Action Packed Adventure

The last couple of weeks have been action packed.  I took my first, second, third and fourth plane ride.  I have visited four of the 50 states: Washington, Colorado, Kansas and Tennessee.  And I have seen so many new faces...  Who knew that there are so many people out there that love me like they do: Great Grandmas, Gramma and Grampa, Great Aunts and Uncles, Pappy and Nee Nee, Mee Mee, Aunts, Uncles and cousins.  And I didn't even get to meet everyone.  Where do I start with my stories?  I suppose I will start from the beginning.  Stay tuned -- I can only write so much between my naps.  (btw:  this picture was taken in my Great Grandma W's front yard in Kansas.  The grass is my favorite color.  Isn't it pretty?)

I am four months old!

I had my four-month wellness exam with my pediatrician yesterday.  I weigh 16 pounds 2 ounces (95%) and am 26 1/2" tall (>97%).  My head circumference is 16 1/4" (70% - I was only 50% at my two month check-up).  While my doctor was examining me, I kept trying to stand up.  He thought it was cute that I would rather stand up and "see the world" than lay back and relax.  He told us that my legs are quite bowed, but my early standing ability has NOT caused this.  He checked my ankle bones and they are at the correct angle so he has no worries that my legs will straighten out on their own as I grow.  

He asked if I have been showing any interest in foods.  Mommy told him that I have.  Daddy let me lick an apple the other day and I have even tried a peach.   The apple was yummy and I liked the peach too, but it made me make a funny face because it was a little sour.  Since I am holding my head up and I can sit supported, the doctor gave me the go to start trying solid foods.  For dinner tonight mommy made me some whole grain rice cereal.  I liked it, but I was more interested in trying to hold the spoon myself.  After I took a few bites of the cereal, daddy mixed in a little bit of sweet potatoes for me to try.  I took a few bites of that too.  I gagged on one of the last bites.  I don't know if it was because I got a tiny chunk in my mouth or if it was the taste.  I guess I will have to give them one more try to see if I like them.  Mommy and daddy took a video of me eating.  They forgot to take a still shot of me and the mess I made, but if they can pull one from the video, I will post that picture later.  

The last part of my doctor's appointment was the worst.  They always catch me off guard with this part.  The mean nurse came in and stuck me three times with needles; twice in one leg and once in the other.  They say it's for my own good, but I'm not sure that I agree with them.  Mommy said that I was a brave little girl though because I hardly cried.  I cried a little once it registered that I had just been 'shot', but then mommy picked me up off the table and held me and I forgot all about the pokes.  I didn't even have to take any tylenol until after daddy got home last night.  My muscles were a little sore by then.  

Success with a sippy cup (by mommy)

As our avid readers are aware, Sophie has an aversion to bottles.  Today we had success with a sippy cup!  Well, at least a half success:  The cup was filled with two ounces of milk and she drank half of it without any drama.  It actually seems that she asked me to try it.  

We were playing and I paused to take a drink of water from my water bottle.  Her face was near mine and I looked at her while I was drinking and she was watching me, very interested in what I was doing.  I took the bottle away from my mouth and she opened her mouth like she wanted me to let her have a drink.  I moved the bottle near her mouth and she moved her mouth towards it.  Since she is still too little to drink water, I decided to make her a sippy cup of milk and she drank out of it.  Now we will have to try it again to make sure it wasn't just a fluke.  Good job Sophie!

Ready to go camping

Mommy and I went for a walk this morning and along the way we stopped at a couple of garage sales.  The good thing about mommy not working right now is that we can hit garage sales on Friday before all of the good stuff is gone.   We didn't set out to do any shopping, but how could we pass up this cute little tent and camping chair?  It is the perfect size for me to use over the next few years.  There is a matching sleeping bag too, but mommy needs to wash that before I can play with it.  Even if we use it just for backyard camping, it is going to be a lot of fun having a tent of my own.  

Always screw the lid on the salad dressing (by mommy)

It seems these days we don't get to sit down for dinner until after Sophies goes to bed.  Chris usually only gets to spend an hour or so with her when he gets home from work so we make the most of that time.  We spend it together as a family playing.  While I am feeding her and waiting for her to fall asleep, Chris is usually in the kitchen putting something together for dinner.  Last night we had buffalo burgers and salad.  

Chris has a bad habit of putting dressing on his salad and then setting the lid on the container without screwing it on.  He does this thinking that it will save me a step when I go to put dressing on my salad.  While I appreciate the sentiment, it is a really BAD idea.  A while back he did this and I picked up the dressing and shook it.  I got dressing all over the kitchen.  Needless to say, I wasn't very pleased with him and told him, AGAIN, in no uncertain terms that he needs to screw the cap on when he is finished.  

Well, last night he did it to himself and this was the result.  He had forgotten that he had already shaken the dressing and taken the lid off.  I had just walked into the kitchen as he started shaking it and SPLASH, I got a streak of dressing across the front of my shirt and a split second later, he splashed himself across the face and down the front of his shirt.  I looked at him in shock and we both burst out laughing.  I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes.

The good thing about always having a camera on hand to capture the cute Sophie moments, I seem to be able to capture the embarrassing daddy moments also.  I made him stand still until I could grab the camera and record this moment.  Before he could do anything else he had to wash the dressing off of his face and out of his hair.  Its a good thing that he didn't leave it on any longer than he did because for the rest of the evening he sported a red streak on his face where the dressing landed.  Kinda makes you wonder what it does to your stomach when it burns skin like this.  Bet next time he will screw the lid on the salad dressing bottle.  Thanks for the great laugh!  =)

Green Lake

We now have two matching adirondack chairs in our back yard!  They look really nice sitting on the flagstone patio next to our copper fire bowl.  Because mommy and daddy had already made one chair, they knew what to expect from the second one, and it only took them half the time to make it.  So...

...this weekend included some leisure time at Green Lake.  On our way to the park, mommy and daddy stopped to pick up a couple of sandwiches at one of their favorite sandwich shops, Port of Subs.  This sub shop is a west coast chain, and they usually have really good sour dough bread, except for this day.  It happened to be a little dry.  We took the sandwiches to the park with us and had a picnic while we watched the parade of people and their dogs walk by.  After we ate and played for a while, we walked around the lake ourselves.  One loop around is just shy of three miles.  We walked slow so it took us a little over an hour to make it back to where we started.

  

Boy, the park was hopping with some interesting people.  We saw people walking a tight rope that they had strung up between two trees.  We saw a group of men line dancing on roller skates to music blasting out of a jamb box.  And we saw a guy riding a bicycle with a seat that had to be at least 7 feet off the ground.  There were also lots of kids there playing soccer and volleyball on the grassy fields.  We all had one thing in common:  we were all there to enjoy the wonderful seventy degree weather that is September here in Seattle.