Updates:
I finally updated Sophie's wardrobe with some cute spring and summer outfits. This is the first time I've been shopping for her where I was guided not just by what I thought was cute, but what I thought she would like to wear. I guess sometime this year I'll let her start picking out what she wants to wear in the morning!
Sophie's eating habits are improving. Every night, we all eat together, and I give her a plate with the separated ingredients of whatever dish I've cooked for myself and John; then I name and describe each food for her. She'll eat just about any meat, especially chicken and anything ground. She tried salmon the other night, but only ate a couple of bites. The only green food she eats right now is broccoli (and thank goodness for that), but with green bean season coming soon, I'm hopeful that she'll eat those, too. Here are some strategies that sometimes help us get Sophie to taste what's on her plate:
- Tell her it's "meat," or that it's like some other food that she knows and likes.
- Let her dip it in ketchup.
- Make sure it's dry when she first touches it.
- Help her eat it with a utensil.
We've hit some glitches with her naptime. Her naptime is usually 2pm-4pm (or possibly a half hour later). I've always tried to be very consistent about sleeping time vs. waking time. But lately she doesn't fall asleep until 15-30 minutes before I would normally get her up. When that happens, I might give her an extra 20 minutes or so before I go in to wake her up, but I'm seeing that it's really not enough. She really doesn't want to get out of bed, and then when I pick her up, she just wants to sleep on me, and she's also noticeably crankier for the rest of the evening. I'm not sure what to do about it. The obvious response would be to shift her naptime later, but I don't want her going to bed for the night any later than 8:30, and I'm afraid that if she's in her crib from, say, 3pm-5pm, then she won't be tired at night. Maybe I should just give it a try.
One thing I have tried is just not putting her down at all. When we jumped ahead an hour for Daylight Savings, she skipped her nap that day so she would get adjusted to the time. Also, a couple times this week I've had her "nap" in the stroller with her usual sleeping buddies while I run. She likes that, but she doesn't fall asleep. I find that on these days, she's actually less cranky than if she got to sleep for a little bit. However, I also found that by the end of those days I was totally exhausted and a lot of things around the house -- things I would usually take care of during naptime -- didn't get done. So I'm not sure if this is the solution, either.
Sophie is doing a lot better with strangers and other kids. She's still quite shy right at first, but when I prompt her to say "hi" to people, she warms up a little bit. Earlier this week, we went to a farm with some other kids, and she was very interested in the horses.
Sophie can now count to 100 (sort of) and she knows many more countries of the world, since we put our map at her level in the hallway. She also knows how to spell more words (latest additions are orange and yellow), and she loves to sing "Africa" by Toto and "Hang On Sloopy".
This week I took Sophie to Toys 'R Us, mostly just for fun, but also to get some ideas for her birthday. Like with the clothes, I really feel like I have a good sense of what she would or wouldn't like. Here are some things she is interested in:
- Anything having to do with Sesame Street or SuperWhy!
- Puzzles and books
- Musical instruments
- Animals
- Tools -- not necessarily like a carpenter's tools, but just generally anything that you use for some basic task... like a shovel, or a baseball bat, or an umbrella (is that a tool? I don't know but she likes them)
- Anything that increases her contact with water
Here are some things that other kids her age seem to like, but she doesn't:
- "Pretend" items -- toys that let kids pretend to do what their parents are doing
- Arts and crafts -- she's just not there yet
- Anything that requires some physical learning to make it work, like riding toys -- she gets too frustrated
She's beginning to interact a little bit more with Ben, usually in a way that copies what I do with him. I talk about him being happy or sad, or about how we need to change his diaper or give him some food. The other day she got his empty bowl of baby food, started pretending to eat with his spoon, and said "want peas? mmmmmm!" I guess that's what I say when I feed him.
She's also started trying to give him things, although she isn't necessarily very good at it. Earlier this week, I was changing her dirty diaper and Ben started to cry pretty hard. When I was done and had to go clean it off in the toilet, I told Sophie, "baby Ben is sad. He's saying 'wah-wah!' Go tell him, 'don't be sad, baby Ben, it'll be ok.'" That's one of her favorite things to say. So as I was cleaning the diaper, I heard her go into the family room where he was and say that. At first I didn't think much of it, because she'll often say it but not to him. Then I heard her say, "want 3? want 3?" and all of a sudden he stopped crying. I went out to where they were, and saw that she had given him our foam number 3, which he was happily chewing on! She must see me give him things like that all the time, and decided she would try it. It was so cute, and I told her what a nice thing that was. Today when he was crying, I saw her try to give him a couple of toys, but it didn't work because he was on his stomach and she didn't know how to get him to take it. Then this evening she was playing with a plastic baseball bat while he was next to her in the stroller. Something must have made her think that he wanted it, because she started trying to give it to him. But she doesn't handle it very well, and if I hadn't seen her give him the other things I probably would have thought she was trying to hit him with it.
John has been playing with Sophie a lot, and he says he has some items he wants to post here. Please bug him about it!
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