Our 2nd Thanksgiving in Milton

We journeyed on to Milton the day after Thanksgiving and had our second Thanksgiving celebration and also celebrated Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Wilson since they'll be in London for Christmas.

Ian took Sophie outside to play a little (and as you can see, there was a little snow, but not enough to have fun in). She enjoyed looking at their trees and plants. I actually took the second picture from a big window inside of the house. Sophie was excited to look up and see mommy in the window.

Word to the wise...Sophie doesn't really know what to do with a candy cane. I'm not sure what she thought it was, but she kept trying to put it under her chin and hold it there like a bib or something:


Aunt Karen gave us a balloon-animal making kit, and Grandpa made Sophie a hat. Mommy tried to make her a heart, but the balloon popped...

Here's Sophie playing with her new Tonka dumptruck. She mainly puts her stuffed animals in it to ride around in.

Thanksgiving in La Crosse

We made the trek up to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, and although Sophie had a cold, she was a trooper. She had a great time with all of the family and got all the attention she could ever hope to get!

We spent Thanksgiving day up in La Crosse with Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt. Here's Sophie showing her love to Grandma and Uncle James:

She had a good time playing with her cousin Ayden, although eventually, he found our video camera more interesting (or rather, seeing himself in the video camera--I think he's going to be a movie star)!



And even in Wisconsin, Sophie couldn't help showing off her Tar Heel pride:

Grandma Schmidt got Sophie a little stroller for Christmas. She had a blast pushing her CareBear, Mimi, around in it.

Autumn Days

I'll start posting Thanksgiving pictures tomorrow, but I wanted to post some pictures we took a couple of weeks ago in our yard and at Millenium Park.

Sophie got in the habit of sitting on the front porch with Daddy while I was at my conference:

We took some pictures of Sophie next to our maple tree while it was in full color. I'm glad we did it before we left for Thanksgiving because when we returned it had lost all of its leaves!




Sophie has really been enjoying slides, both for her and toy-sized, lately. She even says the word, but she pronounces it something like "tasch." I'm not exactly sure why she says it this way, but she does! We took her to Millenium park a couple of weekends ago and let her play on the playground and look at the ducks. She babbled about the slide and ducks for the rest of the day!



Here she is looking down at the ducks:

Sophie's Artwork

Sophie has been creating "art" at her new daycare and has brought several pieces home with her. Here are a couple of her most recent pieces. (The pumpkin is her favorite...she likes to carry it around with her sometimes.) Both of these are scanned, so you may not be able to tell, but the shapes on the pumpkin and the leaves on the second one are all glued on (and the leaves got cut off in the scanning process...the paper was too big for the scanner).

18-Month Doctors Visit

On Tuesday, right before leaving for Wisconsin, Sophie had her 18-month doctor appointment. All is well. She was sick (just a cold virus), so she couldn't get her only shot she needed...a HepA shot in preparation for her European adventure. But she did get measured. She was 24 lbs. 2 oz. She's been fluctuating for about the past month between 24 and 25 lbs, but she's had an ear infection, a stomach bug and a cold, so she hasn't been eating as heartily as normal. She was measured at 34 inches long. The nurse even commented on how tall she was! This puts her height in the "above 95th percentile" range (surprise, surprise!) and her weight at the 25th-50th percentile range. (This seems low, but if we figure it at 25 lbs, which is what she was at before she was sick, it puts her back to the 50th-75th percentile range.)

Our next visit won't be until she turns 2 years old!

Go Tar Heels! (Part 2)

Last night, Sophie stayed up long enough to watch part of Carolina's first game (against Davidson). She was excited to learn the phrases "Go Tar Heels!" and "Airball" (this last one in a sing-song voice).

I guess we have a basketball fan on our hands!

GO TAR HEELS!

Sophie wanted to exclaim her support as the men's Tar Heels basketball team begins its 2007-08 season. Go Heels!

Christmas Shopping Tips

I know that a couple of people have asked for tips on what to get Sophie for Christmas or what size she is now, so I thought I'd give you a list of things that we think Sophie might really like. Please let us know if you're planning on getting her any of the following items so that we can make sure that she doesn't end up with 5! :-)

She's currently in size 2T, which is still a little big for her. I'd imagine that by springtime, she'll be in 3T. So 2T for winter clothes and 3T for spring/summer clothes.

Here's a list of things she's really into right now:

• Balls (a small basketball or soccer ball would be perfect or a little basketball hoop or soccer net)
• Babies--she has several babies, but I think she'd really love things to put the babies in (stroller, crib, etc.)
• Pretend food--she has some pretend food, but she's lacking dishes, a little kitchen, a shopping cart, stuff like that.
• Cars and trucks--she loves cars and trucks. She has a lot of little cars to play with, but there might be a little play set that would be age appropriate out there. (Something like this?)
  
• Trains--she has recently discovered trains and has one little plastic one, but an age-appropriate train set would be something she would like and could grow into.
  
• Books--as always.
• Anything with lots of buttons.

Please don't forget that we're leaving the country for a year in July. We won't be bringing any toys with us, so another option would be to give her some money for us to buy some toys when we get there.

Master of Disguise

Sophie really has a thing for hats. She tries to make everything into a hat, so it was no surprise when she decided to use a bucket. She sometimes wanders around with this bucket on her head. She also came up with a "new ensemble" that includes her pjs, her Carolina hat, and her goggles.

Sophie, the Pumpkin Girl

Sophie has really enjoyed the Halloween season this year. She's especially excited about pumpkins. Her daycare had a fall festival a couple of weeks ago, where they had a petting zoo and got to pick out their own pumpkins to bring home. Here is a picture of Sophie proudly holding hers:


We actually had to take it away from her because it was a little too heavy for her, but she wanted to carry it around everywhere! We gave it a place of honor on the mantle, so she could see it every day, and we were able to avert a pumpkin disaster.

Grandma Fine bought Sophie a Halloween shirt, which she wore to daycare on Halloween. (Danville observed Halloween on the 30th...don't ask why!)


I love the following two pictures that Ian took in the front yard.

Halloween!

A message from Sophie (and I have to mention, proudly, that she put the period at the end of her sentence all on her own!):

kiko/.llii9iiiifz g 8i7u7u7,k,u,jk000000000mhtyik,000000000172]''th'j;
kkkkkk00.

And now for some Halloween pictures! Sophie went trick-or-treating on Centre's campus as a dragon. She really loves the dragon in Shrek, so when we came across this costume, we thought it was perfect!



My coworker, Joy, brought her son, who is 3 months older than Sophie, trick or treating as well. Sophie's Wisconsin relatives might appreciate the fact that he went as Brett Favre and kept trying to make out with Sophie. As you can see, Sophie wasn't as interested in him as he was in her! I think out little girl will be a heart-breaker!