Taking a bath is one of Sophia's favorite activities. She loves playing in the water with her toys. The bright colored cups floating in the water are a set of nesting cups that she can also stack. All the cups have holes in them and produce waterfalls. I've been holding these cups up for months showing her and now Sophia is filling up the cups and holding them up to watch the water trickle out of the bottom.
She also loves filling up her bright orange shampoo pitcher with water from Wanda, the "Spigot-cover" fish. On a few occasions Sophia has actually held the pitcher up to Wanda to get some water.
When the bath is over Sophia can't wait to talk to the baby in the mirror. She just loves standing up and banging on the mirror to say HI to that baby!
My little baby is 11 months! I can't even believe how fast this year has gone. It's not over yet, but we're rounding the corner to Sophie's first birthday and in the middle of planning a super fun 1st Birthday Party.
Favorite New Food: Waffles (Lucky for mom they are now flavored with syrup so NO MESS!)
Favorite Toy: Books, books, books. She loves flipping the pages. She loves touch and feel books. She loves talking to the babies in the books.
Rise and Shine: Between 7:30 and 8:30 AM
Bedtime: Between 7:00 and 8:00 PM
New Fashion Statement: It looks like Sophia's hair is getting wavy as it grows in longer. Her eyes are definitely more green now than blue.
Mom's Favorite New Trick: Sharing. She offers her toys and her food to me. She picks up Sadie's toys and gives them to her. It's sooo sweet.
Talking: She's able to say a few words of Sophia-Speak. She's got AddEh for Sadie. She's got Dadadada for Dad. She's got Hey for Hello. She's got Mamamama for "I don't want this" or "Move me". That's all I've been able to figure out!
Click on the big arrow to watch the movie below.
Sign Language: THIS IS HUGE! Sophia looked at Sadie last night and performed the sign for dog. She's been doing it all morning! So officially her first word is DOG. Will and I actually predicted that Sadie would be her first word because we say it so many times each day, but dog works just as well! Yea, Sophia!!!!
Walking: Any day now. She's able to walk around only holding on to one hand. She even balances on her own for at least 3 or 4 seconds.
This past weekend marks Sophia's first overnight visit without Mom and Dad. Grancy and Big Daddy babysat while Will and I went to a wedding in Maryland. I probably had a harder time adjusting to being away from Sophia than vice versa. In fact, when we showed up on Sunday she just crawled over to say "hello, mom" and then wanted to play on her own.
I'm pretty sure Grancy and Big Daddy kept Sophia really occupied. She read books, had a bath and played with all of Grancy's home decor. Sophia got to go for a walk with Big Daddy while he sheltered her from the rain with the world's largest Cadillac umbrella. Sophia, Bitty Baby and Grancy played in the tunnel and in the teepee.
I used to think that Sophia was headed for a career in soccer. Then it was climbing or something else where she would be active. I pictured her winning a medal in the 2024 Olympics in "some fastest" running event. I've seen her in many careers in my head. Just last week I thought for sure she would become a librarian. But now that I've seen what she can do with a canvas, I just know she's going to be a very famous, creative, aloof artist! Check out what she created yesterday in her very first art class.
We went into Norfolk yesterday to the Drawn to Art Studio and took the Mommy/Baby Art Class. It was so much fun and I can't wait to go again. Sophia was the oldest baby in the class. The instructor's son, Dane, is 7 months. (He'll be the acrobat for sure!) The other baby was only 4 months old and she rode around in a sling and slept through most of the class.
Sophia really enjoyed having her foot painted and smashing it onto the paper. She seemed really intrigued by the whole process. The inward foot painting you see here is the Sophia Alexander modified version. The other babies were both able to position their foot straight up and down, but Sophie's piggies were too long and stuck over the border. The instructor commented that Sophia's feet were the first ever in 5 years to "stick over the edge". EEK!!! Do you remember the size of her feet at birth?
Since the weather has been in the 70s the last few days I've been taking Sophia to the playground down the street by the tennis courts. I put her in the jogging stroller and run down to the playground. Sadie joins us, of course.
Sophia really likes the swing. The very first time she cried a bit when I put her into the unfamiliar seat, but only a few days later and I'm having a hard time coaxing her out of the seat when it's time to run home.
We had a really fun time on Saturday exploring the Virginia Zoo for the "Eggstravaganza". The Zoo was honoring all of the egg laying animals with a special tidbit of information about each animal tacked to the exhibit.
There were also volunteers throughout the zoo showing special animal and "animal-related" things like an real injured hawk, turtle shells, snakes, leather belts, and much more. Sophia got to touch a snake. She wasn't even scared. In fact, she really wasn't interested in it at all. She really just wanted to get out of my lap and crawl around.
Will and I think Sophia's favorite animal was the giraffe. We talk alot about giraffes and their long necks. We stretch our arms into the air to show her how tall the giraffe is. I think she may have recognized the giraffes when we pointed them out to her, but then again maybe she was enjoying riding around on her dad's shoulders ~ being almost as tall as one of the 14-footers.
Here's Will "underground". The neatest exhibit we saw was the prairie dog environment. They are tiny little things and move really fast. You can experience what they see when they pop out of their holes. If you look close enough at the next picture you will see Sophia and me in the peep hole getting a prairie dog's view. It's very difficult to see through the grasses so I imagine they spend alot of time underground.
The grossest animal: I would have to say he tarantula - an egg layer.
Will would probably say the snakes - egg eaters.
The dirtiest animal: The old man billy goat.
What a fun day! Please take a look at the rest of our pictures from our day at the Zoo.
Now that she has so many of them, we're trying to teach Sophia to brush her teeth after each meal. She's washing her hands after her meals too. I hold her over the kitchen sink as she puts each hand into the stream of running water.
Here's a video of Sophia brushing her teeth in her new pajamas after breakfast. Sadie makes a special appearance in this video too.....have I mentioned lately how great Sophia and Sadie get along?
Sophia got to play with Grandma and Pappy on her own turf. She really enjoyed having some new playmates and showing off all her toys. Here's a video of Grandma bouncing Sophia and teaching her that if she makes noises while she's getting bounced she will feel it vibrating.
Grandma and Pappy babysat on Saturday while Mommy and Daddy went out to see the movie 300. We both really enjoyed the movie. Mommy even cried at the end when King Leoneidas died. How tragic. I'm still amazed at how they could cast this movie. Every single person in the movie is completely buff.
After the movie we went to the mall and Daddy got his birthday present from Grancy and Big Daddy. He's now sporting a very cool pair of Oakley sunglasses. Then we went out to a fancy dinner at a martini bar down the street from our house called The Tilted Table. We had a wonderful time. Daddy had the Rockfish special dish and I had the Ahi Tuna Stir Fry.
Mommy baked a cake and Grandma decorated it for Daddy's birthday. Daddy really had a wonderful birthday.
Will and I thought we had done a decent job babyproofing our house. The exposed outlets were covered, the plants and blind cords were placed out of reach, the doorjam stoppers were in place, and the breakable objects were placed on high shelves. Sounds pretty good, right? We had a baby gate and other cabinet-door gear ready and waiting.
So, once Sophia began to pull on any cabinet knob and I saw her sticking her hand into the VCR (yes, we STILL have one) and pulling all of the DVDs and video games off the shelves we installed the cabinet door blockers on the TV stand and in the bathrooms and kitchen. Phew...problem solved!
Well then she started crawling up the stairs on her own, so we knew it was time to get out the baby gate and install it. Ok - that about does it, right?
If I had to rate Sophia on a scale of 1-10 on her ability to play on her own I would definitely give her at least an 11. She is so content to simply play in her crib by herself when she wakes up each morning and while lulling herself to sleep at nap time. I can hear her "talking" to her animal friends. Against the advice of everything I've ever read about placing stuffed animals in the crib she has a few animals in hers to keep her company. She plays pretend with them and makes them interact with her.
Lamb is the leader of the Animal Pack. Followed by Kitty Kat, Elmo, Spot the Dog, and we can't forget about the various Teddy Bears participating too. They have a secret language comprised mostly of squeals and high pitched screams. It sounds alot like you'll hear her doing in the video below.
She was playing yesterday morning after breakfast by herself in the playroom. She's rediscovered her Baby Papasan chair and at the present time she loves to find a toy or a doll and drag it up into the chair with her. In this case, she was sitting on the chair and pulling things out of her toy basket, but then seemed to get really interested in the Animal Speak and Say. Watch the video.
Ok, it should really read: Sophia has almost mastered the sippy cup.
Or, better yet, it should read: On certain days when the spirit moves her Sophia can drink perfectly from the sippy cup, but on other days she has absolutely no desire to even try.
She's a real ham for the camera and loves to show off for Mommy. Watch this video and listen to her babbling during lunch.
Here's another video just a few minutes later and she's a bit more cranky.
Take a look at this video. Sophia loves to be tossed into a pile of pillows. She grins ear to ear each time. It's so much fun to watch her enjoying the game. She will throw herself down backwards to continue playing when we take a break. It's so cute.
Sophia is a really good eater. She wants to feed herself and wants to eat everything Mommy eats. She's got 6 teeth now. Grancy noticed 2 new teeth last weekend, although it took until this morning for Sophia to sit still long enough for me to see them.
These are her favorite foods:
1 Veggie Crackers by Gerber Graduates - we should buy stock in Gerber. 2 Green beans - right out of the can...heated up a bit. She shovels them in. 3 Bananas 4 Spaghetti, but more importantly the MEATBALLS! YUM 5 Mac & cheese 6 Any flavor Gerber Puffs 7 Arrowroot cookies 8 Yogurt (baby version and adult version) 9 Cheddar cheese 10 Toast with grape jelly
She's really taken to the word - NO! Watch this video:
Here's one of her snoring. Will and I check on Sophia together before we go to bed every night. Listen to what we heard when we entered the room. No picture on this one - just sound.
Sophia is really talking up a storm these days. She's got lots of different sounds. Listen to her eating her puffs at breakfast. She especially loves the peach-flavored ones.
Listen to the most adorable little giggle you ever heard. And then watch her with Lamby.
Sophia LOVES to play with any "adult" toy...cell phones, remote controls, computers, purses, keys.
Sophia, Sadie and I have been taking walks in the afternoons again now that the weather has been warmer. She loves it! Of course, I bundle her up so she's nice and toasty warm and simply adorable. I just love this picture of her. You can see her top teeth coming in if you look close enough.
Sophia has acquired some new mealtime tricks! She can make her food reappear! She does this by forcing her whole fist into her mouth to gag herself when she gets a spoonful of something she doesn't like. This list includes EVERYTHING except fruits. It's really a disgusting habit and Mommy simply cannot take this new found talent.
A second skill she's discovered is making a gurgling sound. It's a very light feminine, airy sound ~ it reminds me of a bird. It's adorable!
