Nigh-Nigh

Sophie has always been a fairly easy baby to put to bed at night (we really lucked out in this area). Her bedtime is between 7:30 and 8:00 each night. She usually rubs her eyes as a cue that she is ready for bed. Lately though, if we mention that it is "night-night" time or ask if we should take her to bed she will nod her head and look for her blanket (can't sleep without it). Tonight after playing for awhile, I noticed that it was a little past 7:30. I asked Sophie if she was tired and if it was "night-night" time. She gave a little nod, but continued playing with a toy. A few minutes later she crawled into the hallway. I got up to follow her and found that she had already crawled up two stairs. She had her head turned to the side and was saying something that I couldn't hear. She repeated it a few times, but since she wasn't facing me, I couldn't understand her. I put my face through the railing and whispered her name. She turned toward me, smiled and said, "nigh-nigh." New word! She was telling me that it was time for bed (and trying to get there herself). I asked her for a good night kiss, and she grabbed both sides of my face and gave me a big kiss on the lips. Then she turned away and crawled the rest of the way upstairs, repeating "nigh-nigh" the whole way up. What a sweet way to go to bed.

17 Months

I am loving January so far. Last year at this time we were preparing for a hospital trip so Sophie could get her feeding tube. I still get sad whenever I look at her 5 month pictures, thinking about how the very next day she would be getting the dreaded tube. This January we don't have to visit GI anymore. Thinking about that still excites me. Even more exciting is that we weighed Sophie in at 15lb 9oz! That is a huge jump in the past few weeks. (I did check Sophie's weight on our scale when we got home from GI and it was the same as they had. So unfortunately Sophie lost weight and our scale wasn't broken. At least she gained it back and then some!) I am so proud of my not-so-little one.

Here are some highlights from this month:

• New words: balloon, chocolate, poop, Pop Pop (for Grandpa), Kac (for Kaci), ice (imagine a country accent saying "iiiiice"), as well as many words that she will parrot, but doesn't use regularly.
• Sophie can go down the stairs now. She realized that she can go down the stairs the same way she gets off of the couch, which is on her belly. She turns around and zooms down the stairs! Adorable and scary.
• 3 new teeth have sprouted this month. This gives us a grand total of 12! I hope her mouth gives her a break for awhile.
• We have been working on getting Sophie to use forks and spoons. She has been doing pretty well and seems to enjoy using them. Sometimes she will fuss and not eat unless we give her a fork to use. We should have started this a long time ago, but our focus was on getting her to eat her to actually eat her food and not just play around (which is what she would do whenever I let her try out a utensil). She is doing okay with her utensils and tries very hard to get the food on it. They only serve as playthings half of the time, so I consider that a success.



• Sophie is trying out so many different foods. I am impressed with how adventurous she is getting. This doesn't mean that she likes everything that she tries though. If she doesn't like something, she will just pull it out of her mouth and hand it to us. Gross, but at least she is trying new things.
• Sophie still is taking steps (usually 2 or 3 at a time), but not walking. I've decided that it is equal parts her being stubborn and crawling is so much quicker for her. She generally doesn't crawl on all fours, rather scoots with one leg folded up. So if she has something she wants to carry, like a sippy cup, then she will just scoot around with it. Even crawling like this she can still get around quickly. Sophie has always done things on her own time and in her own way, so I am going to not worry about it.
• Sophie had a double ear infection right after Christmas. We are pretty sure that she had another this past week. We didn't take her to the doctor the second time around because she hates the medicine (she had only been off of it for two weeks) and we knew it would go away on its own. Poor kid.
• We bought a booster seat for Sophie to eat in. We had a high chair and it just didn't work for us. For the past few months we have let Sophie eat at her table or on our laps. This has worked out fine unless we actually want her in a chair, such as when we go out to eat or try to eat with family. So we decided that a booster seat would be best for Sophie. She seems to enjoy it so far. She will spend half of her meal in the seat before fussing to get down. Then she crawls over to one of us to sit in our lap and eat. I'll chalk that up as good compromising skills on her part.



"Meeting" the new seat



Enjoying some breakfast in her booster seat.

• Sophie can be so very sweet. Sunday morning Joe was at work and I was feeling horrible from what turned out to be a stomach flu. All I could do was lay on the couch and try to keep warm (and then cool, and then warm) while Sophie quietly played on the floor. Every once in awhile she would crawl over so I would pick her up to read her a book. One time when I pulled her up, she came over and wrapped her arms around my neck and just hugged me for a few minutes. So sweet. Later when I pulled her back up on the couch she put her head on my shoulder and napped with me. Sometimes she knows exactly what I need. I love this little girl!
• Earlier this month when we have gone out to eat Sophie has drank our water thought our straws. Of course she then would pull out the straw and play with it, but she could drink from a straw. My mom brought over some sippy cups with straws for Sophie to try. She loves them! She still will drink from her other sippy cups, but prefers the ones with straws. Don't try to put anything besides water in the cups though, as she will refuse to drink them. She doesn't like juice (at all really) or Pediasure in there, only water. At least she stays hydrated!



Trying out the new sippy cup for the first time. Look at how excited she is!

• Speaking of water, Sophie also loves ice chips. Whenever she hears me getting crushed ice from the fridge/freezer, she zips over so that she can get some. She loves it whenever I give her a cup of ice that is just for her. There have been a few nights when she wouldn't eat dinner until I bribed her with ice. If she took a bite, she would get a piece of ice. Whatever works. I'm just glad that I have a new 'trick' to try during difficult feeding days.

Click the link below for more pictures from this month.

This is my current favorite picture.

My friend Carla (Auntie Ca Ca) got Sophie some new clothes! Thanks, Auntie Ca Ca!

"Helping" me mix a crust for cheesecake. So messy but so much fun.

Napping on the couch with Daddy.



We discovered that Sophie likes garlic dipping sauce. That will add some calories to a meal!



Even after a bath she still smelled like garlic.

This is why Sophie's hair always hangs in her face. Any rubber band or hair clip I put in her hair get ripped out. She might leave them alone for a little while, but they never last long. I'm still not ready to part with her hair though.

She had her hand in each shoe and crawled across the room in them.

Upside down baby!

My messy faced girl

This is what she does when you ask her, "Where are your ears?"

"Where is your nose?" (followed by nose picking)

Sophie loves this cat that Morgan gave her. She will hug and kiss it, and always asks for it in the car. I think it is safe to say that cats are her favorite animals.

Drinking Joe's water

Twelve

Yup, another tooth has sprouted! This is the ninth in three months. She has a total of twelve teeth now - six on the top, six on the bottom. Sophie's newest tooth is her lower right lateral incisor. I have been waiting on this one for awhile now. I thought for sure that it would come in before her molars, but nope. All four molars beat this tooth.

I am impressed at how well Sophie has handled all of these new teeth. I thought she would be in complete misery when a new one would push through, but it doesn't appear that way. Sure she gets fussy at times and tends to be more clingy when a tooth is coming, but for the most part she is the same kid. With getting nine teeth in such a short amount of time she is probably just used to it. Or maybe we are just oblivious. hmmmmmmm...

Downstairs

Sophie has perfected coming down the stairs. She used to try walk down or she would sit on her butt, hang onto the railing and scoot down. Scary. Thankfully she has discovered that she can turn around and slide down, which is the same thing she does when she gets off of the couch.

While I am glad that she knows how to get down the stairs safely, we really need to watch her with the stairs now. So, we bought a gate for the top of the stairs as well as another gate for downstairs. (One opening was blocked by a gate while the other opening was blocked with a chair turned on it's side. Earlier last week Sophie realized she could easily push the chair out of her way, so a new gate was necessary.) My bank account feels a little assulted, but it is worth it for Sophie's safety.


Right before she realized that she could move the chair. After that there was no frustration when she pushed the chair out of the way.

Blocked! Success!

First Week Back

While I know she enjoyed being with me the two weeks I was on vacation, Sophie really missed being at Janice's (her baby sitter). When I picked her up on Monday, Janice filled me in on just how much Sophie missed her youngest daughter, E (who Sophie adores). She said that when her daughter walked into the room, Sophie sped across the floor and wrapped her arms around her neck, hugging her for a few minutes. E told me that she would squeeze her neck really hard then squeeze softly. She even started 'petting' her hair - adorable!
On Tuesday, when I dropped Sophie off, she crawled right over to her favorite boy, J. She gave him a big hug and then zeroed in on his sleeper. His sleeper had a zipper, as well as a button at the top (you know, like normal zippered sleepers). Anyway, the button wasn't closed and Sophie reached out and grabbed it. She has done this before; I think it bothers her to see it hanging around. Then she spied his zipper on his sleeper. As I mentioned in her 16 month post, she really likes pulling on zippers. So of course, what does Sophie do? She pulls down his sleeper's zipper. Then she proceeds to try to take his arm out of the sleeper, as that is what she does whenever we unzip her sleepers. Eek! No undressing boys, Sophie! That same day she crawled over to the couch where another little boy was sleeping. His shirt was up a little and she saw his belly button. Like I mentioned in her 16 month post, she likes belly buttons. So of course she was poking at it while he slept. *sigh* On the bright side, Sophie learned where her fingers are. If you ask her, she will open and close her hands, in and out of fists. Cute!
On Thursday, Sophie started saying a new word: balloon. (sounds more like 'boone' but it counts!) E had a small yellow balloon out and Sophie loved playing with it. She would hold it, throw it, and smash her face against it. What a goofball. Janice said she was also saying 'big balloon,' which is probably due to the giant one at our house from NYE.
I think Sophie was glad to see Janice and all of her little friends again!

Eleven

Sophie's last molar is just now poking through. It is on the bottom left. This makes tooth #11!

Happy New Year!

I am a few days behind, but what can you do. I did not make a resolution to stop procrastinating this year, so there!
We had a few friends over for NYE. Sophie stayed at home with us because I enjoy having her there with me as a new year starts.

Last year she refused to go to sleep, so she got to welcome 2011 with us. I like that, so this year I woke Sophie up right before midnight so that she could ring in 2012 with us.

My friend, Becki, brought over a GIANT balloon from a party she had gone to the previous night. Sophie was fascinated by it. She kept smiling and playing with the balloon. Becki left it for Sophie, so we have been playing with it each day. She loves when we bounce it off of her head; it sends her into a fit of giggles. She also loves leaning against it. She looks even smaller when she does this, since the balloon is so much bigger than her! Too much fun!

I am so glad that 2012 is finally here! While there were many wonderful things that happened in 2011, Sophie's medical issues (especially that darn feeding tube) really put a damper on things. Being released from the GI's care the other day was a perfect ending to a somewhat crazy year. Hopefully this year is full of good health, lots of growth, and pure happiness! I can't wait to see what all is in store for us.