Sophie - 8/31/2016

Sophie ate jelly toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of chicken/rice/bean burrito, ate sweet potatoes, and two servings of tropical fruit.

Sophie was playing with the doll you see in the picture.  What's your baby's name?  "Nora - Baby Nora."  Ha!  Then she was singing; "Night night Nora, night night Nora..."  By the time I took the picture it had changed to; "Nora poopy, Nora poopy!"  :)  The 2nd picture: Reid and Cooper were playing under the legos table and had pushed the drawer into the middle of the room.  So Sophie was taking advantage of that and sat in the middle of the drawer and played for probably 15 minutes or more.  She put some legos together, but was more interested in shuffling the pieces around which made a nice racket - not so pleasant noise.  Ha!   :)

Today is Cooper's last day at Little Treasures so we made a "Goodbye poster" for Cooper at Art Time.  This next part is more about Cooper and Reid's conversation during art, but I thought you might enjoy reading it.  They were expressing their love for each other and it was so sweet.  Cooper said, "I'm gonna miss you Reid."  Then Reid; "I'm gonna miss you too Cooper."  (That was repeated several times.)  All three of the kids continued to work and were really engaged it in.  Then Cooper talked about how they'd see each other and especially when they were both going to "Kenzie's School."  They also talked about their upcoming birthday parties.  Reid said, "Cooper, no nerf guns at my Birthday Party.  Only Light Saber."  Haha!  (Later he kind of reversed that decision.)

I took this picture of these three children after they were done with the poster.  (Hudson is not here today.)  I like how Sophie has an arm around each of the boys.  (With some help from Gary.)

Sophie - 8/30/2016

Sophie ate cinnamon roll and two servings of canned prunes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausage combo.  She donated her waffles to Reid and she ate two servings of cantaloupe.  (I usually allow donations if the kids haven't touched their food!  Ha!  It's incredible how much that Reid boy can eat!  At breakfast he was loving the cinnamon rolls and said, "I'm gonna keep eating these all day and in the night time!")

Reid and Cooper were playing Hide-n-Seek and that's always entertaining.  They usually hide in the same spot over and over, but when they switch it up they are frequently successful because the other person is expecting the same spot!  Cooper immediately started quizzing the youngest spectators (Hudson and Sophie) who frequently aren't aware of a game being played!  "Which way did he go?!?"  "Sophie, do you know where Reid went?!?"  Then Reid asks, "How did you find me?!?"  The funniest one happened when Cooper was counting and Reid had to go potty.  Cooper just kept on counting!  Reid found the best hiding place all morning.  Sophie and Hudson were in the igloo hiding, but the older boys didn't even know they'd joined the game.  :)

This first picture was from this morning when these four were waiting for Pat to drive by with Nora.  Cooper was standing on his tiptoes when I took this picture and he told Reid, "Now we're the same amount."  Haha!!  He was stretching as high as he could.

Sophie asked about the Babies as soon as she came through the door this morning.  I took this picture when she was visiting with Avilene.  She was also very happy when Baby Nora awoke from her morning nap!

Sophie - 8/29/2016

Sophie ate kix cereal and mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she had a few nibbles of ham sandwich, ate peas, and mandarin oranges.  At breakfast Sophie was sitting beside Reid and said, "Hi Reid, hi Reid, hi Reid..."  Just like she hadn't seen him at all prior to that!  So cute.  She loves her Reid.

We have a full house today - six children are here.  Kenzie and Riley will also join us after school at 2:30.  (My license has a provision called "overlap" which allows for after-school children for 2 hours per day.)  I actually got a picture with 5 out of the 6 children that I'm posting below!  They're rarely all that close playing together to get a picture.  And they're usually moving so fast even then it's not easy!  Baby Nora was napping and she's the only one not in the picture.

Sophie is SO happy that Baby Nora is here today, but the Baby was napping when Sophie arrived.  So I took this picture of Sophie loving on Avi instead.  She kept wanting me to wake up Baby Nora.  She sure loves the babies and it's so cute.  When Nora awoke and I brought her out Sophie was so excited she could hardly stand it.  I was feeding the Baby and Sophie kept wanting to sit on my lap as well!!  Ha!  But she waited and was super cooperative about it.  Lauralea stopped in about 10:30 and Sophie started squealing with excitement to tell Lauralea about "Baby Nora here!  Baby Nora here!  Baby Nora here!!"  In the last picture you can see how Sophie was laying beside the Baby, then she'd try another position, then another position....she circled the Baby three or four times before she got the position that felt right!!

 

Sophie - 8/25/2016

Sophie ate half of cinnamon toast and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate baked chicken, bites of dinner roll, ate two servings of hash browns, and two servings of canned cherries.  Reid is here today and do you think Sophie was happy to see him?  Here's a picture to answer that question!!  Is this cute or what!?!  I took this picture at breakfast and I love how she's basically abandoned her spot at the table and snuggled up right beside Reid.  (You can see her abandoned plate off to the side.  Ha!)  Reid doesn't mind and it also doesn't slow him down from eating either!!  Here's what he said about the grapes; "Can I finish off the bowl!?!"  Ha!

Sophie was washing up after Lunch and noticed the little banner I have above the door.  She spotted an "S" in the banner and got very excited; "MY S!  MY S!"  Very cool Sophie!!  It sure is!!

Hudson always tells Lauralea goodbye every morning.  Today Sophie copied the way he says bye to Lauralea;  "Bye Lor Lor, bye Lor Lor."  That was cute.  Earlier, Sophie was excited to see Lauralea and squatted down to Hudson's level and excitedly said, "Lauralea's here Bubba, Lauralea's here!"

Sophie was using the pockets on her shirt to stash her phone.  Except it would fall out every time she'd bend over.  So she was carefully bending her knees and squatting down so the phone wouldn't spill out.  We also did some Dot Painting and she was having fun with that; especially when she started using the 2 handed approach the same as Cooper was doing.

Sophie - 8/24/2016

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

Lauralea and Sophie were both pretty excited to see each other this morning!!  (Almost 2 weeks according to Lauralea!  Ha!)  Sophie started giggling when she saw Lauralea and had the same reaction several more times after that!  It was adorable!!  Sophie was here for 20 - 30 minutes before anyone else arrived so that was lots of fun!!  Here's two pictures of her "special" fun this morning.  In the first picture she's helping Lauralea put salt on the breakfast eggs.  In the 2nd picture she's showing me a blueberry that Lauralea was sharing with her.  (You can see that Sophie has her own little bowl of berries.)  Speaking of blueberries here's a side note; Lauralea and I picked 5 gallons at a Blueberry Farm on Sunday.  (Probably took about 2 hours.)

Sophie and Hudson were wearing the masks again.  I think this mask Sophie has on went with the "Little Red Riding Hood" story we had.  Anyhow, that part is gone, but this Grandmother mask continues.  Ha!  :)  Hudson was strolling around with his mask on and even when it slipped down he was walking blind, but he didn't care.  Just kept on walking and Sophie was laughing along with Cooper and I.

Speaking of laughing it was fun to watch Cooper and Sophie reading a book titled "Blue Hat, Green Hat."  It's kind of silly and the "turkey" always wears the clothes in a silly way; coat on his nose, shirt on his legs, etc.  And the last word on every page is "oops!"   Cooper and Sophie were laughing after every "oops!" and then Cooper was adding some additional antics to the process as well which was making Sophie laugh even more.  I love her giggle.

Sophie - 8/23/2016

Sophie ate waffle and pears for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of tuna & crackers, two servings of sweet potatoes, and two servings of mandarin oranges.

I mentioned this to Momma Molly yesterday, but Sophie hit her face on the climber outside in the afternoon and Cooper was doing all he could to "help" her and he really was trying to be sweet.  So I wiped the blood away and was snuggling her and Cooper tried distraction first;  he took off his shoe and asked, "You want to see how soft my shoe is?"  "Uhhh... no."  So then he asked, "You want me to rub your leg?"  "Uhhh...no."  When we were outside he asked again about the leg rub and this time she consented.  So he rubbed her leg for 5 seconds; "Is that better?"  "Uhhh...yes."  "You want me to rub your face?"  "Uhhh...no."  Ha!

I love this picture!  Sophie didn't want anyone interfering with her reading time so she moved the yellow bench right up against the book rack.  And she's laying claim to the book rack as well - note where her feet are resting!  Ha!  When I took this picture I was thinking she may belong to an exclusive Book Club - Membership of One!  :)

Here are two pictures of Cooper and Sophie playing with the Big Bears this morning.  They were tunneling through them - well at least Cooper was tunneling - and it was all the "rooms of their house."  And they spent some time "hiding" from Hudson as well.  Of course Hudson really had no idea he was involved in a game of hide-n-seek, but that little detail didn't concern Sophie and Cooper at all!  In the 2nd picture they each have a cell phone and they were really discussing what was on their individual phones.  I heard Cooper ask Sophie, "Do you want Reid's number?"  Isn't that cute.  When I look at the picture I'm thinking they are probably texting each other!!  (Sorry - that kind of humor dates myself right!?  Ha!)

Sophie - 8/22/2016

Sophie ate chex cereal and mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate the meat from her beef sandwich, drank two servings of tomato soup, and ate her pickled beets.

I wanted to mention something while I'm thinking about it and maybe it will be helpful in difficult times.  Whenever I am asking Sophie to cooperate and do something and she's being defiant, here's something that has been working real well for me at Daycare.  She LOVES being a "big girl" so I'll use that in the form of a sentence.  Example; Will you please get your shoes and put them on so we can go outside?  "NO!"  Ok Sophie, here's your choice; You can get your shoes like a big girl or I will get them for you and put them on you.  "I do it, I do it!"  So I'm giving her a choice that accomplishes what I need her to do, but also gives her some power in the process as well.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and it's probably not too difficult to guess what Sophie did first.  You know it's one of at least 3 things; dolls, books, or dress-up clothes.  Actually she did all three this morning of course!  The picture below shows the first thing and after that she was bringing me lots of food to eat.  Hot dogs, carrots, sandwich, etc.  Then she was asking me, "done, done?"  And then something to drink.

Hudson was playing with one of the masks and Sophie was watching him.  She was determined to put it on his face.  He stood very still for her and was letting her put it over his head.  Ok, except she got it on upside-down and so she just twisted it to fix it.  Ha!  Bubba was no longer standing still for that!

We also spent time outside this morning and chased a few bubbles.  It was a little windy at times and the bubbles would fly all over.  That actually is a fun time for them to chase bubbles as long as the wind doesn't blow too hard.

Sophie - 8/18/2016

Sophie ate toasted sandwich thin and two servings of cantaloupe for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey slice, maybe a bite or two of dinner roll, three servings of green beans, and three servings of mangoes.  When she arrived we were eating breakfast and the first thing she asked; "Cooper?"  Not today, he's still on vacation.  When she was just about done with breakfast she said, "I'm done.."  and she opened her mouth to show me it was empty.  Then she looked at her plate and ate every thing on her plate before she was really done.  :)

I got a phone call this morning from "Molli" who is leaving for College in Bozeman and wanted to find a good time to stop and say goodbye.  (She is a former attendee of Little Treasures.)  Sophie heard me say, "Hi Molli!"  and she was CERTAIN it was her Mommy Molly.  I said it was a different Molli and she said, "NO, Mine mine."  :)  Then there was another call from someone looking for Child Care and Sophie asked, "Who was it!?"

I was asking Sophie if Hudson was a boy or a girl?  "Girl."  (She was saying whichever I said "Last.") Is Avi a girl or a boy?  "Boy."  Is Nora a girl or a boy?  "Boy."  However, she did answer correctly for Mommy and Daddy.  Then I asked, Is Sophie a girl or a boy?  "Boy."  The best one of all: Is Gary a boy or a girl? "No."  Hahaha!  LOL

Here are some pictures from this morning.  She was reading and pulled the yellow bench up close to her so she could be alone.  Then shortly after that she was laying on the top shelf and Hudson was laying down for 3.5 seconds, but I couldn't get the picture fast enough before he took off.  :)  Then in the 3rd picture Sophie was playing with the dress-up clothes and Hudson joined her.  He was trying to get some shirts on and then stuck one on his head similar to what she was doing.  He took off across the room and Sophie was sure his shirt needed some adjustments.

Sophie - 8/16/2016

Sophie ate apricots and no blueberry bagel for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of chicken and whole wheat elbow noodles topped with shredded cheese.  She also ate peas and applesauce.  She arrived at Breakfast time and was so excited to show us her new sandals!  At the breakfast table I always ask the kids; "What'd you do last night?"  Sophie gave it some thought and said, "Uhhhmmm.. Movie Night."  Haha!  Love that answer!!  What a cutie!!

We were reading books and I asked Sophie what kind of bird was in the picture.  She only took a moment or two and remembered from last week;  "mingo!!!"  Good job Sophie!  Flamingo! She was super proud of herself and I was proud of her too.

In the first picture she is concentrating hard to take good care of her Baby and singing, "Good night Avi, good night Avi."  Hudson started singing, "night night, night night."  That was super cute!  Then Hudson moved over beside Sophie and grabbed the blanket she was wrapping her baby with.  Big Mistake!!  Her reaction was swift and furious!  That's sacred goods right there!  I quickly intervened because he was moving in for another attempt at stealing that precious blanket!  Geez!  :)

We were playing outside and Cooper and Sophie were taking turns standing at the bottom of the slide "catching" each other.  Ha!  Moments later I guess Sophie spotted a spider because Cooper yelled, "Sophie's afraid of spiders!"  Haha!  Now that's a classic case of the Pot calling the Kettle black!!  I didn't say anything, but just yesterday Cooper jumped up on the bench on the Patio to escape a dangerous granddaddy longlegs!!

Cooper was so excited this morning because he found at least 6 or seven dandelions for me to dig up. He was frantically yelling every time he spotted one.  Then he said, "It's a Dandelion Day!!"  Haha!  Yup!  The part I like best about this next picture - Sophie is watching and learning an important necessary skill here at Little Treasures!  Helping Gary control those stinking Dandelions!!  :)  Thanks for passing on these important skills Coop!!

Sophie 8/15/2016

Sophie ate raisin bran cereal and some dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she had bites of canadian bacon & cheese pizza, ate corn, and two servings of tropical fruit.

I was cleaning up the breakfast table and it certainly sounded like Sophie and Cooper were having lots of fun - she was laughing so hard.  (My favorite sound - children laughing - so genuine!) You can see where Cooper is positioned in the picture below and he was rocking the chair back-and-forth.  Every time Sophie's feet would bonk him in the face he'd say, "Doink....doink....doink....."

Then Cooper started spinning the chair with his feet and they were on to the next game.  Every time her feet would go by Cooper would tickle them.  After they were done with this game Sophie asked for me to read her a story.  I was in the middle of feeding Avi a bottle.  I frequently answer this common question with a question; "Does it look like I might be busy?"  And I always get the same answer; "No."  Haha!

Hudson and Sophie were playing in the same wagon outside and he was grabbing her foot.  I took this picture when she changed positions so he couldn't reach her feet.  You can see in the picture below she keeping a wary eye on him!  Ha!  Sophie also played with the ice cream carts and dump trucks up and down the sidewalk "going to the store."  She was primarily bringing back ice cream from the store.

Sophie - 8/10/2016

Sophie ate biscuit and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of baked beans, bite of dinner roll, ate peas, and two servings of pineapple.  Cooper didn't want baked beans and he said, "Give 'em to Sophie!"  Ha!

(These next two paragraphs and the first picture are also in Hudson's Blog - I warned you that might happen sometimes!!)  Sophie was trying to hold Hudson's hand while walking across the floor.  It was super cute, but not real successful because she was walking too fast.  He was totally cooperative; until she wanted to continue holding his hand when he was more interested in grabbing some toys.  :)

Hudson was watching Sophie drive some cars so he got one and started doing the exact same thing. It's amazing how much they learn from each other.  He's also watched her wrap her dolls many times.  So this morning he had one and was trying to wrap his baby.  It was so stinking cute!  Not a lot of finesse - the baby and blanket were frequently flying in opposite directions!!  Ha!

Cooper and Sophie were having fun burying each other under the pillows.  One thing I didn't get a picture of - (I was feeding Avi) - Sophie was sitting on Cooper's Tummy saying, "Walk walk walk, trot trot trot, gallopy gallopy gallopy...."  And bouncing up and down of course.  They were both laughing.  Hudson heard all the fun and came around the corner to investigate.  And, as you can see in the last picture, Avilene also came to watch.  Actually she didn't just watch, but started piling on Sophie too.

We also read lots of books and colored coffee filters at Art Time.  We were looking at a picture and I was asking the kids questions and they had to search the picture for an answer.  Sophie did awesome with that activity!  For example; I asked, "Who's sitting on the elephant's head?"  Sophie answered, "Mingo!"  Yup!  It's a Flamingo!  (We'd just read about the flamingos.)

Sophie - 8/9/2016

Sophie ate two servings of breakfast: waffles and hash browns.  For lunch she ate the cheese and chicken and left the quesadilla.  She also ate most of carrots and two servings of mandarin oranges.

After breakfast Sophie was playing on the step in front of the big gate.  She was jumping off both feet and landing on the floor on both feet - sailing a solid 5 inches!  :)  It was actually pretty impressive and they love it when they start being able to jump off of something.

We sang songs, did some sign language, practiced the shapes, read books, and watched the bears in the river wait for salmon.  I was pretty impressed with Sophie while doing sign language.  It's been a few weeks since we practiced the ones we do, but she remember pretty well.  i did the sign for "girl" and she answered first!!  Impressed!

Avilene was happily playing on the floor and I really didn't want to pester her, but Sophie was sitting on the couch patting her lap saying, "Lap lap lap lap...."  Which translated means, "I'd like to have Avi sit on my lap please."  Avi really doesn't care to snuggle, but we took advantage of her mellow disposition and I told Sophie she could hold Avi for a few short minutes.  And of course Cooper then wanted a turn.  :)  Thanks Avi!!  Avi doesn't look too distressed in the picture below!!

It rained hard for at least 20 Minutes this morning.  I took this picture when these three were watching it pound on the driveway.  While watching it rain Cooper said, "When I was a baby I didn't even know this could happen."  That's pretty cool.  And then we spotted a rainbow.  They were back at the window shortly after the rain stopped to watch LOTS of birds at the feeder and also on the ground picking up what they spilt.

Sophie - 8/8/2016

Sophie ate cheerios and most of banana serving for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a couple bites of cheese sandwich, two servings of tomato soup, and ate pickled beets.  She got up from the breakfast table singing so many different songs - singing enough of them that I could recognize them all.  "Twinkle Twinkle, ABC Song, I Did I Did I Did"  Is that one familiar!?!  Ha!  Cooper and I frequently sing a song about the "Iditarod Trail."  (Yearly sled dog race out of Alaska .)  "I did I did I did the Iditarod Trail...."  Then she had her dolls and was doing, "Walk walk, walk walk.."  The one Lauralea does with her.  She came to me saying another one Lauralea does; "Boston Boston Boston."

Baby Avilene is back from vacation and I was making a big deal out of her standing up - it's the first time we've seen it here.  Cooper said, "Sophie's standing up too!  She's big!"  Exactly!  And that's basically my point.  :)  So here's a picture of Avi AND Sophie both being BIG!!  In the 2nd picture Sophie is giving some more loves to Avilene!  Avi is receiving it quite well considering Sophie accidentally had poked Avi in the eye with her finger about 1 Minute before I took this picture!!  (So this picture gives you some insight into Avi's temperament!)

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and here's a picture of Cooper and Sophie playing with the cars and car ramps.  I brought in some extra cars from our outside supply.  Cooper really likes those because they work well with the car ramp toys.  As Sophie was running her cars down the ramp she was saying, "Watch this Gary, watch this."  :)

We also played outside and saw the Templeton family riding their bikes and heading for the Missoula-to-Lolo Trail.  Cooper was trying to figure out why they'd be riding their bikes to Lolo.  He asked, "Is there a Football game there?!"  Hahaha!!  Sophie was standing back being a little shy, but soon went to the gate for a "Reid love."  Precious.

Sophie - 8/4/2016

Sophie ate whole wheat english muffin and two servings of blueberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey, bites of sandwich thin, two servings of green beans, and two servings of strawberries.

The Health Nurse was here this morning checking to make sure all my Child Immunizations are up to date.  The kids did fine having a visitor and continued to play while she was here.  Sophie was playing with the dolls and singing "Night night Nora, Night night Nora, Night night Nora, nappy nappy now."  And she sang each verse through using these names as well;  "Daddy, Mommy, Gary, Avi, and Sula."

I thought I'd post these first two pictures because I think she has her head slightly tilted to the left.  However, she never complained once about pain or acted like it was bothering her.  And I never saw or heard anything that indicated she may be having some discomfort.

Cooper has been using the ball container for shooting some baskets.  I took this picture of Sophie when she was giving it a go.  Then she wanted me to drape the blanket over the geo-climber so she could play on it.  It was easy to know what she wanted; "This (point at blanket) on that climber."  (And she's pointing at the climber.)

Sophie - 8/1/2016

Sophie ate kix cereal and mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ham sandwich, peas, and two servings of mandarin oranges.  I reminded her at breakfast she couldn't get up from the table to wash until her mouth was empty of food.  So at lunch time when she was done eating she opened her mouth wide - "Ahhhhhh" so I could see - and said, "Empty."  Isn't that cute?  (That was without me reminding her.)  Good job Sophie.

Also at lunch time Cooper was washing his hands when he suddenly yelled, "LOOK HOW BIG THAT SPIDER IS!!"  And boy was he right!!  A huge one what headed across the floor and it was actually near where Sophie was already seated and eating.  Even after I got rid of it she still moved her plate and slid down to the other end of the table.  Cooper, on the other side of the table, kept his feet up on the bench.  I don't think his feet touched the floor while he was eating!  :)  And he kept wondering how that spider got in the house!

Sophie had this frog suit draped over her head and I said, "Hey frog."  She answered, "Ribbit!"  Haha!  Good one Sophie!  Look at that dimple!  Then she was talking on the phone to "Mommy."  So she wanted me to talk to "Mommy."  Then "Daddy."  Then "Nora."  Then Sula."  So I talked to the entire Family.  :)

I put the blanket over the geo-climber and Cooper and Sophie were sliding down through the holes.  Hudson was playing on the ground underneath them.  We were also outside when the Health Nurse called to let me know she is coming on Thursday to make sure I have the children's immunization records up to date.  Sophie spotted a daddy long leg spider while I was on the phone and she was screaming "Spider spider spider!!"  Haha!  The Nurse probably thought she'd better come right now!