Uncle Rob came to visit over the weekend and Sophia loved having him here. Now that she can climb up onto the couch by herself she was able to get up right beside him and eat her snack while he showed her how to play tennis on the Wii. He whooped my butt, that's for sure.
Holy Cow! I can't believe she turned 16 months old today. These past few months have been the most fantastic of all of them. Now that She's able to communicate with me, we talk all day long. Just this week she's started saying Bird, More, and Sadie all the time. 
Monday: We had a 2 hour play date at The Jumping Monkey with the Moms Group. It was a "brunch" event and we took watermelon - a very last minute idea! Sophie really enjoyed this plastic, purple rocking toy. She was riding on it with such speed/force that I really thought it was going to try a 360 and you know that would have been ugly.
Tuesday: Music class at 9am. This class is so much fun. The theme for this week was Vegetables and I'm pretty sure Sophia can now do the sign for Corn. Sophie has been pretty shy for the last 2 weeks and hasn't wanted to walk up to the keyboard when it's her turn, but I think next week she'll be more open to it. She loves the stickers that Ms. Virginia puts on her shoes at the end of class. 
Stickers, not yet an obsession, but definitely her latest novelty. After class we met one of my friends and her two little ones (3 and 10 months) at the WOW Garden for almost 2 hours of play. Sophie slept all afternoon.
Will and I were proud parents this weekend when Sophia demonstrated that she knows the signs for Eat and Drink. We went to Outback and she did the Eat sign from the car to the restaurant and then again on the way out to the car. 
Sophia and I went to a brunch this morning to bid farewell to some of our bible study friends who will be moving away because their Navy dad got restationed. They will eventually end up in Germany, but in the meantime they have to move to Monteray, CA for a few months of training. 
Sophie went swimming with Laura, the most amazing Nanny I've ever met. This wonderful woman volunteers her time and love at every gathering this group of ladies has. She's amazing with kids of all ages, but I really think she's always had a special thing for Sophie. 
Sophia absolutely couldn't get enough of Laura in the pool today. Sophie really didn't want to get out of the water and was tugging on Laura's suit to get back into the swimming pool to play with her. Sophie begged Laura to carry her out to the car. She cried her eyes out when we left Laura. When I offered her Lambie, she threw him on the ground. She fell asleep on the way home...
Sophie is getting a new tooth somewhere on the top which means that she's not sleeping or eating very well this week. (I think she only has 6 teeth to go now!) So, even after an action packed morning of music class, a quick stop at the mall for lunch and then a visit to the library to return our books, Sophia would not take a nap. She fought it all afternoon. I was trying to wear her out so she would take a nip nap, but she wore me out instead. I'm beat! She finally fell asleep around 8PM. 
Sophia loves to dance and jump around the room. So we played songs and danced his afternoon after she got a bath. She's my little DJ. She's figured out how to turn the radio on and off so she decides when we dance and when we "do other things". It was so funny when at one point I walked out of her bedroom while she was calmly reading a book and when I returned (2 minutes later) she was sitting in the pile of books that she had just "read". Literally, nothing was good enough today, not even her favorite books.
Uncle Dan came to visit over Labor Day weekend and to catch some last hot summer rays. Believe me, it's still "Hot Summer" in Virginia Beach for at least another month unless we start seeing some hurricanes, but anyway that's off topic. 
Iris, our teen aged neighbor came over to babysit after Sophia had gone to bed. For it being our very first night out with a babysitter it went surprisingly OK. Of course I worried, but I didn't call. Sophie didn't even stir the whole night and Iris' only comment was that Sadie wore her out. I hate to say it, but, Sucker! On Sunday afternoon Will and Dan headed off to Sandbridge for some body boarding while Sophie took her nap. She and I joined them on the beach when she woke up. Sophie had a picnic dinner on her towel and then ran around in the surf with 3 Labradors chasing a stick. Need I say it, ADORABLE! (but no camera at the beach....)
Not that we didn't get a ton of other pictures this weekend. Another huge part of the weekend activities was playing tennis. Will and Daniel hit the courts on Saturday morning for some long overdue matches/sets/games. I was able to get them back out on the court again on Sunday. Even Sophie had a blast playing tennis. 
This afternoon Sophie and I tried a new playground near our house. She always has a blast when we go to the playground and until very recently her favorite thing has been the swings. Well, now that she's a "dare devil big girl" she prefers climbing up the steps and sliding down the slides instead of the ho-hum swings. Until today she's always gone down the slide with assistance like she is in the picture.
I swore we would NEVER eat at Johnny Rockets again. In my opinion they have disgusting food. Well I broke the rule today and we went there. 
When the food did arrive, she especially loved dipping her french fries into the smiley face ketchup design they always hand out to kids. She only ate 2 bites of her hamburger, but she drank all of her milk and ate a good portion of the fries. Even though the food was gross, we had fun together. Check out this video of her coloring while we waited. 
Yesterday Sophie and I spent most of the day in the car running errands. How boring for my little angel! 
Grandma (Nana) came to visit for a long weekend. Sophie and I picked her up at the airport on Thursday and we headed to the WOW sprinkler garden for a day of fun in the sun. We ate a picnic lunch and then spent a majority of the day playing in the water sprinklers and taking turns riding on the swings. Grandma was just like a kid herself in the sprinklers, but I think Sophia's favorite part was seeing the ducks at the end of the day.
On Friday Grandma played with Sophia all day and I had a chance to paint Sophie's room. I ran out of paint before it was finished...so that's going to be a fun project to finish up one of these days. (I'm in the process of turning her room into a little girl toddler room instead of a baby nursery.) 
Of course the weekend went by way to fast and Grandma had to head home early on Sunday morning. Sophie literally spent the day catching up on her sleep. She didn't wake up until 11:15 on Sunday morning, was back down for a nap at 2:00 woke up at 5:00 to eat a light dinner and was back in bed at 8 PM for the night. Right before bed we decided to take a quick walk around the neighborhood and Sophia didn't want to ride in the stroller. She wanted to walk. We figured out that she lasted for a 1/2 mile before having a COMPLETE MELTDOWN.
I found the perfect bean bag chair for Sophia! It's pink and cushy and it's just her size. I put the bean bag into the back seat of the Explorer and Sophia had her hand resting on it the whole way home. I think she was staking her claim. Take a look at how adorable she was this afternoon after we brought it in the house. 
Today was the first day all summer, I think, that the sky was overcast with clouds. The temperature was a warm 85 degrees and there was a really nice breeze blowing so we took Sophia to the beach. Take a look at Sophie's sun suit - it's got 50 UV protection built into it. How awesome it that? 
Dad and I built a few sand castles for her and she basically banged the shovel in the bucket. After a while she warmed up to the sand and boy was she off and running - literally! But mostly after seagulls. 
