It's started...

...the temper tantrums. Sophie was playing with an old cell phone, and when it flipped closed, she couldn't get it open again. She kept getting frusterated with this, and I'd help her sometimes and sometimes would just leave her to either figure it out or move on to something else. Well, after a minute, she instead just sat there and cried and screamed about it. I picked her up, and she kept screaming. I decided she wasn't hurt or sick, because a second ago she had stopped crying when I flipped the phone open again. She was just mad (and maybe tired to go with it). So I changed her diaper and threw her in her bed with some books (okay, I didn't literally throw her). She stopped crying and has been quiet now for a while.

She was going to have to get up early from nap today anyway so I could get my hair cut, so going down for nap early wasn't a bad thing. Maybe she just wanted to be alone. She loves sitting in her bed with books, and I can't blame her. I do too. If she sleeps, great. If she doesn't, that's her choice and it means an earlier afternoon nap time. Even after she stops taking morning naps, she's still going to have an hour or so in her bed in the mornings. It gives her some quiet time and me some personal time. It's good for both of us.

She's in that transition stage from baby to toddler, and I'm trying to keep up. I'm finding I'm having to discipline her now, because she's starting to test the boundaries and has the critical thinking skills to learn when something is okay and not okay. She's getting good at it. For example, when we color, I've repeatedly instructed her that crayons stay on the table and that she can't crawl around with them. Now you can see she starts to hesitate when she sits down with a crayon still in her hand...you can see the thought process of "I'm not suppose to have this on the floor." She may still do it, but the hesitation is a step in the right direction. Now when I say "crayons on the table," she immediately stands back up at the table with her crayons. It amazes me how much she understands, even though she doesn't say very many words. She can say some words though, and she's getting good with her baby sign language.

Aunt Shelly's going to come babysit tomorrow night while Andy and I go to a wedding. I think she'll have a good time, because she likes Aunt Shelly.

Sophie's 1st Tooth!!!

As most of you know, I fretted that Sophie may have to be outfitted with baby dentures. But now, at 12 months of age, she finally is getting a tooth! It's the bottom front right one. She doesn't seem bothered by it...no sleepless nights or insatiable crying. If anything, she's more tired that usual. I don't know if it's because she's able to cope with it better at 12 months than at an earlier age or if she just doesn't feel much discomfort. I'm not going to ask too many question though and just be happy with my luck.

You can barely see it in this picture (sorry for the food all over her face...it was dinnertime). In person, you can see this little white thing and you sure can feel it.

Now probably all the rest will pop through at the same time. She never has had trouble eating with no teeth...she's a master at biting with her gums.

Anyway, that's the excitement in our lives. We did have a dramatic moment this evening (dramatic for Sophie, funny for me). She has this toy that's a stuffed Tigger sitting in a little car. You pull Tigger's tail, and the whole thing vibrates. I guess it's suppose to move across the floor or something. Anyway, I pulled Tigger's tail and put it on the ground in front of Sophie. It just sort of vibrated in place. Sophie looks at it, her face crumples up, and she crawls into her closet and cries! I guess it scared her for some reason, but I couldn't stop laughing. She just looked so pitiful crawling into the closet (which is not a walk in, by the way) and trying to get as far in as possible. We took the toy and threw it downstairs to go into the toy box. I didn't want her to have nightmares of the horrible wiggling Tigger in the closet. :-)

Here's some other pictures that were in the camera.

She just looks to tiny compared to Andy.

My exciting life

So, our lives aren't very exciting these days. Sophie and I get up at 8, eat breakfast, and she plays while I clean up the kitchen (it somehow always needs cleaning every morning). She takes a nap at 10, and I indulge myself by check my email, reading blogs, or knitting. She gets up at 11:30, and she either jumps in the johnny jump-up while I take a shower, or we play or read books.

We eat lunch at 12, then run errands and play with crayons or toys or books. After shes goes down for her afternoon nap at 2, I again indulge myself again or do a few simply chores. She gets up at 4, and we play until I make dinner. We eat at 5:30 (sometimes Andy is home from work and sometimes not yet). Then Andy and Sophie play while I clean up the kitchen again, and we do something to occupy the evening (go for a walk, run errands, whatever). Sophie gets a bath and goes to bed at 8, and Andy and I have some alone time until we go to bed around 11. Then the day starts all over again.

Looking at our daily schedule, it doesn't seem very strenuous. I feel guilty for not doing more things during her naptime, but I need the personal time to keep me sane. I actually can get quite a bit done during the day. I'll vacuum a room or two while she eats lunch, or she helps me do the laundry (she likes to push the button for the light on the dryer). I figure if I can get the things done on my to-do list everyday and still spend quality time with her, then I deserve my breaks. I have to quarrel about this with myself every now.

I really love this job though. I definitely am tired by the end of the day, and sometimes I opt to go mow the lawn in favor of Andy watching Sophie for the evening, but mostly it's a lot of fun. I'm getting to read tons of fun books (such as the Madeline books), I get to play with toys like my old xylophone from 1978, and Andy and I probably use up more of the paper drawing pictures than Sophie does scribbling. My brain is atrophying, but I don't really care if it takes me 5 minutes to figure out that doubling 3/4 of a cup is 1 1/2 cups. I figure I'll learn it all again when Sophie goes to school. :-)

Here's some random pictures from the past few weeks.


This is Sophie saying hi to Kate and Jared's dog Spirit. She loves their dogs (both great danes) and isn't afraid one bit. They were more afraid of her at first, but they've come to realize she's just a small person.


This is an outfit Maw Maw made for her. I call it her strawberry shortcake romper.



Sophie decided to dunk herself in the pool last time. Guess she likes the water okay.

This is the face she makes when she's trying to convey a feeling of self pity. She's becoming very adept at expressions...it's hilarious to watch!

We both could have dozed off in the hammock at the lake. This was less than 5 minutes after getting in.

I had to include a picture of the way she stands. We think she's going to be a ballerina, because she'd prefer to stand on her tippy toes than regularly. She has quite the calf muscles already. She's very close to walking.

Today's thoughts

I was reading a blog my friend Kate forwarded me, and in one of the postings, it had a cool fun thing to do with books:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages.)
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

Since I love books, here's my excerpt:

All choices you make do not have the same potential to transform the environment of your life. The decision to meet a group of friends for dinner, as a rule, does not change your life as dramatically as the decision to get married, start a business, or move to Europe. The choice to respond to an inner voice that directs you to pursue your spiritual life is obviously one that can rearrange your familiar world.

Sacred Contracts by Caroline Myss