March 1, 2009 America's Inredible Pizza Co

Sophia has been potty training for a few months now and I am ready for her to be completely done with it so I started giving her incentives to go on the potty. The incentive I chose was a sticker chart. She loves stickers or as she calls them "tickos". Each time she finishes a week on the sticker chart, she gets a small reward. The first one was a big reward because I needed to teach her she would get surprises if she does well. Our first special reward was a day with mommy and daddy at America's Incredible Pizza Co. I thought she would enjoy this and I was right. We asked Grandma to join in our special day and come have lunch and play with us.

Sophia and her daddy walked hand in hand into the Pizza place. There was excitement in the air as they trotted along headed for the unknown world awaiting them.  It was really neat inside how they had several different themed rooms that you could choose.  We chose the Drive-In and watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on the Big Screen in the dark while eating lunch with Grandma and Roger.  The walls were painted as if illuminated by the sunset as if you were at a drive-in movie.  After stuffing ourselves full of food, we ventured out into the play area.  There was an area especially for Sophia called Tiny Town. We spent all of our time in that area as Sophia checked out the fun.  As of the last couple weeks, Sophia has been interested in forms of transportation. She likes to call them "Go Gos".  The reason she calls them Go Gos is because of her Baby Signs video which talks about how cars go, trains go, airplanes go, and boats go.  So she has decided to call them all "Go Gos".  I think it is cute but I am always careful to teach her the correct word following her exclamation of a "Go Go!"  I follow up and ask, what kind of Go Go are we looking at?  Then, I tell her the answer so he learns to differentiate the different types of Go Gos.  her favorite were the cars. We spent a lot of time riding the cars.  She flew up in the helicopter but kept going back to the cars over and over again.  She was terrified of the carousel and the racehorse. She wanted nothing to do with those this time.  I was surprised that she didn't want to ride those, but I didn't force her.   A great time was had by all as we watched Sophia playing in the ride on toys.  right before we left, the Bounce House area was clear of all kids except one girl so we finally broke down and let her go in and bounce. I wasn't going to let her on it at all with the dozens of older kids bouncing around inside it. With only one other girl, I wasn't so worried. The girl's mother told her to watch out for the baby and be really careful and so they played together in the Bounce House.  Sophia loved it as you will see from the photos. They are the ones where she looks like she is bouncing on a red balloon.  I think she truly enjoyed her day out with mom and dad and Grandma. We will definitely be going back there for more fun and food in the near future.  

February 27, 2009 Zoomagination Station

Filling the bird feeders at the bird seed station. There were little stuffed birds that landed in the bird seed table for the children to feed.  
Max and Sophia playing with the water animals at the water table.

Sophia looking excited about all the play stations in the Zoomagination Room
A quick moment of reflection as mommy told Sophia that the house was to recycle the things we use like we saw Curious George do on TV.  The recycle bins were located out in back of this play house.

Sophia is showing me the sign for "Wash Hands" and demonstrating how to wash hands in the mini sink.

Sophia checking out her size to see how tall she is.  She selected the King Penguin as the one that was her size. I have to admit, I think he was the closest in size to my daughter.

Gotcha!  
You can't get away Giraffe.

Oh no!  Who let the animals escape from their habitats?  Sophia, can you catch them and we will get them back in their respective homes?

A quiet moment as Sophia looks at the amazing animals and reflects upon what she is seeing in real life.

The slide show of all the photos taken today is below for all to see.

Today we went to the Zoomagination station with our playgroup friends.   The zoo has this each year.  Several stations are set up around the room for the children to play, explore and discover.  Sophia enjoyed it more than last year because she could take an active part in exploring the different stations and learning while playing at each station.  I really think she got a lot out of this experience and look forward to many more learning opportunities such as this for her to explore  and learn through her experiences.  After the class was over, we strolled around the zoo and viewed the animals in their real live habitats. Althought it was cold outside, we were comfortable in our warm down winter coats.  Sophia and I really enjoyed our cold day at the zoo.

February 21, 2009 Moving into a New Mini House courtesy of Great Grandma

Sophia checking out the real moving shutters that Great Grandma made for her.

Wow! Look at those curtains in the window and the bricks on the outside hand drawn by Great Grandma.

There is a happy little girl proud of her Great Grandma's handiwork.

In this photo, Uncle Mike is showing her the little cardboard house and holding the door as she goes in and out. 

Everyone know that children love to play in boxes even more so than the toys that are received inside those boxes. As a child, I had my fair share of boxes used as toys.  One in particular comes to mind which was a very large appliance box that my grandmother, Sophia's Great Grandmother shown here in the photos had placed in her sunroom on her back porch that I spent numerous hours playing in as a child. I believe my uncle cut windows in it for me, but it has been so long ago that I don't remember all the details very well.  I am sure it was nothing as clever as the story, I am about to tell you. 

So, you can imaging my surprise when I learned Grandma had a new cardboard miniature home for Sophia.  Everyone in my family had been telling me that Great Grandma had a surprise she has been working on for Sophia for several weeks.  They wouldn't tell me what it was.   With us having been so sick, we hadn't been to Great Grandma's house for a few weeks.  I had no idea what was in store for us when we arrived.  I was thinking when mom told me that Great Grandma had been hard at work on something, she meant that Great Grandma had crocheted some precious little socks, or colorful mittens, or maybe even a soft snuggly blanket or a warm wooly scarf.  Other thoughts went through my mind, maybe she made Sophia a hand-made quilt or maybe some other crafty thing.  My grandma has been known to come up with many whimsicle creations in the past.  

After dinner, we were all called into the other room and my brother and Great Grandma hauled out the miniature cardboard box play house especially for Sophia.  I was stunned!  I couldn't believe my eyes!  Great Grandma had really surprised Sophia.   My ideas were completely off course. I had no idea that my Grandmother had made Sophia the sweetest little house out of a cardboard box.  Grandma, being one to recycle before recycling was such a popular thing for the environment, made Sophia's Radio Flyer wagon box into a new play home for Sophia complete with pictures of dogs and bears on the walls, 3-D flower boxes on the windows and flowers cut from magazines outside on the bottom edge of the box as well as a mailbox and even a roof with skylights and puff of smoke chimney.  Even Sophia's favorite furry red monster, Elmo had a picture on the house.  There was a tiny doorknob made out of an old sewing thread spool which was just the perfect size for Sophia's hand to open the door. As Sophia grabbed the tiny door handle to open the little door, a key jingled on the handle. Sophia was intrigued by the tiny mailbox attached right inside the door with mail addressed inside for her to read.  Not only did the little house have a mailbox, there was also a small stool inside for Sophia to sit on.  The windows adorned with tiny shutters and curtains made of very wide ribbon were as sweet as they could be.  Sophia loved peeking out the window at her Great Grandmother and playing peek-a-boo with all the adults in the room.  Sophia loved her tiny house!  She played with it for hours as we sat talking and taking enormous amounts of photos some of which can be viewed in the slide show below.  My brother has even more which maybe at a later date, I will be able to post.   I can say this, my cardboard box houses never looked like this. At most if any decorations, they might have had a cut-out window  and some crayon colors on the walls.  Sophia you are loved by all and make sure to thank your Great Grandma again when you see her. She put a lot of time and thought into that sweet little house and you get all the benefit of her thoughtfulness. She truly thought of every little detail a girl would love.  Great Grandma, you made a little girl smile today.  Thanks for all your hard work and creativity. Sophia will want to come back and play with her little house at your house very soon, I am sure. I hope Mom shows you this story so you will know it is published for Sophia to read about some day and hopefully remember. 

February 14, 2009 Sweets for my Sweeties on Valentine's Day

With Sophia sick with the flu so we had a nice stay at home Valentine's evening complete with a Valetine's pizza party and lots of goodies for Sophia.  That is why she looks really pale. It is because she had a fever and spent literally the whole day sleeping.  We gave her some Ibuprofen and she barely made it through opening her surprises before she wanted to go back to bed.

Sophia is giving us a little attitude as is evidenced above while trying on her new hair bows that she received for Valentine's Day.  

 

Sophia picked out this card for her daddy while we were shopping last week. I told Sophia that we needed to pick out a nice card for daddy for Valentine's Day.  I pushed the shopping cart near the cards and Sophia exclaimed, "Go Go!  Go Go!"  Sophia calls all moving vehicles whether they are cars or trains "Go Gos".  So I knew immediately that she liked the Thomas the Train engine card.  That is the one she wanted for her daddy.  It was so sweet that she picked it out all by herself for her father.  She just knew he would love this card.  I made sure daddy knew that Sophia chose it all by herself.   

In this photo Sophia is opening up all her surprises for Valentine's day from her father and me.  Sophia loves bears so as a result she got a bear and some coloring books too.

I love this picture because Sophia has such a funny expression as she tries on her new heart shaped bracelets.  She loves these little bracelets.  

Slideshow can be seen below.

February 14, 2009 My Funny Valentine

Sophia has been sick and so we had a stay-at-home Valentine's Day for us.   I love this photo because Scott is showing Sophia the Valentine Heart filled with candy.  Sophia likes the sparkles on the front of the box.

  A special side note.  In the picture you see a little Valentine's heart over her shoulder.  Her grandfather, my dad gave her this sweet little stuffed heart and she loves it. You can tell her to go get the heart and she does.  She gives it kisses and hugs. It is just so cute the way she is so affectionate with her stuffed toys.   She knows what heart is.

February 13, 2009 Playgroup Valentine Party Goodies

Sophia was very sick and had to miss our playgroup Valentine's Day Party.  We were really bummed because we wanted to see all of our friends.  

One of the nice moms Jennifer was so thoughtful to run by the house and pick up and drop off Sophia's Valentine's.  She brought a huge smile to a sick miserable baby's face today.  Thanks again for being so thoughtful!  As you can see Sophia is checking out the goodies above:  play-doh, a kazoo, candy, marshmallows, and lots of Valentine's cards.

  I am sorry we didn't have more to share with the kids. Once I knew Sophia had the flu, I didn't get any food or anything extra to share because I knew we weren't going to go.

Wow!  What is this?  Thanks everybody this looks like fun.

Making some music!  

Yummy!  Thanks goes out to Sarah, Jonah, and Leah for the yummy treat.

January 9, 2009 Crash Helmet, Being Silly, Wish We Could go out

Can we go out to play?                                                Ha Ha! Look at me!

Sophie Doll riding Sophia's Tricycle

Make sure to put her "hat" helmet on just like mommy makes you wear hat on the bicycle.

Sophia on her Kangaroo Climber with her crash helmet on...

Sophia was walking around fussing a bit and looking mad. She kept going around in circles and then it occured to me what she was doing. She was looking for something. But what? Well, a short while later, I knew what she wanted. She walked to towards her coat and grabbed her hat off of the rack. Scott and I were wondering what in the world is she doing as we sat watching her. I had already gotten her pajamas on and she was ready for bed or maybe not. I thought when I saw her grab her coat and that she wanted to go outside or go shopping or something. Well, I was wrong......She must have been looking for her bike helmet so she could ride her tricycle. Instead, she grabbed her winter hat. To her, it is all the same, it is a "hat". She knows she is supposed to wear a helmet anytime she rides our tricycle or mommy's bicycle. So, of course, in a toddler's eyes, it makes sense that she could put on her winter hat. It has a chin strap and everything just like her bicycle helmet, I guess that will work. So, I helped her straighten it and attach the strap after she put it on her head. Then, she ran over to her tricycles. She grabbed her Sophie doll and put her on the tricycle. Then, she put her helmet on the Sophie doll's head. Then, Sophia got on the tricycle with Sophie doll. She had a plan and she was taking Sophie doll for a ride on her tricycle. Scott and I were laughing at the whole thing. When, she was done with the tricycle riding, she still wanted the winter hat on so I didn't make her take it off.

So, she walked over to the patio door and looked out into the dark night. I wonder what she was thinking.

She then, decided to climb on her Kangaroo Climber and entertain her father and I with her silly costume of pjs and winter hat while playing peek-a-boo.

February 8, 2009 Magic Laundry Basket Rides and Chores

So as any mom would agree doing the household chores is never fun. "Yet, with a todder sometimes, they can be just a bit more tolerable, when you have a happy little helper enjoying them with a huge smile on her face.  I told Sophia that mommy had to do the laundry before I went to work.  I told her to go get the laundry basket from my bedroom and she could help me unload the washer.  She was so excited that she ran straight to my room and climbed into the laundry basket for a ride. We often take "Magic Basket Rides" around the house on days when we are stuck inside. So, she hurried into the basket so mommy could pull her to the laundry room.  She loves helping mommy pull the clothes our of the dryer and picking up the ones that fall to the floor. Today she decided to sit in the basket and catch the clothes inside. She even hid down inside the clothes as is demonstrated by her peeking out of the pile of her clean clothes.  

It is moments like this that make a mom smile and grab a camera.  It just makes household chores a little bit better. I don't mind laundry as much when Sophia helps me. 

February 5, 2009 Cooking with Mom and Brandy Dog

Here Mom, I will get the food out of the oven.

Or maybe I will just catch the dog with your cooking mitts

I was baking a lasagna and I had these on the counter. Sophia found these huge mittens intriguing and pulled them down off the counter top for a little fun. She enjoyed entertaining our dog Brandy with them as well.  I am so glad I have more than one set of these so that I could get dinner out of the oven without burning myself.  Obviously, I never expected Sophia and the dog to have so much fun with these.

February 2 , 2009 Messy Food is Always the Best

Sophia really knows how to make a Big Mess when it comes to eating.  I thought this one was worth documenting.  I gave her some Chef Boyardee
Mini Raviolis today for a quick lunch.  She enjoyed them and mixed in some fish crackers. She did use her spoon a little and is getting better at using it each day.

As you can see the bowl has disappeared in the last photo.  Can you guess where it ended up?

February 2, 2009 Happy Valentine's Day from Grandma

Grandma is going out of town to the Caribbean and she will be gone on Valentine's Day so she brought Sophia a surprise early.  Here is Sophia standing here showing off her balloon and surprise.  She loved the balloon the best of all. She also has a bucket and a cute little plush dog and a card.  Grandma also got some Care Bear Valentine's for Sophia to hand out to her friends for the Valentine's party.  Sophia loves to watch Care Bears early on Sunday morning so Grandma searched high and low and found Care Bear Valentines.  

For the whole experience see the slide show below.

January 30, 2009 "I BE GOOD"

We have no pictures for today but we do have a new phrase.  Yes, you got it a phrase.  Sophia was running around the house making me crazy taking everything apart that I was cleaning up. I would pick up her toys and put them in the storage bins only to find less than 5 minutes later she had taken everything out and put it all over the floor.  The same went for her hair bows, several other toys that have several parts, her zoo, her puzzles and so on.  I was getting really frustrated. I was trying to get everything picked up so I could make dinner and get ready to go to work.   I told her she was going to have to take her nap now because she wasn't being a good girl. I picked her up and put her in her bed. I rarily punish her because she is usually a very good child.  I also try never to associate her bed with anything negative.  It just so happened that it was really naptime or a little after and she was being destructive.  So, I told her it was naptime and calmly put her in her bed. She started crying and fussing. Then, she looked me straight in the eye and said, " I BE GOOD." and she repeated it, "I BE GOOD! I BE GOOD!" I looked at her and couldn't believe what I was hearing. She was telling me she would be good I guess so she could get back out of bed.  

Until now, she has not used any three word phrases.  I was stunned. A year ago at 4 months on January 7 she said her first word "milk".  I knew then I had a smart child on my hands. Not only is milk a hard word for a baby to say, it is not a common word for a baby so young to understand.  Kids don't usually talk that early.  Three word phrases in context, how could this be? Whatever am I going to do with a kid speaking in three word phrases at 16 months?  I guess I will have to stay one step ahead of her and challenge her.  Apparently, she is smarter than I realize.  

It was so cute the way she looked at me and said, " I BE GOOD!"  that I just had to stop myself for a second and give her a big hug and kiss. I will never forget her first word a year ago or the look on her face when she told me she would be good.  Of course, it is not hard to figure out what happened next, I took her out of her bed and said, "I understand you Sophia. You will be good for mommy so I will let you stay up a little longer. Please do not destroy the house and I will turn on Babies for you meaning the DVD "Baby Signing Time", her very favorite DVD.   She was so excited that "Babies" was coming on the TV that she nearly jumped out of my arms with delight. She kept her promise, she was good and didn't undue anything else that I cleaned up this evening.  Her daddy put her to bed at 7pm which is way early, but that is okay. I better hit the sack before I stay up all night and can't function in the morning. I know Sophia will be up bright and early since she went to bed at 7pm.  Good Night!  

January 28, 2009 Grandma's Old Rocking Chair

The Old Baby Rocking Chair has been passed down to Sophia from her Grandma and Great Grandma.

This rocking chair has somehow made it through 3 generations. My mother rocked in this chair as a small child. I played with it as well and can remember rocking in it when I was younger. I do remember it being broken at some point but have no recollection of breaking it. I do know that Mike, Nicholas, and I played on it as we ran through my grandmother's house as kids. My father miraculously repaired it recently for Sophia.  The arm was completely off and the wood was really rough. Dad was able to sand it down and repair the very badly damaged arm.  I couldn't believe it was all back in one piece for my dearest Sophia considering I took it over to him in pieces. I didn't hold out a lot of hope for anyone to fix it.  If anyone could fix it, I knew my dad could fix it and he did.   I have learned over the years that my dad can fix just about anything. 

It took a while for Sophia to warm up to this chair. I have put her in it several times over the last few weeks and she always screams and cries "Mum,Mum, Up!"  She is not a fan of moving objects.  I have been putting her dolls in the rocking chair everyday.  Everyday she throws them off of the chair and onto the carpet.  She doesn't want her dolls in the chair either.  
Tonight was different.  I had just prepared her for bed by putting on her warm footed pajamas seen here and reading books.   After we finished reading books, she got down off my lap and looked at this rocking chair and sat down. I sat on the floor rocking her in it and singing songs. "Rock a bye baby on the tree top....Down will come Sophia cradle and all."  Here she looks happy. I am not sure if she is laughing at my horrible singing or if she is just happy to be rocking in the chair.  We all love you.   Sophia love and enjoy that old rocking chair now that it is back in one piece, it is yours darling.  I am such a sentimental sap for stuff like this. I am not sure why, but I have a very strong attachment to this little chair.