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.

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!