I realized something this weekend. I'm not the only one who "lives for the weekends". I know Will also enjoys his weekends, but I swear Sophia becomes a different person on the weekends too- because she gets to spend time with her Daddy. She's so peppy, excited and just a ball full of energy. How cute is that?
She prefers Daddy to feed her, to hold her, to play with her, to read to her, snuggle with her before bedtime, etc... She's always mastered her major milestones with Daddy - creeping, crawling, taking the first few steps, etc... (However, to be completely honest, I think she still prefers Mommy for the diaper changes and multiple clothes changes each day, but otherwise Mom is chopped liver.)
The up-side to this story is that I don't actually mind. It's really nice to sit back and watch Sophia showing off and trying to impress Will. One thing is for sure - she loves her Daddy!
You've all heard about Sophie's passion for babies...talking to them, rocking them, carrying them around, etc... Well she's now getting obsessed with Dora and Diego. I'm convinced it's because they both have really large faces and look like Sophia's babydolls.
She eats Dora and Diego yogurt and will grab onto the yogurt container and move my fingers out of the way so she can see them. I got her a Dora plate and bowl which she loves to use - and by "use" I mean that she loves to promptly flip over any plate or bowl placed on her highchair tray.
I saw it this morning. It's her third bottom tooth. It's officially #7. It's no wonder she's been napping all afternoon. It was so nice to have the time to clean the house. :-) Thanks tooth fairy!
First of all, hats off and many thanks to Aunt Claire and her friend, Hilary, for the powder blue balerina leotard and skirt! We've also got the long-sleeved version in pink for the cooler months and dance tights for when Sophie gets a little taller.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon dancing on our tippy toes at a "girls-only" Mommy & Me Ballet event. One of the Moms was a dancer in a previous life and was able to lead the group in some baby-friendly stretches and twirls. Sophia was an excellent student. Her eyes were glued to the mom/instructor the entire time. Sophie really got a kick out of seeing all the other little girls dressed up as balerinas and squealed with delight when she was able to stretch her arms up and down like all the big girls.
And now for the pictures. There are even more on flickr:
Sophia had her library friend, Hailey, come over this afternoon for a playdate. The girls played really well together for a solid 2 hours. Of course at the end of the playdate I think Sophia was on the verge of a having a meltdown...but she played her heart out while Hailey was here.
Sophia was a gracious host and was happy to share her hat, juice, crackers, books and toys, but she was not ready to share either of her babydolls. Each time Hailey went for a doll Sophia prompty snatched it away from her. She also became a bit upset when Sadie preferred Hailey's attention over hers. Don't mess with a girl a her dog! It looks like we're going to have to work on sharing.
Hailey just took her first few steps last week, but she was really showing off for Sophia today - even holding onto Sophie for support as she tried to walk. Of course, Sophia does not want to be out-done and she stood balancing herself for about 15 seconds before falling on her butt with a thud. She was so proud of herself and showed us all how much so by flapping her arms like she was getting ready to take off into the sky!
Hailey turned 1 on April 2nd so she's a little bit older than Sophia, but they didn't seem to mind. Hailey doesn't really like to wear a hat and it was difficult to get this picture, but doesn't she look cute modeling Sophia's yellow sun hat?
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.
I realized something this weekend. I'm not the only one who "lives for the weekends". I know Will also enjoys his weekends, but I swear Sophia becomes a different person on the weekends too- because she gets to spend time with her Daddy. She's so peppy, excited and just a ball full of energy. How cute is that?
She prefers Daddy to feed her, to hold her, to play with her, to read to her, snuggle with her before bedtime, etc... She's always mastered her major milestones with Daddy - creeping, crawling, taking the first few steps, etc... (However, to be completely honest, I think she still prefers Mommy for the diaper changes and multiple clothes changes each day, but otherwise Mom is chopped liver.) 
The up-side to this story is that I don't actually mind. It's really nice to sit back and watch Sophia showing off and trying to impress Will. One thing is for sure - she loves her Daddy!
