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.

Pint Sized Picasso

Sophia is now old enough to enjoy doing some artwork, and this mom couldn't be more proud. Daddy still has a hard time believing that when the markers say "washable" they really are washable, so it's usually just a mother-daughter activity. We have a little desk set up for her in the living room and she'll sit down and color with crayons, markers, and even finger paints. She tends to use her left hand more than her right, so it looks like my genes lost out once again.

Here are a couple of her master pieces.

This one is my favorite. I could easily picture it hanging on the wall at the museum of modern art. And here is a piece of performance art that I like to call "Tantrum in Red and Brown"

Shortly afterwards I convinced Daddy once again that the markers really are washable.

San Diego

Last year we spent our family vacation in Monterrey with the Linnell family, and we had such a great time, we decided we should vacation together again this year. We decided to go to San Diego this time, and we invited the Ratigan family to join us as well.
Will spent hours on the internet and eventually found a 3 bedroom 3 bathroom home in Mission Bay for the week. When we got there, it far exceeded all of our expectations. It was RIGHT on the bay with stunning views, and the ocean itself was just 2 blocks away. All three bedrooms were very large, so there was plenty of room for all three of our families.

Here's the view from the living room

And the view from the balcony

And if you look closely, you may recognize a few people in this one


As soon as we got settled, we hit the beach. Lainy Linnell thought Sophia was a "very sweet girl" and held her hand as we neared the water.

We weren't sure if Sophia would enjoy the ocean or be scared by the waves, but it was immediately apparent that this little water baby loves the ocean.
She would do her little shimmy-shake dance every time a wave came up and would exclaim "bubbles!"
The kids (and adults too) and had so much fun at the beach that we spent all of our free time there. Sophia learned quickly how fun and how annoying sand can be. She had a blast helping to build some sand castles.
Since Ella Ratigan's hands were covered in sand, Sophia helped feed her some goldfish crackers. I'm not quite sure how a 17 month old and 26 month old communicated, but somehow they figured it out.
And here is Luke Linnell offering Sophie a bite of his mud pie. At this point in the vacation, Sophie had ingested enough sand to know that it was not a good snack! We were having a blast spending all day every day at the ocean, but we finally tore ourselves away to go to Sea World. We started off at the dolphin show, and although Sophia was watching the show, her face was pretty expressionless, so we're not quite sure if she actually enjoyed it.
We also went to a Cirque de Soleil type acrobat show, and Sophia seemed a little more interested in what was going on.
Her favorite part was the aquariums. She pointed out all of the sea creatures she saw and would protest every time we pulled her away from a tank.
She got a little scared as some of the bigger fish approached and pulled her little finger right back in!
She also enjoyed the flamingos, although she kept "quacking" at them. I'm not really sure how to teach her to squawk like a flamingo, so I guess a "quack" is good enough!
Sea World also has the best playground ever! I actually have vivid memories of playing on that playground when I was child. I wasn't quite sure if they would have anything appropriate for toddlers, but they had a whole section that was "toddlers only" and Sophia loved it!



And here are my favorite pictures from the vacation:

Jack Ratigan 4, Alaina (Lainy) Linnell 3, Ella Ratigan 2, Luke Linnell 20 months, Sophia Skeeters 17 months

We had such a great time that we've all agreed: We've got to do this again! So same place, same time next year!

Who needs a swimming pool??

This is Sophia's all time favorite summertime activity:

And here's another cute game she likes to play:

I'm so thankful that summer is only half way over. We've been having waaaay too much fun to have it end now!

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!