Interesting Things Sophie is Doing These Days

Okay, maybe only interesting to me.

She calls/cries/says “mama” all the time, but she pronounces it the French way. Maman — er…maMahn. When she’s really agitated it’s MaMaaahn! MaMaaahn! in an accent fit for any angsting/overacting French actress.

Understands SO much in both French and English it’s crazy/scary. This morning I uttered the word “ergo” because I’m eBaying it. I probably haven’t said the word ERGO out loud for months and months. Sophie heard the word, got excited, and dragged me to her room where she pulled it from the hook and had a tantrum until I wore her around the house for a few minutes. I was astounded.  She knew what the word ERGO meant. *shocked*

Calls all cartoons toot toot!

Like lots of little kids, ADORES Elmo…and doggies. Right now I’m deciding between the two things as a theme for her second birthday party (maybe this year she won’t be afraid of the cupcakes!)

Loves coffee. This morning she pulled a spoon from the drawer (she can open the drawers now, she’s that tall) and brought to me, freaked out until I gave her a taste.

Is 26 pounds and 100 cm tall. She’s in the 90th percentile for height, our little girl. If I’m reading the chart right, she’s in the 10th percentile for weight. Huh. Is that possible? She’s got a good appetite and doesn’t appear overly thin. Iiiiintereeesting…. (Isn’t it cool that you get my thoughts processes as they happen?) Chongqing girls are tall/thin as a general rule, however.

Has outgrown most her shoes. DUDE! I’m taking all her old clothes into a consignment place today, selling them, then turning around and buying her more. I’m eBaying all her Hannas.

 

Catch Up

It’s been a while since I posted, owing to deadlines, writer conventions and illness. Oh, and houseguests. Sophie’s paternal grandmother was here for a visit.

What’s new? Well, for starters I’m now a stay-at-home mom. Too weird that I don’t have to get up and shlep myself into Cubicle Land tomorrow. I’m not sure how I’ll adjust to it yet. Time will tell.

In other news, I think it’s time we put Sophie into a Playgroup. Just a couple days a week and just for a couple hours. I’ve started to look into programs and have some good recommendations. I think it will be good for her socially and help with her verbal skills.

And here are lots of pictures! These are all from the past month.

Flower Series….

The Family at Lunch….

Mama and Sophie….

Grandma and Sophie… (drawing with Bumba markers with Bumba on in the background)

Sophie plans to mow the yard….

I can’t believe my little baby is going to be two soon. *sniffle*

 

Baking Cookies!

To beat the blues today we baked cookies.

As you can see from the pictures, Sophie enjoyed them.

 

I know I’ve been bad….

I haven’t been keeping this blog up, but I’m going to try and do better. To make amends, here are a BUNCH of pictures from over the holidays. We spent Christmas in Belgium, where Sophie met her overseas family.

Gosh, I hope y’all don’t have dial-up.

Sophie got along well with her cousins, (the two other girls you see pictured here. There’s another little blond, too, she’s the child of one of James’s friends). Sophie seemed to like the four and a half year old better than the 15 month old because the older one DID STUFF, like run around and play hide-and-seek.

How did Sophie sleep? Uhm. badly. Like we all did. We never really got on Belgian time. We tended to stay up really late (for Belgium) and sleep in late in the morning.

In general, Sophie is doing very well. She’s definitely hit toddlerhood and is pushing the boundaries of her world. That’s a good thing! She’s talking a lot these days and for the first time put two words together last night (no mo). I think that means No MORE. She was shaking her head and pushing her dinner plate at me when she said them.

 

10/26 — Sophie is 16 months old

Nope, I didn’t forget the 26 pic. It just took me a few days longer to post it.

My baby on her first sweet sixteen:

It is getting really hard to get a good 26 shot of her now. She’s moving all the time. So from now the 26 shots will be more of the “action” variety, I think. I got lucky on this one.

The trip to Belgium should be interesting. The trip from China with her I anticipated would be bad, but it wasn’t at all. Sophie cried once for like three minutes. The rest of the 24 hour trip she was fine. (Amazing, if you think about it). But she’s older now and won’t stand to be confined to one area, so I expect we’ll be making friends with lots of the other passengers on the plane. We’re going to ask for the bulkhead seats. I hope we get them.

Here’s why I’m the luckiest mama in the whole world. Every morning I get to greet this smiling face (with lion and blanket, her “woobies” and hella lot of teefers!)

She’s been released from PT (No doubt, geeze!) and soon will be released from OT, I think. Her sensory disorder is GONE. She has no more symptoms at all. She never does the bearing down and shaking thing. She doesn’t hit her head when she’s upset anymore (she would do this with her palm, not against the wall or anything) and will touch/play with anything. Eating is no longer an issue like it was before. Now any texture is okay with her.

The sensory thing was why i wanted her in the program to begin with. Now that it’s cleared up, it’s probably time to move her on. The OT is hanging on a bit I think because she likes Sophie (Hey, who wouldn’t? *g*) but she’s talking about releasing her within the next couple of months.

Sophie’s cut two incisors completely and is working on more. Solids are not a problem for her at all and she LOVES Goldfish and graham crackers. If I say, “Sophie, do you want a cookie?” she’ll toddle over to the cabinet where I keep the graham crackers and open it up.

Still not talking much (she’s babbling a lot), but I know that will come in time. She loves to sing. If I sing to her, she’ll sing back in baby talk. She seems to have a preference for music in general.

 

Another Vid — Halloween

I’m giggling like an idiot again and the quality is bad (again), but Sophie is cute! That should be reason enough to watch. Oh, and it’s short.

She LOVED it! I actually didn’t think she’d enjoy it as much as she did, but she really, really seemed to have fun. She refused to ride in the stroller. She walked and we carried her most of the way. She rocked out to the piped in music, marveled at the dressed up characters the zoo had milling around, and was very interested in the other children. It was PACKED.

I’m really glad we took her. It was a great experience. And, gosh, I bet she’s going to sleep well tonight.

 

Punkinhead

Sophie’s first halloween costume. Tomorrow we’re taking her trick or treating at the zoo.

And a short video. Ignore me sounding like an idiot.

 

FCC Autumn Festival

The FCC…yeah, well. Not much in the way of Chinese culture happening there, of course. Lots of little adopted girls from China, though! We ran into some very nice folks. Also some folks like I was expecting, “So what church do you go to?” But that’s cool.

Sophie was pretty much the youngest one there. And there was some angst because she wanted to PLAY with the little kids, but she’s too little and her legs don’t go that fast yet. She did steal a ball from one little five year old, though. Heh.

Here are some pictures (because you knew there would be):

Peek! Sophie does this all the time. She thinks it’s hilarious.

Wanting to play with the big kids.

In the punkin patch with papa.

At the petting zoo.

In the corn maze. Peace, yo.

Empathy R Us….

I’m following this blog kept by this family who is trying to adopt a little girl about Soph’s age from Guatemala. They’d been living there for six months now, acting as foster parents. I don’t really understand how Guat adoptions work, but their case HAS BEEN DENIED and they’re appealing in the court system. Denied for some stupid reason like they can’t get a signature on some stupid piece of paper. They’ve both quit their jobs in the states and are burning up their savings to be down there with this baby girl.

God. My stomach is in my throat for them. I cannot imagine. I CANNOT. Imagine living with this little girl for six months, thinking she’s going to be your daughter and then…. I don’t know these people, but I am just sick with worry for them all.

 

Six Months With Sophie

That saying about time flying is true. I cannot imagine life without Sophie in it. We are incredibly lucky and honored to have her.

Six months ago today, Sophie was placed in our arms. Also today Sophie is 15 months old!

Then….Sophie on 3/26

Now…Sophie on 9/26

Taking an aeroplane…. Crossing the International Date Line.

Reaching Hong Kong

Sophie sleeping on the second night we had her…

~*~

Some pictures of Sophie today…..

Sophie fake crying (I can totally tell when she does this)…

Her two seconds later…

 

Photos and a vid

Here’s a few pics I took of Sophie this morning. She’s walking more than she’s crawling these days.

And….here’s a short video of Sophie walking and then playing kissy face in the hallway mirror: