Sofia at 19 months.....

Here is our girl at 19 months! She is growing and changing every day it seems and CK always says that we actually have a parrot instead of a baby since she says EVERYTHING (or tries to). One of our favorite things is when Sofia is looking for something and will wander from room to room saying "Nooooooo" in a dramatic way, until she finds what she's looking for! It's adorable! She still loves owls, alligators, and puppies.

Our big girl


She's not one for sitting still for long...


Playing with monkey's nose

The Dallas Zoo

On Thursday morning, Sofia and I went with Mya and Grady to see the Dallas Zoo. We've visited the Ft. Worth Zoo twice and I wanted to see how the Dallas Zoo compared. Ironically, no one I know here has actually been to the Dallas Zoo - I guess some animals escaped a few years ago and so it has a bit of a stigma. It was a nice 85 degrees, so we loaded the kids in our respective jogging strollers and headed out. It was fabulous! We first visited the petting zoo, which was very nice with horses, pigs, rabbits, chicken and a huge koi pond that the kids could look into from the side. Sofia loved petting the rabbit and running around. She still has her scab from falling on her nose, so I tried to keep her hat on at all times (and used sunscreen, of course!) After the petting zoo, we walked around to see all the other animals, which was great because this zoo isn't nearly as crowded as Ft. Worth's and it has a much better layout. After five hours of walking around, we hadn't even seen half of it! We can't wait for another warm day to visit (it is currently 33 outside!)

Sofia and Grady ready to see the animals!


Our little zoo-goer


Giddy up, goat! Sofia ran directly to this statue and climbed aboard


Petting the rabbit


Checking out the koi


Playing with the elephant statue. When asked later what an elephant says, Sofia responded with 'hot' since this statue was hot to the touch! The real elephants we saw didn't say anything!


Smile


Sofia and Beekie


Tired girl after a long day

Poor Girl...

Our girl has had a rough few days. On Sunday morning, we noticed that Sofia's thumb (yes, the one that is constantly in her mouth) had a huge red, inflamed boil on it that got worse throughout the day. She wouldn't suck on it thankfully and CK lanced it that evening. We cleaned it and dressed it with neosporin and a band-aid. She actually fell asleep fairly easily and slept well that night. On Monday her thumb looked fine, but I kept it clean and wrapped in a band-aid. However, she couldn't get comfortable for a nap so she didn't get a wink all day. Then, that afternoon I was talking with our neighbor and she fell down his sidewalk stairs (she loves going up and down them, so obviously she was just very tired). She scraped her forehead and nose, and despite the blood, she wasn't too terribly upset by it (like I was!). Then to cap it all off, during her bath she turned the cold water off and stuck her hand under the faucet! She was very unhappy, but I don't think she actually burned herself, luckily. Poor girl!

The night of her tumble down Trent's stair


Poor girl!


Her doctored thumb - the only picture I was able to take!


Sofia's scabbed nose

Beakie

For Valentine's Day, Sofia got a sheet of Valentine's stickers and an owl (it was left over from Halloween at Borders). The night after Valentine's Day, CK took Sofia and her new owl into her room for story time just before bed time, and asked Sofia what her new owl's name was. After a little coaxing, Sofia called him "Beakie" since she knows and can say wings, beak, eyes and tail. So, now Sofia drags Beakie around and he sleeps (along with the other stuffed animals) in her crib every night.

Beakie and Sofia ponder a breakfast of cheese omelette


Feeding Beakie (Sofia's new thing is to feed her animal -either Beakie or her giraffe - before her every bite.)


Changing Beakie's diaper


Sofia and Beakie talking on her 'cell phone'


At the Dallas Zoo together

Visiting Ft Worth

On Sunday, we drove into Ft. Worth to look around and watch the cattle drive. It was rather cold out, but we bundled up and made the trip into cow town. We first visited our very favorite furniture store (the one we'll buy things from with wild abandon once we win the lottery.....). Sofia found a bath tub that she just 'must have'....:-) After Rios Furniture, we walked along Main Street to the train station. Sofia rode on her first coin-operated pony, and then had to ride on every single one we passed....So, we have lots of pictures and video of our little cowgirl on her horses. Then, we watched the cattle drive, which seemed a lot smaller than last time we visited, but the Sunday afternoon drive may be pared down. All the steers looked like they would rather be doing anything else, but they went along. After the cattle drive, we drove back to Grapevine for some good Mexican food.

Uncle Steve checks out Sofia's dream bath tub


Uncle Steve, Sofia and Papa


Yes, that's Aunt Shirl and Sofia on a Longhorn Steer!


Waving to the crowd!


What does a cowgirl say? (We ask Sofia and she shoots her guns off!) Her first coin-operated pony ride


Uncle Steve showing Sofia how to get her pony to go faster


Mimi, Aunt Shirl and Sofia waiting for the cattle drive to begin


Sofia sees the Longhorns starting down the street


Mimi, Papa and Sofia watching the drive

Valentine's Day 2009!

We had a fabulous Valentine's Day! Mom and Joseph were still in town and Aunt and Uncle from DC decided to visit for the weekend. So, somehow Mom and I decided (I think on Thursday or Friday) to cook a big delicious meal for all and decorate the table accordingly. So, we decided on a menu of roasted pear salad (delicious, but also probably the most time-consuming part of the entire meal), followed by filet mignon, steamed lobster tail (the best I've ever eaten) with garlic broccoli (my favorite recipe), baked potato with all the trimmings, and for desert molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream! It was amazing! Mom and I cooked all but the filet (that was up to the guys) and Aunt Shirl did a lot of the prep work for the main course and dessert. It was delicious and a lot of fun! Sofia ate her dinner during our salad course and then CK put her to bed and we continued enjoying our meal!

For my Valentine - Mom took this picture and we put it in a heart-shaped frame for CK


I took this picture of Mom and Sofia for Joseph (also in a heart-shaped frame).


The dining room decorated for Valentine's Day!


During the first course.....


Prepping the desserts - molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream


Aunt Shirl's touch!

Sofia's WoW-Owl Book

Since there are few owl-related kids books (or alligator, for that matter), I decided to make a book for Sofia. I named it "Who is my Mommy?" and borrowed heavily from a board book we checked out from the library a few weeks ago. It was fun to make and after laminating and binding it together, I now realize how easy it is to just buy a book at the store! Anyway, she likes to flip through it or have us read it to her, and it's fun to watch her make the animal noises.

Flipping through her new book


The sheep says BAAAAAAA


The monkey talks with the owl


Mimi reads to Sofia - I think she probably read at least several hours out of every day she was visiting us!


Bear About Town (a current Sofia favorite)

Avocado Head

My Dad would be proud! Sofia LOVES avocado on toast with a little smear of mayo, salt and pepper! She's always liked avocado, but she basically ate all of my breakfast one morning and I had to settle for a few bites, the leftover crust, and her oatmeal! My Dad used to make avocado on toast for me and am excited that Sofia already likes my favorite breakfast!

Yum! Avocado on toast!


Another bite, please!


Cutie with mayo on her face


Another bite (the second piece of toast)


Followed down by some delicious Oranges!

Rock Collector

Sofia spend Monday afternoon playing with rocks in the backyard. She moved them from the backyard outside the kitchen window and put them along the walkway to the kitchen (as well as inside the kitchen). She used a plastic container to transport the little rocks and I think we still have a few in our kitchen somewhere. Anyway, here are some pictures.....

Collecting rocks


Throwing them on the patio


Picking out her favorites


Putting them in her container


Handing her favorite rocks to me