Fashionista

Sophie has made some interesting wardrobe choices lately. Here she is wearing her Dad's boxers (um...clean, from the laundry pile) as a shawl/cape/sash? She put them on and wore them for over an hour -- refused to take them off.

And here's Sophie-sophisticate, stealing my glasses from the nightstand:
Pants are apparently optional, but a hat and a good pair of shoes really make the outfit:
Before you can play the harmonica, you need a good pair of shades to set the tone:

So? What's your favorite Sophie look?

Retrospective

Saint Patrick's Day, 2006:

Saint Patrick's Day, 2007:

Spring Break '07: Toddlers Gone Wild

Click here to see some of our pics from Spring Break!

OMG

Subtitle: Two, Whee, Six, Eight...Who Do We Appreciate?

This is our mind-blowing conversation as we were driving home last night:

Momma: We're almost home, Sophie! I'll count to ten and we'll be there. One....
Sophie: Twoooooooo
Momma: Threeeeeee
Sophie: Wheeeeee!
Momma: Four. Five.
Sophie: Ssssssss
Momma: Six. Seven.
Sophie: Eight. (Frank and Stacy stare at each other in shock-n-awe.)
Momma: Nine. Ten.
Sophie claps.

But maybe saying eight was a fluke. Maybe dumb luck. So we counted AGAIN and she said six and eight in the right places! (And "two" and "wheee," but she's been doing that for a while.)

She's a mathematical genius. But she didn't get it from me. Or Frank, for that matter. Nini, have you been working on algebra with the babies again?

Girls Night In, Parents Night Out

We hosted BSC last night (Babysitting Co-op). Laney and Sophie had a great time at the park, then ate bock-bock (chicken) with a side of strawberries and Nutella, then had a splashfest in the tub. The only dicey moment was a small Laney meltdown because Sophie was hugging her too much. Everybody needs their space.

Nyuck peas, ack yoooo

Sophie is going to the doc tomorrow for her 18 month appt. so I've been trying to mentally count up her words since they ask about that during her check-ups. There are quite a few Sophie words that aren't exactly English, though, so I thought I'd make a mental note of those here so I can remember how creative and cute Sophie's vocabulary was at 18 months. You know, before we make her conform.

SOPHESE VOCAB LIST #1:
peas = please (or sometimes peas; it's all about context)
ack you = thank you
down = up (and vice versa, of course)
Caaa dis = Callie sit
puck = cup (No, I don't think she's dyslexic. Just confused.)
pettle = pretzel
cuckoo = cookie
nyuck = yogurt
beeeebeeees = babies but beebees = raisins, in the same vein that
Nini = Melanie but Neeeeee = Laney
Cy = Lucy
stk = stick (which she also uses to describe leaf, tree, bush, and other outdoor things)
Jew = juice
boon = balloon
bana-bana = banana
Night-night = nursing, not sleeping
Pitty-pitty = pretty
Mo = more (and it's her favorite sign)

Things Sophie says with precisison, articulation, and clarity: book, apple, car, pizza, no (well, actually, it's usually the Fort Worth sounding round "o" in No so it sounds more like Nooooooooooooooooooooa), + the standard Mama, Dada, Uh-oh, and Bye. Actually, she says Bye-eeee because she's imitating me imitating Sally which I didn't know I was doing until I heard her saying it and recognized the Sally in it.

Things Sophie has said ONCE to blow our minds, but not repeated: orange, computer, Frank, Dakota, A-B-C-D

Her FAVORITE word is GULLY GULLY GULLY, and she tickles your chin when she says it

Life With a Toddler -- Not for the Weak at Stomach

Dirtface: Mmmmm, plant dirt washed down with a little of Laney's milk. Anything deemed "off limits" is especially tasty to Sophie.

Nutellahead: Okay, I knew that Nutella on a cracker would be messy. I just had no idea she'd do a faceplant in it.

Chickenlips: Finally! Sophie's eating "real" food -- a little bahk bahk for dinner. And no one told her to fold her hands under her chin for the picture. What a ham. Chicken. Whatever.

And, yes, a toddler eating "real food" is just as gross as a toddler eating dirt.

Clean-up on Aisle 1

Housework is dull to many (myself included), but Sophie does it with style.

(Rockstar Sophie is wearing glasses that she put on all by herself and some Valentine bling from Nini. And yes, she may be sucking on some dogfood as she sweeps. It happens.)

May Cause Excitability in Children

Sophie has a cold. A sneezy, hacking thing. Believe me, we've tried to document the snot bubbles coming out of her nose because they are HI-larious. To us, anyway. Sophie brought me the snot-sucker thingie and a kleenex the other day, patting herself on the chest and saying, "Goo ger...goo ger" (which means "good girl"). She normally HATES the snot-sucker thingie, but she was willing to undergo the torture for some relief, and I always tell her "Good girl!" when we're done with the procedure.

Nini has been giving Sophie half a dose of Benadryl for Babies before naptime and it has worked like a charm. It dries up the nose faucet for a while and she crashes hard for her nap (she even took a 4 hour nap one day last week!), then wakes up happy as a clam, ready to play. Last night I gave Sophie a half dose before bedtime because we were up later than usual and she was a bit wired (and super snotty). She went down at 9 p.m. but talked to herself until 9:30. Then she woke up at 10:30 and 12:30, but we ignored her and she soothed herself back to sleep. At 2:30 she was awake and screaming, so I couldn't ignore it. I went in and stayed with her until 3-ish because I fell asleep in the rocking chair. We met up again around 4:10. And then she was awake...I mean WIDE AWAKE talking and giggling at 5 a.m. I took her into the guest bedroom with me, but she kicked and squirmed so we got up at 6 a.m. Frank said he went in and patted her back twice in the night, so I'm thinking that she may have actually slept for what...about 45 minutes?! Now I'm afraid of the Benadryl...but I may chug some myself so I can nap this afternoon.

Here's Sophie, helping herself to some Kleenex that was in her top drawer. Little monkey.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The pose is not so cute (even though the subject matter is); Sophie would only sit still with the promise of some "banabana." Happy Valentine's Day, folks. Sophie loves you!

Mmmm...seefood:

Book Club

Sophie's a reader. Her current favorites include the ABC Book, Polkadot Pigs, Barnyard Dance and the farm book. She even reads books to herself (my favorite sound right now is her falsetto babbling when she's making up stories, that...and a soft snoring noise she makes when she's just drifted off). If you ask her to read a book with you, she toddles backward into your lap. In fact, if you ask Sophie to give you a hug, half the time she turns away from you and backs up into your lap. More evidence that story time is lovin' time! Here, Daddy reads to Sophie who reads to CB (Creepy Baby):

But if you try to turn the page too soon, CB, we'll turn you into a footrest!

Girls Night In

A couple of weeks ago we started a Babysitting Co-op with the Stephenses (Laney's peeps) and the Suganahos (Lucy's). We each take one Thursday of the month to "host" the girls -- and the other couples can go out and see a movie or eat dinner or just sit in their cars in our driveway and savor the silence. Whatev. Last Thursday was our first night to host, but we had it easy -- just two girls instead of three because the Stephenses "hot date" was at the gparents house and Lord knows you can't show up there without a baby.

So here's what our night looked like:

• stroller/grocery cart derby around the living room (and minor kavetching about which beebeeee got to ride in Lucy's cart because Sophie wanted ALL her babies close to her)
• pizza, peas, and nanners for dinner
• dance party in the living room (Lucy got tired of dancing before Sophie, but when Frank turned on the Hokey she couldn't help but Shake It All About)
• "Signing Time" on the tube and then a whole lot of silly faces because it was the emotions episode
• splashing and cup-dunking at bathtime
• Sesame Street playhouse time -- Lucy really played and Sophie sucked on Gordon's head
• book-reading (but no skipping pages with Lucy; she'll bust you!)
• then sweet, sweet Night Night
• celebratory beer drinking (just Frank and me involved in this one)

There Goes the Mother of the Year Award

Sophie loves to help out in the kitchen. She sweeps, she rearranges the Tupperware cabinet (several times a day), and if you hand her a paper towel, she drops to the floor and starts scrubbing. Sweet little Cinderella girl. Her favorite chore is unloading the dishwasher. Usually she pulls out forks and spoons one at a time and hands them over to me, but she recently discovered that she can stand on her tippy toes and plunk them into the drawer all by herself. She even grabbed a pot lid from the dishwasher and ran to the correct cabinet. Frank doesn't even know where the pot lids are stored!

Yesterday she was busy, busy, busy with silverware so I stepped away to the table to check my email on the laptop. First she brought me all the forks, one by one. Then she returned them, one by one, to the dishwasher. Then she rearranged them for a while. At least, that's what I thought she was doing. Turns out, she had really been on her tippy toes digging things out of the silverware drawer. When I stepped back into the kitchen I saw that she had loaded all of the steak knives -- blade UP -- into the dishwasher. Luckily she did not slice or dice herself in the process.

Since I have no pictures of her knife-juggling talents, I will post some pics of her tin foil sculptures. She had fun building with tin foil, then dancing with it.

Kiss Kiss

Sophie, Frank and I took a day off and drove up to Fort Worth (and Weatherford, too) to spend some time with Nana Jane before her doctor appointment and to relax out at the farm. It was supposed to be snowing, but it was a gorgeous day! We played outside with all the new doggies (there are three now, but Coco is still Sophie's fave). Here's Sophie with her Nana and then kissing GramKat bye-bye. By the way, thank you to ALL our family and friends who have sent emails and well wishes. We know you are praying for my mom, and it means so much to us.

Goldilocks at Gram's House

At GramKat's house, Sophie tried out all of the chairs looking for just the right one.

Ooof. I feel the same way when I try on my pre-pregnancy jeans, kid. No matter. I like big butts and I cannot lie.

Ahhhh...this one is juuuuuuust right!