February has been wonderful and busy.... let's start with that our sweet girl turned TWO!
She is such a big girl and loves to talk about becoming a big sister soon! Her favorite books these days are "All By Myself" (her approach to doing everything these days) and "I'm a Big Sister!" (also appropriate for big change coming soon!) Since turning 2 a few weeks ago, she already has being a two year old down pat.... from tears and tantrums when Mom/Dad say 'no' to chocolate for dinner to growing in her independence - sitting on the potty (nothing coming out yet but she loves to practice!), climbing up and down from her changing table (which is soon to be moved out for little bro to use), helping Mom unload the dishwasher, set the table with silverware & napkins, cleaning up the cat's messes....she is my little HELPER in every way! So blessed for her cheerful, "oh sure!" when asked to help in some way. She puts her breakfast dishes (that aren't glass) in the sink, throws her diapers in the bathroom or trash depending on cloth or overnight disposable (I have to be careful she doesn't get these mixed up - I have found more than one cloth diaper in the trash!), can start the washer/dryer on her own (whether I am ready for her to or not) :) and so many other things. Sophia continues to listen so well and we spend very little time in time out for the normal behavioral development stuff. The tears are most likely when it is time for nap, bed, or food... which is normal for us parents too. :) Sophia is a sensitive soul, she worries if someone else gets hurt and is quite emotional herself. She is loving, sweet, and cautious. She is like her Mama in that it takes a bit to come out of her shell and is shy around those she doesn't know well. She loves to be part of older kid's play and will gladly follow them around (if it isn't too rowdy or loud). :) She is in heaven any time she is around her cousins in Jamestown and whether it is Monday lunch at school with the girls, lunch after church with the whole gang, or play time with O and Aunt Meg while I am at my dr appts, she beams with excitement.
She has firmly nicknamed herself "CiCi" whether it was out of not being able to pronounce Sophia we don't know, but it has caught on and she is CiCi most of the time. Never in a million years did that name run through our minds as we named her Sophia but we love it.
Though we are still praying for some dairy sensitivities to resolve as she ages, we have seen some improvement with recent exposure in the form of hard cheese (Parmesan), butter, and crackers w cheese flavor (goldfish, etc). She continues to love her veggies, meat not so much (esp. chicken) and would pick broccoli or blueberries over chicken nuggets any day of the week. She loves beans, peas, broccoli, oatmeal (her breakfast every day w cinnamon & honey), blueberries, strawberries, bananas, PICKLES, jelly (tolerates the peanut or almond butter I combine it with on sandwiches), eggs, noodles, rice, soy yogurt and drinks water like its her job. She would gladly take juice but it is offered very rarely and if then, watered down significantly. Sometimes I have to wait to give her water in her cup during dinner because she will just down it and I'm always afraid there won't be room left for the food! And its not like she doesn't drink throughout the day! At least I never need worry about dehydration. She does not care for any form of liquid milk, whether cow (which is good b/c she can't have it), almond, soy, hemp, coconut, etc. She does drink almond milk in smoothies. She loves tacos and that is about the only time she will eat meat by the spoonful - I buy organic, local grass fed beef from our farmer's market and make my own taco seasoning so I do not limit how much of that she eats! She hates coconut in every form, truly Eric's child. I can never get enough coconut in my life. She has discovered chocolate (held her out quite a long time!) and loves having two chocolate chips as a treat or dessert. Since she has such a limited intake of sugar, a little goes a long way, which is kind of nice. When I told her to say "Cheese!" the first face is what I got. :)
Sophia's favorite game right now is hide and seek. She loves to be the one to hide and will run off squealing as you cover your eyes to count to 10. The cutest part is that as we go to find her and say, "Where's CiCi? Where's Sophia? Is she under the bed? Is she in the dresser?" She will respond with her little voice saying, "no" or "nuh huh" to our incorrect guesses. It is so funny and we love it. Often the FIRST thing she says to Eric as he walks in the door from work, "MORE HIDE?!" :)
She has been in a great sleeping groove of which we do NOT take for granted! We added a pillow & blanket before Christmas and it has been amazing. Her bedtime is 7-7:15 pm and she sleeps soundly until anywhere from 5:30-7 am at which point we let her come cuddle with us in the bed. :) Today she woke up at 7 am having gone to bed at 7:15 pm last night and when we pulled up the monitor to see what she was doing, she was jumping in the bed, waiting to be gotten out. She naps in the afternoon usually 12:30 - 3 pm give or take a bit.
We listen to music in the car, a kids worship cd and she has many of the 20 songs memorized. Not only that, but will request certain songs and can tell us based on the first 5 notes whether it is indeed the song she requested (if we forget which number it is and try to find it for her). Her love for music and ear for it is so fun. She knows and loves quite a repertoire, everything from God is so good to ABC's to Itsy-Bitsy Spider to Trust & Obey. The more actions that go with them, the better. :)
She is spunky, sensitive, and such a helper. We continue to be amazed how our love grows!
