Another Painting Session

A week or two ago, Sophie had another painting session during a day that felt (to me at least) like the "longest day ever" because she was teething so bad. So, I hoped maybe painting would entertain her and cheer her up a bit. She seemed to enjoy it but alas there wasn't a lot of smiling. It was a lot of demanding for more paint but still she seemed to have fun and it bought us 20 mins or so during "happy hour." In other art news, this morning Sophie made a mark on her easel and looked at me and said "S" and lo and behold it DID look like an "S" - she is really enjoying the power of coloring and if I had a dollar for every time I say "coloring is for paper" in the course of a day, we'll let's just say I'd have plenty of money to go buy all the magic erasers to clean up the crayon marks on the floor, walls, glass doors, sofas and tables that she is making these days... Crayons are now treated like a controlled substance in our house. She loves them and loves to walk around with them and leave her mark everywhere. What a complex world it is for toddlers who must learn that coloring is for coloring books and paper only. Not for reading books. And, how come Elmo can color on his furniture but Sophie can't?? Poor kid - no wonder she gets annoyed.

More words

Of course, how could I forget these words that she says:

Kids, more, keys, off, Alice, Bob (long story), Elma (for Elmo) and last night for the first time ever she said bowl and Merry Christmas. Crazy, huh??

Just short for her vocabulary

So... a few weeks ago I took Sophie in for her 15 month check-up. Yes, we were late (first we were on vacation, then our pediatrician was on vacation) so she technically had her 15 month check-up at 16 and a half months but oh well. She weighed in at 23 lbs 15 ozs and 31 and 3/4 inches long. I asked the doctor what percentiles she was in and she said 50% for both height and weight. Then, I said "a lot of people think she looks small or short for her age" and the doctor said "No, she's just short for her vocabulary." Isn't that a riot???

Well, she DOES talk a lot and everyday there is a new word (or two or three somedays) that she can say. Her list of words has increased to the following:
Mama, Dada, PopPop, Ollie-Gollie (Seriously, that is what she calls our cat Ollie. It is also what she calls our cat, Mr. Chen. And, it's what she calls most cats, actually.) Ice, No, Help, Down, Grass, Glass, Fish (but it sounds more like shish), Ocean (but it sounds like oshe), Bye, House, Horse, Hat, Apple, Cheese, Ball, Pizza, (but it sounds more like peace), Please, Peas, Rice, Star (but it actually sounds more like Gahr), Geese, Bah (does that count?). I bet there are a few others I'm forgetting. It's just so wild. Like the other day, we're sitting there at dinner and she is eating rice and Jim and I are talking away and she keeps saying "Rice, Rice". We didn't think twice about it at first but she had never said it before so when we finally realized it we were like "YAY! Yes, RICE!!!"

In other news, she has been teething again off and on which has created for some interesting days for us. (She has two molars on her left side but so far none on the right so we think they're the ones giving her grief now.) But, then she'll have several days of no teething in a row and she's a happy little camper.

She has also become obsessed with coloring. I remember not so long ago (what, like a few weeks ago) I was pushing the coloring, giving her crayons and trying to show her how to actually make her mark. Well, let's just say SHE GETS IT NOW! She colors on the walls, the couches, the floor, the GLASS. So, crayons have been confiscated as of today and will now be a controlled substance in our household. How DO you teach the difference between it being ok to color in your coloring books but not in your reading books anyway????

And, of course, today is Sophie's 17 Month Birthday!! Happy Birthday Sweet Sophie Angel!! We love you so much and are so enjoying watching you learn and grow each day!!!

Not a baby anymore

For those family members and friends who don't get to see her very often, I feel obliged to let you know that Sophie is all grown up now. Ok, well maybe not ALL grown up but she no longer looks like a baby - not at all. She looks like a little girl now. See????

More OC

And finally, here are a few shots from our lovely visit to Ocean City with Dee Ree and Pop Pop and GGMom!!

SnedikerOxenfordPalooza

Our vacation was amazing for so many reasons but a really big reason why it was so great was because we had such a fabulous time getting to luxuriate in spending a WHOLE WEEK with our dear friends, The Snedikers. We haven't gotten to spend this much quality time with them in a long, long time. Sophie had a blast getting to play with "the big kids" all week, and in particular the smoochie Adam who was such a kissy face and so sweet to her it was almost unbearable. Serous quality time with the Ohio godfamily - we are so grateful for it!!




(If you squint your eyes and don't look at Heather in the middle there, don't Christian and Jim look like the scruffiest gay daddies you ever did see???)

More fun in the sun

Beach happiness

Pink tutu photos

There is actually a funny story about these photos above. When we were down the shore with DeeRee and PopPop and GGMom, I had gone back to the house and DeeRee was playing with Sophie on the beach. When I got back, she said "You missed the photoshoot!" Apparently, some photographer had asked if he could take Sophie's pictures because "she had the look" he wanted for the magazine he was shooting for (a local beach town vacation mag). Apparently, he asked to pose Sophie a certain way as she was playing in the sand and then just snapped away. He gave my mom his card and said that a parent needed to call and give permission to use the photos and if I did that, they would send me copies. Well, don't you know I called them the minute I got back to the house, right?? And here are just some of the photos he took. I don't know if they'll make it to the print version but I was such a proud and tickled mommy that my little baby had her first professional photo shoot.



These were actually taken by Jim on a different day. Awesome shots, huh?

We're back - again

Ok, I can't believe it's like mid-August already and I haven't posted since July. You loyal followers have probably been wondering where the beach photos are because you *know* there are tons and movies too. Well, darn Blogger. I've been trying, really I have, to upload the beach posts for weeks now. I started a long post when we first got back from the shore. Then everything happened with Poppy so it never got posted. Then, we went BACK down the shore and I've been trying to upload photos to go with these beach posts since August 1st. Maybe the posts were too long or just had been sitting in draft for too long but every time I'd go through all the beach photos and pick the ones I wanted to include, I'd go to upload them all and Blogger wouldn't save them right. Every single time. It was very frustrating and after a while I'd just give up. Then, I'd try again and the same thing would happen. Sooooo.. Here are the texts posts and throughout the week I'll just put some pix up from the two beach trips. Sorry it took so long!!

[Post from August 1]
So, how lucky are we that Sophie and I got to go BACK to the beach this past week with Dee Ree and Pop Pop who had rented a house for the week in Ocean City. We picked up GGMom and headed down on Tuesday morning and got to stay till Friday. We had a wonderful visit, great weather and lots of fun on the beach and the boardwalk!! Thanks Dee Ree and Pop Pop for a fantastic time!

[Post from July 12]
Well, we have just come back from a two-week vacation in Ocean City, New Jersey!! It was our first family vacation together (except for our little weekend get-away last September). We had two-weeks down the shore and it was pure heaven. During the first week, our good friends The Snedikers, came down with their two boys. Sophie absolutely loved being around two big kids for a week. She and Adam had a blast together drumming and playing and generally being sweet with each other. And, we had a blast getting the whole week with our dear friends who we miss so much since they've moved to Ohio a few years ago. There was lots of gaming and lots of ice-cream and it was a very fun week for sure. The second week was just the three of us. Not by design because we did invite grandparents and friends down but nobody came. (We're trying to not take it personally! LOL!) Even though we would have loved visits from our loved ones we did enjoy the quiet time for just the three of us. We got into a good routine of taking long walks in the morning so Sophie could take her am nap. And then heading to the beach after lunch. It seemed to work out pretty well most days.

Sophie had such a fantastic time on the beach. She was totally fearless of the ocean and the sand and the other kids. She would get to the beach and as soon as she was put down on the cooler sand she would bee-line for the ocean. We jumped waves and played in the water. Then she would come up after Jim had set up the umbrella and chairs and blankets and she would play with her sand toys and shovels and have a great time. She also loved watching other kids run around on the beach. It was such a joy to watch her down there, it's a shame we don't live closer so she could go more often. Sophie had lots of fun experiences besides the beach too including ice cream (Kohr Brothers vanilla), kite flying, and the boardwalk. Her eyes were big as saucers when we walked her into Wonderland Pier (where all the rides are) for the first time. She was amazed. She waved to strangers each time the elevated train ride came around and just was enthralled with all the lights, sounds and kids.

It was a fantastic relaxing trip for all of us and while we were talking about how we would love just one more week down there to really unwind, we're so grateful we had two weeks and could do it at all. It was in many ways a magical first family vacation for our little family and the memories of Sophie's joy and wonder are ones we'll never forget.