August 30, 2008 Missouri versus Illinois - Go Mizzou!

"M-I-Z-Z-O-U!" Go Mizzou!

Sophia is our future cheerleader decked out in her Mizzou cheerleader uniform. We hung out with our friends Chris and Vicki as we watched the MO vs IL game this weekend at their house. Sophia loved playing with their daughter Kelly and her friend. She loved being the center of attention with the pre-teens and I think the girls enjoyed playing with her.

Scott added this lovely little cheerleader dress to Sophia's wardrobe so she would have some spirit and help cheer on Missouri as they beat Illinois. For those who don't know, my husband is a "HUGE" Mizzou fan even though neither of us went there for college. He claims that since he went to UMSL for his Master's Degree that counts. I think that is pretty funny logic but if it makes him happy that is fine. I guess he will be encouraging Sophia to go to school there.

In case you missed it, you can check out the score on the gadget that Scott added to the right of this post.

For those of you unfamiliar with the big rivalry between MO and IL, this is the Big game of the year to watch. It is tough to get tickets to see it. It is played every year at the start of the college football season downtown in the dome.

August 28, 2008 Parents as Teachers 1st Birthday Party

Parents as Teachers held a First Birthday Party for all the babies in the Wentzville School District turning one year old in September 2008. We took Sophia to this fun-filled event. As you will notice during the slide show above, she had a blast. The district had many age-appropriate activities for the children to do. Some of these included crawling through a colorful tube into the party. There was a sand table with plastic animals for the babies to explore. Each baby was encouraged to make a textile discovery box that included scraps of fabric with different textures, a crinkle red vellum type paper, a sponge and various other textiles. The kids loved the boxes. Sophia kept trading her fabrics with her other little pals sitting next to her. One of her friends from our playgroup was there, Ayla. There was another station where the babies could roll a large ball. Sophia enjoyed that while crawling across the floor. In addition, there was also a kiddie pool filled with cut-apart pool noodles that she loved holding in her hands along with various farm animals. We also sat in a circle and sang "Old Mc Donald Had a Farm". This is Sophia's new favorite song. She chimes in on the "EE-I-EE-I-O" and claps. She especially loved making the duck "quack quack" sound. Each of the children received a farm animals picture book wrapped up in wrapping paper that Sophia is opening in the picture. They also had a snack of Cheerios and Saltines. Sophia sat up without help in the little preschooler chair at the little table. I was so proud of her. She was able to do everything they had for the kids to do.

August 28, 2008 Finally got the laptop back...

So, the laptop has finally made it back home from the computer shop so I am catching up on the blog. This is only the second time in two months, it needed parts. At least, it is still under warranty until Sophia turns one.
We played at home for a while today.

Here, Sophia has figured how to use the couch to stand up in the family room.

I am afraid it is only days until she figures out walking......
I have been told by several friends, that is when the real fun begins, chasing her all over the house.

August 25, 2008 St. Louis Zoo

St. Louis Zoo

Below is a slideshow of our trip.



Scott has a week of vacation so we decided to check out some of the local places.

Scott and I took Sophia to the St. Louis Zoo on Monday. We had a blast and spent the entire day there. Sophia stayed awake throughout almost the entire visit. In Big Cat Country we watched the new baby tiger cubs that were born in April 2008. We took lots of pictures of them playing with their mother. We strolled into the birdhouse. Sophia had to check out the Kookaburra so she would know what I was singing about when I sing the Kookaburra song to her. She waves "Hi!" to the animals in several shots. Of course, no trip to the zoo would be complete without experiencing the Jungle of the Apes. I think Scott really enjoyed watching the Apes in their habitat. We took turns taking her on the carousel. After that we watched the bears play. Following that, we chilled in the penguin and puffin cove. Towards the end of the day, Scott took Sophia on the train and she finally surrendered to the sand man. She missed the River's Edge with the swimming hippos, elephants, and cheetahs. Don't worry though, we videotaped the whole trip too so Sophia will be able to watch it over and over and recap the parts she loved and see the habitats she missed.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

August 22, 2008 Playtime Party Center Fun

Today Sophia and I went to Playtime Party Center in Wentzville, Missouri.
They have climbing areas, slides, and crawl through tunnels.

Pictured here you will see Sophia crawling through the tube.

This is the first time she has been to Playtime Party Center since she has learned to crawl.



Check out the above Slideshow!!

11 Months and Counting or should I say Crawling....

Sophia is 11 months old today. My little baby girl is growing up so fast. I can’t believe it is only one month until she is one year old.

Some things she started today are as shown in the following photographs.

We started out today by having raisins and cereal. Sophia not only took raisins out of the box, she put them back into the box after she spilled them on her highchair tray. She usually, just eats them right from the tray or swipes them onto the floor for me to clean up.

Our Parents as Teachers Educator, Michelle came to visit with Sophia. I told Sophia that Miss Michelle was bringing her toys and coming over to our house to play again like she did a few months ago. The school year has begun and therefore so has the Parents As Teachers program. It is a great program and I learn so many things that I can teach Sophia. Sophia has changed so much since our educator was here in May.

Michelle had an egg carton for Sophia to sort tiny rubber ducks into and place pom poms into the cups. I was telling Michelle that Sophia plays with her rubber ducks in the tub so she knows what those are and tries to say “Quack, Quack!” Sophia chimed in from the prompt, “Glack Glack!” Sophia pronounces the duck sounds “Glack Glack”. We both laughed. It is the only animal sound she knows so far although we are working on other animals. She also read books and played with the “Very Hungry Caterpiller” toys. She quickly bored of those since we have read that book a hundred times. However, she did enjoy the book about “Ten In The Bed.” As each of the animals fell out of bed in the story, she laughed as if she understood that it was funny animals were falling out of the bed. I really don’t think she “understood” it was funny, she just thought she was supposed to laugh. All in all it was a fun hour. Sophia is right on target for hitting the milestones for 8 months to 14 months and in some cases a little ahead which is great. I am so proud of my little girl.

She played on the floor with her toys for a while after lunch and in a split moment while I was browsing the internet, she crawled out of sight. I looked over where she had been sitting playing with her toys and freaked out. She was very quiet. Then, I heard her rounding the corner down the hallway near her bedroom towards me making her way into the office where I was. So, I turned it into a quick game of Hide and Seek. She found me by listening to me call to her. She was excited that she found me.

Shortly thereafter, she also did something I wasn’t expecting. She was playing in her play yard while I went outside to water the flowers. When I came back in she was pulling herself up to a stand. I couldn’t believe my eyes. When did my baby learn to stand? Of course, I documented it with the camera as usual.

She mailed the junk mail in the little cardboard post office box.

We also played “Follow the Leader” on the floor. I got down on hands and knees and crawled around on the floor. We did this yesterday while I was scrubbing the baseboards. Today we let Brandy our dog play too. So they lined up behind me Brandy and then Sophia, and we crawled all over the house. It was great fun for the dog and Sophia and I got some more housework done while entertaining them.

For dinner Sophia tried meatloaf and green beans for the first time. She loved it and ate every bite.

We attempted to take her 11 month bear picture but as you can see she wouldn’t lay down and be still anymore. It seems it is getting more difficult to take these pictures each month. She wanted to crawl away out of the picture.

August 18, 2008 You are on you own sweet baby girl

Okay, so here is the bottle.......................

It is just not the same cuddling with a bottle.

Sophia is no longer nursing. I feel so guilty and sad, but it was time. I know she has received the most benefit out of the breast milk by nursing for so long. I have been weaning her back one feeding each week until this weekend. I officially stopped nursing her on Sunday August 17. She is almost 11 months and getting teeth. Need I say more? She has two bottom teeth about half-way visible. The top two front teeth are right at the gums so I expect them to cut through any day.

It will be okay mommy.....

Iam so proud of her crawling around so fast and entertaining herself for short periods of time. I love being a mom and taking care of my dear sweet Sophia. You are such a big girl.

August 13, 2008 Sophia is Crawling!

This morning Sophia was playing with her toys on the floor and looked over and saw her bicycle helmet.















She looked at it, got up on her knees and crawled straight to it like a pro.

















Then, she looked at me as if thinking, "Hey Mom, Did you see that? I just crawled!"








I clapped and cheered for her. "GO, GO GO!"






A big smile spread across her face as she grabbed the helmet and tried to put it on her head.








I knew what she was telling me, let's go for a baby tricycle ride.




So, I strapped on her helmet, scooped her up, and we walked outside.

She was smiling from ear to ear.

Here she is riding along the golf cart path for the first time.

Here comes Sophia. She is on the move now in her cute little bicycle helmet.

Okay, so I am really proud of Sophia and all her accomplishments lately, but I also feel sad because my sweet little baby is growing up so quickly. She will soon be a a toddler and although it is great, she will be less and less dependent on me as time goes by. I love you dearest Sophia and I want you to grow into a beautiful self-sufficient little girl.

August 12, 2008 Ordinary Household Items Make Fun Toys

This morning I let Sophia play with some different things. She played with my mixing spoons and cooking spatulas.

She enjoyed banging on her highchair tray with them and mixing the air with them. She also learned it was fun to bang them together and make noise.

After breakfast, Sophia played on the floor with stacking blocks, just plain old tissue boxes.

Who knew they made great lightweight building blocks. She enjoyed knocking down the blocks and stacking them and tossing them. What an inexpensive fun little creative way to entertain a baby.

Oh look, even Brittany got into the action.

While waiting for Daddy to get home from work, Sophia decided to ride her baby tricycle around the family room.