Finger Painting

Yesterday afternoon, I offered two ideas for Sofia to pass some time in the afternoon since it's so hot outside - to play with Play Doh or to finger paint. She's been playing with her Play Doh set every day for the past few, so she decided on finger painting. I hadn't brought out the finger paints in awhile, so I was interested to see what she did with all that fun.

For the first few minutes, Sofia used her paint brushes and carefully dipped them into the colors and painted them onto her paper. However, after that the fingers got involved. Before I knew it she was spreading paint onto her arms (she liked watching how it went on) and "painting" with her hands on the paper. I had her do a few hand print pages as well as her mixed color masterpieces. She had a great time and after she was done, we just went in the pool for a little swim/rinse off.

Starting off with paint brushes


Soon the fingers were involved....


Our little artist


The artist at work




Rubbing the paint onto her hands




Creating more art work


Showing off those hands!


Finishing up. Green Beup Buep, wearing panties on his arms, watches.....

Our little photographer...

On Wednesday morning Sofia and I were outside enjoying coffee (me), the beautiful morning and the sound of the birds at our bird feeder. I had my camera with me, as I usually do and she grabbed it and started taking pictures. She's used to reviewing the pictures on our camera and often wants to see her image after I've taken a picture of her, but this was the first time she started taking pictures and understood what she was doing.

At first she took random pictures around her - the patio, part of me, etc, but then she started taking pictures of her trains Emily and Thomas. Soon, she was creating a composition of Emily, Thomas, Green Beup Beup and my coffee mug. It was great to watch her and the best part was that with every picture she'd say "Ready guys, 1, 2, 3, smile!" and then push the button! Wonder where she's heard that before?! :-) She enjoyed playing with our camera all morning and even took some pictures in the afternoon that I didn't know she took (mainly of our dining room table and some of her toys). We ordered a pizza and when the young man showed up, Sofia came out with the camera and said "OK, 1,2,3 Smile!" and took his picture! He wasn't sure what to do, but she actually got a pretty decent shot! Anyway, here are a few of her "better" pictures

Her first pictures - of the patio


Another of her firsts - of me (sort of) reading the paper


Getting better - a decent picture of me (I mean the photo, not really that I look decent!)


Emily! Emily is still in her box as a reward for a full day of potty use. We opened her that night!


Thomas and Emily


Even more complex composition - Thomas, Emily and my coffee mug


Sofia taking the picture...


...then reviewing it! I love it!


Green Beup Beup, my coffee, Thomas and Emily (there were several similar to this). This is one of my favorites.


A half eaten Oreo on a rock next to the pool (her potty treat). This is actually one of my favorites too!


Yesterday afternoon - one of the pictures I found (I do remember her taking this).


The Domino's pizza guy - I love that he's actually smiling for her!

Swimming!

Our girl has become quite the swimmer - thanks to weekly Emler Swim classes and CK's efforts to work with her in the pool. Sofia just had her last Emler swim class this past Thursday and we've been impressed with all she's learned. Since it's summer and we usually use our pool daily, we don't plan on enrolling her again for now.

Anyway, here are two videos - the first of Sofia's swimming skills, which still amaze me. She loves to swim and wants to practice all the time we're in the water, going back and forth between CK and I (or anyone else).

The second video is of her favorite new adventure - jumping off the rocks into the pool. She is fearless! Enjoy!

Finger Painting

Sofia was bored with her toys and couldn't think of something to do, so I grabbed the paints and paper and let her go to town. I gave her a couple different sizes of paint brushes to us, which she tried once or twice before going for the paint with her fingers. Guess the girl who doesn't like things are her fingers has gotten over it completely! She had a great time and loved drawing as well as making hand prints with the paint.

Getting started..using her paint brushes.


Moving on to fingers!


Look at those hands!


Really getting into it now


Checking out her hands









Look at those hands!


A view of the entire table!

Our little photographer....

Recently Sofia has discovered the fun of taking pictures! She looks using my camera (or iPhone) to take pictures and I actually think she's pretty good at it (most of the time). It's sort of nice having someone who can now take a photo of me, if necessary.

Our backyard


Her first attempt at taking a photo of me


That's better


Her train


Another train...


Changing the subject matter


My coffee mug solo (sort of)


An oreo on a rock - quite good I think!