21 Months

Man, time flies! Each month seems to go by more quickly than the one before. Sophie will be 2 years old  in the blink of an eye!

I am so glad that the school year is almost out. It is almost painful for me to leave her in the mornings, just like it was when I first started back to work after she was born. I linger at our house or the baby sitter's house (and I am late to school/barely making it on time) because I don't want to leave her. Pathetic, but I just miss my daughter. Luckily we will have the whole summer together. I can't wait!

How could you not want to spend all day with this girl?

Here are some random things from this month:

• This past month has seemed to be the month of bumps, bruises and 'owies.' I suppose that is what happens when kids grow up and become more active. That and my child is a self-proclaimed monkey; she enjoys climbing up on things and announcing, "I monkey!" Still, I hate to see Sophie in pain. At least I can 'kiss it better' for her and cheer her up.             

•  It seems like Sophie gains a dozen new words and phrases a day. Obviously I am exaggerating here, but she is constantly saying something new that leaves Joe and me in awe. I have no idea how many words she is up to now. Last month it was 110, so my guess for this month would be 150 (or more). I have given up trying to record all of her words. Sophie has become very good at mimicking words, even the more difficult ones. It impresses me and scares me - that means I really have to watch what I say now.  

(Sophie saying "Oh Tooooddles" while watching the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...and then falling down!)

(Saying my name.)

• Sophie has 13 teeth now. There are 3 more that are so close to bursting through her gums. They have really been bothering her this past week, so hopefully they will break through soon.
• Sophie has been working on trying to dress herself. This doesn't go well at all, of course, but she keeps trying. Often she tries to put her legs through the arm holes of her shirt. She has been able to put shorts on and pull them half of the way up, as well as put a shirt on once or twice. It is fun watching her become more independent.
• Sophie's favorite thing to do is still coloring. She would color all day long if we let her. A new favorite for her is bubbles. She loves popping them and trying to blow them herself. She has actually been able to blow a few from the wand on her own. For the most part though, she sticks the wand on her mouth   or in her mouth (ick!). 

Do you see the bubble?

Sophie loves her sidewalk chalk!

• Last month we went to see a geneticist. In an IUGR group on Facebook, a lot of parents mentioned having micro array genetic testing done on their child to test for any anomalies. Many of them noted that random deletions on this chromosome or that were found, which explained their small size. After talking to the pediatrician and the GI, we decided this was something we wanted to try out (especially since her endoscopy last year didn't work). When we went to see the geneticist, he noted three things that were 'different' with Sophie. One thing was her almost non-existent baby toenail (not a big deal). Another was a flatter upper lip (whatever that means...it is pretty much shaped like mine, so I didn't see any issues there). The last was that her left pinky finger only has one crease to it instead of two. She has all of the bones in the finger, which surprised him. I see two creases when I look at it, so I have no idea what he is talking about. Then again, this is what he does for a living, so I'll trust in him. He mentioned that he thought she could have two possible syndromes and said he did want to have the micro array testing done. This month we received results back from the testing. She is absolutely fine! Now granted, this test won't catch every minor anomaly, but it does look for the major ones. It was a relief to hear, though that still doesn't give us a real reason as to why she is so small. Regardless, I now feel that we have done what we can (above and beyond, even) and now we can give it a rest. She is going to be small, and that is that. Doctors and others are going to have to let it go, because we sure have. 

Sure her pinky is a little bent, but I see nothing wrong with this adorable digit. 

• I have no idea about Sophie's current weight, since the GI and pediatrician's scales seem to be different. She is healthy though, so that is all I care about. (I posted her growth charts a few posts back though if you are interested in seeing her progress over the past year.)
• Along with the other sounds that I mentioned last month, Sophie also knows that a duck quacks and a  monkey goes 'hoo hoo hoo' (which she often will scratch under her arms while making the sound). Also, in addition to the body parts I mentioned last month, Sophie can identify her knees and elbows.
• Sophie loves looking at pictures. Each day, she goes over to the side of our fridge, where I have family pictures, and shouts, "Reese! Reese!" We have to pick her up so that she can point to her cousin, Reese, along with everyone else up there. She does a great job pointing out who everyone is, especially those who she doesn't see that often. In the car, one of the only things that will make Sophie chill out and not scream is a photo album of her from when she was first born. She especially loves looking at the pictures of her Paw Paw. I'm going to have to print a bunch of new pictures out and tape them to the back of the seat so that she can always see them; they are life savers on car rides! 
• Sophie loves playing with her fabric storage cubes. She enjoys dumping everything out of them, filling them back up, playing peek-a-boo with them and climbing into them (she calls it her house when she does this). I am pretty darn sure this kid is going to be a class clown. She is such a goof!

Click the link below for some more pictures from this month:

Pudding!

Reading with 'Kiki'

Sophie loves when she can spend time with any of her cousins

Do you remember this doll? This is the one that Sophie had her picture taken next to each month.  It is hard to believe that they used to be the same size!

She loves this! Her favorite thing to do is to play the ABC song and dance around. 

Putting on Daddy's shoe

Sophie really likes her sensory box. I made the mistake of letting her feel the beans with her toes. She must have liked how it felt, because she climbed into the box and didn't want to get out!