Sophie - 8/31/2015

Sophie had bites of cheerios and two servings of banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate cheese sandwich, half of tomato soup (with lots of crackers and me feeding it to her), bites of lettuce salad, and a taste of broccoli salad.  (This is not about Sophie, but I thought you'd find this amusing. Cooper told me he didn't like broccoli salad; "I like a normal salad." Ha.  I said, "Well, you're in luck because we have that too.")

I took this picture of Sophie and Elliott after he had taken a phone to Sophie, handed it to her, and then started talking on his phone.  It was so cute.  Also, I wanted to mention this is Elliott's last day and Hudson Boyle will be taking his spot.  Elliott has been a good playmate for Sophie and he has provided her with lots of social interaction and entertainment as well!!  Bye Elliott.  Sophie and all of us at Little Treasures love you and will miss you.

I was crawling right behind Sophie following her across the room.  She went around the swivel/rocker and sat back there like she was hiding from me.  It was so cute and I could hear her giggling.  So I was peeking around at her and then took this picture.  What a doll!  :)

We had fun playing outside and Sophie went down the slide on the little climber by herself two times. She has done it before on her tummy, feet first, but today was the first time I've seen her sit on her bottom and go down feet first.  She had a small crash at the bottom, but she went right back up and did it again.  :)  After the rain yesterday I didn't think there would be any problem with the ash, but the bottom of her feet were BLACK again.  It was probably from the covered patio that didn't get washed off from the rain!

Sophie - 8/28/2015

Sophie ate several bites of oatmeal and ate dried cranberries for breakfast.  She ate the oatmeal just fine, but she (of course) prefers to feed herself.  However, if she likes it well enough she'll let me feed her.  Like Lunch today for example.  She ate the whole-wheat elbow noodles first; I mixed the applesauce, peas, and ground beef together and fed her and she ate it all!

Lauralea was watching Sophie play on the mattress and giggled at her.  Sophie knew Lauralea was watching and gave her the biggest cheesiest scrunch face!  It was super cute.  And everything about it said, "Am I not the cutest thing!?!"  :)  Yup, that pretty much sums it up!!

You can make up your own caption for this first picture.  I'm going with; "Morning Meditation For Toddlers"  They were playing side-by-side and copying each other's antics.  And laughing.  :)

Sophie watched the boys push stacks of blocks around the room and she started doing the same thing. Then they built this block sidewalk and she immediately crawled along on it and was grinning all over.  I took a picture of a traffic jam and Cooper was saying, "I'm coming through!!"  Cooper and Reid do a good job of running around Elliott and Sophie (rather than over the top of them!) and they actually have minimal conflict!

Sophie likes to stake out her territory and I took this picture right after she was yelling for everyone to get off HER sidewalk!  Ha!  I like how she still has her head tipped back.  Of course everyone was way past her by this time!

Sophie - 8/27/2015

Sophie ate raisin english muffin and two servings of blueberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a slice of turkey, sandwich bun, green beans, and strawberries.

Sophie continues to impress me with her quickly developing language skills.  It's fun to play with her receptive language and watch how much she understands.  For example when I'm getting ready for a meal she responds to statements like; "Here's your bib" (leans her head into the bib)  "I'm taking off your bib."  (again leans her head forward so I can untie it) "I'm going to wipe your face."  (closes her eyes and braces herself!)  Then when I announce it's "Story Time" she comes high speed across the floor.  Her expressive language is also quickly developing!  At meals she frequently says, "ah un, ah un" (all done)  "Nigh nigh, nigh nigh"  (night night)  She was doing the "night night" thing while she was still in her high chair at lunch when she knew I was putting Elliott to bed.  I also wanted to mention to Daddy Pat that Sophie spots him every morning when he's driving around the corner and frequently waves.  Then when He stops in front of the window to wave she's usually done!

Reid coaxed Lauralea into reading to him this morning and Sophie wasn't about to miss out on that Story Time either.  She brought her own book too!  :)

Here's a picture of the Modern Daycare!  Three of the four kids are on their cell phones!  Ha!  I'm telling Reid's Mom (She works for AT&T) this is her new target group.  Soon after this picture Elliott was getting into Sophie's space and she screamed (loudly with a high pitch) at him and it was effective!  He looked at her and was backpedalling!  So (unfortunately) the scream worked!!  :)

We played in the tunnel and you can see Sophie in there.  She had fun and never even hesitated - just went charging right through it immediately as soon as I put it on the floor.

Sophie - 8/26/2015

Sophie ate jelly (grape) toast and banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a serving of beef & bean burrito, sweet potatoes, and tropical fruit.  She has been doing a good job drinking from her cup.  In case I forget to tell you later, she only had one bottle here last week (and only about an ounce) and none this week.  So we're basically done with her bottles here.

We were at the window waving "bye" to Daddy Pat this morning and then continued to stay at the window to wave "hi" to our neighbor walking back from taking her son to school.  She enjoys seeing the Little Ones here.  :)  (Plus, I wanted her to see Sophie's little bloomer shorts!  So cute!!  I probably butchered what they're really called!)

Here's a picture of Elliott being a true friend; feeding Sophie the doll bottle.  :)  She was a pretty willing participant and they did this several times.  Watching these two kids interact is so cute.  Sophie will hold something out for Elliott to "look" at, but NOT to take it!  (Very typical of this age.  They aren't trying to give it to you.  Although sometimes it works if they know they'll get it right back.)  She'll hold something out, but not let him take it.  He gets the most puzzled look on his face.

We got out the sit-n-spins for the kids this morning - suggestion by Kenzie.  (She's coming here after Kindergarten and today was a short day for her.)  Sophie experimented with this toy that kept moving!!  Then Kenzie built a "train" out of the blocks, but I had to inform her that the Little Ones (Elliott and Sophie) didn't have to sit in their assigned seats!  :)

Sophie - 8/25/2015

Sophie ate cinnamon roll and two servings of canned prunes for breakfast.  And when she finished that she decided to just eat the plate as well!  (See picture!)  For lunch she ate half of this combo: scrambled eggs, hash browns, cheese, and sausage.  She had several bites of waffle and ate two servings of cantaloupe.

Sophie has her own personal hair stylist every morning!  I enjoy fixing it too, but Lauralea can do it quicker and for this age quicker is better!!  Another important tip is giving the child something to hold in their hand.  So Sophie gets her own comb to hold!  (Tomorrow we'll have more hair tips for Infants and Toddlers!) Ha!

I kind of overloaded the Blog with lots of pictures today, but these "walking" photos are too good to delete any!!  Lauralea and I were having fun getting Sophie to walk back-n-forth between us.  (And she was doing quite well with it too!)  So Cooper (and then Reid) said, "I wanna walk!  I wanna walk!"  Ha ha!  So they come over and we say, "Ok, walk to Lauralea....walk to Gary."  And they do!!  So funny.  I think we've gone through that exact scenario with almost every kid that's went through our Program!

I clicked these two pictures in quick succession and I love how one foot is up and then the other foot is up!  So cute.  I also like how Lauralea still has her hands out in all three of these pictures.  :)  This is great balance by Sophie because she has that leg pretty high in the air!!  Ha!!

I helped stand her up and then Lauralea was trying to coax her to walk back.  Sophie was standing there grinning all over!

Sophie - 8/24/2015

Sophie ate kix cereal and two servings of mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ham sandwich, a large serving of peas, and two servings of mandarin oranges.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend so the kids were all busy this morning.  Sophie played with the pop-up toys several different times, she looked at lots of books, played with the dolls, and even let Micala hold her for a couple of minutes.  I took this first picture when she was moving between the yellow bench and the legos table.  She has good enough balance to move between pieces of furniture without hanging on, but she's being very cautious and in my book that's a good thing!!  More cautious = Less bruises!

I thought it was so cute when Sophie had a doll laying on this blanket and she started wrapping it up when I was singing, "Good night baby, good night baby..."  It sounded like she was trying to say it too.  (There really is a doll in that blanket!)  :)

Sophie was watching Cooper put on some masks so she was giving it a try in the picture below.  Learning by observation!  Earlier she had been standing on the step at the window looking around outside and Elliott joined her and immediately started slapping at the window with his hand.  So she gave it a go too!  They don't hit the window hard enough to do any harm - to the window or their hand.  (However, banging on the window with toys is not allowed.)  :)

Sophie - 8/20/2015

Sophie ate cinnamon toast and three servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate baked chicken, dinner roll, hash browns, and canned cherries.  Sophie is a busy little girl and requires lots of fuel to keep her motor running!  :)

Elliott and Sophie were pretty cute together this morning.  She coughed and he immediately started doing fake coughs.  That was funny!  Then she went over and sat by him on the yellow bench and started looking at books with him.  Isn't this a cute picture!

The story behind this second picture; Sophie had dropped one of the little books on the floor and Elliott immediately got down and retrieved it for her.  Very cute.  Except he just put the book on the bench and when he sat down he was sitting on the book!  Then Sophie was trying to pull it out from underneath him.  He was finally able to get it (again) and I took the picture when he was setting the book in her lap!  Super cute.

Cooper was on the floor playing with Baby Layla and Sophie and Elliott came over to play in the same spot of course.  This setting made me laugh because the four children are playing in about one square yard area.  To be licensed for Childcare there is a requirement of x number of square feet per child.  Some times it's very necessary!  Other times, such as in the picture, not so much.

We had a plumber at the house for a few minutes this morning.  He was actually working in the basement, but he made an appearance to talk to me and Sophie wasn't impressed and howled.  I got her binky and held her and she was just fine then!  (The plumber kind of just froze in his tracks!  He wasn't sure if he should move!  Ha ha!)

Sophie - 8/19/2015

Sophie ate "maple french toast mini bagel" and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ham, large serving of mac-n-cheese, half of her corn, and ate nectarines.  At breakfast she was doing the "more" sign and I asked her if she wanted "more."  She gave me the "yes" head nod.  :)  Her receptive language learning is right on track and even doing some expressive language!  Expressing her needs!!  :)

Well I refrained from taking the same picture as the last two days, but she went back to her favorite spot at the blue balance beam and started bouncing and drumming again.  Elliott raced over there and joined her on the opposite side of the beam.  And she was looking at the sign language poster again.

I tried to quickly take the picture below, but I was a couple seconds too late.  She was standing there and then squatted down.  If you look close at the picture you'll see her bottom is not on the floor - she's just squatting.  I love the look of concentration as she maintains her balance.

I carried Baby Layla into the Daycare room after her morning nap and Sophie got all excited and was holding her arms out like she wanted to hold Layla.  So I laid Layla on Sophie's lap and immediately Layla grabbed Sophie's shirt which Sophie wasn't happy about!!  Get her off me!!  :)

 Micala came home from staying at a friend's house and I took this picture when she stopped to say "hi" to Sophie.  Sophie is comfortable with Micala now, but it wasn't always that way!!  Micala is thrilled that Sophie is comfortable with her.  :)

Sophie - 8/18/2015

Sophie ate waffle and two servings of pears for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tuna and crackers, sweet potatoes, and mandarin oranges.  Sophie and I came in from outside and I sat her in her highchair with her cup while I got the food for lunch.  When I came back out she'd been able to reach into Reid's cubby and grab his socks and she was trying to put them on.  Silly Sophie.

Hey!  Does this picture look familiar!?!  (Check out yesterday'a Blog.)  Sophie was sitting in the same spot drumming on the BBB.  (Blue Balance Beam)  :)  She was also hanging on and bouncing up and down on the mattress.

Sophie was sticking the doll bottle in her mouth and the first thing I thought - maybe this is part of her "bottle withdrawal therapy."  :)  (By the way, she's been drinking from her cup very well yesterday and today.)

The poster in the picture below is the alphabet sign language.  I took this picture because I thought it was cute how she has her hand on her letter "S."  A couple other notes from this morning; When I sat down with some books for Story Time she came right over holding up her hands to be picked up.  And she sat for probably two or three stories.  Earlier I'd walked past her and she spotted me holding the phone and immediately her hand went up to her ear.  She knows what to do with a phone!!

Sophie - 8/17/2015

Sophie ate chex cereal and two servings of mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate beef sandwich, tomato soup, and bites of lettuce salad.  I wasn't having much success getting her to drink tomato soup (cup or straw) so the last couple of times I've crumbled up lots of crackers and have been feeding it to her.  It was so cute at lunch - she was taking the spoon and guiding it to her mouth on every bite.  That's the first time she's done that here.

First thing after she arrived this morning I got the comb, water spray, and ponytail holders to fix her hair.  She saw what I was getting and before I even said anything she came charging right over.  Side note - Elliott always comes charging over at the same time too.  He's not satisfied until I spray some water mist into his face.  Then he goes away happy, chuckling to himself.

I asked Cooper if he wanted to read books to Sophie and he was more than willing.  I like how he's looking at her.  Prior to this picture Elliott had been sitting on the yellow bench reading several books.  Sophie went over to join him and he immediately gathered up all of his books and relocated!!  She was looking a little forsaken and that's when I asked Cooper if he wanted to read to her.

Elliott had been on the other side of this blue bench and he and Sophie were both thumping their hands on the bench.  Elliott ran off when I got the camera and wasn't about to cooperate for a photo shoot!  :)  Sophie, on the other hand, was more than willing to do a beautiful smile!!  (And she was still thumping with her hands.)

Sophie - 8/13/2015

Sophie ate whole wheat cinnamon toast and cantaloupe for breakfast.  (Love those Dixon Melons!)  For lunch she ate most of turkey slice, bites of dinner roll, ate green beans, and mangoes.

Lauralea fixed Sophie's hair and was enjoying having Sophie sit on her lap.  Cooper brought his tractor/truck/equipment book and Lauralea was reading it to them.  It has lots of pictures and Sophie liked looking at the pictures.

The girl and her phone!!  Hee hee!  My house phone rang this morning and Sophie immediately put her hand up to her ear and started talking.  She knows the routine!  When she was playing with these phones I kept saying "hello" and she'd put it up to her ear.  So cute.  We also played outside and she was trying to climb up the slides on the climbers and going in and out of the play house on the patio.

Sophie always crawls across the lunch room floor to her highchair at meal times.  She knows all the routines and I just love that!!  I took this picture at breakfast time when she made a slight detour into a cubby and was pretty proud of herself.

Sophie - 8/12/2015

Sophie ate most of her jelly toast and ate mixed berries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate everything: ham, crackers, bean & bacon soup, and strawberries.  About the end of Lunch time Reid pointed at Sophie in her high chair and said, "That my best friend right there!" Ha ha!  And of course an argument ensued!  "My friend!"  "My friend!"  "Mine!"  "Mine!"  And back-n-forth Reid and Cooper went!  So they've had their first argument that involved a girl and it's your girl!  Ha!

We were playing outside about 11:00 and Sophie was getting tired and hungry and starting to yell a little bit.  So I was trying to encourage her to say, "Layla Layla Layla" and she eventually did.  Love it.  Anyhow, one of the times I was saying that I happened to look at Layla and she was just staring at me grinning.  :)

Sophie was yelling for some help when I took this picture.  Uhhh, that's actually a shirt Sophie and it's a doll shirt!  I don't think it will fit on your leg.  :)  So Micala put one of the dress-up vests on Sophie and later I took the next picture.

Sophie left this vest on for almost an hour and when she got tired of it she took it off by herself.  Good job Sophie!  She had a good morning and was smiley and having fun.  I still didn't see any ill effects at Daycare from her shots yesterday.

 She was standing and studying this poster of birds.  I got the camera and by that time she was trying to reach the top row of birds - the ones she can't reach of course!!  I love having this little Sophie fireball in my Daycare!!  :)

Sophie - 8/11/2015

I don't usually do a Blog when the children arrive late in the morning, but I had this picture I from yesterday that I wanted to post.  Sophie arrived about 11:00 and so far I haven't seen any ill effects from her shots this morning.  She did eat an awesome lunch so that was good and she drank lots of milk.  She ate chicken, elbow noodles, peas, and applesauce.  She touched the applesauce with her fingers and was then in total agreement with me feeding it to her!  Ha!  I actually mixed all of her leftovers into the applesauce and she downed it all!

I love this picture from yesterday!!  Sophie was playing with the phones and this looks like she taking a picture of Layla.  She's documenting Layla's behavior for future references!  "I don't appreciate it when you grab me Layla!!"  Layla awoke from her morning nap right after Sophie arrived and oh man, Sophie was beside herself with excitement!  I put Layla on the floor and Sophie couldn't get there fast enough!

Sophie - 8/10/2015

Sophie ate half of her bran cereal and ate dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate cheese pizza, bites of corn, and ate tropical fruit.  She drank a bottle after lunch before her nap - about 5 - 6 ounces.  Also, Molly, I wanted to mention that she had a poop first thing this morning about 9:30 and I coated her little bottom with cream.  Even though it is quite red it didn't seem to be too sore.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and Sophie found these jingle bells (that's what she's holding in the first picture below) pretty quickly.  She was having fun with those and shaking them vigorously!  Also, notice in this picture how she's standing pretty independently!  She was frequently doing that this morning when she's close to something that makes her feel more secure.

I thought this was a pretty cute picture when she was practicing with the sippy cup.  She didn't seem too concerned that it was empty - she just kept sipping on it! I love doing the pictures for the Blog; they tell the story so much better!  I just thought of something funny that happened this morning that I didn't get a picture of!  Sophie was sitting beside Layla and Layla rolled over into Sophie.  Then she grabbed Sophie's arm and stuck it in her mouth.  Sophie was not real impressed with that and pulled her arm away pretty fast!  :)

And here's a picture of the little girl reading her book!  :)  Did you notice the cute little ponytail too? How did I get it so pretty and tight!?  Thank you Lauralea!!  :)  Mommy Molly probably already had that figured out!!

Sophie - 8/6/2015

Sophie ate raisin english muffin and two large servings of blueberries for breakfast.  The girl loves her blueberries!  Well, actually she basically loves to eat!  She burns a lot of calories with her constant activity.  For lunch she ate half of her chicken, ate crackers, most of sweet potatoes, and ate canned cherries.  A side note: I bought a "cherry pitter" and I've pitted lots of fresh cherries and have been freezing them.  So we'll soon see if they all like those as well as the canned ones.

Sophie had an awesome morning as usual!  :)  She is such a sweetie - I love this little Girl!!  Her receptive language is already kicking into high gear and she is starting to understand so much.  She totally knows what I mean when I tell her "gentle touches" and she is being gentle with Layla.  (Picture illustration below!!  Ha!)  I obviously watch closely, but I really don't worry much about her being too rough with Baby Layla.

Here's a picture of her playing with another Baby this morning!  This is what Molly and I were talking about yesterday.  She has learned this from sister, natural instincts, or a combination of that! Cooper, Reid, and Elliott NEVER choose to play with the dolls, doll blankets, or dress-up clothes.  Is this picture cute or what!?  :)  I love this girl!!  Oh, I already mentioned that!!

And here's Sophie putting on a shirt.  Hee hee.  I just thought of something else she was doing this morning.  I rarely talk on the phone during Daycare - no time for that - but I was scheduling a CPR and First Aid class and I needed to do that today.  Sophie was watching me and put her hand up to her ear like she had a phone too.  Little Cutie!!

Sophie - 8/5/2015

Sophie ate biscuit and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of her baked beans, ate dinner roll, half of peas, and ate pineapple.  Sophie drank the 'whole' milk from her bottle just fine this morning as well.

Sophie fell this morning.  Ugh!!  She was on the yellow bench (see first picture below) and tried to stand up and pitched forward into the book rack that Elliott is crawling over.  Her forehead above her left eye took the blow...it swelled instantly and I applied some ice to it.  She was vehemently opposed to that, but I was insistent for several minutes and it definitely helped reduce the swelling!!  Her pupils did not dilate and I watched her closely.  I'm hoping for the best when she wakes up from her nap!  I want to put six inches of padding on this child and then wrap her up with bubble wrap.  Jeez!!  Ok, now we'll move on to the fun stuff!!

The first place she and Elliott played was at the book rack reading lots of books.  Elliott loves his books and it's a great example for Sophie!  He was crawling behind the book rack (there's an exposed part of the heat vent behind there so the book rack isn't against the wall) and he read books there.

After changing Sophie's poopy diaper this morning I was playing with her on the changing table and pulling her shirt over her head.  She, of course, started doing it herself and it was so cute.  Don't you agree?  :)

Cooper was playing in the clothes rack and Elliott tried to get in.  Cooper said, "There's not room for two!!"  Hmmm...I turned around and Sophie was playing in there with him.  I guess there was room for two after all!!  It just has to be the right person!!  A little later Elliott tried to get in again and this time Cooper said, "There is not room for three!"  (At least he has the correct count!)  In the picture below Elliott was sticking his hand through the crack and Cooper and Sophie were grabbing it.

On Monday Reid was looking at Sophie (like he'd never seen her before) and said, "Him can't walk!?!"  So I said, "I realize you've been gone quite a bit this summer, but first, Him is a Her, and she cannot yet walk!"  Ha!  However, this morning she was by the little climber steps and she stood straight up with hanging on to anything!  :)

Sophie - 8/4/2015

Just in case anyone is expecting to read a Journal for Sophie - She is home sick.
Hopefully we'll see you tomorrow!

Sophie - 8/3/2015

Well here we go!!!  :)  I love being able to start this Blog with Sophie!  I seriously doubt if I'll ever have a hard time finding something to write about Sophie!  Case in point - as I wrote that she was clearing the dress-up shoes out of the rack and Layla just happened to be in the wrong place!!  Shoes on Layla's face!  :)  Just as a reminder - I usually post what they eat and two or three items from their morning activities.  I will try to post the Daily Blogs between 12:30 - 2:30!  It's a bit more challenging with 5 children now.  When I was doing Nora's Blog I had 4 children.  So here we go!!

Sophie ate cheerios and banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate cheese sandwich, several bites of tomato soup, and bites of lettuce salad.  I crushed up some crackers and fed her the soup and she was good with that!  Just an FYI Molly - she did take a morning nap like you said she probably would.  And she never wiggled when I laid her down!

Lauralea was teasing me this morning and said I was not allowed to do more than 10 pictures a day of Sophie!!  Ok, I'll try to limit myself, but she's tooooo cute!!  So we'll start with a picture of her climbing!  She is such a active little one and gets around everywhere very quickly.  The boys came in from outside to take off their shoes this morning and Sophie was in the playhouse on the patio.  I went back over to open the storm door and she was right there!!  I was glad I didn't just swing the door open!  How did you get here that quick!?!

She loves trying to put on the dress-up clothes.  Lauralea says it's because she's a girl!!  :)  I do know this - these three boys I have do not touch the dress-up clothes (ever!) and Layla is too little to try.  So Sophie learned the behavior from Nora OR it may be the natural instinct!!  Hee hee!