Sophia is TWO!

I just can't believe that little 6lb 9oz 'baby' Sophia is now a 30lb toddler! It officially happened on Saturday March 28th. That afternoon we took her to Toys R Us - it's just so sad it's so ghetto-fied here...it's so run down & a tad depressing in there...at least the Montgomery location! Since she is signed up as part of their birthday club, she always gets a birthday call from Geoffrey the Giraffe & a b'day card in the mail. So we took the card into the store to prove that 'today'(March 28th) was her actual b'day. Right away they give her a paper b'day crown (think the Burger King crown) & blew up a b'day balloon for her. They also announce to the entire store that there is a 'special birthday girl here right now...it's Sophia & today she's turning 2!'...the lady who announced it was so excited when she announced it it actually made me tear up momentarily! I know what you're thinking...'good grief Julie, get a grip. it's an hourly worker at Toys R Us making the 8,000th b'day announcement of her shift', but I couldn't help it. It was fun to see Sophia's face light up knowing that all this fuss was for her. She dug it for sure...she didn't care too much for the crown (she must assume that everyone knows she is the Princess of Quite Alot?) but LOVED the mylar balloon. As she raced thru the aisles & behind displays, you could easily tell where she was...just watch for that balloon! We went with the intent to buy her a little playhouse, but we ended up in the dreaded bike/power wheels aisle as usual. She had to 'ride' each of the power wheels (corvette, jeep, & of COURSE the Cadillac Escalade, I mean, really??) We eventually settled on something MUCH simpler...as in the Little Tykes Fred Flinstone-style drive-with-your-feet, yabba-dabba-do type of ride. She loves this car so much it's hilarious! We brought the box to Lopez's that evening since we were celebrating over there & Rod & his cousin, Andres put the car together. I was on sticker decal duty. She was a hoot as she would get in & out of that car over & over without even 'driving' anywhere. I believe the cars' highlights were the actual functioning door & key/ignition slot. Go figure. The best $50 we've ever spent!





Later it was time for cake...I made a strawberry cake this year & she loved the little colored 'dots'...funny how different this looked last year...you can tell just how much she's grown!




A few weeks later, we did have a traditional b'day party with her little friends on The Big Green Bus...that is a separate post all on it's own. That party was a real treat!

Sophia is growing by leaps & bounds each day it's amazing. Namely in the vocab & language department. She is able to call most people by their first name...including her best friend, Ava! For sooo long she simply referred to Ava as 'Baby' and we feared that when they were 16 a conversation might go something like this:

Sophia: "Hi Baby, what's up? Ask your mom if you can go shopping today...I've got the wheels for today & my mom said I can go"

Ava: "Okay Sssss (as of right now this is how Ava refers to her bff, so we'll assume for comedy's sake this sticks as well!), I'll ask. I'll call you back in a minute"

Sophia: "Great! Oh, & Baby, make sure you bring some money so we can grab some lunch too!"

If you are around her & are confused, here's the Rosetta Stone version to learning her language:

Family:
Mommy = Julie
Dada = Rod
Puppy = Lucy, our beagle

Nana & Papa = my parents, Mark & Diane
Zshim = Jim, my brother

Mom & Dad = Rod's parents, Patricia & Rafa
Dabby = Gabby, Rod's sister
YaYa = Javier, Rod's brother

Friends:
Ah-vuh = Ava Crimi, the bestie
Monkuh = Monica, Ava's mommy
Benden = Brendan, Ava's daddy
Taytee = Katy, one of Sophia's many 'surrogate' Aunts

She is pretty good at watching people's mouths when they speak to mimick & imitate speech! Listening to Sophia's stories these days are really entertaining too..."Mommy, Sophia boo-boo, Mom,run,down,owie"...which translates into "Mommy, I have a boo-boo. I was with Mom (she knows Rod calls Patricia this, & "Abuelita" is too hard for her to say, so she calls Patricia 'mom'! haha!) & I was running, but fell down & got an owie".

Needless to say she is really developing her very unique personality these days...and is definitely not afraid to let you know it! Ahh, the terrible-two's...nice to meet ya.