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:

 

Another Photo Fest

Pictures of Sophie swimming with her papa and also of our recent trip to the Renaissance Festival.

 

It’s the 26th Again

Sophie is 14 months old. I won’t detail her milestones, I’ll just say she’s pretty much caught up developmentally.

It’s near impossible to get a good still, headshot of Sophie these days so here’s an “action” shot. I won’t post all the 26th pics, either. Just the first and latest.

Sophie on 3/26/07

Sophie on 8/26/07

AND….because I can’t ever just post one or two pictures….more pics from today……

I just thought this one was pretty.

STANDING!! After this she took SIX steps. Her current record. She went from one to two to four…now six this morning. See how proud she is!

Watching papa mow the lawn. “Papa! Papa!” she’ll cry and bang her palm on the window.

 

Walking…OY

Sophie took a step today! All on her own. Without holding on to anything. I think that full fledged walking is still a bit away yet, however.

*pause*

Yeah, okay…that was wishful thinking.

Sophie pushing her walking toy down the hallway.

Sophie mid-whimper.

AND she’s finally drinking her bottle on her own. Makes me a little misty. *sigh* My bebeh is growing up.

 

Wednesday Morning Photo Shoot

Because I don’t take enough pictures of Sophie. *snort*

Peek-a-boo

It’s hard to get good pictures of Sophie because she’s ALWAYS MOVING. *g*

Sophie with her blanket and lion. I’m trying to make these her “woobies” and they go everywhere we go. She’s starting to take to the blanket, the lion is slower. She’s not much of a stuffed animal girl yet. She’s more of a noise-making, music-making toy kind of girl.

PEEK!!!

She was standing and smiling, but right before the picture snapped she decided she wanted to crawl to me. My father said she STOOD UP ON HER OWN yesterday at his house. Apparently she stood for a second, then went down on her butt. I’m so bummed I missed it. She’s crab walking around the house now and barely hanging on when cruising or standing, so I know it’s coming soon.

Sophie has sucked her thumb from day one. She used to do it a lot more, but she’s still a big thumb sucker.

Standing up at the dining room table.

The big news of lately is that she’s eating solid foods now, 100%. We have mostly retired the baby foods jars, which is AWESOME. This was my biggest developmental concern with her. She’s eating pretty much everything now and feeding herself Cheerios and Nilla Wafers, although she’s not too big on sweet stuff. She’d take Cheerios over cookies anytime.

She’s also feeding herself her bottle! And her sippy cup!!!! And she’s drinking juice and water on her own.

It’s amazing. I try for months and months to get her to do this stuff and then one day, out of the clear blue sky, she does it all. Her sensory issues are clearly subsiding.

My pretty girl.

Words she is saying now:

Mama
Papa
Hi
Uh, oh.

We taught her all of them but “hi”. She picked that one up on her own. She says “oh, oh” ALL THE TIME now. We’ve created an uh, oh monster.

In other new, we had our first melt down in the store yesterday!!! Oh, my. It was a doozy, too. Sophie is LOUD and she loves to be loud. She wanted me to hold her (so I thought at the time, afterward I realized she may have been constipated), but I couldn’t hold her and push the cart. Poor sweetie. When we first brought her home, I used to keep the Ergo with us all the time, esp in stores because she wasn’t used to the sights, the cart, ect. I totally wished for that Ergo yesterday.

That’s all from the home front for now.

 

Mini Progress Report

Here’s just a quickie post about where Sophie is right now developmentally. Soon we’re off to the store.

She is trying to say “hi” and “uh, oh”. She’s getting the “Hi” pretty well, but “Uh, oh” is pretty tough. She “uh…uh….uh’s” so hard she turns red. *g* Can’t quite get to the “oh” part.

She’s eating pretty much everything now! She no longer fake gags when you put “hard” foods in her mouth. Had part of a graham cracker yesterday and a few meltable graduate thingies. We’re making lots of progress on this front. We’re still not totally there yet, but it’s a lot better. She eats from my plate a lot these days.

She’s cruising at the window ledge and around the coffee table. We’re not encouraging the walking at all. She’s just doing it on her own. Went out last weekend and bought her a pair of good Stride Rites and also a pair of Robeez. Figure she’ll need shoes soon.

This weekend we’re off to our adoption agency’s reunion. I’m sure I’ll have pictures to share when we get back!