Is it possible to watch your child grow? Because I'm pretty sure that Sofia is taller today than she was yesterday! Her nap yesterday was 3 hours and last night she slept 13! If that doesn't say growth spurt than I don't know what does. Just for the record on December 5 Sofia weighed 27lbs and was 31" tall. I'll measure her again once she's back to her usual sleeping patterns.
Sofia is big time into books right now. We sat and read books for 40 minutes the other day. One after another. Every once and a while she'd jump down to go get more. I can't believe her attention span. Are we raising an academic? I hope that she always holds a fascination for books. That's one thing I miss is reading. I used to read books all the time, now I tend to read blogs or watch tv. I think I'll go to the library and get some books on tape for my commute. That's something to look forward to for my back to work.
Sofia is also big into her stuffies and dolls. She likes to play 'mommy' to them. She calls them "bay-bee" and rocks them in her arms. She looks at them lovingly and covers them with blankets. Her favourite outside activity is pushing them in her doll stroller. And yes, she reads to them too.
Sofia is also becoming a great helper around the house. She likes to help unload the dishwasher and it's become her job to put away all the plastics and pots/pans. She has started helping me do laundry too. She puts the clothes in the washer and dryer and presses the buttons to start it. I think this is going to have to stop though because she turned on the dryer yesterday while I was in the shower and she has figured out how to disable the child lock (even though it might have been a fluke). Sofia also likes to help sweep and vacuum.
I am constantly amazed that the little baby that barely crawled when we met her 7 months ago is the amazing little girl we have now. Watching her grow and change has been an immensely rewarding experience. She is a great balance between outgoing and cautious. I love watching her teach herself new things. She is very cautious when it comes to climbing and heights but is outgoing enough to try. Once she realizes that she's safe, the joy that comes over her face is overwhelming to see!
Looking back on the past 7 months there are somethings I would do differently and somethings I would have had more patience with. For the most part I think that all of us did a pretty good job though. There is no handbook for bringing home children, although there are a lot of recommended readings! I found so many of them had conflicting points of view and I went with my gut most of the time. I always wanted to be a mother my whole entire life. Now I can very proudly say that I am one. I felt like a poser for the first few months, like a mother impersonator. In many ways I was. Now I'm the real deal. I've also learned a lot and grown as a person. I know my limitations and how to work with them. I've learned that I have maternal instinct and that the expression "a mother knows" is true. I will enjoy every day with my daughter good and bad. She is a blessing and I realize it. My sights are set on baby 2 though. Baby fever has struck again. It was a 4 year journey to Sofia, lets hope it doesn't take that long again!
Last Christmas Grant and I were in Mexico and a mariachi band was serenading us with Feliz Navidad. This morning Grant, Sofia, and I listened to Feliz Navidad by Dora and Boots. Although being in Mexico last Christmas was amazing watching my little girl shake her booty while Dora sang wins in my books. The white dress that she is wearing is the dress that Grant and I bought for her on Christmas Day last year. We went to the market for the purpose of buying something for our daughter, her very first present from her Mumma and Papa.
Last night was 
Fast forward 12 months, a court date, some immigration documents, and a trip half way around the world and this is a picture of our 
Who knew that egg nog made such a good moustache.
During lunch the other day Sofia was being a ham. The shutter speed on my camera is usually too slow to catch the 'many faces of Sofia' but with her being extra silly I was able to capture a few pictures.
This morning after watching Sofia cover and uncover her baby doll with a tea towel about a hundred times I thought "I wish she had a cradle so she could rock her baby. I bet she'd like that". Well 10 minutes and an empty mandarin box later and she did! It's not the most esthetically pleasing baby cradle I've ever seen but it rocks and that's what's important. I'm thinking of covering the outside with paper when I have a spare minute (maybe mid-January!)
