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Sophia has already grown so much over the past couple months, so while these videos and pictures might be outdated, they are fun moments that I had to share.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

More Teeth!?

Halloween was great fun. We spent it celebrating the engagement of our good friends Lindsey and Daniel, which meant Sophia got to socialize for quite some time. She loves to hang out with people -- I'm sure it has nothing to do with all the attention she gets. She is a sweet, social, little girl. She did get to trick or treat a little bit this year -- it had gotten really late, so we only had time for about 4 houses. That's about all it took for Sophia to realize the great benefits of trick or treating. She was not too keen on going home after only a couple houses but was all too happy with the prospect of trying out some of her loot. She is going to be all over it next year.

We finished off October with a family visit to Piedmont Park where Sophia spent about an hour poking a stick into a stump. Oh the joy! We ran around a bit and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Now that it's November, we have really moved from a very mild Fall to Winter!! Yes!!

We also have entered into the realm of strategic and concerted discipline. Sophia had her first couple time-outs this morning. She was not a fan, but she got the message. She also discovered some weird things in her mouth this morning. This often happens, though usually it's hair she has inadvertently eaten with the drop of her snack. But behold, more molars! I told her it was okay, she's getting more teeth! Matt said, more teeth to eat candy! She perked right up. Whenever we talk about Halloween and trick or treating she gets very excited and says, "Go trick or treat today?" Me: "no..." Sophie: "Go trick or treat morrow." Me: "No, we have to wait a whole year to trick or treat again. We trick or treat once a year!" Sophie: "Go trick or treat later." Yes, much later.

Goats and Cows Have Funny Tongues.

We have all been immensely enjoying the bits of fall weather that have poked through in October. We've been taking advantage of the nearby parks and even ventured a bit north to a farm where we had a delicious apple drizzled with truly decadent caramel and picked a pumpkin for this weekend. November is nearly here, and we should be guaranteed some gorgeous weather.

Sophia is growing into a beautiful little girl with long curls and a ready smile. She loves to play "games" -- mostly tickling and peekaboo. She also has been a big help in the kitchen, measuring flour and sugar for banana bread and cracking eggs for various meals. We've had a couple eggs wind up on the counter, but it's worth it. Whenever she realizes what has happened she says, "Oh! Oh no!" and lifts up her hands to be cleaned. She likes to help me stir anything, as long as she gets a go at the wooden spoon all by herself. Her favorite books are the Knuffle Bunny books by Mo Willems; her favorite stuffed animals are pooh bear, mouse, and polar bear; some of her favorite foods are sausage, eggs, and sweet potato soup -- Sophia loves all kinds of foods, really. Whenever we go out she says hello and waves to our neighbor's pumpkin. She is very excited about carving our own pumpkin. We'll be sure to post some pictures of our creation!

Sophie loves her sunglasses. Doesn't she look oh so cool?

In early September we took a trip to visit Ne-ne and Papa!

Now big enough to do a lot on her own at the park, Sophia enjoys the thrill of the slide repeatedly. She also now enjoys swinging for great lengths of time. She likes it to be windy.

This goat was hungry! Many of the others had already eaten their fill and were not interested in our goat food.

The trike is a new joy for Sophia. She is trying really hard to learn how to get that thing moving. Today she was able to go a few spins all on her own! She'll get there all in good time. Sometimes the rocks are more interesting. Sophie also managed to unearth an ant colony this afternoon; mommy was there to brush off all the defenders before things got out of hand.

Sophia loves to help make the smoothies, but she has to prepare herself for the actual blending part (it's pretty loud). When I stop the blender, she announces, "All done!"

Sophie loves hanging out with her buddy Molly. Here they are playing a kind of peekaboo at Piedmont Park enjoying the free space to run and crash on blankets in the grass.

Sophia's second birthday party was so much fun. Thank you to everyone who came to show their love for our daughter. What a blessing! We hope you enjoyed the food and the company!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers we love and cherish! Thank you, Pop-pop Mietling, Gramps Babikow, Pa-pa Schultz, and Grandpa Mietling, for all your love and support!

Sophia has been growing so quickly lately. It is remarkable! She has gotten so tall and is looking more and more like a little girl. She now loves to close doors. Every door in the house will be closed if it is in her power to do so. Today we went to Best Buy to explore and run around a large, air-conditioned space; Sophia was enamored with the blue and yellow balloons. She easily procured one with her beautiful smile, bouncing curls, and chubby, outstretched arms! We now have a yellow balloon floating in the dining room, ready for more play tomorrow.

Our little girl is also really exercising her speech. She repeats a lot of what we say and is moving into full sentences (though with the little words missing). She loves Veggie Tales and Mary Poppins and is getting very good at singing the songs, in particular Cheeseburger (from the Silly Songs collection) and Chim Chiminy (from Mary Poppins). She also imitates Dick Van Dyke's dancing which is hilarious. So much joy and laughter to be had as a father and a mother. Thank you, God, for this wonderful blessing!

We recently took a short vacation to Chattanooga for an overnight. We had such a wonderful time, though interspersed with much rain. Sophia had a blast as she got soaked in a downpour and then later when she played in the memorial to the Trail of Tears on the riverfront in Chattanooga. It was a really fun family vacation with beautiful views and really good coffee.