Then and Now

I thought this was a great comparison of how much our little girl has grown this year....and how much more hair she has!

Halloween

This year we let Sophia help us carve the pumpkins. She's not old enough to help Daddy with the actual carving, but she enjoyed helping Mommy scoop out the guts. We decided to do Ernie and Bert, just so we could hear Sophia say it! We thought they turned out pretty cute.


I was a little torn about what to do about Sophie's costume this year. If I left it up to her, she'd probably want to be Elmo, but there was already going to be an Elmo in the neighborhood. I finally decided that since this would be the last year I could dress her up as whatever I wanted without her voicing an opinion, I'd do something cute and girlie. I really wanted a ladybug costume, but the only cute ones I could find had headbands, and there was no way Sophia would do a headband. Eventually I found this cute butterfly costume online and decided it would be perfect. Sophia HATED it at first, but we had her wear it to two Halloween events at local bookstores and to gymnastics, so by the time the big day rolled around, she loved it.

(sorry for the poor quality of the pic)

First she practiced her trick or treating skills with the refrigerator magnets.
Then it was time for the real deal. Sophia picked it up quickly and I tired out long before she did.

She learned to say "trick or treat" (teet-teet) but only after she got the candy. The excitement from all the other kids was contagious and Sophia was thrilled to be included in it this year.

When we got home, she got to enjoy a little of her loot.

And she proudly showed off the result of her blue lollipop: blue teeth!

Alphabet Video

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!

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!!

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)!

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!)