by the orangutans, so we moved on pretty quickly to see the other monkeys. There was a smaller monkey that kept running in and out of it's little house. Sophia thought this was hilarious and would wriggle and squeal with delight every time it ran out!


It was a pretty warm afternoon, so although we both looked really hard, sometimes the animals were tucked away in the shade where we couldn't see them.
The giraffes were out, but Sophia wasn't too impressed.
And since she's a big girl now, she spent a lot of the afternoon pushing her stroller rather than riding in it.
She thought the fish were really cool, as did several other kiddos.

And last but not least, we went to the play area. Sophia has been going through a very shy stage lately, so I was proud that she ran right over to the playground without holding my hand.



And she was almost tall enough to poke her head through the cut out!
Believe it or not, our day didn't end there, but I need to go eat dinner. Stay tuned for the rest of our Girls Only fun!