Greatest Hits, 19-21 Months

Here are a few more recent videos of Sophie's antics.

Sorry the blog is funny-looking these days.  I am in the process of picking a new design, so it may continue to be out of whack for a few days while I finish updating things.

Sophie acting wild before naptime.  The funny thing is that she fell asleep within about two minutes once we sat down to nurse.  Thank God for nursing!

Wish I had gotten more of the dancing.  But she loved this hippo!

I think Sophie has a new favorite sign.

What would my toddler do without "her" iPhone?

And here is a bonus video of Keegan's antics:

Our Bluesy Girl

Sophie has a couple of important new skills:

1.  Walking on her toes - She prefers tiptoeing to things like getting dressed, putting on her shoes, helping Mommy with anything, taking a bath, etc.

2.  Playing the harmonica.  Keegan has been trying to get her to do this for ages, but there was a lot of confusion between the harmonica and the kazoo.  Now she can blow without also squealing along.

Oh yeah, and we're also potty training.  Whew!  Is there anything this girl can't do?

Surprises Every Day

Sophie has many amazing skills and abilities these days, but my favorite moments come when she improves her speaking. First of all, she sounds adorable (my current favorite words: blue (ba-looo), splash (sp-lASH), noodles (guh-loooos), and wow), but more importantly I get a glimpse into her mind as she communicates more effectively. Here are a few recent surprises from Sophie's mouth:

While playing with a set of farm animal magnets, excitedly: "two chickens!" (I had no idea she understood numbers and counting that well.)

Upon seeing Mama wearing a shirt she hadn't seen before:  "Mama new shirt!"

Instead of getting worked up into a crying fit on the diaper table:  "Mama, I want durse."

When asked whether she would like to sit on Uncle Tim's motorcycle:  "No want motorcycle."
(I want and I no want are both new additions to Sophie's vocabulary.)

After nursing one morning:  "Snuggle mama!"  (This is my favorite new word, but unfortunately, it has quickly passed out of use.)

Sophie's favorite new game involves her panda and rabbit puppets from Nana.  She is overjoyed when panda and "dee-dee" cheer for her as she goes through her usual routine.  She requests their cheers at every turn:  "Time durse.  Panda, Dee-Dee Yaaaaaaay!"  "Diaper change.  Panda, Dee-Dee Yaaaaaaaaaay!"  She likes to see Panda and Dee-Dee clap when she behaves well.  I wish she would like to behave well for ME, but I'll take what I can get.

Also, that naughty monkey Alex has expanded his repertoire of misbehavior to include jumping on the chair.  Now I have another thing to reprimand him for, much to Sophie's delight.

Weekend Adventures

Keegan had to work this Saturday.  There are many reasons that Saturday working sucks for both of us, and one of them is that our usual playmates are often busy with their families and not available to entertain us.  So I try to be creative and do special things on Dada's working Saturdays.  Keegan had suggested months ago that Sophie would probably enjoy riding the bus from our apartment in Deokpo into town.  So around 11:00, we headed out from the apartment to the bus stop across the street.  Waiting for the bus was the hardest part.  Sophie did not like to stand inside the bus shelter where we were protected from the wind, preferring instead to sit on the sidewalk and wait.

Will the bus come soon?

At last the bus arrived and Sophie and I got on and found a seat.  Sophie was really excited to be on the bus.  She really liked watching the doors open and close and the people getting on and off.

Riding the bus!

Once we made it into town, we got off the bus and headed towards the playground at the foreigner's club.  As soon as we got close, Sophie started asking to see the chickens - I don't know how she remembers these things!  So we got a chance to look at the bunnies and the chickens that are kept penned up in a little park just inside the entrance to the DSME compound.

How we managed to complete this visit without finger nibbling I'll never know.

Then it was off to the playground, where we survived a brief meltdown at the swings to enjoy the rest of the fine playground activities.

A playground!  Let me at it!

Showing off her darn good climbing skills.

When we were all played out, we took a taxi back to our apartment after a fine morning.

Today we had another adventure!  Last weekend, Keegan bought a toddler bike seat for his shipyard bike, and this weekend we got a chance to try it out.  We didn't go very far, but we had a lot of fun.  Sophie loves wearing her "helmet hat."

At the Buddha Park in the middle of a fun ride.

When we got back to Deokpo Beach, Sophie had a grand old time throwing rocks into the water and playing on the apartment playground with her friend Daniel.  Mommy and Daddy had a grand old time soaking up the sun and Sophie's smiles.  I hope all of your weekends were as much fun as ours was!