Sofia at 8 months

Well, she's eight months old today! So hard to believe how quickly she is growing up (I think I write that every month, don't I?!)! CK and I celebrated her birthday by hiring a baby sitter and going out to dinner - although we did talk about her!

Her little tooth is sprouting up and she has another one on the way, although you can just see it and can't quite feel it yet. She's drooling like crazy lately but remains in a good mood. It's starting to be warm enough for Sofia to wear dresses without tights (finally), so she's been grabbing her chubby thighs because she doesn't really see them much! I figure she should wear all of her cute dresses before she can really crawl. Anyway, here are some pictures.

Eight months old!




Toys! Sofia pulled all of these toys out of her two toy boxes and had fun.

The Elephants are coming!

Today we watched the parade of elephants (and horses) for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus! We saw Bello, the main circus clown, who we saw when we attended the circus in Atlanta in February. The elephants were followed by horses and some of the performers. Sofia was fascinated and we were able to follow the entourage several blocks to East Capitol Street. The parade was originally supposed to walk up 4th Street, which would have made a great photo opportunity with elephants in front of our house, but they actually walked up 3rd Street instead. Here are some pictures!

The gals (and Grayden) waiting for the elephant parade! We had lunch together at our house prior to walking over to watch the elephants (we returned to the house for lattes and Easter cookies).


Bello!


The elephant parade! They were so close (and walk so quickly!!)


The horses and ponies


The clowns and performers

The Elephants are coming! (continued)

MORE pictures!

"What happened to your nose, Mom??"


Bello and the elephants on East Capitol Street


Sofia and me in front of the elephants


Sofia and the elephants


The elephants leaving for the Verizon Center (where the circus will be held).

Easter

We had a lovely Easter and enjoyed a nice walk through the park and Eastern Market in the afternoon and a delicious dinner with Aunt and Uncle in the evening. Sofia wore her new Grandma Fryer handmade dress and coat and looked stunning! Her outfit is such a piece of beauty that it was difficult to keep her in it all day for fear of keeping it clean. However, she was relatively neat all day - a major feat! She received a number of compliments on her outfit.

Sofia's first Easter basket! The baby doll is from Grandma and Grandpa Fryer, the Easter rattle and crinkle bunny from Grandma and Grandpa Lee, and the little chick and bunny from Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Jay! Of course, she was drawn to the Peeps (which the Easter Bunny intended for Sofia's parents....). After I returned to her room after my shower, she and her Dad had completely emptied the basket and her new things were scattered all around her!




The Grandma Fryer Easter Dress!


The beautiful detail on Sofia's new dress...


Aunt and Uncle's Easter table

Easter, more pictures

Pictures from our walk through the park and to Eastern Market.

With Dad. Sofia in her Grandma Fryer original coat!


With Mom. Sofia is working on saying "PaPa" right now but hasn't mastered "MaMa" yet


The family


Happy Easter baby

St. Patrick's Day Pics

A little late, but I wanted to be sure these were posted. On the morning of St. Patrick's Day Sofia played with here frog that she received from her Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Jay. She smiles when it moves and likes to chew on it (big surprise). That afternoon, Sofia and I met Grayden and Alice in the park and played on the swings as well as on the grass. Sofia enjoyed feeling the grass and playing with twigs. After the swings we met up with Joe and CK for corned beef and cabbage at a local restaurant. Here are some pictures.

Sofia plays with her new frog from Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Jay


Playing in the grass


"Eating out" with Grayden - a cheap date since they like to chew on the table!


Playing with her Irish rubber ducky given to her by our waiter

Sofia meets the Easter Bunny

Yesterday Sofia and I were running errands at the mall when we came across the Easter Bunny! He was waving to everyone and didn't have any visitors so we decided to introduce Sofia and the Easter Bunny for the first time! At first, Sofia thought the bunny looked a bit odd (I think it was the big teeth), but she wasn't scared and was soon smiling. In fact, after the picture was taken she wasn't in a hurry to return to me. She was busy looking over that crazy bunny with big teeth and tall ears.

Cheerios

Sofia had an afternoon visitor - her friend Grayden came over to play and we all went for a visit to the swings on Saturday afternoon. After our return, we gave Sofia Cheerios for the first time to check her finger-thumb coordination. Needless to say, Sofia was very concentrated and entertained by her Cheerios. She did succeed in getting a few in her mouth and seemed to enjoy them.

Grayden and Sofia playing together


Swings!


Reaching for her first Cheerios

Yum, strawberries!

Sofia had her first strawberry (or several) yesterday and she's a big fan! CK held one for her so she could scrape it with her tooth and it was soon gone! We gave her a few more to suck/chew on and she had a lot of fun sitting in the sun and eating strawberries! It's starting to feel like spring is finally on the way!

Yum!


Strawberry face


Mom and Sofia enjoying the warm sun


Squeals of joy

Swinging!

Sofia's last swim class was today, although we will likely sign up again because she enjoys it so much. After her long post-swim nap, we went to Garfield Park and played on the bucket swings. Sofia loved it and I think it will be a regular excursion for us. I tried to take good pictures, since she had a smile on her face the entire time, but most of the pictures turned out blurry. I plan to return with our little recorder.

She moves.....backwards

Sofia is good at getting to her hands and knees and swaying in place, but then drops back down to her tummy. In doing so, she inches her way backward instead of moving ahead! It seems to be only a matter of time before she moves forward (hopefully). This morning I left her on her tummy near her box of toys in her room while I finished getting ready. I was surprised at how quiet she had become in the 15 minutes or so that I was away, so I returned and found her about 5 feet behind where I had left her! Here are some pictures from another tummy time, but they don't really capture it.








The musical flowers - still her favorite, although she loves to chew on them as much as listen to the music.

Sofia and Annalise

We went over to dinner at Karina and Dave's house Saturday night and it was great fun getting Annalise and Sofia together again! Annalise, who is nearly 11 months, pulls herself up easily and gets around well. She is also a very thoughtful little girl who offered her half-eaten bread and toys to Sofia. She also enjoyed giving Sofia kisses on her head. All of this resulted in what looked like a wrestling match at times, but the girls were good to each other and seemed to have fun (until it became their bedtimes). Here are some pictures from that night.

The girls playing together


The wrestling match!


Karina and Sofia


Sofia

Crawling Lessons...

Sofia hasn't started crawling yet, but she sure is trying hard! She loves spending time on her tummy and somehow inches backwards when she tries to crawl. Her knees are working hard to get her up and her arms are very strong, but it just isn't happening yet. Here are some pictures of her trying!



Look at those muscles!!


Big blue eyes


Sofia's new toy basket