Sophie - 12/30/2015

Sophie ate half of her whole wheat toast and two large servings of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of (Costco canned) pulled pork, ate crackers, no beets, and two servings of strawberries. Sophie knew Lauralea was about to leave for work right before breakfast and she started pointing at Lauralea's shoes - "there they are right there!"  So cute.

I took this picture yesterday afternoon when Sophie was playing with the dress-up clothes, food toys, and doll blankets.  She brought me the apron and wanted to put it on.  Then she covered her head with the blanket for the 'turban' look!  Speaking of doll blankets, this morning when I was wrapping Hudson for his nap Sophie started singing, "nigh nigh, nigh nigh."  Then she got her own baby and wrapped it up and kept on singing.  :)

Sometimes I use the larger stuffed toys to put behind Hudson to help prop him up a little and also give him a softer landing!  Sophie was pretty convinced the stuffed toys didn't belong there and she was pulling them out.  Ha ha!

I'm not sure that she'd actually "planned" this, but it sure looked that way!  She pushed the yellow bench you see in the picture right up to the mirror and then crawled up and sat on it right in front of the mirror.  :)  Like I've mentioned before she's starting to like watching herself and it's so cute.  She was REALLY strutting around this morning and the more I laughed at her the more she strutted!  And she kept glancing at the mirror to watch as well.  :)

Sophie - 12/29/2015

It was SO awesome to see Sophie this morning!  We had a great reunion!!  Ha!  I think Lauralea may have been as happy to see her as I was!!  For breakfast she ate several bites of blueberry bagel and two servings of apricots.  For lunch she ate slice of ham, bites of dinner roll, ate green beans, and a few bites of peas.

Every time I would ask her something she'd shake her head 'no.'  So I started asking her a question that had an obvious 'yes' answer and I'd shake my head 'yes.' And pretty soon she was doing the same. Is Sophie a sweetie?  An obvious yes.  :)  Is Gary a sweetie?  Not as obvious, but still a yes!!  It's time to nod your head 'yes' Sophie!  Ha!!  We were having fun with it and I love how much she understands language.  I asked, "Do you want to go color?"  And she headed right for the gate and was ready to color.  She stayed on task with the coloring for a few minutes.

She got lots of attention this morning, especially while Hudson was sleeping.  They are the only ones here today.  I had this bowl sitting on my head and then I'd tip my head forward and catch it.  She was chuckling so cute and when I sat it on her head she just stood there and I had time for a picture.

Sophie played with a doll, purse, shoes, tutu on her head, carry the doll in the purse, cups, spoons, stir with the spoon in the cup, and bringing me lots of books to read.  We were reading this simple little book with 1 word and 1 picture on each page.  I started asking her questions; "Where is the duck?"  And she'd point to the duck.  "Where is the boat?"  She'd point to the boat.  She did awesome.  The hardest part was for her to wait for the question, but she soon was doing well with that too.  She also played with the xylophones and I took this picture when she turned one upside-down and was trying to rock with it.  :)

Sophie - 12/18/2015

Sophie ate her breakfast: oatmeal and dried cranberries.  For lunch she ate several bites of everything I'd mixed together; ground beef, whole wheat elbow noodles, peas, and applesauce.

Sophie has been spending more time at the mirrors and I took this picture this morning when she was kissing herself.  Reid wanted to see the picture and when I showed it to him he said, "Silly Hophie!" Probably 15 minutes later she was back at the mirror doing it again.  I roared and then she really started doing it over and over!!  She'd kiss herself and then whip her head around for my reaction with a huge grin on her face.  And of course, that just made it all the more funny!!  :)

Cooper had been building some kind of "dinosaur" with the blocks and as you can see in the picture he was exclusively using his favorite color; the green ones!  Sophie was just trying to help, but he wasn't interested in the wrong color!  No way to explain that to her, so we started building something different using her colors!!  :)

Sophie was playing with the dress-up clothes and was putting on the vests.  In the picture below she put the vest over her head and her face is peeking out one of the sleeve holes.  She went over to where Cooper and Reid were playing and was waiting for their reaction.  I think she likes to make people laugh!  :)

Sophie - 12/17/2015

Sophie ate half of raisin english muffin and three servings of blueberries for breakfast.  (The girl loves her blueberries!!)  For lunch she ate turkey slice, sandwich bun, two servings of green beans, and two servings of strawberries.

Lauralea showed Sophie a video of Missy's kitty and Sophie was loving it.  She looked at it and said, "Kiddy, Kiddy."  When they were done Sophie point at Lauralea's phone and said, "mau mau" (meow).  She wanted to see the kitty again!  So stinking cute!!

This picture is from yesterday and you may have seen it from Colin or Maddy, but I'll post it here. Hudson had managed to get himself under the legos table and Sophie apparently thought he needed some toys under there as well.  And I guess it worked because he was under there for at least 15 minutes (which is a LONG time for him) and was totally content!

Sophie found this nice quiet spot to read some books.  She was squeezed in cozy behind the book rack.

Sophie was "squawking" at Cooper this morning.  Just funny little sounds, but Cooper called it "screaming."  He kept saying, "I don't want you to scream at me."  Which only encouraged her to do it again.  So she'd squawk at him.  And follow him around doing it!  That exact sequence happened probably 10 times.  :)

Sophie - 12/16/2015

Sophie ate jelly toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate beef & bean burrito, sweet potatoes, and two servings of tropical fruit.

Lauralea bought some new books for ASUM Preschool and she's been reading them to Cooper, Reid (he's not here today), and Sophie this week before she takes the books away!  Thanks Lauralea!  This book was a big hit with Cooper; "Dino-Trucks"  The first line went something like this; "Millions of years ago there were Dino-Trucks....."

So Cooper wasn't very thrilled when Sophie was getting bored and in this picture she's trying to give him loves.  Well actually, she was in more in "pester-mode."  Ha!  He's still trying to focus on that awesome book!  Sophie and I went elsewhere!

Cooper and Reid are the first to lay on their nap mats at Nap Time.  I've been having Sophie walk to her sleeping room and when she passes through where the boys are she walks along saying, "Shhhh, Shhhh..."  :)  So cute.

Here's a picture of what Sophie was doing right before Nap Time.  She had her baby in this infant seat and covered it with a blanket.  Then she started rocking it and singing, "Goh nigh, goh nigh..."

Sophie - 12/15/2015

Sophie ate cinnamon roll and two servings of canned prunes this morning.  (I cut up her prunes - to get them pitted - and before I could get Cooper's prunes cut up she'd already eaten her's!!) For Lunch she ate everything as well; scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage, and cheese combo.  She also ate her waffle serving and melon mix.

I got out the Christmas season stuffed toys and of course that's the first thing Sophie spotted this morning.  She had the hugest grin on her face and played with Frosty the Snowman first and then the little Bulldog with the Santa hat you see in the picture.

I took this next picture within a minute of giving her the opportunity to play with the drawing board (whatever it's called!).  And she stayed right on task for a few minutes.  When she got bored with it she started grabbing Cooper's drawing stick!  She harassed him frequently this morning and I was thinking - "I'll bet she makes Nora crazy sometimes!!"  Here's a funny moment from this morning! She was headed in Cooper's direction and he was having a personal crisis moment!  (He had a little pooping accident!)  Anyhow, Cooper said (quite loudly), "I don't need you right now!!"  LOL  

One more observation about Sophie harassing others.  It's primarily directed at Cooper and rarely at Reid.  Now Reid is frequently gone (not here today) so that could be part of the reason, but I'm more inclined to think it's the reaction she gets from Cooper.  Also, did you notice how she's gripping the drawing stick in the picture?  That's not normally how her age group will hold crayon, marker, etc.  That usually comes later - compare with Cooper.  (The same.)  She put it down a couple of times and picked it up holding it different.  Anyhow, it's all very interesting to me!!  :)

Sophie - 12/14/2015

Sophie ate kix cereal and two servings of mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ham sandwich (all the ham and some of the bread), ate peas, and three servings of mandarin oranges.

I think it's so cute how she'll hold the boy's blankets when they're out of the room and the moment they step into the Daycare room she'll hand them their blankets.  Today she did it when they went potty, and when they were finishing painting at Art Time.  When Reid went back into the room she held out his blanket and said, "Hee-ah, hee-ah."  (here)

Speaking of Art Time I let her try the finger painting again today.  She's getting closer, but still a few weeks away from being ready.  The moment she put her finger in the paint it went directly to her mouth and that was the target every time.  Face Painting!!  :)

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but we always watch for Bode and Kenzie walking after school.  When I see them coming I'll announce, "There's Bode and Kenzie!"  Lately when I make the announcement she comes running to the window.  :)

Cooper built this sidewalk (in the picture) this morning and I started the bottom row for him.  He said, "It's an L!"  Sophie walked on it a lot and she especially liked it when she was the only one playing there!!  She was moving pretty fast!  Great balance exercise!

Sophie - 12/10/2015

Sophie was at Kinder-Music this morning so there isn't much to write about her today.   She arrived in time for lunch and she ate a bite of two of baked chicken, half of her dinner roll serving, ate hash browns, and two servings of cherries.  

I was looking back at some pictures of Sophie and noticing how much she is starting to change.  These two pictures are less than 3 months apart.  The bottom one was posted on 9/22.

Sophie - 12/9/2015

Sophie ate a couple bites of blueberry muffin and ate a large serving of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of her ham slice, a very large serving of homemade mac-n-cheese, ate corn, and most of her apple pieces.  Reid is not here today and at breakfast I was trying to get her to say "Cooper."  She never did try to say Cooper, but he started bobbing his head around being silly and she was sure giggling at him.  So cute.

I combed all of Sophie's hair straight forward and then we were having fun laughing together.  How cute is this picture!?  Earlier we were reading books and she sat for probably 3 of them.  She was playing and when I realized her barrette was missing I asked, "Where's your hair barrette?"  She immediately turned around and went over by the bookrack and picked it up.  Nice job Sophie!!  (It was dripping wet!  Ha!)  We'd read "Old MacDonald" book and several times I heard her walking around saying, "Ei, Ei, Ei,...."

Cooper was sitting on the floor reading a couple of books and Sophie joined him.  The book in the picture is "Little Spot of Color."  And you can see he has the GREEN page open.  (His favor.)  Sophie is holding the "Dinosaurs" book and that's the one he read next.  We had read these yesterday and he can basically read them from memory of course.  He said, "I LOVE this book because it has dinosaurs."

Cooper was building a "T-Rex" with the big building blocks and he said, "Sophie, Do you want to help me build?"  I thought that was pretty cool.  However, it did not go real well and a few moments later he said, "I don't need your help!!"  And moments later, "You can't knock it over!!"  :)

Sophie - 12/8/2015

Sophie ate two servings of breakfast: waffle and pears.  For lunch she ate everything; tuna and crackers, sweet potatoes, and mandarin oranges.

I love being able to post pictures on these Blogs.  They tell the story so much better and faster than I can and you can get a nice visual of her day at Little Treasures.  She was so proud of herself for stashing gobs of books behind the book rack.  When she had emptied the bookrack she looked at me and got my attention.  (I'd already been watching her.)  My first thought was "take a picture!"  But I knew I already had 4 pictures I wanted to post so I resisted.  :)

She can open the door to the changing table steps and she plays there frequently.  When she opened it this morning there was a "Cooper Stash!"  He had his legos truck in there and she was pretty tickled at what she found.  :)  And I had time to take a picture.  :)

This is where Sophie ran and "hid" when I told her it was time to fix her hair.  :)  As you can see in the picture she's pretty proud of herself too!

When Reid saw Sophie wearing this mask he said, "You ARE the big bad woof (wolf) Hophie!!"  Ha! I love how she'll want the mask on and then leave it on for two or three minutes.  And that's a LONG time for her age.

She was laying in front of Hudson and then started rolling into him.  I was laughing and she started laughing and it was all fun and games UNTIL Hudson got a handful of hair.  Oh man, she started howling like crazy!  It probably hurt her feelings as much as anything!!  :)

Sophie - 12/7/2015

Sophie ate chex cereal and a large serving of mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate beef sandwich, no tomato soup, and bites of lettuce salad.  When I was putting on her bib and pulling up her sleeves I said, "Wow!"  (Her sleeves were a little snug over her arms.)  She said, "Wow!"  :)

Reid was playing with a toy on the couch and Sophie was playing in front of the couch.  She looked up and saw how close his head was to her head - hmmm, thats convenient - so she leaned forward and laid her head on his.  It was so cute and sweet.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and the kids pretty much occupied themselves with that all morning.  I took these pictures when Sophie was playing with the food toys.  She'd been watching Cooper build his sandwich and she started stacking her food too.  Until the second picture when she decided to just eat the "cheese."  :)

We sang some songs and read books.  Sophie sat for two or maybe three books and then got down to start putting on dress-up clothes and work boots.  She also walked in with me to get Hudson from his nap and he had a huge smile for her.

Sophie - 12/3/2015

For Lunch Sophie ate most of turkey slices, most of dinner roll, ate green beans, and two servings of mangoes.

Kinder-Music morning, but I still have to take a picture!  We had time to fix her hair and play on the sit-n-spins before Lunch.  At first she just wanted to stand on them, but after a few minutes she was sitting down and actually making it work.  I took this picture when she started watching herself in the mirror too.  I remember that's just how Nora was at that age - I could never have too many mirrors in one room!!  :)

Every day when I take her into her bedroom for nap I hold her up so she can retrieve her binky off the shelf.  Lately she's been thunking the sound machine with her binky before putting it in her mouth. She knows that comes next - turning on the sound.  LOVE the routines!

Sophie - 12/2/2015

Sophie ate whole wheat toast and two servings of mixed berries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ham, crackers, bean & bacon soup, and two servings of strawberries.

I took this first picture yesterday afternoon.  Kenzie and Cooper were in the igloo (behind Big Bear) calling, "Sophie, Sophie..."  So she was showing me where they were hiding at.  When I was taking some pictures she kept closing her eyes in anticipation of the flash.  It was pretty funny and she knew she was being funny!

Sophie was up her to usual tricks this morning - grabbing Cooper's two blankets, Cooper's stuffed dinosaur (pterodactyl), Reid's blanket, Reid's Baby, Cooper's tractor book, and tractor sales catalogs. Ha!  I took this picture when she was around the changing table with the dinosaur and then Cooper rescued it so Sophie just turned around and started reading his tractor books.  :)  Hey, if you bring it to Daycare it's all fair game!!

Initially Cooper had told Reid to get on his blanket; "Hop on!"  So Reid got on, but Coop couldn't get the blanket to move!  Ha!  So he managed to coax Sophie onto his blanket, but then he gave it a mighty tug (right after I took this picture) and she toppled over.  He tried to get her to give it another go, but she was way too smart for that!! You're not going to fool me twice!  :)

Sophie - 12/1/2015

Sophie ate half of her blueberry bagel serving and ate apricots for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, elbow noodles, peas, and applesauce.  Again, I mixed it all together and served it to her.

After fixing Sophie's hair Lauralea will frequently sing to her and do this slightly bouncy thing (with Sophie on her knee) that Lauralea calls, "walk, walk, walk,...trot trot trot,....gallopy, gallopy, gallopy."  Today Sophie initiated it by sitting there and starting to bounce a little bit.  It was so cute.  And when Lauralea started doing it Sophie was BEAMING!!  :)  This picture kind of captures it.

I wonder how many times I've taken this exact same picture of lots of kids!?!  Once they hear the echoing sound they like to do it over and over.  Sophie was looking up at me and grinning and then doing it again.  :)   (Have I ever mentioned how cute she is!?!)

Sophie totally noticed the different picture on the calendar!  First day of December and the picture is two deer.  (Twin fawns - wrong time of year for that, but the calendar is all about baby animals!)  So I said "deer" and she said, "de-ah."  Nice job Sophie!!

She sat for more books than usual this morning.  About that same time Hudson was waking up from his morning nap.  Sophie heard the first sound from the monitor and she always gets SO excited.  She was pointing, whipping her head around to see if I was responding - basically on the verge of hyperventilating!!  Ha!