Sophie - 7/29/2016

Sophie ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of her turkey meatloaf, ate pita bread, a couple bites of carrots, and two servings of apricots.  I was cleaning up breakfast when Sophie came running out with a book saying, "Gary Gary Gary."  What is it?  She showed me a picture of the "yellow" sun she'd found.  She loves identifying our favorite color.  So she had to show me green for Cooper, purple for Sophie, blue for Reid, and then she asked, "Bubba?"  Well he can't talk enough yet to tell us his favorite color and he's not pointing at any particular color yet, but he soon will be!

I love taking pictures of Lauralea and Sophie!  Stating the obvious, right!?  Sophie sprinted across the room to see her Lauralea this morning.  It was so cute and precious.  And the first thing Sophie said, "Floof Hair!"  I'm not sure where that phrase started, but Lauralea has said it for years and Sophie has adopted it as well.  So here's a picture of Sophie with a "Floof" in her hair.

Sophie played with her babies and I like how she has them lined up on the floor.  Then she was sitting on the floor reading books and I'm betting she has the book "Head to Toe" at home.  She knew everything - wave arm, thump chest, clap hands, etc.  Then she always says, "The End."  She also asked me about the "Monte Picture" we have; "Me Me?"  No, you're not in that picture Sophie.  She frowns and asked, "Why?"  :)

Hudson and Sophie are the only kids here today so we went on a wagon ride.  Here's a picture as we're leaving the yard.  We stopped and threw pebbles in some water, watched workers on the roof at Meadow Hill School, talked to a neighbor girl on her scooter, looked at a barking puppy, watched some birds that Sophie spotted, got our mail, and filled the bird feeder.  (I lathered on sun screen before we left.)

Sophie - 7/28/2016

Sophie ate two servings of cinnamon toast and ate cantaloupe for breakfast.  For lunch she ate baked chicken, bites of dinner roll, two servings of hash browns, and three servings of canned cherries.

We played outside this morning and the first thing Cooper and Sophie did was go to the gate and chat with the neighbor kids.  Sophie is comfortable with this one girl named McKenzie, but then her brother also showed up and Sophie took several steps backward until she was at a comfortable distance to observe.  Smart Girl!!  :)

Last night I snipped some branches off the neighbor's tree and the kids were excited to help put the branches in the garbage can.  We rolled the big garbage container across the yard to where the branches were laying.  Sophie had a branch hanging off the edge and she thought that was funny.

Here are two pictures from this morning.  These are more variations of some of their favorite games.  Covering with blankets and building their house.  Well actually, they like me to build the house for them (although I insist that they participate in the construction) and they play inside with the blanket draped over the top for their "roof."   She and Cooper were carrying stuffed animals to their house. Cooper said, "Let's go get some more pets."  Sophie had an armload of them and said, "heavy heavy."

Sophie - 7/27/2016

Sophie ate half of her blueberry bagel and ate two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of her ham, a large serving of whole wheat elbow noodles topped with cheese, a large serving of corn, and half of apple pieces.

We were playing outside this morning and she said she was going to the "store."  So I asked her to get me some ice cream and barbecued chicken.  She came back with the ice cream and said it was "banana."  Good job Soph!  Next she came back and said, "Mint."  She remembers what I've asked for on previous days.  :)

I was fixing Sophie's hair this morning and she asked, "Lauralea be here?"  Adorable.  No, she's been at a conference in Helena this week, but she'll be back tonight.  I've sent Lauralea a couple pictures of Sophie to tide her over until she gets back!  Ha!  Every time I tell Sophie that Lauralea and Gary get to come to her pool party she cheers.  It's so cute.

In the first picture Sophie and Cooper were riding in their "boat."  In the 2nd picture Sophie was pretending to sleep and was saying, "Night night, night night."  I answered her, but she wanted Cooper to answer too!  "Night night Cooper, night night Cooper!!"  :)

Sophie was wanting to give Cooper a big love and I finally talked him out of running away and stop to give her a hug.  And she was satisfied with that!  Then they went to the window and watched a crow eating lots of spilled bird feed off the ground.  Cooper had to expound on his knowledge of crows; "There's actually not many crows around, but I know where there are lots of crows."  I'm thinking - this should be enlightening!  Where?  He said, "There are crows on every planet."  LOL

Sophie - 7/26/2016

Sophie ate two servings of waffle (loves that syrup) and ate her pears for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a bite of crackers & tuna - then she ate all the tuna off the crackers.  She also ate sweet potatoes and two servings of mandarin oranges.

Cooper asked me if I'd help him build a fort and then we used the blanket for a roof.  He and Sophie were working hard to keep it all intact and the babies were cooperating pretty well - except an occasional pull on the blanket by Baby Avilene as you can see in the 2nd picture.  Cooper and Sophie were on the back side and Cooper yelled, "Hey!  Who's wrecking our fort!?!"  It looks like Hudson knows it time to vacate the premises!  :)

Sophie was so cute reading books again this morning.  I know she has some of these books at home because she was responding and answering questions before I'd even turn the page.  She was reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and was identifying the animals by color.  For example, "red bird, yellow duck, blue horse. etc....

Outside Sophie was waving "bye, bye" and heading down the sidewalk with the ice cream carts.  Then she was doing the same thing with the dump trucks, wagons, and bicycles.  She would come over to me and start telling me some long story - very serious and pointing with her finger.  I wasn't understanding much, but I was intently listening because she looked and sounded so serious.  :)

Sophie - 7/25/2016

Sophie ate chex cereal and mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of beef sandwich, drank tomato soup, and ate half of pickled beets.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and reading books was Sophie's first activity.  She'd been reading lots of books and piling them on the bench beside her when Hudson came over to do some reading too.  In the picture below she's just massaging his back with her foot, NOT trying to get him out of her book territory!  :)  Ha!  She was looking at a book about ducks and started laughing when she saw a picture of one "standing on it's head" in the water.  When it was Story Time I said, "I should fix your hair before we read Sophie."  Cooper said, "It don't care!"  LOL

Sophie was sitting in my chair outside and teasing me about it!  She is such a little tease.  She and Cooper spotted the moon while we were outside this morning.  Cooper asked me if I'd ever seen the moon!  Ha!  So he and Sophie pointed it out to me so I could see what it looks like.  :)

Cooper was burying Sophie under some pillows and she apparently enjoys the game because they play it frequently!  (You can see her hand waving!)

Sophie - 7/22/2016

Sophie did very well at the meal table for breakfast and lunch today.  For breakfast she ate half of oatmeal and ate canned prunes.  For lunch she ate hash brown casserole, biscuit, and mandarin oranges.  She is such a good little eater!

Sophie was the first one here this morning - that doesn't happen too often!  So we went outside and filled the bird feeder.  When we keep it full of feed there are always lots of birds for the kids to watch. I thought she was watching a bird at the window and saying "bird bird bird...."  But is was a bug on the window sill and she was quite concerned!  "Bug bug bug...."

Here are a couple pictures from this morning.  The kids arrange and rearrange these yellow benches all the time.  Cooper was being silly when I took the first picture and doing something with his tongue.  And watching himself in the mirror.  Later they had the tables sitting just the opposite from what you see in the picture - so they were sitting flat like a table.  When the benches are like that Sophie likes to lay out the doll blankets on the flat surface and put her babies in the blankets.  And she sings to them and practices being a little Mommy.

I took this next picture after Art Time and Sophie was examining Cooper's dot painting.  He was asking her, "Do you like it Soph!?!"  She said, "Yea!"  :)

Sophie - 7/21/2016

Sophie ate toasted sandwich thin and two servings of cantaloupe for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey slices, no dinner roll, two servings of green beans, and ate mangoes.  At lunch I'd given her a spoon for the mangoes and a fork for her green beans.  So she was "double fisting" it!  Scooping up food with both hands at the same time!  Uhhh, that's not really why I gave you both Sophie!  :)  Also, I've started Sophie at the table full-time and she's been listening very well.  She's learning to sit after she's done and wait for her turn to wash.  With only two table kids this summer she doesn't ever have to wait very long!  Here is a picture I took at Breakfast time today:

Here's a picture I took yesterday afternoon right after Avilene had awoke from her nap.  Sophie was sitting on the couch patting her lap when I brought Avi into the Daycare room.  She was saying, "Lap lap lap..."  Which meant, "Sit her right here!!"  Look how Sophie has her right hand around Avilene.

We did some free drawing at Art Time with the markers.  Sophie was identifying every color she picked up and whose favorite color it is!  "Yellow - Gary"  "Brown - Reid"  (Except Reid's is another "B" color - Blue.)  "Green - Cooper"  "Pink - Nora"  and a couple more that I don't remember.  She was usually making just one mark with the color and saying, "I done!"

Cooper and Sophie were doing some more "hide-n-seek" during outside time this morning.  Here's a picture of Sophie hiding her eyes and counting.  I said, "count to 10" and Cooper yells, "No! Count to 100!!"  Ha!  He was super quiet when he was hiding so I helped point Sophie in the right direction!  Otherwise she might still be looking!  :)

Sophie - 7/20/2016

For Lunch Sophie ate ham, a couple bites of crackers, two servings of bean & bacon soup, and two servings of strawberries.

Sophie arrived just before Lunch today so I'm just posting a picture from yesterday afternoon that I thought was so cute.  She and Cooper were playing some version of "hide-n-seek" and this was a hiding spot they built.  Cooper was saying things like; "Ok, you hide here!  That's a super good hiding place."

Sophie - 7/19/2016

Sophie ate blueberry bagel and three servings of apricots for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, whole wheat elbow noodles, peas, and two servings of applesauce.  At Breakfast Sophie noticed I'd given Cooper the "wrong spoon" and she started laughing and pointing saying, "Bubba Bubba Bubba."  It's one of the spoons I use for the babies and I've used it many times with Hudson.  It took me a moment to even realize what she was laughing and pointing at!  :)

We had a visitor here for 15 minutes this morning (she brought some papers for me to sign) and she thought it was cute how Sophie immediately alerted me when she heard Avi wake up!  The visitor said, "Wow, she's a good helper!"  Yes she is!!  :)

I took this picture at Art Time when they were doing some stickers.  We got some new stickers and they got a kick out of something new and different.

We did some bubbles outside and they had lots of fun with them.  Cooper was laughing because Hudson was trying to eat them and he also laughed when Sophie had a bubble on top of her head.

Sophie - 7/18/2016

Sophie ate a large serving of raisin bran cereal and had bites of dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she had a few bites of cheese and canadian bacon pizza, ate corn, and tropical fruit.

I remembered to buy some bird feed this weekend and so the bird activity was pretty heavy this morning.  There were lots of birds, but they'd get a bit nervous when Bubba would pound on the window.  Those birds will just have to adjust!  :)  They're hard to see in the picture, but there are at least two or three on the ground eating some seed that has fallen.  Sophie and Cooper like it when the birds land in the chain link fence and poke their heads through the openings.

Cooper said, "I'm gonna put on a puppet show!"  So he headed under the legos table with the little red legos (you can't see it in the picture below) and that was his puppet.  Hudson was not really interested in the puppet show, but he managed to grab that puppet!!  Ha!  Which caused the puppeteer some angst! "No Bubba!!  No!"  :)

Cooper crawled out and asked Sophie, "Do you want to put on a puppet show?"  She knew exactly what he was talking about and where she was supposed to go!!  "Yes!"  So she crawled under the legos table (generally NOT her favorite place), but that only lasted a moment or two.  Especially considering she bumped her head!  I managed to get a picture before her grin went south!  Ha!

Sophie - 7/14/2016

Sophie ate raisin english muffin and two servings of cantaloupe for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, half of crackers, ate sweet potatoes, and three servings of canned cherries.  She loves those cherries and said, "Yummy!!" after the third serving!

Cooper was sitting in the opening under the changing table and asked Sophie if she wanted to play hide-n-seek.  She said, "Yes" so he told her to "go count to 100!"  She said, "Ok."  Ha!  He never moved, but used that spot for his hiding place.  So why did he want her to count so high!?  :)  She went around the corner and started counting, "1, 2, 3,....10, 11."  Of course he was still sitting in the same spot when she peeked around the corner.  "Hey!" Cooper said.  "You need to pretend like you can't see me!"  Always tweaking the rules!  :)

I guess one of the highlights of the morning was watching the neighbors pack their motorhome and pickup preparing to leave for vacation and family reunion.  :)  So here's the picture below!  The kids especially liked watching what Joel and Claire (kids) were doing.  Cooper said, "I think they're moving or going on vacation in their biggest car!"  That would be called a motorhome.  :)  Then Cooper was concerned about their dog.  He asked me, "If you were going on vacation and you had a dog what would you do with it?"  Doggie Daycare!!  :)

We had fun playing outside and Cooper was trying to teach Sophie to play "freeze tag."  (Whatever that is, but there was lots more rule tweaking!)  She was willing to run along with him.  Cooper said, "It's warm out here.  That's why we shouldn't have come out here."  LOL  No, that's why we did come out here!  In the second picture Sophie was on the back of the teeter-totter with Cooper trying to enjoy the ride.  :)

Sophie - 7/13/2016

Sophie ate two servings of biscuits and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of baked beans, bite of bun, ate peas, and two servings of crushed pineapple.  She was singing "night night" song again at Lunch - notice all the "N's!";  "Night night Nora, Night night Nora, Night night Nora, Nappy nappy now."  over & over!  (grinning at me)  Then she did it once with "Mommy"  After Lunch she was poking her head under the meal table and trying to look at Avilene while saying, "Peek-a-boo Avi, peek-a-boo Avi."

She was being a little stinker when Lauralea was holding her at the window to wave at Daddy this morning.  She waved at Avi's Daddy and then put both hands behind her back when Pat drove up.  Ha!  What a little Tease!!

Here's some pictures from the morning's activities.  In the first picture Sophie has on 4 layers of dress-up clothes!  And she tries to peel them off in a hurry when she knows I'm trying to take a picture!!  Then She and Cooper had lots of fun painting at Art Time.  They painted with the brushes for a while and then with their hands.  Once the papers were somewhat covered they started painting the table!!  Lots of fun!

I'm including this picture of Avi because Sophie was the one who put the hat on her!  I was putting the Lunch dishes and cups in the kitchen and when I came back out this is what I found.  :)  And Avi appears to think it's awesome!!  :)

Sophie - 7/12/2016

Sophie ate waffles and two servings of hash browns for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken & cheese quesadilla, bite or two of carrots, and ate mandarin oranges.  At breakfast she was singing, "night night Nora, night night Nora.....time happy now."  :)

Cooper was telling Sophie all about a picture on the wall with Nora, Riley, Mia, and myself that was in that Missourian business feature two plus years ago.  I've told Cooper that he was at Daycare that day, but was on the floor and out of the picture.  So he was pointing to where he was probably playing and telling Sophie, "I'm buried!  My nose is sticking out!  That's when I was chubby!"  ha!  Sophie was talking to him about the Monte picture that the Cline Family gave us.  She always asks, "Where me, where me?"

Then Cooper talked about Swim lessons and Sophie said, "Nora, Nora."  Oh, is she taking swim lessons too?  "Yes!.....Ballet!"  Yup, those too!  :)  They also did stickers at art time and Sophie worked hard for at least 15 - 20 minutes.  Then, "I'm done."  :)  It seems like her vocabulary has exploded from minimal to amazing in like 3 months!!  She's talking in sentences and easily saying three-syllable words!

I took these two pictures yesterday afternoon.  I tried to include Bubba in the "group picture," but that soon turned into a rodeo so I just went with the other three kids who were here!  Ha!  And the 2nd picture is done with ulterior motives!  Wouldn't Sophie make the BEST BIG SISTER EVER!?!  :)

Sophie - 7/11/2016

Sophie ate cheerios and a couple bites of banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of cheese sandwich, drank tomato soup and had a couple bites of crackers, and ate 2 or 3 bites of pickled beets.

During Story Time we were reading "Hush Little Baby" and later I heard Sophie singing it; actually it was when I was changing her diaper.  "Hush little Baby don't say a word, Mommy (song says Daddy) gonna buy you a mocking bird...."  I frequently sing that song to the babies so she's heard it many many times, but it was sooooo cute!!

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and everyone had "new stuff" to check out!  Cooper was passing out ice-cream cones to everyone and Sophie asked for "white."  (After I asked her which of the colors of cones was her favorite.)

Here's a picture of her playing with dolls, doll blankets, and wearing some dress-up clothes.  I like the mismatched rain boots.  She also played with the phones, the animal toys, cameras, and plunked on the little pianos.

Cooper was perched in one of the sinks and Sophie crawled right up and perched in the other one!  It's no wonder why she gets bruises on her forehead!!  Geez!  And she gets up and down there quick!!  I looked away for a moment, turned back, and she was already back on the floor!

Sophie - 7/7/2016

Sophie ate a bite of raisin english muffin and two servings of blueberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey, no sandwich thin, two servings of green beans, and two servings of strawberries.

Just after lunch Sophie was watching me change Baby Avi's diaper and she said something about "Avi's Mommy."  So I asked her; "What is Avi's Mommy's name?"  She correctly answered, "Molly." So I proceeded to ask her the names of all the Mommies and she got all 5 correctly with NO coaching from me.  WOW!  I was especially impressed because she hasn't see Reid's Mom for at least 2 - 3 weeks.  Maybe longer. And we haven't been practicing at all.  Impressive!  Cooper?  "Jamie."  Avi?  "Molly."  Your Mommy?  "Molly."  Hudson's Mommy?  "Maddy."  Reid's Mommy?  "Lesley."

Sophie and Cooper were playing with the Big Bears and she said, "Hide, hide."  Cooper asked her, "Are you thinking of a kind of hide-out?"  She said, "Yea."  Haha!  Later, we threw a blanket over the chair and the end of the couch to make a new hideout.  (It wasn't an easy feat to get a picture with all three of the kids in it!!)  Cooper asked, "Can we play hide-n-seek?"  Hmmm...I wonder where they might hide?!  :)  Cooper heard Bubba talking and exclaimed; "He said, "Momma!  He thought Avi was his Momma!!"  Ha!  We also did some dot painting and looked at animal web cams at explore.org.  Bears in Alaska, Osprey nest in Charlo, MT (Cooper said, "I want a baby osprey."), Polar Bear and two cubs in a California Zoo.  Cooper said the cubs were playing "freeze tag!"  Ha!  Sophie really laughed when we looked at an animal shelter web cam and some cats were playing under a blanket that was startlingly similar to the picture below!! Ha!  Really!!

Sophie was rolling up in the blanket (one of her favorite games) and then yelling out at Hudson.  He was getting a kick out of the game.  Also this morning, I sat Hudson in his highchair and he watched Sophie and Cooper do some dot painting.

Sophie - 7/6/2016

Sophie had two or three bites of jelly toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bean & beef burrito, sweet potatoes, and two servings of tropical fruit.  Shortly after Daddy Pat dropped off Sophie (he had not left yet) she was sitting on Lauralea's lap looking at a wildlife poster. She pointed at a deer (doe) and said, "Mommy."  Then at a buck deer and said, "Daddy."  We were impressed.  :)

I love this picture of the two resident Mommies with all their "mothering instincts!"  Sophie and Riley attending to Baby Avilene.  Sophie was also quite enthralled with Avi's golden slippers!  I took this picture when we were outside yesterday afternoon.  Riley is going to love coming here after school in the Fall; especially considering Baby Nora will be starting at the same time.  Cooper frequently asks about Baby Nora.  Today he asked; "Do you remember Baby Nora?"  :)

I'm posting these next two pictures together.  They represent how Cooper and Sophie "jump" off the igloo.  Cooper does the jumping and Sophie mimics what he does at the end of his jump.  He was diving down between the Big Bears and saying, "I'm Ok!!"  After every jump.  So Sophie skipped the jumping and went directly to the "I'm Ok!!" part.  :)

Speaking of Cooper and Sophie playing together I heard Sophie chanting this morning; "Doggen-head, Doggen-head, Doggen-head."  Nice.  At Little Treasures that is considered an important developmental Milestone!!  Ha!  (Please feel free to ask for further clarification if this makes absolutely no sense!!)  Ha!

Sophie - 7/5/2016

Sophie ate kix cereal and two servings of mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausage combo.  She also ate two servings of waffle and several bites of cantaloupe.

The funnest part of coming back from vacation is ALWAYS seeing the children.  Sophie was so cute this morning!  She was showing off and saying, "Me Me Me" whenever she wanted us to watch her antics!  (Flopping on the mattress, flopping on the floor, rolling on the floor, etc.)  Lauralea fixed her hair and commented how it's "noticeably lighter" in color!  (My daughter's hair used to lighten up every summer when she was young.)

All the Cline Kids are here today (their Preschool is closed an extra day) so Riley and Kenzie were wrapping dolls for Soph!!  Cooper said to Sophie, "You love your babies."  She said, "Yup."  :)

In the picture below Sophie is playing in one of the "caves" that Kenzie and Riley made for them to play in.  When we were outside Sophie was heading down the sidewalk pushing the ice cream cart saying, "bye" and waving bye to everyone.  (over and over)

Sophie was reading aloud this morning.  I love it when they do that.  Several times I started singing and she would mimic me.  I heard her singing, "Baby Luga" (Beluga) and other songs.