Sophia the Big Girl

It is funny to compare and contrast the growth and development of Sophia and Theo. With him, it feels like leaps and bounds every day/every week. Now, at over 3, her development still happens, but isn't quite as drastic on a daily basis.  It is often tough for me to remember that she is, in fact, still my little girl. I often need her to be a "big girl" to make things easier, but I treasure the moments she wants to curl up in my lap.

Give her a donut and glass of
 milk & we've got a successful
Conference Call

Lately it seems like she's realizing Theo is here to stay and that he gets the good "baby" treatment. Her demands to be picked up have increased ten-fold and her desire to be the only one in our arms "Put Theo Down!" is a common refrain can be taxing to say the least. Things she used to do in leaps and bounds - climbing in and out of her car seat, running up the stairs, etc. - seem unthinkable to even attempt, which makes everyone equally exasperated, (especially when one of us is exceptionally exhausted or running on fumes.)

Really, I'm not part Wildabeast!

After a recent highly frustrating night Dave (who is so good at taking a step back. Not always one of my best characteristics) reminded me that This Is Fun.

"Fun?" I replied, "How is this Fun? She's cranky, I'm cranky which, in turn makes you cranky. I'm not able to give Theo any attention that I feel like he deserves. But you think this is Fun?"

Everyone is having FUN!

"Yes," he responded, "It's fun, because she's little. She needs us. She needs us more than we give her credit for. And soon enough, she's not going to need us. She's not going to climb on our laps or beg for the same Mickey book again. It's not going to be forever - not the whiny needy part or the sweet, snuggly part. So take it and have Fun with it."

See - this is fun! 

So, after a few snarky "This if FUN" comments by me amidst some tense moments, I started to realize if I said it, I could start to believe it. And things did start to become more fun. Now, I'm not kidding anyone if I said it was always fun. I still get cranky when she dawdles when we're trying to get out the door (an especially big pain point) but we're getting there.

Every night that I put her to sleep, we have a song routine. We start with "Twinkle Twinkle" and then I sing her "Good Night Baby" which is a made-up song based on one of her playgroup songs "Hello Baby (or Goodbye Baby) depending on the need" with made up lyrics that rhyme. I've sung this to her many hundreds of times.

Last week, as I started to sing the first line, "Good Night Baby..." and out of nowhere, she interrupted me and said, "No, Mama. Sing 'Good Night BIG GIRL'". I almost burst into tears, but I did it. It was hard switching the lyrics on the fly, so when I messed up, she sung over me "Good night Big Girl." So now it's good night to my big girl Sophia - who really, is still so little.

What are you up to these days?

It's been quite awhile since I've blogged - with "Nugget's" impending arrival (due date is tomorrow...we'll see when he shows) we've been trying to get as much one-on-one time with Sophia as possible.
A quick report of what she is up to -

• She's growing like a weed. We definitely just had another little growth spurt where she ate and slept a ton this week.

• Vocabulary is expanding by leaps and bounds. She seems to have most of her books memorized (I guess we read them all enough) that she fill in the words as you read along. Sometimes, I will over hear her reciting part of them to herself when no one is around. It's pretty adorable.

Her favorite books are constantly evolving. Recently some of her tops include:

• The Little House
• A Bedtime for Bear
• Muddy Paws
• Richard Scarry's Best First Book Ever (she is kind of obsessed with Mr. Frumble - or "Frumple" as she calls him!)

It's kind of fun to moving on to new, longer books. While the Sandra Boyton collection will always be near and dear, the longer form stories are fun.

One of my favorite things that has happened was actually her repetition of a phrase she picked up from "A Bedtime for Bear." We were having a conversation and Sophia interjects with "How Interesting..." in almost the right context. I about burst out laughing, because really, there is nothing funnier than having your two year old comment "how interesting" on something you were saying! (It's also a line from the book from the mouse to the bear...)

That's about all of it on the growth and development charts. She's definitely getting to be a big girl now before our very eyes!

Growing, learning and practicing

And wow - I couldn't be loving the development any more!
Sure, we have our moments of battle - generally when one of us hasn't had enough to eat or sleep, but if I somehow keep that in mind (sticky note to the forehead, magnets on the fridge maybe?) then we can make it through.

Besides those rare occurrences, I really have nothing to complain about. Sophia is a happy, healthy and super-vibrant toddler. She is in the wonderful phase of discovering people and their names (as well as non-human things too) so she is constantly asking for "Frances" and "Zac" and "Baby Evie" as well as many of our neighbors.


We had our first trip to the pumpkin patch this past weekend which was an adventure. Sophia kept insisting they were apples, but slowly came around to pumpkin. She also has developed her nana's love for the beach as every time we drive by in Newport she points out the beach, the water and the "Nay-Nay's" which is the carousel at First Beach.

She is also getting much better (relatively speaking) at sharing me, which is good being that she is going to be a big sister in February. During previous instances, she would often get quite bent out of shape if I held another baby, demanding to be picked up. As long as there are other folks around to play with or if she can look at the baby and happily point to it's "eye" (without causing permanent damage :) or "nose" then she is good.

We are very excited about our soon to be expanding family and have no doubt that Sophia is going to make an amazing big sister - though I have doubts if the poor little guy will ever get a word in edgewise and I'm quite sure she'll happily boss him around instructing him where to sit and how to make a good mess.


And I'll love every minute of it!

Sophia at 21+ months

The big news here (besides the ridiculous height growth!) on Sophia is words. She's getting a lot of them. Some kids have more, some kids have less, but she is definitely mastering language left & right.

We hear a new one close to every day - and it's so much fun (albeit a little scary) to see what she picks up.
Newest include:

• Sit (which the first few times sounded shockingly like something else!!)
  
• Poop
• Mess
• Up
• Off
• Hat
  
• Hiss (like a snake - which sounds a bit like buzz from a bee)
• Coco (our neighbor's dog, which Sophia proudly announces every time it yaps.)
• Bike
• Hat (often said together, as one wears their hat - helmet - while on the bike)
• Door - which she has been saying for a bit, but definitely with more emphasis now

She will repeat most any word we say for her, but this list is what she will come up with on her own.
She also will repeat the alphabet - each letter after you say it to her. She gets probably 23 of the 26 letters - the tough ones are g, q, w.

She likes wearing any piece of our clothing she can get on. Example A (Dave's pants):

And even some of her own:

All in all - she's doing great. She loves running and jumping and has no fear when it comes to climbing. She'll hike up the green chain climbing thing at the park without any help. It's pretty amazing...we've been so lucky to have a great summer for her to enjoy a ton of time outside.
Here's the latest of her and Frances on the horses in Newport together - pure enjoyment!!

Where did the time go?

As we are rapidly approaching Sophia's first birthday, I realized the other day that she is becoming a real little person, right before my eyes.

It's sometimes difficult to notice the changes when we're together day after day for all her waking hours. But something struck me this week - she is becoming more and more independent. Clearly, she still needs me for most all of the important stuff, but her desire to do it on her own is growing greater by the day.

From food, to moving around, even to playing, it's definitely on her terms. She is fabulously content to play in her room in the morning after eating amongst her books and toys. When she hears us in the kitchen being productive (usually, we're unloading the dishwasher and she has a very current love affair with the door!) she'll crawl on out and down the hall.

The crawling happens full force when she is motivated, but she loves to walk while holding your hands/fingers now. She even has begun to balance on her own for a good 5 or so seconds before plopping onto her cute tush!

On the food front, she had her first introduction to cow's milk. I introduced it earlier this week in a sippy cup at lunch & dinner. Just a few ounces to get her warmed up for the transition. We're working on the mechanics of drinking, as she hasn't quite figured out how to tip the sippy cup all the way back to get the milk into her mouth. But I'm sure it'll happen soon.

I am constantly amazed by her growth and development. I'm sure there are kids her age who are doing so much more, and others doing so much less. As far as I'm concerned, she's doing exactly what she needs to on her own time frame. And I couldn't be prouder.

I'm growing - can't you see??

As Sophia nears her 6 month birthday (this Friday - how time flies!) it is clear that she is undergoing a whole host of developmental milestones. You can almost see all the little synapses in her brain connecting, going "wow - look at that. That is so cool!"

Her newest trick is being able to pull her feet all the way up and into her mouth. It is hysterical to watch. She mostly does it when she's on her changing table (which makes getting the diaper on pretty entertaining.) but she can sit there for 5-10 minutes just playing with, examining and then tasting her feet like a rare wine vintage.

Here's a shot of her getting into position:


And on the initial taste test:


And a short video of the whole thing in action:



It is all a very exciting time. She has woken up very early the past few mornings, not crying, just talking and squawking to herself until we come in and check on her. She is on her side (so close to rolling over!!) snuggled with her giraffe lovey, and is so excited to show us her new tricks. Luckily, after a quick snack, she's gone back to sleep. Here's a shot of her, post nap, in all of her happiness: