Ol' Smartypants...

These days, being a big pre-schooler and all, Sophia is our resident smartypants. Not only does she THINK she knows everything, she's positive she knows it BETTER than you. Ah, so now I know how it feels to raise a teenager...and for that let me go ahead and apologize to my own parents. I don't think I was ever a pill to deal with, but I'm pretty sure I had my moments. So, for the record Mom and Dad - "You were right". Now I can move on and be privileged to the same parental hell - twice. Make that quadruple. If every toddler has this 'pre-teen' act, then I'll get to experience that twice. Then when they're actually teenagers (gasp!), that'll be a two-time experience as well. So, by the end of it, maybe they'll call me the "Teen Whisperer". One can only dream....

Smartypants, aka Sophia, seems to act like a 15yr old girl trapped in this little 3.5yr olds body. She gives the huffs, the puffs, the facial expressions and gestures (no middle finger yet, thank goodness!). It's almost like the real-life version of those funny commercials (have gone COMPLETELY blank on the product/company!) where the parent is shown talking to the toddler daughter about ready to drive the car, but then at the end of the commercial the audience realizes the 'toddler' is really a legal driving aged teen....the parent just still sees them as toddlers. It's either an insurance or car commercial....they're cute. That's what Rod and I feel like when we're talking to Sophia...she sounds so much older than what she looks like. Her reasoning skills are pretty accute and I'm not sure if that's good or bad! She often surprises us by using big words in the correct context and giving pretty good explanations of things.

Here are some fun tidbits that she's learning in school (just a random rolling list):

• "criss-cross applesauce" is said when she needs to sit indian style
• loves reading the first book she made in school, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" ("what do you see?")
• the cute rhymes she's learning to help her remember how to make her numbers:

--"Straight then down, and then you're done...that's how you make a number ONE"

--"Around & back on the railroad track, TWO, TWO, TWO"

--"Around the tree, around the tree, that's how you make a number THREE"

--"Make a hat, take a dive, make a big round tummy and that's a number FIVE"

• She loves coming home and playing school and pretending to be Mrs. Thomas, her teacher. We must sit in front of her dry-erase board and practice letters and numbers. Sometimes we'll get sent to time out too.

Some other fun things we've been noticing at this age are:

• she loves eating marshmallows (white, pastel, shapes, etc!)
• enjoys making s'mores with mommy
• she's very into playing 'babies' - feeding them, changing their diapers, tucking them in, rocking them, etc.
• adores helping us in the kitchen with whatever little job she can do....she's a really good little muffin maker!
• loves to play "beautyshop" with both mommy & daddy. Complete with brushing, clips and spraying our hair with the spritzer bottle until soaking wet.
• Favorite movies: The Jungle Book, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Little People and random Barbie princess movies that were a hand-me-down from our old neighbor Mackenzie Parker.
• thinks she is "Wendy" from Peter Pan when she wears her blue nightgown
• Favorite Disney shows: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place
• Favorite other shows: Wonder Pets, Dora, and anything music related (if she thinks you aren't watching her, she'll dance and pretend she's performing!)
• Loves singing along to the CD Daddy made for her this summer. Favorite songs include: "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus, "Round & Round" and "You are the Thunder" by Selena Gomez, "Baby" by Justin Bieber and sometimes a Jonas Brothers song or two.
• Favorite Books to read at naps/bedtime: "The Three Little Pigs", "Fancy Nancy" and "Bedtime for Mommy"....all of which she has "memorized" so she can 'read' to us!
• Favorite things to Wear: jean shorts, jeans, jean skirt, pink jeweled flip flops, headbands
• Favorite Foods: boiled peanuts, broccoli, CHEESE, marshmallows, goldfish (we should own stock in Pepperidge Farm), mac & cheese and any food you make into small pieces and put 'party toothpicks' in....it then becomes "party_______". Hilarious. Oh, and LOVES dessert.

Oh, Sophia the Smartypants is a character indeed! She is a crack-up on a daily basis for sure - I'm sure once Camilla is here, she'll be more of a ham to get some attention. That should be interesting!