The Family York: A year and a half! Where has the time gone??

Our sweet baby girl isn't such a baby anymore! Sophie turned a year and a half about a week ago. This milestone snuck up on us as it was also her Dad's 40th birthday!! More on that later...

No haircuts yet! Just a bunch of curls and blonde highlights!

Everyday is an adventure with this little girl. I swear she learns something new each day. She is starting to say more words now. We have previously been getting a lot of pointing and grunting from her like she's a caveman. Even though she knew some words and a lot of sign language, she regressed for a bit. Now, all of a sudden, she's speaking our language! And, to my bewilderment, she actually understands our language!! It was such an exciting moment when I told her that the fridge door wouldn't close because she had to move an item to a different shelf. She picked that item up and moved it! The light bulb went off at that moment, she understood me, AND she followed my directions. Proof that she's growing so fast!

A fun trip to the Science Center with our friend Sloane! Diggin up fossils

She was afraid of Clifford! So, I asked her where the little girls mouth was and snapped a picture as fast as I could!

This dog she's ok with, more her size...

Grandpa Bob came to visit us last month. We had a great time playing in the park, swimming in the pool, and visiting the Kennedy Space Center. It was Sophie's first time to the Space Center. A few new exhibits had opened up since we had last been there, so it was an adventure for us all. The shuttle Atlantis was one of the new exhibits. Sophie and Grandpa were so amazed at how big it was! We even got to pretend to be an astronaut! One of our not so favorite new exhibits was Angry Birds. We got lost in a maze, then at the end when we could see the light, a loud blast of air shot at us and scared Sophie half to death (ok, it made us all jump and yell, Sophie cried). We hightailed it out of there!

Space Shuttle Atlantis

Our day at NASA

Good thing she can't see what's behind her!

Sleepy girl, with her new space shuttle

Grandpa's favorite Bears Fan!

Grandpa bought Sophie her first burrito! She looooved it

Fun day at Disney pool

Bear Down!

Our other favorite team, Boiler Up!!

Grandma Elaine was our next visitor. She came to celebrate Dan's 40th birthday and take care of our girl for an evening while we celebrated at the Hard Rock Hotel. We had a great time relaxing by the pool and catching up with our friends in the evening at the party. We partied rock star style and Dan enjoyed every minute!

Cousin Cate feeding Sophie a bottle during our visit to Indiana

Sophie and Grandma!

Dan's Birthday started with some drinks by the pool

It's true, Dan resembles the kid from "A Christmas Story". Therefore, a 40th birthday would not be complete without this...

His friends from Indiana suprised him!

The birthday boy

A squirrel

Cupcake smashed in his face...poor guy

Wine on the patio with Elaine!

So, what is it that keeps Miss Sophie busy all day? One thing is cleaning. Yaaaaay! Something that she has picked up from me is a sense of cleanliness. She despises food crumbs laying around Lucy's bowl. In fact, every time she passes by, she is picking up some crumbs and putting them back in the bowl. She will even get crumbs from the rug in the other room and walk them back to Lucy's bowl. At times, she will watch Lucy eat and scold her for making a mess of the floor she just cleaned up. It's pretty funny to watch, she points at Lucy and tells me (in her own gibberish) what a mess she is making. Thank goodness I've instilled this in her at a young age. Any bets on how long this will last?

A different way to clean up...

The bowls and plates rarely stay on the tray...

She will also clean up her tray after a meal if you give her a paper towel. She loves scrubbing away at all the crumbs sitting in front of her. She even attempts to wipe her face and hands but hates when we do it for her. She's doing well at washing her hands and requests to do so anytime she sees one of us doing it. The same goes for brushing her teeth. If she sees her toothbrush, she says a phrase along the lines of, "ah ah eh uh teeeeet" and she makes a motion like brushing her teeth with her finger (which is the sign for it). She is still trying to grasp the concept of it, right now it's more important for her to suck the toothpaste off the brush then scream while I pin her down to finish the job.

These are the words she saying now:

No (today, it's her favorite word. Even if she wants something, she still says no.)
Fish
Cheese
Chalk
Clock
Bubbles
More
Teeth
Treats (She loves giving Lucy a treat. Thanks to her Grandpa I'm sure. I tried teaching her to say "Trick or Treat" only to have her run to the kitchen to get Lucy a treat. Great)
Mama
Mom (What?! Who is that??)
Dada
"Pa Paw" Grandpa
Stuck (Good one for her to know, as she gets her knee stuck in her crib slats a few times a week)
Trees
Yuck (sounds like "ahk" She will pick any microscopic item off the ground/floor, say "ahk" and place it in my hand. Most times I can't see said item)
Uh-Oh (another favorite)
Ball
Hat
Chips (referring to wood chips on the playground and the potato kind)
"mon" Come on (She says this to Lucy constantly, they are best friends of course)
Choo Choo
Truck
Rock
Outside (she says something that sounds like "ice")
Duck (Duck, truck, clock, rock, and chalk are pretty much the same word for her, we just have to figure out which one she's referring to)

I'm sure there are more, and many more to come in the days ahead!

Of course there are some cute sounds too:

"Arf" (One she has been doing since she was about 10 months)
"Roar" like a monster
"Shhhooo" like an airplane, while making the sign for airplane anytime she hears one, or a helicopter
"Muah" accompanied by blowing a kiss
"Ooh ooh ahh ahh" like a monkey
"Quack"
Snorts when she sees a pig or her piggy bank

She's also doing really well with her sign language. We watch "Baby Signing Time" a few times a week, which is where she learned her signs. She will ask to watch it by using the sign for baby. Too cute! There is a particular string of signs that Dan enjoys. They are used at bath time. For a few months, Sophie was not enjoying bath time. Particularly getting her hair washed. When the water and soap hit her head, she would do anything to get out of the tub. She was still too little to climb out herself, so she would put a death grip on our shirt or skin and not let go until we dragged her out. When we were able to escape the death grip to finish the bath and get the soap out of her hair, she would be crying and using every sign she knew in an attempt to tell us she was all done and wanted to get out. The string of signs would translate to something like this: "All done, more, food, banana, dog, all done, cracker, cracker, dog!!" It was pretty funny and a little heartbreaking all at the same time. Yes, we would chuckle a little bit, but immediately rescue her from the bath which was apparently filled with burning, hot lava...

Bath time is more fun with friends!

The tides have turned recently on her feelings about bath time. She has a great time in the bath, pouring water out of the cup, "swimming" on her belly, and blowing bubbles like a champ. Now, it's a struggle getting her out of the bath, and this results in crying. Dan and I have our ways of ending bath time, after plenty of play time of course. I will open the drain to let the water out. At first I thought this was the obvious way. It ended up taking a lot of time, however. She will play until every last drop of water is gone, then continue to "swim" and flop around like there is still water in there! After a few minutes, she gives in and puts her arms out for me to grab her. Dan has a slightly more efficient way of getting her out. Cold. Water. That's it. Maybe not so nice for the kid, but no tears, and a timely exit!

Sophie loves her books! When we're getting ready for bed she will point to her books, reminding us of our nightly routine. She giggles a little when we open the first book and start it. I've taken her to the library a number of times to check out books and she has a great time. There is a wonderful children's area at our library that has many baskets full of board books. She has a great time taking each one out to show me before we make our final decision on the four we will take home. She insists on carrying these four books, very slowly, though carefully, to the person waiting at the front desk. For that brief moment that they are scanning the books, you can see a look in her eyes like, "Please hand those books back over as soon as you can." She is one happy girl carrying those books out of the library.

Needless to say, we are having so much fun with our growing girl! She keeps us busy and sometimes exhausts us. But, everyday is a new adventure, and we're always looking forward to it.