Laugh out Loud Funny

She's got sass. She's got brains. And she's getting some hair. She's hysterical.

"Sophie want the quesadilla right now." (When Doug told her that we were out of tortillas, she continued to yell that sentence and shut herself in our bedroom. Eventually the hunger strike ended and she settled for her 2nd option.)

"Old MacDonald had a farm, Daddy."

"P stands for popcorn and picnic."

"These flowers are pink. Sophie's shirt pink, too. LOOK MOMMY! They match."

"BE QUIET, pumpkin." (She is a bit freaked out by our Halloween decorations.)

"NO TALKING, MOMMY. NO TALKING. NO, MOMMY. NO TALKING!!"

"No like this. Eeewww, no like this." (in reference to "bad" dinners)

We have had a wonderful week with many Fall arts and crafts. Sophie even has a new "artwork gallery" where all of the work ("Sophie did it! Sophie did it!) gets displayed. She has become increasingly independent from wanting to put on her own shoes and pull up her pants to not wanting to wear a diaper. She has been getting more and more confident at Sunday School and her teachers even praised her today for not crying. Big steps! She can look at the spine of most of her books in her library and request them by name. She recalls character names and uses new vocabulary words ALL THE TIME. She quite honestly doesn't shut up!! Today, Sophie and I went to the "special grocery store " (Trader Joe's) and she proceeded to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" at full volume down all of the aisles. Also, this week, when we needed to take Louie to an emergency visit to the vets, she initially cried for him, but then she gave him a purple sticker because "that's his favorite color, mommy." As we drove with him in the car, she pointed out buildings, saying, "LOOK LOUIE! That's Bellevue city."

I want to bottle her up right now and never forget how entertaining she is!

In her own words...

I can't help it. I must post more cute Sophie-isms.

"That's Australia. Daddy grew up here. Daddy little boy here."

"That's a broken egg? Daddy fix that now." If anything is broken, she believes that her Daddy can fix it.

"No like this."

"LOOK MOMMY! Sophie have cute shirt."

"What's A starting? What's B starting?" She is so curious about which words start with all the letters. When I told her that Monkey started with the letter M, she said "No! Mommy start M." Also, when I told her that Lambie started with the letter L, she again said "No, Mommy. L for Louie."

Sophie loves "squirrel nutkins" because of how they eat nuts, cheerios, and goldfish crackers that she throws at them...but she really thinks that "chip-monkeys" are cute too!

A few nights ago, Sophie was mad at Mommy because I said "no" to something....she looked like she was going to cry/scream/throw a massive tantrum. But, abruptly she stopped and said, "Mommy go work now? Whitney come back now. Whitney so nice." Whitney is her nanny...I could have cried, but I laughed out loud. My laughing caught Sophie off guard and pretty soon, she, too, was giggling, at her ridiculous solution to the problem!



Sophie enjoys to play with my long hair. She asked "Sophie hair grow right now, too?" I wish I knew, Sophie, I wish I knew! After she had messed up my hair and covered my face with it, she told me "Mommy take bath right now. Mommy hair dirty, so dirty."

Sophie isn't showing signs that she's ready to get potty trained, but she really dislikes getting her diaper changed now. She says "Diaper uncomfortable now" or "Diaper too full right now" and then later, she'll reassure me "Diaper all better now."

Doug had been out of town for work. During dinner, one night while he was gone, Sophie and I were talking about cities (We live in Bellevue, we drive over the bridge to Seattle, Papa lives in Spokane, Dylan and baby Grace live in Kansas City, etc.). Then, she asked me, "Where Daddy live?" So sad! Later in the evening, she put her stuffed wombat in time out. I asked her why he had to sit there. She replied, "Wombat cried." When I asked why wombat cried, she said "Wombat needs his daddy." It nearly broke my heart!




This summer, when we were in Walla Walla, my grandma, Sophie's "Great Grandma" let her pick tomatoes in her garden. Since then, Sophie believes that every tomato comes from Great Grandma's garden: "Tomato from Great Grandma's garden? Sophie pick this one, too?"

Also, Great Grandma had a collection of Beanie Babies; she let Sophie play with them and then allowed her to pick one to take home. Sophie struggled to choose between two white bears--one was a 2004 Bush/Cheney bear (with their photos on it!) and the other was a Kentucky state bear. Sophie chose "Ku-tucky bear." During this trip, we misplaced Sophie's favorite dinosaur. When she was upset about losing him, I convinced Sophie that we traded the dinosaur with Great Grandma to get Ku-tucky. This has provided much conversation over the past 6 weeks: "What Great Grandma doing? Great Grandma play with dinosaur? Sophie get Ku-tucky. Great Grandma trade dinosaur." Last night, she was whispering into Ku-tucky's ears. I listened as best as I could, but she was telling him about the trade and how dinosaur plays with Great Grandma and "Ku-tucky live Bellevue now." Because Ku-tucky was a part of a Beanie Baby collection, Great Grandma had left the tags on his head. When Ku-tucky joined our family, I removed the tags. There isn't a playtime that goes by when Sophie doesn't remind Ku-tucky of "tag on head. Tag gone now."

Finally, the best talking of all: "I LOVE YOU, MOMMY! I LOVE YOU, DADDY!" She screams it.

Her Mind and Mouth

I've been writing a list on my phone of all the imaginative and hysterical comments that come out of Sophie's mouth. Her creativity and sense of humor have taken on a life of their own. I'm amazed by her ingenuity and playfulness with language. Before I even have a chance to laugh at one of Sophie's jokes, she usually laughs at herself.

Here is a glimpse inside her mind and mouth...

1. Sophie's PaPa loves birds and the two of them have spent much time outdoors identifying the diferent types. One afternoon, Sophie and I were outside in the front yard listening to birds and watching the bees on the flowers. Sophie said "Papa love the birds and the bees."

2. She calls EVERY squirrel: Squirrel Nutkin (Beatrix Potter)

3. Last week, she was chasing Louie, the cat, around the house. When he eventually darted downstairs, she yelled, "See ya later, alligator!" Doug and I were laughing so hard, because we had never heard her use that phrase before.

4. We have been talking about October (turning 2!) and Halloween. Sophie changes her mind daily about her costume choice. She consistently tells me to be a hummingbird. She said, "Louie dress up cow. Meow. Moo. Meow. Moo."

5. Today was Sophie's first day of Sunday School at church. Considering her quieter, more reserved personality, she did really well. We had been building up Sunday School all week long to get her prepared. I had told her that we dress up for church. She immediately said "Sophie dress up puppy church." I then tried to explain that I meant dress up as in wearing her "dancing dress" as opposed to a puppy costume...

6. She told me at the playground that she was "driving to ocean. Otter Pop swim there."

7. There is road construction going on outside our house, and they have spray painted an orange line where our driveway meets the sidewalk. Sophie knows that she can ride her trike or push her baby's stroller only to the orange line. She was charging to the orange line, and I yelled "Remember that you need to turn around at the orange line, Sophie." She turned around but then continued walking backwards....

8. Over the past 2-3 weeks, Sophie's mind has been moving more quickly than her mouth can form the words. She has developed an adorable stutter. When she gets so excited and has a lot to say, her brain is a few steps ahead of the formation of the words. I love it.

9. Her levels of "play" have drastically changed. She now "drive to work" or "drive to airport to see Grandma and Papa." She will drive her trike several feet away from me and say that she's at work. When I ask her what her job is, she says "teacher." I've tried to call her at work, but she told me "No, mommy. Sophie at work. Sophie busy."

10. She got to wear some new, sparkly shoes to the grocery store. As we got to the back door, we passed by her doll stroller which was packed with her babies. She lifted up her foot and said "Look babies." I asked her, "What did the babies say when they saw your cool shoes?" She responded "Oh my gosh."

11. She asked for coffee cake for dinner. In the nearly 2 years since she's been born, we've never made nor eaten coffee cake.

12. We saw orange and blue balloons tied to the bannister at church. They were blowing around, but Sophie told me they were "knocking on the wall to come in."

13. I pushed her baby stroller pretty quickly on the driveway. Sophie ran after me, immediately picked up "Little Baby" and told me "Little Baby cry now, mommy. Kiss her better now." Apparently, Little Baby didn't appreciate going "too fast."

14. One of Sophie's favorite words is "now".....Chicken all better now? (as in the temperature). Sophie go sleep now. All better now (after an owie is kissed). Ready to go home now. Mommy look pretty now (after I changed my clothes). Sophie want apple juice right now (yes, sometimes it is in the form of a bossy demand).

15. I heard her on the phone talking to her monkey. "Hello? That you?"

16. As we drove home from the grocery store, I looked back in the rear view mirror and our eyes met. Sophie stuck out her hand and shook it in the air (we've practiced shaking hands) and said, "How are you doing, Mommy?" I said that I was fine and I asked her how she was doing. But, she just kept asking, "How are you doing, Mommy?"

17. "Mommy in carseat. Sophie behind the wheel."

18. S: "What dis, mommy?" Mommy: "That's ______ .

S: "What dis, mommy?" Mommy: "That's more ______ (same noun as Blank A).

S: "What dis, mommy?" Mommy: "That's another __________ (same nouns as Blanks A and B)

S: "Dis _______, too?"

I LOVE her use of "too". It's always accurate and her little voice inflection for questions melts my heart every time.

19. We have been joking around and saying "Yo, yo, Daddy-o." Last time, I said it, I could see the wheels click in Sophie's head. She said "Yo, yo, Daddy-O, Cheerio."

20. When she plays with her dolls, babies, or even crayons (because apparently, they have mommies and daddies, too), Sophie whispers. She pretends to feed them, pretends they're crying and need cuddling, and pretends that they talk back to her. Her gentle, compassionate, and imaginative words to them always make me smile.

I love this little girl and am proud of her every day.

S & Daddy Time!

Sophie and I got to spend a few days of quality time together while E was being super-mummy running the 200+ mile Hood to Coast relay (the world's biggest running relay) last week. While we really missed her, we had a special time. Below are a few moments I was able to capture (on my phone, so I'm sorry for the quality)...

Our time at home included Otter Pops at 10am, trying on Daddy's underwear and posing for photos in the crib!

A trip to the farm and the park...

...and to the mall for play time and ice cream!

Supporting Mummy from Bellevue :) This shot took a few takes!

We drove down to Portland on Saturday to pick up our superstar and were able to go to the Portland Zoo. The open air train ride around the zoo was amazing--the squealing was hysterical!

A date at Red Robin before Mummy, Uncle Chris and Auntie Ali joined us in Portland (by the time we left S was singing: "Red Robin, mmm!").

What a great few days we had! We are so pround of Elizabeth/Mummy for the successful completion of the HTC relay--an amazing acheivement. I also have to take the time to say how proud I am of her for maintaining this blog--an incredible way to follow the journey of our amazing little girl. Thank you E, I love you!