Sophie - 8/25/2017

Saying goodbye is about the only part of my work that is not fun for me!  I get very attached to my kids and families!  First, what a joy it has been for me to have the Pat & Molly Boyle Family at Little Treasures.  I've enjoyed working with you and caring for your children.  Thank you for trusting me with that privilege.  I'm so thankful you wanted Nora to stay here even when Lauralea moved on in her career over four years ago. Secondly, Sophie was the first new infant that I had after I went solo!!  And so I have special attachment to her!!  She was a wonderful Baby and I've often been so very thankful for such an easy Baby for my first one.

I looked through some pictures last night and chose one that was always a favorite of mine and posted it below.  Sophie has been an absolute delight in many ways.  I know she is ready to move on and she will love her new adventure at Pre-School.  I love her sense of humor and how easily she laughs.  (And she  has a great laugh!!)  She is super intuitive and tunes in to others around her and she has a kind and tender heart.  She is truly a joy.  I love you Sophie Boyle!

We had a fun morning even though Sophie coughed and coughed!  Poor Sweetie!  Reid was my puppy and we were playing "fetch" with a food toy.  Sophie was cracking up; "laugh, cough, laugh, cough!"  She said, "Hey Gary!  Knock knock!"  Who's There?  "Take your socks off!"  I don't get it. "I'll do it louder!"  LOL!  Ok, I'm sure that will help!  It's obviously my hearing issue.  I took a picture of the kids doing a "Goodbye Poster" for Sophie.  We also played outside with bubbles and she rode bikes.

Sophie - 8/24/2017

Sophie ate most of her peaches for breakfast.  No whole wheat bagel.  For lunch she ate "homemade" pizza with whole wheat crust, hamburger and sausage, tomato sauce, peppers, olives, mushrooms, and pineapple.  She also ate two servings of tropical fruit.

Nora was playing with Sophie and saying her "Daddy Daddy Daddy" chant!  Sophie said, "I'm NOT your Daddy!  I'm your friend!"  Ha!  Also this morning Sophie asked me; "Why does Nora suck her thumb?"  I said, "I don't know.  You'll have to ask Emily."  haha!  So we'll see if she remembers!  Tuesday, in a similar scenario, Sophie asked me why Nora doesn't wear shoes.  And she remembered to ask Emily too!!  :)

Reid and Sophie were having a conversation and I heard this;  "Sophie, have you ever had a leg concussion?"  (she just looked at him)  So he continued, "I have.  On a neighbor's trampoline it bounced me so high I think I broke a bone."  Haha!

Here are a couple pictures from Sophie just having fun this morning!  First picture - She'd stole my pillows and run across the room with them.  :)  Second picture - she took the steps off the balance beam and was using the back side as her bed.

We played outside until lunch time and it was starting to rain.  Reid was throwing the ball from one end of the yard to the other and he, Sophie, and Avi were running to get it.  That Reid kid has a great arm and several times he threw the ball (one he brought from home about the size of a tennis ball) on top of the garage roof.  (For those that don't know - it's 20 feet high)  Well on the last throw it landed right in the rain gutter and that's where it stayed!  The look on Reid's face was priceless - I assured him I have a ladder that reaches that high!!  :)

Sophie - 8/23/2015

Sophie ate half of whole wheat toast and ate grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork roast, half of whole grain tortillas, beets, bite of potatoes (no sweet potatoes or carrots), and two servings of fruit salad.

Sophie was pretending the mattress was her swimming pool and then she told Avi that Avi needed some goggles.  Avi looked at her like; "What the heck are you talking about!?!"  Avi just started jumping again!  Haha!  Sophie was pretty thrilled that she and Nora had on the same colors shirts.  "Our shirts match!!"  Reid was teasing Nora with the stuffed animals and Nora was cracking up.  He started sticking the monkey in Nora's face (see picture) and saying, "monkey head, monkey head" which made Sophie laugh so hard she fell over onto the mattress laughing.  Silly kids.  I think Sophie has the cutest sense of humor!

Tate and Bode (Reid's brothers) asked me if they could bring over their 2 guinea pigs this morning to show the kids.  They came about 10:00 and stayed until 11:15 so that took up a majority of the morning.  The kids all had so much fun!!  I had the boys put their pets inside the "pen" where the downspout comes out and that worked great.  (That way no kids were going to step in their poop or pee.)  Tate took one of the guinea pigs out and let the kids pet it and feed it.  I have to mention that these guinea pigs are young ones that the Templeton Family brought home with them on their road trip earlier this month from Kansas City!  :)  Hey, that kept the boys occupied!  Sophie totally didn't want to touch them and stayed very close to me, but eventually she got as brave as she could muster and touched one - with a lightning quick finger!!  Ha!  Well done Sophie!!  Bode and Tate also did bubbles for the kids and we had a great morning of fun with them!

Sophie - 8/22/2017

Sophie ate two servings of toasted whole wheat muffin and no plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate whole wheat elbow noodles topped with applesauce, no chicken with stir fry vegetables, ate her oranges.

I took this first picture yesterday afternoon when Sophie and Avilene had both just woke up from their naps.  Sophie had went right over to Avi, took her hand and walked to the Play Room.  They were being so sweet to each other.  When I took this picture I think Sophie may have been questioning whether Avi was actually awake yet or not!!  :)  Also from yesterday afternoon we were starting to eat snack and Sophie asked me what I was doing.  I said, "Putting some butter on your corn.  I think it'll make it taste good."  Sophie said, "Or not."  Haha!  Cracked me up!  She was pretty proud of herself when I laughed so hard.

This next note isn't about Sophie, but it involves Hudson so maybe you can share it with Maddy and Colin.  Reid knows I have a chainsaw in my garage and he's slightly obsessed with that fact!!  He also knows Hudson is sensitive to loud noises.  This morning he asked, "Is Bubba coming today?"  No, he's spending the rest of the week with his Tutu.  Reid was thrilled, "YES!!!  Now we can start up your chainsaw!"  LOL!!

We read lots of books this morning, did some painting at Art Time, and Sophie was jumping off the igloo.  She was pretty happy to see Baby Nora today as well.  Nora was still at Flathead Lake yesterday and boy she was squealing to see everyone too!!  Sophie played with some new dolls I got and tried to talk Avi into playing dolls with her, but so far that isn't happening!!

Sophie - 8/21/2017

Sophie arrived shortly before Lunch today so this will be a short Blog, but I wanted to say "Hi" to everyone!  This is Sophie's last week so I'm gonna Blog every day she's here even if it's short!!  She ate some of her taco salad; lots of hamburger because I put catsup on it for her, no olives, bites of lettuce and tomato, ate pita bread, and two servings of cantaloupe.

Reid was doing some kind of "informal survey" at Lunch time and asked everyone; "Do you guys normally get up at 2 AM!?"  Haha!  That made me laugh!  So I said, "no, do you?"  He said, "We do!  But not today.  We got up at 7:00 AM."  :)  His Mom told me this morning that Reid has been sleeping in frequently and so today they were transitioning to get ready for the school year.  So maybe he meant 2 PM!  Ha!

I took this picture of Reid, Sophie, and Hudson on the teeter-totter!  Love all the beautiful smiles!!  The kids had been asking to do bubbles, but we were waiting for Sophie to arrive before we started. So we did bubbles shortly after this.  Thanks to Momma Molly for bringing some "eclipse sun glasses!"  That was super fun!!  (for me.)  One more note that happened right before Sophie came, but I'll Blog it anyhow because it's cute: As we were going outside Reid made another proclamation!  "Hey everybody!!  It smells like bacon out here!!"  LOL!!  That somehow made the smoke seem more pleasant!

Sophie - 8/10/2017

Sophie ate half of her breakfast: French toast and dried plums.  For lunch she ate everything: pulled pork sandwich, peas, and two servings of cantaloupe.  At breakfast Sophie said, "Hey Gary, is this Snack?"  No, this is breakfast.  Why?  She pointed at Hudson and Avilene and said, "These guys said it was snack."  Haha!  I guess they could be considered an unreliable source.  Ha!

The following note is just an FYI for the Daycare Families.  Things were a bit hectic right after breakfast (actually during breakfast) because Atley puked in her breakfast tray and that needed to be cleaned and also call her Mom and Dad to come get her.  So that took some time and I'm only sharing this because if it's a stomach bug then others may have been exposed.  The State Regulations are concerned about confidentiality, but in a Family Daycare Home that is hardly possible.  I could tell you that a child had to be sent home with an illness, but it's not hard to figure out who it is!!  :)  And I feel it's important to let the Parents know when their child has been exposed.

These pictures of Sophie and Nora represent some REALLY cute play time!!  In the first picture Sophie is standing with her legs apart trying to coax Nora to "crawl through the bridge Nora."  Nora just looked at her, sucked her thumb, and giggled.  Sophie, Hudson, and Avi were jumping and doing "butt bombs."  So in the 2nd picture Nora is doing a Young Toddler version of a "butt bomb."  She was standing, kind of doing a bounce, and flopping down on her bottom.  Oh man, Sophie was on top of the igloo and laughing SO hard every time Nora would do that!  Sophie said, "She's doing butt bombs and laughing!!"  And of course that was all the encouragement Nora needed!  She would do it, look at Sophie to see her approval, and they both were cracking up!!  What a hoot!!  :)

 

Look at this picture - so cute - sometimes you bicker, sometimes you don't!!  30 seconds before this picture they were bickering!!  Moments after this picture Sophie said, "Bubba!  Your neck is sweaty!"  Haha!  Then Sophie added, "Don't hit me, ok!?!"  Hudson said or actually asked; "Are you very gentle?"  Haha!  What a pair!  :)  By the way, Sophie essentially ignored his question!  Ha!

Sophie - 8/9/2017

Sophie ate some whole wheat toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate hamburger with marinara sauce on whole wheat spaghetti noodles, no squash, and ate fruit salad.  At breakfast Sophie said, "Hudson is leaving early." (dentist)  She added, "I'm leaving early because I'm NOT going to the dentist."  Haha!!  Also, Atley was done with breakfast and we'd washed her and when she was walking by the table she waved "bye" to Sophie and Sophie giggled; "She waved bye."  (Happens frequently.)  So cute.

Yesterday afternoon we were outside and Sophie was singing - I couldn't understand all of it, but I got this much; "I got that feeling inside my bones."  It was SO cute and even more so because she was giggling and laughing too.  She said, "That's a Troll song."  And Momma Molly confirmed this!  Ha!

At breakfast Sophie was telling Bubba that "My Daddy gonna take me to the Fair."  Hudson said, "Are you sure!?"  Haha!  That hit my funny bone.  Sophie, on the other hand, was NOT amused at all!  (How dare you question what I'm telling you!?)  Cousins!  Haha!!

I already told Momma Molly the story behind this first picture, but I'm posting it in Sophie's Blog anyhow.  This was yesterday afternoon when Sophie was playing with her doll and called her "Baby Nora."  So I called Sophie, "Mommy."  So she informed me; "I'm Momma Emily."  Isn't that the sweetest!?  Sophie loves Emily and so does Avilene!  They always run down the sidewalk to greet her in the afternoons.