Like Father Like... Daughter

You've heard the saying "Like Father like son." In this case, it's "Like Father like daughter."

Daddy loves construction...

And the other day we learned that Sophie does too...

Her friend (and our neighbor), Asa, who is 16 months old, has a tool bag with tools, and Sophie was entertained for quite a while by all of his tools....
She especially loved the screw driver and wasn't good at sharing it with Asa...
I'm sure her daddy will teach her some basic fix-r-up skills as she grows up, and it seems like she's interested in starting early (and yes, she's wearing a Colts "Manning" jersey). :)

Sophie's Learning - 11 Months

I can't believe it's already been over a month since I wrote my last update about things Sophie is learning... this post here. She's learning so much so fast these days that it's hard to keep up with!

Since that post, she has:

-Gotten her 8th tooth (while drooling excessively)

-Learned to stand on her own (she claps for herself every time)

-Learned to point to what she wants or what we say (she points to her cup when she wants a drink, points to her crackers when she wants more, points to her ball when we say "ball," points to her stuffed lion when we say "Roar!")

-Learned to use a sippy cup (straw)

-Learned to play peekaboo

-Says Mama!

-Says "uh oh"

-Says "yeah"

-Learned to sign "please"

And for your viewing pleasure, here are some recent pictures...

Likes and Dislikes - 11 months

Sophie seems to change her likes and dislikes quite bit.

Currently some of her likes include:

-Graham crackers

-Kix

-Mommy's blueberry waffles (pretty much all food)

-Balls

-Ring Stacker

-Phones (real and fake)

-Other little kids

-Leapfrog Fridge Farm magnet

-Poppin' Pals

-Baby piano

-Activity walker

-Camelbak water bottle (our neighbors have these, and she's always going for them!)

-Opening and closing things

-Ducks

-Anything that is Mommy's and Daddy's

The nice thing about the environment we live in, is that she gets to play with a lot of other kids toys. We can learn which ones she likes and dislikes without having to buy them all!

Her current dislikes are:

-Baths (As is apparent in the picture below, she did like them! But in the last couple of weeks she's decided she's terrified of them. So frustrating!)

-Hats, especially big ones, when people are wearing them on their head (terrified)

-Balloons (terrified)

-When other kids cry

-Foods: pureed pees, strawberries (texture)

-Having her hair put up in a ponytail

-Having her nails clipped (or having her hands held at all)

-Vacuum (when it's on)

I Love Being a Mom, But....

There are some things I just really miss about my pre-Mom days. Here are some things I miss because I am either unable to do them or it's much more difficult to do/enjoy them:

-Sleeping in

-Going places whenever I want

-Going on dates, carefree (now I'm always missing Sophie or worrying about Sophie)

-Listening to music loudly in the car

-Laying in the sun

-Making money (I don't miss working, really, but I miss the income)

-Reading lots of books

-Running outside whenever I wanted

-Enjoying my dinner

While I do miss all of these things, my love for Sophie is far greater than my love for all of these things together. I would choose being a mom any day over these old freedoms I used to have... yes, even over sleeping in! I mean, look how cute this kid is...

Sophie is 11 months!

Good thing it's Leap Year, or Sophie wouldn't have an official day to celebrate her 11 month birthday, since she was born on the 29th! It's hard to believe that in one month from today she turns 1!

As we do every month, we took out the age appropriate sticker (11 months), and snapped away on the camera, getting pictures. I think she gets cuter every month, but the pictures get harder to take as she gets more mobile. She is constantly on the go now, and if she even will sit still for a picture (we had to move to the rocking chair after she almost nose-dived off the couch), getting her to look is even more of a challenge. And then getting her to smile is the biggest challenge of all since she thinks I'm ruining her life by making her sit still in a chair, with no toy.

I must say that I think I got some pretty cute pictures considering!

Favorite Toys - 10 months

Some of Sophie's current favorite toys are ones that involve fine motor skills. It's so fun watching her learn! One of her favorite toys is this wooden box of blocks. She's always liked the blocks, but this weekend she's just learned how to put all the blocks back in the box. She dumps them all out and then puts them back in one by one. It's so cute.

She also really likes this stack of rings. Do you see how the smallest one is on bottom (under the blue one)? She unstacked them all and then re-stacked them like this. She will sit for 10 minutes unstacking and re-stacking these rings. I love to watch her study it and try so hard.
Notice that she also is drooling like crazy! I think that 8th tooth is going to come in soon.

Being a Mommy...

Being a Mommy... is the BEST