Sophie in the Car

We turned Sophie's car seat around a few weeks ago and now she's much happier. She's also getting better at entertaining herself. Here are two videos I took this weekend. The first is her singing her own rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - click here; and in the second she's reading outloud from a book of Eastern wisdom (so deep) - click here. 

Halloween

Sorry for the delay in getting these pictures up. We had a great Halloween with a whole weekend of activities. On Saturday we went to a Halloween party at the Union League and Sophie the butterfly had a great time!

 Her and Dave under one of the huge blow-up decorations

 They had a DJ and all fo the kids were on the floor doing different dances. Sophie wasn't entirely sure about what was going on, but had fun anyway.

Then she decided to get in the middle of the circle for the Hokie Pokie. Not a wall flower this one.

Unfortunately the pictures I took on actual Halloween were accidentally deleted :( We did get some video though, so will try and upload that soon to the YouTube Channel. We went trick or treating on our block and two others and after a few houses Sophie got the idea of what it was all about pretty quickly. Although we got her to say "trick or treat" inside our house, she wouldn't say it when we knocked on people's doors. She also wanted the instant gratification of eating the candy right away, so we came home with a lot of candy bars with bite marks. All in all a fun night.

Pumpkin Picking

This weekend we all took Friday off for a little "staycation." Friday we went to the Camden Aquarium, Saturday pumpkin picking at Linvilla Orchards and Sunday to Morris Arboretum. What a great time all around!

Here Sophie is enjoying her very first candy apple (candied, dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts - how can you not like that?). We took a hayride through the different fields at Linvilla Orchards. Later we did some veggie picking and got a whole box of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants (and will now be eating a lot of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants).

 At the Morris Arboretum they have this thing called the Squirrel Scramble - essentially a huge net high in the trees. It was pretty cool, but also a little unearving. Sophie thought it was a huge trampoline.

 Stopping to smell the roses.

I've finally figured out how to get her to smile for pictures. I just ask her to "show me your teeth." Hoepfully this trick will last long enough to get through the Holiday picture taking season. 

Columbus Day

Sophie had off from school today so I took her to the zoo this morning. This is the third time that she's been and she was definitely more into it this time than the others. She knew most of the animals and the sounds they make - although she was getting the sheep and goats confused.

We went to the petting zoo area where she got to brush a goat. I'm happy to report she was much more careful with the goat than she is with Benson. 

She also went for her first pony ride and loved it! It's tough to get such a good smile out of this kid. Riding lessons in her future perhaps? 

Danielle & Mike's Wedding

On September 9th Dave's cousin Danielle and her husband Mike got married (again!). They were married by a Justice of the Peace a few years ago, but wanted to have a big wedding too.

Danielle with Kathy - what a proud aunt!

I love this picture. Sophie & Danielle sharing a special moment.

 Sophie and Shannon, Danielle & Mike's daughter, had a blast! They ran around and danced all night. I dont' think Sophie has gone to sleep so quickly once she was in her car seat. Here it looks like the hug might be a bit too tight...

Shannon helped show her the ropes all night

Starting at Greene Towne School

Last week Sophie started preschool at Greene Towne School. The school is about 10 blocks from our house, and one of her classmates lives down the block from us, so we've been walking in together. So far Sophie seems to really like it. A day of play, who wouldn't? (although since it's Montessori, they call it "work".)

Here are a few shots from her first day.

18 Month Check-up

It's hard to believe Sophie is a year-and-a-half old! We took her to her 18th month check up recently and she weighs 28 lbs and is 32.5 inches tall. That puts her in the 75th percentile for height and the 95th for weight (and over 100 for head circumference - must be that big brain!).