Happy Thanksgiving!

I love to read.

I am super cool.

Green Bay Grandma and me at the Wildlife sanctuary.

The light show at the botancial gardens.

Feeding the geese with mommy---notice the kernel of corn I am dropping for the geese.

Thanksgiving was busy, but a lot of fun. On thanksgiving day, we went to White Bear Lake Grandma's and Grandpa's house for dinner. The food looked delicious, but I pretty much just ate the pie. Holidays are great! I spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house in my pack 'n' play. I DID NOT want to go to bed. Mommy stayed in the bedroom to help me fall asleep. She watched me do all of my fun night-time things: talk to Bun, jump in my crib, hold the crib rail and lean back as far as I can, etc.

The next day, we had the long car ride to Green Bay. But, it was worth it. We had a lot of super yummy food. We fed the geese at the Wildlife sanctuary, went to a Christmas light show at the botanical gardens, and read a lot of books. Also, everyone got to hear my latest word, "wooh." I like to say it all time, particularly when I fall or something else falls.

Thanksgiving was great. I cannot wait until Christmas!

Getting Ready for the Holidays

Mommy and me in the sky-way downtown Mpls.

Bun and me (in my pretty red dress) drawing a picture

I am getting excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was a little baby last year during the holidays, and I can hardly remember the great times that I had!

On Sunday, we went downtown to see the Mary Poppins show at Macy's. There were a lot of people waiting in line, but it was worth it. On Saturday, we had our Christmas picture taken. I got dressed-up in my pretty red dress. Usually, I do not like having my picture professionally taken, but this time I enjoyed it. The photographer was really nice, and she even got me to smile a little bit. I bet you are excited to get your Christmas card with a picture of me on it!

Having Fun at Home

I posted a few pictures of me having fun after my bath and before bedtime. In one of the pictures, I put mommy's necklace on my head and it looks like I am wearing a crown.

I am having a lot of fun learning to talk these days. Mommy and daddy do not always understand what I am saying, but they are getting pretty good. Here is a short list of my words:

eat, ball, shoe, outside, baby, bubble, mama, dada, (a whole ton of animal noises), dog, cheese, down, bow, moon, spoon, Bun (who I sometimes call "beebee"), uh oh, no, and other words that I cannot remember right now.

If I try to say a word and mommy and daddy do not understand, I just whine and point a lot. That usually does the trick. I will let you know when I learn some more words.

No Snow in Minneapolis

We were supposed to drive to Green Bay this weekend, but a big snow storm hit Wisconsin a few hours before we were going to leave. I was really sad about it. I wanted to see Grandma and Grandpa and eat all of their yummy food. To make matters worse, no snow fell in Minneapolis. I have been trying on my boots for the last several weeks, just waiting for the snow to come. Alas, I must wait a little longer. But, I am getting pretty good at walking in my clunky boots.

This weekend, we went to the Minnesota Children's Museum. I ran around this thing called "the Ant Hill," which was a series of crazy tunnels. Daddy crawled in it with me. I still do not know how he fit inside of it! Mommy and daddy purchased a membership, so we can go whenever we want to. I am so lucky.

Nighty-night

Every night, mommy or daddy read me books in the rocking chair as I drink milk. It is our little snuggle-time and bed-time routine.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is great! As you can see, I was a duck for Halloween. Here is what we did. First, I got all dressed-up in my duckie suit. Then, we went outside, even though it was cold and dark. Then, we went from house to house and knocked all of the doors in the neighborhood! I babbled to everyone that opened the door. The nice people then let me reach into a big bowl of candy, and I put a piece of candy into my little bag. My bag was full when I came home. I was so excited about the candy that I started to eat it with the wrappers still on. Mommy stayed home and handed out candy to the other trick or treaters. It was a great night.

Child Labor

I thought that I was earning my keep around the house simply by being cute. Apparently, that is not the case. I have to do all of the cleaning around here!

I Love Bunnies

As you already know, my favorite stuffed animal pal is my friend Bun. He sleeps with me every night and during all of naps. Lately, I love Bun even more than usual. I often insist that Bun sits with me in my highchair when I eat. Sometime, a little bit of food gets on Bun, but he does not mind. I also give Bun some of my food and a little bit of milk. I know that he does not really eat or drink, but I like to pretend. My favorite thing to do is suck on Bun's face, like I am doing in the picture above. After about a week, Bun gets a really pleasant odor and I love to smell his plush fur. On-the-other-hand, mommy and daddy are not quite as enamored with "Eau de Bun" and he is forced to take a weekly bath.

P.S. If you look closely at my shirt in the pictures, you will see that it covered in little brown bunnies, just like Bun!

Fall Fun

Suddenly it is Fall! I was having so much fun this summer and did not realize that it was going to get cold. The best part about Fall is all of the crunchy leaves on the ground. I shuffle my feet through them on the side walk. I also climb into the big leaf piles in our yard. I have also discovered pine cones, which I enjoy carrying around on our walks outside. I posted a picture of me playing in the leaves.

Now that it is getting colder, we are spending more time indoors. Mommy takes me to kids' classes and on play-dates with my friends. I am taking a music class called "Movin n Grovin." I clap my hands and dance when the teacher sings songs. Last week, the teacher sang "The Wheels on the Bus." I could not stop laughing super loud. It is such a silly song. The teacher sometimes brings out a big parachute that I can run underneath or sit on top of.

I am also going to ECFE, which is a class at the grade school near my house. The room at the school is filled with toys and I play for two hours while mommy talks with other mommies about boring things like "community issues," "child-rearing," and "appropriate discipline for a toddler." At last week's ECFE class, a little boy stole a toy vacuum cleaner that I was playing with. I tried to steal it back, but he ran super fast. I ran after him yelling, "Nooonnoonnooonnonnnooonnnoooooooooo." Pretty soon he stopped and I wrestled it away from him. I hope he learned his lesson: "Don't mess with girls."

I also posted a few pictures of my friends Harry and Dax. I usually have a play date with them once a week. In the first picture, we are having a snack on a blanket at Dax's house. In the second picture, Dax and I are modeling our nearly identical (and super cool) outfits. They are both really fun and really good friends.

Babysitting Harry

Last Thursday, we babysat my friend Harry all day. He is two months younger than me, and he is a lot of fun.



This is a picture of Harry and me having our breakfast. Harry did not like the broccoli that mommy served, but I enjoyed it. It was nice having a buddy to eat with me.

While Harry was over, I thought it would be funny to get into the basket that we use for storing my books.

Harry and I both enjoy reading. We spent a long time on Thursday reading and playing with my books.

Harry thought that it was really funny that I was in the basket. I think that he wanted to climb in with me, too.

A Packer Weekend in Green Bay

We went to Green Bay a few weekends ago. Grandma and grandpa gave mommy and daddy Packer tickets. They went to the game while grandma and grandpa babysat me. At first I wanted to go to the Packer game, too. (Don't tell daddy, but I am a big Packers fan). But, when I realized that Grandma and Grandpa were going to watch me, I was thrilled. We went to the park and played a lot of fun games. I love to swing on the swings. I can sit in the swing for an hour and still not want to get out! While we were in Green Bay, daddy put gardening gloves on my hands. I got a big kick waiving at everyone with the gloves on. It was a great weekend and I cannot wait to go back.

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WHAT?!?

Arboretum During the Fall

A few weeks ago, we went to the Minnesota arboretum. The leaves had not yet changed colors, but it was still really pretty. Lots of flowers were in bloom. I smelled so many different kinds of flowers. The dahlias looked the prettiest. I also ate an apple that is grown right at the arboretum. It was a really good day. Mommy and daddy brought the stroller, but I enjoyed walking around the gardens by myself.

Auntie Katie Came to Visit!

I know that it has been a long time since I have blogged, but my social life has been booming these days. I can hardly find the time to write! Two weekends ago, Auntie Katie came to visit me all of the way from Chicago. We had such a wonderful time together. Even though Katie lives far away and I do not get to see her as much as I like, I instantly wanted to play and snuggle with her. She played a really fun game with me where we would bury our faces in a bunch of blankets and laugh and laugh. I love Auntie Katie!

One of the highlights of her visit was going to the Minnesota zoo. It was an eventful day at the zoo. First, the tigers were particularly active and one paced back and forth right up against the glass enclosure. When the crowd said "Ouhhhhhhh," I did too. Then, we made it just in time for the outdoor bird show at the zoo. We were standing high up on the bleachers and one of the hawks was trained to fly and perch right next to us! We were so fortunate to have picked that seating location. Finally, we went to the petting zoo. Daddy gave me little pellets of food to feed the goats. The goats went nuts over the food. When the food would run out, I pointed to the food machine and I made daddy put more quarters into it to get me more food for the goats. After the zoo, we ended the day by going to a really fun Greek restaurant and sitting out on the terrace.

I posted some pictures of the weekend with Katie. There are a few pictures of me feeding the goats and a few pictures of Katie and me. In one picture, I am showing Katie how I wash my hands.

I promise to be better about writing on the blog. I have so many more stories to tell, but they will have to wait until tomorrow.

A Story In Pictures

"I am just an innocent little girl, playing in my yard."

"Oh, Look! Flowers! I think I will smell one of the flowers, just like how mommy taught me. They sure do smell nice."

"If the flowers smell good, they might taste good, too."

"One little taste of a black-eyed susan never hurt anyone."

"Yucky..bleechy..blah...gag....blecky..."

"The moral of the story is: flowers are good for smelling, but not good for eating."

My New Awesome Sippy Cup

So, my mommy decided to do the unthinkable and finally wean me from breastfeeding for good. It has not been easy....until mommy gave me this new super-duper totally awesome sippy cup! I can just suck down the milk out of the cup's little straw. I love the color, shape, size, and I look super cool when I am drinking it. In fact, in these pictures it looks like the cup is permanently attached to my face. Every morning I look forward to marching around the house drinking my organic whole milk from my sippy cup.

I am a model!

Okay, I am not really a model, but I think I am gorgeous! I had my one year pictures taken a JC Penney a few weeks ago. I was going for the pouty look. Actually, I did not mean to be so somber, but I was just so darn interested in all of the photographer's equipment.

It has been a good week, but I can feel the end of summer approaching. The mornings are cooler and mommy makes me wear pants and socks when we go for our early morning walk. I have been sleeping better these days. My teeth do not hurt me quite so bad right now.

Sophia