Life is Wonderful: 23 Months

One more month until my girl turns 2! I can't wait!

Sophie is at such a fun age right now. She has such a big personality and never fails to make us laugh. Her vocabulary keeps growing and I can't get over how smart she is. I get so impressed at the words/directions that she understands and the things that she remembers. She is like a little sponge, absorbing everything. I also love how helpful she is. She puts toys away (for the most part) when she is asked, will throw trash away, go get items for me, take my hand and direct me to what she wants, etc. Nice! This girl just amazes me. I love her so much.

When I took Sophie to the doctor's for her finger last week (click here for the story), she weighed 16 lb 4 oz. She hasn't even gained 3 pounds this year. Geez! Still, Joe and I have decided not to worry about her weight anymore (we've said this before, but really mean it this time). No more tests being run, no more GI visits, no more agonizing over each ounce. As long as Sophie is healthy, active and eating and drinking, we are satisfied and will let her do her own thing. However, if any of those things change, we will go right back to the doctors for help. I discussed this with Sophie's nurse case manager from Humana (the awesome Tonya, who helped me a lot when we had tests to be approved for and feeding tube supplies to deal with) and she agreed with our decision. I have to say, it is very freeing to let go of the worry over her weight. She is going to be small and that is just fine with us.

We went on vacation earlier this month to Coldwater Lake, Michigan. We used to always go when I was little, so I love being able to share the lake with Sophie. Last year when we went, Sophie had her first ear infection. Her fevers were so high and she was miserable. Luckily we didn't have that problem this year. Sophie was in good health (minus a little heat rash) and she had so much fun! She loved the water and was not afraid to walk right in and sit down and play in it. (The lake water was actually pretty darn warm and it is really shallow. We would go 1/3 of the way across the lake and it would still only be up to our waist). Sophie especially loved playing with her cousin all week long. The girls had so much fun together. Sophie even started to like 'Aunt Beba' again (she was bribed by an unlimited amount of popsicles).

Sophie still isn't that interested in potty training. She has peed on the potty a few more times, but it very random. She can tell us when she poops but doesn't want to do it on the potty. A few weeks ago I saw that she was starting to poop (leaned up again the couch with her head down). I asked her if she wanted to poop on the potty and she looked up at me and yelled, "NO!" before putting her head back down. That is okay. There is no big rush to get her trained. Besides, I still can't find any underwear small enough for her.

Sophie has started to drink out of a cup this month. She doesn't use one all of the time, but she is getting good practice. We've had a few spills on the floor and dribbles down her shirt, but she has done surprisingly well. Sophie is pretty specific about what she will drink out of certain containers. She will only drink milk out of a bottle. She will only drink water out of sippy cups. She will only drink juice out of juice pouches. For cups though, she will drink water or lemonade. As soon as she sees me get lemonade out of the fridge, she will say, "Want some!" We'll sit and drink our lemonade together, giving obnoxious lip smacks and 'ahhhh's after each drink. Oh, how I love Sophie.

Ahhhhh

Enjoy some pictures from this month after the jump:

I was going to try breaking her pacifier habit after we came back from vacation. Then the finger incident happened and I just couldn't bring myself to take away her comfort object when she is in pain.