Videos of Christmas Morning

Christmas Post

It's been a month and a half since the last entry on this blog and Sonia has grown up so much since then. The biggest change has been in her vocabulary. It's exploded. Here's a funny example of it... This morning, Sonia was next to me when I yelled out to Don from another room, "Honey... Can you make a bottle for Myah?" Next thing I know, Sonia is tearing down the hallway calling, "Honey! Honey! Honey!" Now THAT was REALLY cute.

Sonia is a GREAT big sister. She gets down in Myah's face and makes her laugh and the two of them giggling together is enough to make even a grinch's heart do little happy somersaults.

For Christmas, Sonia got a rocking horse, a mini grand piano, a shopping cart with fake food, two dolls, a beautiful handmade blanket, a new outfit, a movie and other smaller yet very fun items. When we heard her wake up on Christmas morning, we went into her room to say "hello" and get her ready to open her presents. While she was on the changing table, I asked her, "Do you have any idea what might be in any of the presents?" And I got the cutest answer... She got a big, big smile on her face and said in her oh-so-adorable voice... "stickers?" hehe... she would have been just fine with stickers. Her birthday is just around the corner and needless to say, I'm definately getting her some stickers. :-)

Here are some pictures all taken in December:

(For the record, she would NOT sit on Santa Claus's lap.)

Christmas Eve - I told her she could give her dolly a bath.

I go to check on her and...

Christmas Morning...

My Little Decision Maker

Sonia's new favorite word is "heavy." Everything is heavy: the chair, the purse, the ceramic dalmation... Anyway, yesterday she began to say "happy." She learns a new almost every day now. She picks out about 1/3 of the alphabet on the keyboard.

On Monday night, I took her for a walk in the stroller. It was a bit cold and I asked her, "Do you want to go home or continue on to the park?" And she looked at me blankly like she always does when asked to make a decision. So I said again, "Do you want to go home?" Again, no reaction. So I said, "Do you want to go to the park?" And she smiled and said under her breath, "Yeah..." It was so neat. That was the first time that she ever made a decision when asked. It was really neat to be there for that. Love it!

My Sweet Sonia

Sonia is a wonderful daughter. Most recently, we've been watching the "Your Baby Can Read" video series and a DVD called, "Potty Power." If you are in need of a potty training video, I highly recommend this one by Thinkeroo. Thus far, Sonia has sat on the potty and has gone #1 once by accident - I don't even know if she knew she did it, but I heard it so I know she did. That was about a week ago. Her and I go to the bathroom together and I try to get her interested in going potty. At least she'll sit up there for a bit now when I put her there--for a while, she was quite scared of the contraption. Here are some pictures of her at her Aunt Kerry's house last weekend.

A Tricycle

Sonia has been sitting on and scooting around the house with everything that has wheels --including small toys that are not DESIGNED to be ridden. We figured that maybe it was time to see what she'd do with a tricycle. She has a long way to go before she's a skilled rider. Here was the evening we brought home the tricycle.

Water and Rails

Our family went on the Water and Rails tour this year, which is a tour of area backyards with water features and/or train layouts. Here is Sonia enjoying the day with her Grandpa Don while looking down into a coy pond.Sonia loved seeing all of the unique scenery.

Sonia and the Black Cat

Sonia and I are hanging out today and enjoying Myah... at least while she's awake. When Myah, sleeps, the cat takes his turn entertaining us.

Mother's Day

On Mother's Day, we stopped by a park to let Sonia run around and used this opportunity to take some pictures of her in her pretty, blue dress.

Spaghetti

Here's Sonia having fun with some spaghetti on April 30th. I was having just as much fun watching her and taking these pictures. :-)

Portrait Studio

Beth came to visit on February 19th and we had these pictures taken on February 20th. As of this writing, Sonia can now answer, "Meow" when you ask her what a kitty-cat says. She says the word "hot" for warm food/drinks, and "hi" on the phone to people when she feels like it. Of course, "Momma," Dadda," and "Kitty"(a "K" sound with a rolling, Spanish "rrr" after it is the Sonia pronunciation) are all regularly spoken. With sign, she knows and uses the words "eat," "drink," "bye-bye," "book," "apple" and "all done." With sign AND vocalizing, the cutest, "no-no" comes out with her shaking her finger at you when she iterates back that she understands that some item or activity is off limits to her. This week, she's learned how to climb on the dining room chairs and from there, up onto the table and, get this, actually get into her on-chair high chair! Ok, ok, she's not ALLOWED to get herself into her high chair via way of the table (which is her only viable route), but we let her do it once because it was funny. Today, while working in the back room, I came into the kitchen and there she was, sitting in her high chair...and I didn't put her there. She also climbs on my night stand now (which is another "no-no") and has been caught recently up on bookshelves and coffee tables when we mistakenly left something nearby that she could use as a step-ladder.
As of yesterday, she's 14 months old.
Ok, enough chatter and status. Here are the best of the recent JCPenny photo shoot. Enjoy!

Videos

Here are some videos that I shot today with my digital camera.

And here are some pictures that I took on February 1st.