Colors

Sophia has recently learned eight colors from a puzzle Grandma and Grandpa gave her. But she hasn't quite figured out that those words can also be used to describe objects in addition to these particular puzzle pieces. We'll keep working on it.

Carols in the Courtyard

Here are students from the CU at Guy's singing "Carols in the Courtyard" on their campus. The service was held outside to attract passers-by to join in the singing and to hear about the true meaning of Christmas through the words of traditional Christmas carols.

Thanksgiving

Here's a short video clip of the fellow Americans with whom we celebrated Thanksgiving. We managed to find a turkey at our local grocery store, and all of the food we made (Wes cooked most of it, but I pitched in, too) turned out well, but making it was a lot of work. Our hats are off to all you moms, grandmas, and aunts who've been doing this effortlessly for years!

Hi Grandma

Sophia started saying Grandpa ("Beepa") a couple of months ago but wouldn't say Grandma for some reason. Maybe she couldn't hear enough of a difference between the words to tell there are two of them. But now she's finally saying Grandma ("Ma-ma") with some regularity, and I actually caught it on video!

Nodding about Numbers

One of Sophia's newest developments is the copious nodding you see in this video. I don't know if she's picked this up from someone--i.e., do I nod a lot?--or if it's just her own unique thing, but she's been doing a lot of serious nodding lately, letting us know when she agrees with something.

P.S. Five seems to be Sophia's favorite number at the moment.

Chatting with Sophia

Click on the title to hear Sophia chat (and Mommy translate)!

For Texans' Eyes Only

Animals

Sophia Sings

Click on the title of this post to hear Sophia singing snatches of an old Music Machine song I knew as a kid. The parts of the song she sings are "Have patience" and "Remember, remember that God is patient, too," but after "remember" she's just making baby sounds to the tune.

P.S. If anyone knows a better way to get audio clips onto this blog, please let me know!

Words

"Chair" and "The End" from Goodnight Moon

"Humpty Dumpty"

"Quack, Quack" from The Snowy Day

"Plop" from The Snowy Day

Parts of the Face

Hard to find Mommy's nose at the end since the camera was covering it up!

The Puzzler

Granted, as her parents our amazement at Sophia's abilities is terribly nonobjective. Still, I was pretty impressed the other night that I only showed her once how to properly work this puzzle--to sort the pieces by color--and she has done it correctly ever since.

Rocking Horse

We were lent this rocking horse by a local pastor's wife. At first I wasn't sure how interested Sophia would be, if it were still beyond her stage of development. But I showed her how to use it, and we've brushed the horse's mane and tail, and we try to pat her and tell her "good girl" after Sophia rides. Sophia struggles with mounting--swinging her leg up and over, and she hasn't worked out how to make it rock herself, but she dismounts pretty well, and she seems to like the horse more and more as time goes by. Every so often I'll hear her all purpose sound for wanting something emanating from her room, and there she'll be pointing at the horse.

"Out-tide"

"Buby" & "Bup"

Sometimes Sophia has trouble pronouncing words that begin with a consonant. So, for "cup" she says "bup" and for "sock" she says "dock."

Highchair Dance