Sofia at Three!

Our little girl is the big 3!  She's still talking up a storm, but has just started asking the "why?" question at nearly everything.  A common question is "But, why, Papa?"  Somehow she seems to throw that out with CK more than with me, although I do get my share of "whys" during the day.  She's such a big girl at 40 inches and 35.6 pounds!  She actually wears 4T clothes, especially dresses, since 3T are way too short on her.  She still LOVES Green Beup Beup, Thomas train, trains in general, and playing with her matchbox cars.  She's really good at make believe and we often have 'treats' together or pet animals that don't really exist or hold her water sippy cup that has become her "baby".  She especially loves making up dialog for all of her trains and cars when she plays with them, which is so fun to listen to.  She loves swimming (she could spend all day in the pool if we let her) and remains fearless when it comes to going down our slide, jumping off the rocks into the pool or trying a new trick.  Like all kids, she loves going to the park and enjoys the slide and swings the most.

She still loves to eat macaroni mickey mousse, and pretty much anything with bread or cheese on or in it, although she's not really that picky of an eater.  She still isn't much of a meat eater, but does like salmon and will at least try other fish and meat, but usually prefers eating without meat in her food.  She loves strawberries, bananas, pineapple, and peaches (but without the skin).  She'll eat pretty much any fruit or try any vegetable but may not devour it like she does her favorites.

Since our time in California, her napping is hit or miss.  While we were with Mimi, I found that Sofia could easily nap for 2 to 3 hours, but then would be up until 1130 or midnight.  Since we didn't have a nightlight with her books and toys (and since I was sleeping in the same bed with her), I decided to have her skip nap time so that she would go to sleep easily at 730/8pm.  After we got home, she napped the first two days, but since then it hasn't happened regularly.  When she does nap during the day, it's clear that she stays up after CK has put her to bed and reads or plays with her toys by her nightlight.  She's very quiet and puts herself to bed at some point, so everyone is happy.  I do miss that mid-afternoon break though.

We are still debating whether to start her in a two-day program at Spanish Schoolhouse, but she is very excited to "go to school" even though I'm not sure she entirely understands what that means.  Each time we praise her for something she's done well, she then says "Now do I get to go to school?" - it's very cute.

She's such a big girl and so much fun!  We are so lucky!

Sofia's 3rd Birthday Party

On Saturday we hosted a birthday party at our house to celebrate Sofia turning three! We invited several of my mommy friends and their families as well as a few of CK's friends. Everyone had fun in the pool and enjoyed the "cool" 95 degree weather (last year it was 104 and the year before 107)!!! We enjoyed chicken salad, finger foods, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before the grand finale - cupcakes! I'm sad to say I used a mix this year, but made the frosting from scratch. Sofia spent hours in the pool and had a great time playing with her friends who she hasn't seen in a long time. She enjoyed not one, but two, cupcakes (luckily not three) and mainly enjoyed the frosting. When asked how old she was, she would still hold up two fingers and say that she's isn't 3 until Tuesday.

The big 3!


Wearing her Happy Birthday hat and playing with her trains several hours before guests arrive. She loves wearing that hat!


How did she grow up so fast?


Safari animals - the final touch!


Having just blown out her candle....she has the look of "Now can I go back into the pool and swim?"


Yum! She loves the frosting but only took a bite or two of cupcake


How old are you?


The party in the pool


Birthday girl - I think she swam for at least three hours


Playing with Isabella


Playing with Milani


Look at all those presents!

Sofia's Texas Haircut

On Thursday I took Sofia to get her second haircut ever. Her hair was almost too dry and curly at the ends to brush through, plus all the swimming and sun had really taken it's toll. So, I decided on a kid salon that opened across from Emler Swim School, where we took swim lessons. The lady did a good job cutting off two inches and was very quick. However, before I knew it Sofia was being primped like she was heading to the prom! The hair stylist braided her hair in the front, which was really cute, then she used her hair dryer and round brush! Heck, I hardly do that anymore! Then to top it all off, she used glitter hair spray (we're still finding it on her scalp) and painted her nails with glitter paint. I was actually taking a look around the shop when I came back to Sofia all glammed up and the woman applying polish. I wanted to scream "SHE'S TWO!!!" but decided to smile and remove it when we made it home. On checkout she gave Sofia a "princess" sticker book, which was the final straw. So, I think we'll be going back to Pigtails & Crewcuts from now on, where they cut hair and let you go with a cheap plastic toy that probably cost 5 cents. No hair dryer, no glitter spray, no fingernail polish and no fancy princess books. I was happy when we got in the car and Sofia asked for her book. I dutifully handed back the new princess book and she said "No, I want Thomas Train." That's our girl!

All set for the haircut


Sofia's hair before the first snip


Cutting Sofia's hair


Round brushing her hair dry


The cute braid


All done (or so I thought!)


This is actually from the day before. We swam at our neighbor's house for a few hours and I found Sofia asleep on her rocking chair after I realized it was very quiet in her room...

Chickens and Pouncers

After Grayden's birthday party, Sofia and I loaded into the car and headed over the hills to Santa Barbara to spend a few hours (that turned into over night and the next morning) with two of my very favorite people in the world - John and Lynn. John was my middle school teacher (the best teacher I've ever had) and he and Lynn were the fearless leaders to five of us across America (now I can understand Mom's reluctance to send her 12-year old out on a bike for four months!). Lynn is forever busy with her crew of chickens and her wonderful garden, and she was great at introducing Sofia to both. Sofia loved petting the chickens (after she found out that they wouldn't bite) and thought they were very soft. She also loved playing in Lynn's garden and finding all the various goodies mixed into the landscape - Mr. Potato Head, fairy homes, etc. John and Lynn also have a cat - Pouncer, who is a little bit like Sofia. He knows his own mind and knows when enough is enough. Needless to say Pouncer bit Sofia, but they were soon buddies again and Sofia was trying to boss him around.....sigh.

Once the decision to stay the night was made, John and Sofia grilled chicken and corn together and we had a wonderful meal. Then John pulled out several of their now-adult boys' books and read to Sofia. She loved it! Her favorite was the "The Little Engine That Could" since it has a lot of moving parts, windows to lift, etc.

The next morning we had coffee and french toast (again, John's excellent cooking) and hung out with Ethan and his girlfriend Molly. It was a great visit and efreshing to reconnect. Sofia also loved playing with Ethan and Molly in the front garden. We were sad to go (but had a flight to catch), and look forward to another visit soon!

Sofia and John grilling


Sofia "helps" paint on the bbq sauce


John reading to Sofia





Playing in the corn the next morning


Sofia and Pouncer - having made up


Hanging out with Ethan in the front yard


Sofia, John, Lynn, Ethan and Molly after a delicious breakfast


Sofia and her gift from John and Lynn. She wanted to badly to read it, but also wanted to suck her thumb - such a dilemma.

Grayden's Birthday

The day after our Knott's Berry Farm visit, Sofia and I drove up to Ojai to visit Alice and Grayden at Alice's parent's house. We stayed the night and were able to celebrated Grayden's birthday party. It was fun to watch Grayden and Sofia be together, even though there were a little more tears over toys taken than I remember. We loved meeting Alice's family and friends and were so lucky to celebrate with Grayden on his big day. Sofia loved playing with Grayden's train table - I think I could have left her there for a week and she wouldn't have noticed. Sofia also loved Grayden's sister, 5-month old Audrey. She always wanted to pet her hair and give hugs, it was great to watch.

Enjoying a bath together on Friday night


Story time! They didn't sleep in the same bed, but they might as well have since neither of them went to bed until very late.


Sofia playing with Audrey


The birthday boy! I love this picture!


Grayden enjoys his 3rd birthday cupcake!


Sofia enjoying hers - She only eats the frosting and leaves most of the cupcake.


Sofia's first pinata! She took some good wacks at it, but it was a while before it broke open by someone a lot older.


Picking up all the toys and candy

Knotts Berry Farm

As a tribute to Mom, Becky, Pancho, Julie and I visited Knott's Berry Farm with all our combined kids. It turned out to be one of the most fun days! While the older cousins - Michael, Megan and Max went off to ride the 'real' rides, Sam, Lucy and Sofia hit all the younger rides. We went for a stagecoach ride, road the train, did the log ride, and hit Camp Snoopy! Sofia was big buddies with cousin Sam, who really was amazing at holding her hand and strapping her into all the rides. Sam, Sofia and Lucy had such a fun day together and it was wonderful to see the cousins get to know each other. We promised that we'd try to make the trip to Knott's an annual occurrence.

The entrance - just as I remember it!


The gang of cousins


Sam, Max, Sofia, Michael, Megan and Lucy


The four parents - me, Becky, Pancho and Julie


Sofia, our little jail bird


Pancho heading out with the kids


Snoopy!


Lucy and Sofia sitting on laps - I have similar pictures from when I was Sofia's age


The gals


Sofia watches the stagecoach - we just got off of it. So much fun!


Waiting in line for the log ride


The "grand finale" of the log ride. It was a very hot day, so it felt great to be a little wet


Lucy and Sofia hang out with Snoopy. We actually found Snoopy off to the side of a ride (I think he had just come out of his 'house') and no one else was there. The girls got to play with Snoopy for a long time. Sofia gave him a hug and kiss as we left.


Cousins! I love this picture (thanks, Julie!)


Flying with Sam


Trying to put her arms around Sam and Lucy


Sofia eats her first corn dog (or hot dog product for that matter) - not the best 'milestone'.....


Watching the show at Lucywood


Sofia volunteered for and got picked to be up on stage (she's in the middle). It was cute, however, all she really wanted was to "say HI" an "give them hugs"


Teacups! You can't go to Knott's and not ride the teacups.


Sofia's very favorite ride - I think the cousins went on this at least five times.





Such joy!


Heading off to another ride


Sofia's very first roller coaster (with Sam, of course). As soon as it was over, she said "Can we do that again?" She's fearless.


Weeee!


A very tired girl. We left the park around 730pm and she fell right to sleep. We ate dinner with everyone before heading home and going to sleep for the night. She could have really used a bath, but it didn't happen at 11pm when we finally got home!


The entire gang.