The Family York

Let's go back a few months to October. Life has been busy since the holidays! And by holidays, of course I'm including Halloween. In this household, it definitely counts as one of the more important ones! We had our annual Halloween party this year. We couldn't have done it without a few of our ghoulish family members. My mom, Aunt Linda, and Aunt Regina all came down to visit, decorate, and babysit Miss Sophie. Grandma Cindy whipped up a cute costume for Sophie again this year. She was Little Red Riding Hood. She really made that costume look adorable! We spent a good week preparing for the party. Everyone helped out in such a big way, I don't know how we would have done it without them! Aunt Regina got a one-on-one course in making Jell-O shots. She was a pro by the time we finished our 400th shot, I think she even made a few batches on her own. Grandma and the Aunties were nice enough to check into a hotel for the evening with Sophie. They had a great time during the sleepover, and even more fun at the park the next day! They sat and watched ducks in the pond for a long time, Sophie just couldn't taker her eyes off those birds!

The sweetest Little Red Riding Hood!

Carving our first pumpkin

Our first lollipop

Fun on the carousel at Universal Studios. That's Grandma Cindy and Aunt Regina

Aunt Linda, Dan, Sophie and I

A few shots

I've taught her well!

Dan the squirrel, and my homemade Pinata costume!

We spend a lot of fun day's with our friend Sloane! Sloane's mommy is a teacher, so when she has the summer off, we find so many fun things to do together. These girls go to the same daycare, so I'm sure they see enough of each other as it is, but they have a great time together. When I tell Sophie we are going to play with Sloane, it's all she can talk about until we've actually made it to our destination!

We went to Naples for a visit with Grandpa Don and Grandma Sally in November. The weather was beautiful! Sophie had a great time at the Naples zoo. Sally took us to feed the birds and fish. We saw an animal show with a sloth and a skunk. We even watched them train alligators! We also spent a day at the beach! I couldn't imagine going to the beach in November, but for some reason my gut told me to pack Sophie's swimsuit. It was a beautiful day! Sophie played in the sand and could not resist the water. She headed straight for it and I thought she wouldn't like it because it was cold. I was wrong! She loved splashing in it, running into it, and falling over in it. She giggled so much! I had to take her out at one point and wrap her in a towel when I noticed her shivering. She couldn't wait to go back in! Sophie had so much fun, she fell asleep before we even got out of the parking lot.

Feeding the birds with Grandma Sally

Training alligators...??

Reading a book with Grandpa Don

Sophie participated in her first cooking making experience. It was a rainy day and I just so happened to have everything we needed to make chocolate chip cookies. I let her help pour in the ingredients, stir the batter with the mixer, and of course lick the beaters! She was a great helper and so patient. She even enjoyed the finished product, and is not an expert at saying the word "cookie"

Patiently waiting for the finished product

The best part! She loved it of course

There are many things Sophie enjoys doing everyday. One of them is loving on her dog Lucy! They have a fun time playing on the bed together. Sophie usually tries to "wrestle" with Lucy by throwing herself on top of her. Lucy is such a good sport that she takes it, or gets up to get out of the way. At night, when it's time to go to bed, she says good night to Daddy and Lucy. We then head to her room to read a few books. When I lay her down in her crib, I tell her, "Mommy loves you very much, and Daddy love you too. Sweet dreams." The other night, after I said that, she asked me, "And Lucy?" I could have cried! I answered her, "And Lucy loves you too!" So sweet...

We go to the park just about every day too. She helps me walk Lucy around the block, then we take Lucy home and go to the park for some fun. She' s very brave climbing up all of the sets to go down the slides. Of course, every time we enter the park, the first thing she has to do is swing. Those are some of the biggest smiles I get out of her, when she's soaring high on a swing!

Snuggles with Lucy

The most serious kid on the playground!

Two dogs while riding a bike? Now that's talent!

A Purdue game with the family!

Read on to the next one! It's time to play catch up....

Love,

Dan, Jess, Sophie and Lucy

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.