Sisters are Best Friends Forever

I know that Juliet is going to be my best friend and sister forever. I even let her play with Bunny Bun. (Admittedly, it is only occasionally and only briefly). I also say nice things to her. After her nap and we hear her crying in the monitor, I will tell mommy, "Juliet is awake!" I then rush to the stairs and start racing for the top while shouting, "We are coming, Juliet!" Today, in the car, Juliet was fussing. I leaned over to her and said, "Don't worry, Juliet. I am sitting here right next to you."

P.S. Juliet and I do not sleep in the same crib, contrary to what you might think from the photo above. We were just playing in the crib together one morning as I was waking up. In fact, I no longer sleep in the crib. I am officially in a big kid bed with big kid fairy princess sheets from Auntie Katie. More blog entries to follow on that new development!

My Doctor's Appointment

I had my three-year-old doctor's appointment last week. It wasn't too bad. The doctor said that I am in great health and developing wonderfully. She noted that I could talk really well. I do have one little story to share, however. The nurse told me that I was going to need to take a vision and hearing test, which I had never done before. We were led to a small room with a desk. The nurse told me to sit at the desk, which was way too big for me. On the desk was a big piece of paper with the giant letters "H O V T." Across the room on the wall was a standard eye exam chart. The nurse told me that she was going to point to a letter on the chart on the wall and that I should point to the letter on the chart. I was a little confused. She pointed to the first letter. I said, "H" and then pointed to the "H" on the sheet on the desk. The nurse repeated this procedure several times, sometimes putting glasses on me with an eye patch on one side and then the other. Each time, the nurse would point to a letter on the chart on the wall, and I would say the letter and then point to it on the chart on my desk. The nurse then put giant earphones on my ears. I kept telling the nurse, "I can't hear. I can't hear." But, the nurse continued to give instructions. I was supposed to say, "I hear it" every time I heard a noise in the earphones and then point to the ear where the noise was coming from. Again, I thought this was awfully complicated and silly. But, I followed her instructions. Afterward, mommy and I did not know what to think about the test. It seemed very complicated for a three-year-old to do. Well, that's because it was complicated! When Dr. Mackey came into the examination room, she saw that the nurse wrote on my chart that I had passed the eye and ear exam. Dr. Mackey exclaimed, "Sophia passed! Three year olds never pass. In fact, many four year olds never pass. Great job, Sophia! You know your alphabet and I bet you know your numbers, too!" After that, I felt much better!

By the way, I am continuing to be tall. Mommy lost the chart the doctor gave to us telling my weight and height, but I think that I am 32 pounds, 4 ounces (about the 65th percentile) and 38 inches tall (about the 75th percentile).

A Picasso? A Kandinsky?

....No. It's a Sophia!

Daddy is a super great artist. I may have inherited the artistic gene, too. I love to draw, paint and do "art projects." This is my latest creation. I spent at least a 1/2 hour one night making the circles and then placing the dot in the middle. I also made lines between some of the circles and called them "connections." The next night, I added a few more things to my drawing.

Family Birthday Party

I had another birthday party last weekend. This birthday party was my "family" birthday party with the Heffelbowers and the Mulloys. Green Bay Grandma and Grandpa drove all of the way from Green Bay to help me celebrate my third birthday.

Here I am just hanging-out with Uncle Brett

Dinner was yummy. We had chicken, corn on the cob, and Italian salad.

We ate outside on our deck.

Mommy and Lindsay and me and Juliet played on the grass.

Another picture of the crowd.

Mommy made "fruit pizza" for my birthday cake. I had asked for a carrot cake, but mommy decided that the fruit pizza was a little bit healthier and mommy does not have a food processor so she did not know how to chop all of those carrots. Maybe next year.

I blew out all of the candles on my cake.

I loved opening presents the best.

I got lots of great presents, but Uncle Scott always gets the best ones. He gave to me two little remote control "tv's." I still think that they are fantastic.

It was a great party. What made things even greater is that a few days later Green Bay Grandpa drove all of the way back to Minneapolis to spend the week with us while Grandma visited her sisters in Arizona! It was such a treat to have him here. We played and played and played. Grandpa did a lot of "babysitting" while mommy and daddy had some date nights. One night, Grandpa was even able to get Juliet to go back to sleep after she woke up crying by rocking and singing to her. We went to the zoo, to Bachmans for lunch and to look at the flowers, out for Mexican, and lots and lots of walks around the neighborhood.

My Friend Daxton

I have known Daxton since I was 3 months old. Daxton is exactly one month younger than me. We meet in an "ECFE" (early childhood family education) class. I was long and thin with a head full of black hair. Daxton was bald and chunky. Our mommies became quick friends. Daxton and I have been good friends since, too. Daxton now has a baby brother (Ryder) who is three months older than my little sister, Juliet. When we all get together we have so much fun. Today, we all went to Lake Harriet late in the afternoon to play at the beach. Daxton and I had so much fun together. He pretended to be a crocodile and chased me through the water and the beach. I love chasing games. Daxton also has an excellent vocabulary and says insightful things; like today, at the beach he said, "The sun is getting low in the sky because it is going to be night soon." At one point, Dax and I were just sitting and floating in the water together looking at the wonderful things that are at the lake, while our mommies talked on the beach and played with the babies. Mommy later asked me what we were talking about in the water and I said, "We were just chit-chatting." I am glad that Dax is my friend.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Sophia!

We love you so much & cannot believe that you are 3!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Juliet's Dr.'s Appointment

Juliet had her six month check-up yesterday. The doctor said that she is looking great. Her height is 26 1/2 inches and her weight is 16 pounds, 9 ounces. That puts her between the 60th and 65th percentiles for both. She may end-up being tall like me! I did not go to the doctor's appointment. Instead, Auntie Lindsay came over and played with me while mommy and Juliet went to the doctor's office.

When Juliet came home, she had two big Garfield bandaids on her legs and a little cut right above her lip. The bandaids were for her shots, and the cut on her face involved a little accident at the doctor's office. Mommy told us the story. Juliet was being examined by the doctor on the examining table. Right next to the table on the wall was attached some of the doctor's equipment----the ear and eye examination equipment, gloves, tongue depressors, etc. Juliet reached-up and pulled super hard on the cord for the ear examination equipment. She pulled so hard that she yanked it right off of the wall and it fell on her little face. She cried and cried and got a little cut. The doctor felt terrible about it. Juliet calmed down after some snuggles with mommy. Poor little girl! After that, the shots did not seem so bad!

Me.

Strong.

Beautiful.

Confident.

Temporarily tattooed.

Another tooth?

Yes! Tooth number 2 popped through today. Juliet has been busy. (P.S. Juliet napped through my entire birthday party today. She does not know the fun that she missed!)

I am (almost) 3!

My birthday is August 6th, but we had my kid birthday party today. It was sooo, soooo, sooo much fun. Here are a few pictures of the wonderful event.

Daddy told me to close my eyes as I walked down stairs in the morning. Here is what I saw when I opened them: balloons, balloons, and more balloons! I played with those balloons all morning. We later gave the balloons away as party favors.

The birthday party took place outside because we have a small house. Mommy and daddy moved the party from the backyard to the front yard in order to take advantage of some shade. It was a hot one today! Here is the front yard pre-party.

Another shot of the front yard pre-party. I wonder what the neighbors thought?

Now it is party time! Daddy did face painting and temporary tattoos for the kids.

We invited neighbor kids to the party and my good friends Jackson, Daxton and baby Ryder

We loved playing at the sand table. I strategically placed the red chairs at the table for the comfort of myself and my guests.

The rainbow cake! Yesterday, mommy and I made the cake in the afternoon. FYI: birthday cake is made up of A LOT of butter, sugar and flour. That is why it is delicious. Later, mommy made frosting and frosted the cake and daddy put the M&M's on it. I thought the cake was beautiful.

After lunch, all the kids sang happy birthday to me. I sang the loudest.

We opened-up my presents inside. This the fabulous new dress from Jada and Jackson that I insisted on wearing right then and there. I love it. I made sure to enthusiastically thank everyone for the wonderful gifts they gave to me. I wanted to play with every gift right after I opened them! What a great day.

The Cabin

Last weekend, Lindsay and Jeremy invited us to a cabin, that is owned by a friend. Here is the story of our fabulous adventure at the cabin in pictures:

All strapped in and ready for the 2.5 hour drive to the cabin.

Juliet is strapped in and ready to go, too, with her favorite butterfly toy.

Daddy and mommy are ready to go with their big mugs of coffee!

Playing with my stamps and ink pad at the cabin, while waiting to go swimming in the lake.

Juliet playing with her baby toys. Doesn't the cabin look nice? It is bigger than our house!

Juliet trying out her swimming moves.

Juliet being adorable.

Ready? 1....2.......

....3.....weeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

We spent a lot of time playing on the lake. Daddy also spent some time riding on the 4-wheelers, but I stayed behind.

The water was cold, but manageable. I only shivered a little.

Here I am nice and dry singing a great little song. It goes something like this, "All the time....in the whole wide world.....bunny bun...in the moonlight.....in the whole wide world...."

We were up nice and early the next day to go fishing. Scott and Ross found snails and clams in the lake to use as bait.

I did not catch anything, but I had so much fun reeling-in the fishing pole.

Ross caught a teeny-tiny fish. Don't drop it, Ross!

Silly Scott jumped into the lake with all of his clothes (and shoes) still on.

We had so much fun, that I sometimes had to zonk-out on the couch and rest.

Juliet Has a Tooth!

Yes. It is true. Juliet's first tooth popped up yesterday! Daddy was the first to see it. It is not surprising that Juliet has her first tooth. I had two teeth by the time I was four months old. Juliet had been a little fussy and drooling a lot last week while we were in Green Bay. It now all makes sense.

I was in Green Bay all last week. We drove to Green Bay for my Great Grandpa's 85th Birthday party. Afterward, daddy drove home and mommy, Juliet and I stayed for the week. We had a lot of fun. We went to Bay Beach, where I rode on lots of rides all by myself. My favorites were the helicopter (same as last year) and the big giant blue slide, which daddy rode on with me. I also ate cotton candy and had a bright blue slushy. We went to the botanical gardens and saw beautiful flowers. They had a little shrubbery maze there that I loved to run through with mommy and get lost. While I was in Green Bay, I slept in a big kid bed for the first time. It took a few nights for me to get used to it, but I liked it. However, I always insisted that someone lay down with me until I fell asleep. I almost forgot about the bonfire! I got to stay up late for the bonfire where we roasted marshmallows and lit sparklers. Juliet had a good time, too. Everyone wanted to hold and play with her. Babies sure attract a lot of attention. Sorry that there are no pictures of Green Bay. We were having so much fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa that we just totally forgot to take pictures!

The Happy Heffelbowers

Here are a bunch of pictures of the "Happy Heffelbowers." Life has been pretty good these days. I have been having fun this summer playing on my new swingset (pictures to follow), going to the park, strollering in the jogging stroller, swimming at the pool and playing with the neighbor kids.

One of my favorite things to do is to have people "tell stories." For example, mommy told me about my friend Jackson who broke his leg going down a slide. When the story was over I said, "Mommy, tell that story again." I will often make people tell stories again and again, unless it is a story that I have deemed "a sad story" or "a mad story." Then I say, "Stop telling that story. That is a mad story!"

It has also been fun watching Juliet roll over onto her belly again and again and again. She has been rolling over for awhile now, but last week she started doing it all of the time. Now, every time Mommy puts Juliet on the floor, Juliet "rocks and rolls" as we say around here.