Fun with family

We had a busy weekend. Saturday evening friends came from dinner. They brought Sophia this new bunny. It has hardly left her possession since then. In fact, today when I forgot to bring it with us on our visit to my aunt, I heard about the bunny much of the way up.

Sunday we had brunch with more friends and then spent the afternoon at Grannie & Papa's house. They got down out of the attic the bouncy horse I used as a child (as I believe I've mentioned previously, my family has this problem where we never get rid of anything). Sophia was a bit hesitant with it at first, but after seeing how much Papa enjoyed it, she decided to try.

We went to visit my grandmother in the nursing home. It was the first time I'd been there since my other grandmother died, and it was a little strange not seeing her too. But we had a lovely visit with my grandmother.

Monday, Sophia and I took a big adventure trip up to Scappoose to see my Aunt Sue and Uncle Jim. We had a wonderful time and Sophia had great fun playing with Sue. Sophia didn't seem to be able to say "Sue" so called her "Soup." Considering what a great cook Sue is, that's not such a bad name.

It's also hat season and we recently got out Sophia's hat and mittens to see if they still fit. They do, and she's had a lot of fun taking them off and on herself. It's a good thing she's got mittens, because she can't figure out where the thumb goes. I think separate places for all the fingers would really confuse her! She's awfully proud of her hat, which is funny because last winter, we could hardly get her to wear it.

A few days ago I made brownies, and there is no point in making something like that, unless you get to lick the spoon. This was Sophia's first time enjoying such a treat, and she made the most of it! She also tried to make some sense of the cookbook. That's a way off, but she enjoyed the pictures. When we're cooking, she loves to pull a chair over to the counter to stand on and watch. Sometimes she gets to help and likes shaking spices into things, or putting ingredients into the bowl. I think this is something we'll be able to do together for a very long time.

Cheese!

Sophia has learned to say "cheese" and pose for the camera. Unfortunately, her cheese smile looks a bit goofy. She also has a habit of rushing up to the camera when she notices a picture is about to be taken. We have a lot of extreme close-ups. Thank goodness for digital. Saturday Sophia wore the new dress Grannie sent her, so I'm posting pictures so Grannie can see. Last night, Sophia's big project was taking off Daddy's socks and shoes, and them wearing them herself. She worked at it steadily, with great concentration while Paul and I collapsed into helpless laughter. She never managed to walk, or even stand up, with the shoes, but she had the socks on for quite a while. You just never know what she's going to do next!

Pumpkin Fun

Last weekend my father stayed with us. He was in town for a Willamette University Trustee meeting and got to spend two nights with us. Sophia loved it and even let him put her to bed at night. Sunday afternoon we went to a farm and showed Sophia the animals. Suburban kid that she is, she was fascinated by them. Ever since, she's been telling us all about animals, even telling us which ones she saw. It made quite an impression. We had a great time, riding in a wagon, going through hay and corn mazes, and looking at the fields of pumpkins. The best time was playing on a long slide that went down the side of hay bales. While sliding down, Sophia generally looked scared, but always laughed with delight at the bottom and asked "again?"

Show off

In between tantrums, Sophia continues to entertain. A few days ago I made her a fort out of sheets. She was a bit confused by it but seemed to enjoy it. At one point she tried to crawl on top of it and was quite surprised when it collapsed under her! As we were taking pictures of the fort-fun she starting posing for the camera, and asking for more pictures to be taken of her. She isn't yet asking to see them, but I expect that will come. Children of the digital age.

Yesterday, Sophia received a new dress in the mail that Grannie Nancy sent her. Sophia was quite intrigued by the package and tried very hard to put the new dress on. She's not quite able to do that yet, and indignantly refused our help. So, she hasn't tried it on yet, but seemed to quite like it, calling it "soft."

Ocean

This past weekend we went to the beach with my parents. We had a great time. It's amazing that one 18-month-old can entertain 4 adults full-time for 3 days straight. Sophia wore my shoes, Daddy's sweatshirt, and had lots of fun with Grannie and Papa. She especially liked climbing up on a chair next to Grannie and playing with her. (This picture was taken first thing in the morning.)

Sophia's vocabulary is increasing exponentially each day. This weekend she learned "ocean", "beach" and lots of other words. It's too hard to keep track of the new words now that she has such a large vocabulary. Her favorite thing is to ask us what we're doing "Mommy doing?" "Daddy doing?" is a constant refrain. She asks over, and over, and over, even when we're doing the same thing we were the last time she asked. It gets a bit frustrating some times, so we have an opportunity to practice our patience.

Today we played with Sophia's airplane. I like this toy much better since I took out its batteries and it doesn't shriek music at us any more. Sophia decided Mommy and Daddy needed turns riding it. We don't fit very well, but she thought it hysterical. Tonight she asked Daddy "chess please" so she got a lesson. I think she looks like she's ready to take on the world.

Events

We have had lots of fun over the past few weeks. Labor Day weekend we went to Roseburg to see our very good friends who live there. Sophia had a grand time playing with Alex and Gabe now that she's just about big enough to keep up with their adventures. We took a lovely hike, and Sophia even walked some of it, and had fun in the wading pool in the back yard. We'll have to get one of those for Sophia next year.

We've had a couple of recent trips to the carousel, one with Grannie and Papa and another with some friends from out of town. One of these groups of friends has a baby a few months old. Sophia wasn't sure she approved of her Mommy and Daddy paying attention to another baby (despite the picture, she actually didn't grab the baby's face). We also went to the zoo with Peter, Christiana and Miriam. Sophia wanted to copy what Miriam did and we had fun seeing Paul's and Miriam's heights relative to the bears.


Since school time has started, Sophia has been getting some preschool activities at day care. Since all the big kids get to participate she thinks she should too, so she's coming home with art projects and other papers. She was especially proud of this crown she brought home recently. Other new skills include somersaults, which she's very happy to practice, even from the bed or couch (but we discourage those) and a growing sense of sharing. Recently she was 'sharing' her milk with her stuffed lamb, a project that required the lamb be thrown in the laundry fairly soon afterwards. She likes to hold out her food to share with us. She gets quite offended if we don't take it.

She's also practicing other new skills. Tuesday she grabbed the broom and started sweeping. She isn't doing much more than moving around the dirt, but I'm impressed with how well she's able to maneuver the very long broom handle. We also recently got out this drum and she's really enjoying playing with it. She mostly wants Mommy or Daddy to help, but I'm wondering if she's going to take after Papa and be a drummer.