When all you can do is pray...

I'm learning more and more everyday that Sophie is more, umm, passionate, in her communication style than Sarah is (or ever was).
Today after school we go in to have our normal "sophie time". She's fine. We're fine. No problem. Then Sophie decides "I'm a tad hungry." No problem, we've got our sign language. And she easily says "go eat". ok, it's getting to be lunch time anyway.
Sophie gets in her high chair. Sophie wants our new granola. ok, doing good. no problems. Then it seems something went very very wrong with the approach in which I gave her yogurt with her granola. I'm talking WAY wrong. After 30 minutes of screaming, hysterical crying (her, not me) I'm replaying the morning in my mind wondering if she's swallowed something and it's now ripping down her intestines....I could think of lots of crazy scenarios, none made sense though. 45 minutes into this ordeal I tell Sarah that she might want to sit this show out in her room. She fully agreed. 60 minutes into it I'm calling Glen asking for prayer because I had no idea what was going on. She had all her favorite foods in front of her. Kept asking to eat but wouldn't take any of it.
After an hour of crying and 2 minutes of prayer, this is what finally made everything right in the world......


She wanted out of the highchair and be allowed to eat at the table like everyone else. When she was done I told her to put her stuff in the sink. You'd think she had just won the lottery. She proudly picked up her bowl and fork and ran them to the sink. And all on her own she did the same with her sippy cup. Then she looked at me...eyes shinning. As if she was waiting for the next thing. "Sarah, will you show Sophie how to wash up after eating?". Sophie was beaming!!! And came back to show me her clean hands!

Was this what she wanted the whole hour? who knows!!! But did it make everything better? you bet!!!

Don't look too close. The umm...maid...had not been yet. *blush*

No child left behind :)

I have been trying to be more intentional with how Sophie spends her time. Especially now that she's not stuffing everything and anything in her mouth while my back is to her. While I still believe her time at Leap Frog Academy (aka watching the Letter Factory) is valuable...I'm trying to let her spread her wings a little. Here she is being taught hand/eye coordination by big sis. It's just a little fishing game but Sophie loves it! And she's a "catch and release" fisherwoman we've found. If anyone actually catches a fish she puts them right back in their hole. :) I like to think that means she will train missionaries one day. Teach them, then set them free to go out into all the world. :)


I've stumbled on an area of weakness for her. Sorting. If you are thinking "my word, she looks like Cousin It!" I know, it was early...we're still working on our morning routine. I digress.
She was having a great time with the silverware. Not so much interested in putting big forks with big forks though. That's ok. She's only 20 months old, there's still time for all that.


Sarah is really into science experiments lately. I think I mentioned our colored sugar. It's finally ready to be, umm, crushed. I'll try to add a picture of that tonight. Well, more like tomorrow since we have ballet tonight. And more "life is school" after ballet, where Sarah will learn the effect of running out of errand time this morning. (the answer: dad has to do it at night. sorry dad.)

Little moments of freedom

Finally...I'm able to back up and enjoy bathtime a bit more.



Why does Sophie always look scared with Sarah?????


I've learned, thanks to Sophie, that little moments of freedom are priceless. Sophie has kept me on my toes since landing in my arms almost a year ago. It was probably only a month ago that I wished more household items were available with a padded covering. You know, things like bathtubs, fireplaces, entertainment centers, floors under cribs, driveways (ok, that's not exactly a household item, but I did still wish for them.)...you get the idea.
Sophie is just full steam ahead. Need to get out of the crib? Go ahead, never mind the 4 foot drop to the hard, albeit carpeted, floor. Thirsty? No problem. Just drink the tub water. Need to poop? No problem, the tub is just like a toilet only you sit IN it, instead of ON it. ahhhhhh.... she's been fun.
There will be a mushier anniversary post later. This one is about how she makes me laugh.
When she's insistent about getting a fork you will wince at how similar it sounds to a really bad word you hope she never says.
She's discovered...and is diligent in the removal of...."toe-jam". You know, the stuff that accumulates between your toes. For some reason she will sit for a long time inspecting her jam. Then she prefers a supervisor's inspection as well. It simply must be removed. And sometimes, after a really big meal, she has to lay on her back to actually be able to see her toes!!!
She will cry like CRAZY if you dare to break her banana in half and only give her half of it. If you proceed to give her the other half she'll refuse to eat it in protest of the defective goods she was handed. The same can be said for skinned apples. Problem is, I never receive notice in advance of her requirements.
She'll also cry if I serve Sarah a vegetable and not offer her any. It's really just a formality as she never eats them.
She's been introduced to Big Bird in China and Benji. Oh my word. The girl couldn't love dogs any more than she loves them now. "Bar-key!! Bar-key!!" (Barkly, aka Big Bird's friend) And throughout Benji she would say "Dawg! Dawg!" every time Benji appeared. In case you haven't seen Benji...he's on there a lot. And then there's Blue, from Blue's Clues. What would I do without her friend Blue at 5pm everyday???
She's finally getting that stickers are fun...and not tasty.
And that we look at outside treasures with our eyes...not our tongues.
Her two favorite drinks are gook and ouff. (That's milk and juice)
She's never met a fruit she doesn't like.
She hates to hear her sister cry.
She tries to say knock-knock jokes like her sister and friends did. "nok, nok"
"Who's there?" "fawk!" (that's FORK, remember?) "um, fork who?" then she giggles and holds up the fork! get it? well, it's funny when she does it. :)
She's also a woman of prayer. Usually 4-5 times per meal she will fold her hands and say "pray!" If you don't, she'll insist with her voice raised. Simple prayers will do, but don't deny her prayer. And who would want to really?
She really is quite a character. Even Sarah says "awwwww, she's so cute."
So...what do you do on a one year anniversary? Start paperwork, of course!!! Stay tuned. :)

The recovery effort....

So much to do, so little time. I see my last post was the day before our first holiday guest arrived. So much to tell!!!!

First up...Ballet Magnificat's A Christmas Dream. Wow. It was so awesome this year. Sarah was glued to it every moment and recognized the steps from her class. The last 2 years the ballet seemed painfully long due to Sarah not being fully into it. It's just not as much fun if you are having to tell your child to be quiet and sit down every 5 mins. But this year, it went so fast! I can honestly say we had a wonderful time together...just Sarah and me. At the end, the entire company danced to a praise and worship song and the ballerinas came out among the audience. Oh the glory!!! Sarah thought it was soooo cool! And I didn't see much of it because I was with my King. :)
Then there was a book signing by Kathy Thibedeaux. Sarah was in awe!!



Here she is with one of her best buddies from our homeschool group.




From there, it gets blurry. :)

This was Sophie's first Christmas & first Christmas home. I had to keep reminding myself of that because it's hard to imagine life without her. Next week will mark our 1 yr Familiversary with her. Which explains why 2008 was gone in the blink of an eye. I have had some deeply intense memories of our time in China in 2008. I close my eyes and see eyes looking back at me, they are not Sarah's and they are not Sophie's. I'm here Lord, send me.
Back to Sophie. She loved the whole Christmas thing. I'll admit to very little decorating. Fact is, very little of my decorations meet the current safety standards set by the Food and Drug Administration. Sophie is still very, um, oral. Although she's getting better about showing me what she's about to try or currently sucking on. *sigh*
She loved opening presents. But was not about to stick her hand down in the stocking. She just kept saying "ugh-ugh". And shaking her head no. She also enjoyed picking up trash and throwing it away...my heart skipped a beat! Her favorite item by far was her Melissa and Doug cutting food. Wooden food that you cut with a wood knife (pieces held together with velcro)...complete with a cutting board. Hours of entertainment!! And in a very close second is the dollhouse. I'm not sure what to make of it, but she constantly puts the whole family in the bathtub. And also likes to set up all the chairs for "church". So just when I'm feeling good that she enjoys worshiping so much, I have to figure out why we all need a bath. Hmmmmmm
She went to Christmas Eve service. She adored being dressed like Sarah and sitting like Sarah and reading the hymnal like Sarah. She made it about 30 mins and enjoyed the rest of the service in the hall with Daddy. :)

Take your breath away, don't they? This was at the Christmas Eve service.



A couple of shots from Christmas....




Then we had our friends from MD here. With 5 kids ages 8, 6, 5, 4, 1.5 (includes Sarah and Sophie) our house was full of laughter!!! They all had such a good time and are really starting to become real friends with real little conversations. Not to say there weren't some stressful moments for the moms, but the kids really never had a problem with each other in the 4 or 5 days. How cool is that???












And we finally started back with school this week. Sarah is, I'm sorry to say, a genius! Just when I think I'm about to teach her something new she does it like it was last year's work. We are having trouble with telling time on analog clocks. She reminded me we don't have one like that. Hmmmmm.....that would make it hard to understand that between 1 and 2 are 5 mins, huh?
We are making colored sugar this week. My goal is to do more science experiments this year.
And she is dying to start a new chapter book read-aloud. We started Tale of Desperaux and Mrs Piggle-Wiggle and I just couldn't finish them. I'm going to play it safe this time and read Boxcar Children.

It's horribly cold outside this week, so we are facing a lot of indoor time. Poor Sophie. She's sooooo tired of the living room. I know I am! There are only so many things to do. We've mastered all of the running into the couch techniques. Have avoided needing stitches from the fireplace. Broken the train table to an unrecognizable form. And the girls now recognize Barefoot Contessa, Rachel Ray, and Paula Dean from the "after nap monotony". It's time for spring!!! Lady bugs, butterflies, blue birds.....hopefully by then Sophie will be over the urge to eat them or their poop. *big sigh*

Ok, so I'm mostly caught up here now. I think I did a pretty good clean out of the PC and it might be more cooperative now. Time will tell.
Until next time!