By golly you are growing up...

Three weeks away from my due date and I can't imagine Sofia when she was a NB. It's probably a good thing that she's growing up before my very eyes cuz then I will just have to deal with one baby (one very active baby).

I can't help but feel that I'm missing out on some precious toddler moments while working FT and enjoy every minute we have together. One of the wonderful changes with her being at this age is her ability to understand what we say. I love interacting and communicating with her, telling her about our plans and reflecting on our day. Of course, these changes also come in a packaged deal of knowing what she wants and throwing tantrums if she doesn't get it right away. It has challenged us to look at how we want to manage (discipline) these behaviors and hope that what we do would work for her and us. Not to mention testing her boundaries and this girl knows what she wants...

Sofia is 21 months already and this month can be titled, "naughty girl". She discovered how to unzip her grobag which we were still using cuz it was part of her bedtime routine plus it kept her from getting into trouble. Well, we discovered one day she got a hold of a full Kleenex box and pulled all the tissues onto the floor and in her bed. What a mess! Then a few days later, she broke the mobile you see in the photo. We gave her first 'time out' after she intentionally in front of me went to grab the rocks in the potted flowers when I said no.

New developments:

Social skills: tonight we witnessed her grab her cousin's hand and walk with him. She seem to be the one initiating the hand holding which was cute but I can imagine her bossing kids around in the future. She's still a bit reserved around strangers but it seems to just take time for her to get to know you before warming up.

New words and recognition: A - B - D, mo mo (hat), we ask her, "who's Sofia?" and she will say, "ME!", baby, bee, red, blue, purple, green and sometimes yellow, ma ma (horse), big. She recognizes many of the animals and instead of saying the name, she saids the sounds they make.

Mobility: Lifts up one foot with assistance, walk up stairs using railings by herself (but painfully slow and she has to concentrate), can walk up stairs with assistance, run, eats fairly well with her spoon but gets frustrated with scooping the food

Every little creature is a 'spida' which is her favorite thing still along with 'bear bear'. She enjoys washing/feeding her 'little people' and hug/kiss her stuff monkey. Rob likes to encourage her to dance to 'single ladies' and 'OMG' =P
I'm looking forward to spending time at home with her again and with the second one on the way to join our family very soon. Yikes gotta go pack that hospital bag...

Enjoy some photos taken recently:
- Sofia & Jayden
- Sofia celebrating with PoPo
- at the waterpark

Book Review: Lullabies for Little Criminals

I don't read as often as I would like but when I sit down with the right book, boy is it a relaxing yet thrilling journey as I motor through the book in matter of a few days or less than 24 hours. Since we were celebrating our 5th anniversary over in Sechelt this past weekend, I ended up picking up a book from the library. I literally had no specific book in mind and walked through the fiction section for anything interesting.

And so I picked up 'Lullabies for little criminals' by Heather O'Neill

The story is of twelve year old 'Baby' (yes her name) living with her Heroin-addict father in the slums of Montreal. What fascinating insight and intrigue I received from this novel:
-that twelve year old street kids could have such amazing intelligence and such potential just like any other child their age with only one difference being the environment they are raised in
-why pimps favor child prostitution and the sad reality that kids trust those around them (ie. their pimps/addict parents) over any governmental support system our tax dollars go into
-how ineffective or non-existent social services or juvenile detection programs are for these street kids. I know this is just one story but those on the streets can only help each other and themselves, no one else

An easy read and definitely one you cannot put down. I was up past 3am reading! Although the author is not Canadian, she did spend her childhood living in Montreal. I enjoyed the Canadian content =)