Autumn Treats

Gobble, Gobble! These turkeys were so funny at the farm where we went apple picking. I think the white one was a bit offended that I was taking pictures of him. He gobbled at me with great dignity. Sophia had a blast on our day trip with Auntie Kelly. She enjoyed an apple stick, a cider doughnut, the apple cannon (at least she tried to.. it was a bit loud), the petting farm, the pumpkins, our picnic, a hayride, and a hike up to the Amicalola Falls. Whew! What a day!

Sophia is doing splendidly; she has her own schedule of activities with playdates, trips to the zoo, gymnastics, and more. While on our day trip we passed by the visitor's center at Amicalola Falls, at which Sophia said, "I want to see the naked mole rats." It was such an out of place and hilarious request. I realized that the visitor's center building reminded her of the naked mole rat exhibit at the zoo. Today we did go and visit the naked mole rats. :)

Sophia is thoughtful and generous; she is very good at sharing. She has her moments of course, but she is a special and caring little girl. She now enjoys having her hair in pigtails (which means double French braids). She is getting very strong and coordinated in her Little Gym classes -- we're working on jumping with feet together and landing on two feet and forward rolls (somersaults). She calls everyone she meets at the "playground park" her "little friends". They are pretty much her reason for even going to the park; she wants to be social.

Sophia is looking forward to all the fun events coming up in her life! She likes to talk about how many weeks or months to go until we visit Nonna or Nene and Papa. She is super excited about Halloween and loves to declare that she's going to be a "Kitty!" She is so much fun. Enjoy the pictures!

The Last Few Months...

The last few months have included some fun changes in our lives. Sophia has continued to grow and both amuse and amaze us, and we've moved into a house. We are so thankful for the change to a house and have been loving the space and feel of a home. Sophia so enjoys the "new house" and still calls it so, remembering the move fondly. She had no difficulty accepting her new wonderful room and has become so imaginative in her play that she can spend a complete hour or more (for her quiet time) taking her stuffed animals on the bus or to eat ice cream or to the movie theater (all on her bed). She also creates very elaborate tea settings (one can be viewed in a video below) where her many animals dine with gusto.

Sophia has been to see her first movie in a theater and absolutely loved the experience. Since seeing Kung Fu Panda 2, she has been to see Cars 2 twice and patiently awaits the day when we'll take her to see the new Winnie the Pooh flick. She also greatly enjoys her sandbox (which we can now have since we've got a yard!) and would play in it many times a day if Mommy would let her (it's just too hot out at present). Come Autumn, we will fully embrace the yard space available! I'm so looking forward to it!

Pretending seems to be Sophia's new favorite past-time. She is constantly telling us, "I'm not Sophia; I'm Big Bird," "I'm not Sophia; I'm Rizzo the Rat," etc. Yesterday we went shopping for some curtain rods to hang up the curtains in her room (it's so cozy now with the special princess canopy from Christmas -- which she LOVES), and she said in the middle of Bed, Bath, and Beyond, "I'm not Sophia; I'm Charles Dickens." We've been watching a lot of Muppet Christmas Carol lately.


Our little girl is also a complete sucker for "scratches" as we call them in our household. If you scratch her head or her back, she just melts and will rarely budge from her situation. She loves her Auntie Kelly's scratches, especially. Some other things she loves: her Noah's Ark Little People toy; anything Hello Kitty; apples and blueberries (she'll even press on after an especially tart one); climbing on Mommy's or Daddy's lap to look at the computer, too; dancing; and Madeline and George and Martha books from our library visits.

A special tea party with the beloved Miss Sarah.

Father's Day with Pop-Pop and Marilyn.

Tower building.

Sophia and Tigger "take a bath."

The Holidays -- Belated

Sophia is getting sooo tall. She loves her big girl bed and has adapted to it extremely quickly. We also just started using a booster seat -- it makes her seem like such a grown-up, and she feels it, too. She copies all of our daily activities in her pretend play. Tonight she "made smoothies" while playing in the bathtub since the sound of the running water reminded her of the VERY LOUD blender we use to make her beloved smoothies for lunchtime (to give you an idea of how frightening she finds this contraption, from now on I will only use the blender if Sophia is sitting on her potty).

Sophia is also my big helper. She loves playing with Asher, the little 5-month-old that we watch during the day, and is constantly getting him toys, trying to put his socks back on, and hugging him. She loves excursions to the park and running around. She is a tough little cookie, having some pretty big scrapes and falls on occasion with no tears, just a hug and a kiss and off she goes again. Tickle games and hiding games are among her favorite past-times. Life is just full of laughter with little ones, especially if your little one is particular about things (not unlike her mother).

These are some of Sophia's table settings...

Cobalt loves Matt.

Sophia has already grown so much over the past couple months, so while these videos and pictures might be outdated, they are fun moments that I had to share.


Pink Pig


Cobalt's Stocking


Stocking


Snuggling

Fingerpainting 1


Painting


Lollipop


Big Girl Bed

Apple Spider and other things

Pensacola, Florida
Thanksgiving 2010

We tried to feed the pigeons twice during our trip. The first time was warm and the birds were excited to have us visit their roost. The second time was very cold, and Matt had to coax the birds over from some rooftops for some bread! We suspect they had already had a good many visitors. So the second time we mainly fed the seagulls.

Sophia calls apple cider "apple spider". She's also talking A LOT. Currently her favorite movies are High School Musical 3 (by far the preferred movie) and Shrek. Whenever I start singing along with the music, Sophia demands, "Mommy! Don't sing!" I'm not sure if it's my voice or her desire for center stage that's the problem there... She knows the words to most of the songs. I try to catch her on video, but she always discovers me. I'll keep trying though cuz it's a hoot.

To catch up, we've experienced a lot of snow this season: Atlanta for Christmas Day, driving to Massachusetts, Massachusetts sledding, and Atlanta for three full snow days the week of our return. I love it, but wish it hadn't gotten so icy so quickly here in the ATL. No fun for games, though that didn't stop Sophia from using her child-size snow shovel acquired in the Chusetts! Thus I have squeezed Sophia into her snow pants from last year twice now. She's a good sport since they are size 18-24 mo. while Sophie wears 3T. But man it's funny. She also did very well on our long drives to and from Massachusetts. (Which, by the way, she has decided is her middle name.) We saw the most beautiful scenery on the way up through North Carolina and Virginia and tried to check out the Blue Ridge Parkway, but that was closed due to all the snow. I hope we can explore it another time soon. It was refreshing to drive through the mountains.

A beautiful outing to Piedmont Park in November!

Sophie is at the height of indecision in her little life. We have the occasional melt-downs over little things that she can't decide upon: "Want chocolate milk!" Me: "Okay." Her: "No! Don't want chocolate milk!" Me: "You just said you wanted it." Her: crying. But overall she is a very happy, fun little girl. She laughs and plays and hugs and skips and plants with zeal. Enjoy these little vignettes!

Here Sophia is cleaning up after us. She started lining up these little pots without any prompting from Mommy! One of her quirks. I'm sure not at all like her mother.