And just like that ... well, things are still pretty much safe but it's coming SOON

Sophia took her first steps today.

We were in her nursery, getting her ready for bed, parents on either side of the room, and we thought we'd try sheliza's trick of balancing for short periods of time. Well, she balanced, but before she fell on her butt she took a step. So we experimented some more, and if we are about 5 feet apart, she will take a few steps to get from one to the other. Any farther and she'd have lost her balance and taken a header into the chair I was sitting on, but we'll work on that.

Red's my colour!

This is the result of Sophia's first real pasta and tomato sauce meal...

Opinion Poll

We've fought the temptation to put bows, headbands, and frilly things in or on Sophia's head. Until now. Yesterday, when I was in Safeway I came across some "ouchless" hair elastics. Looking at the length of Sophie's hair, I thought it would be fun to give her a pony tail.

Here's where you come in: is the pony cute or just strange? Let us know...send us comments. The fate of Sophia's hairstyle depends on you! (No Pressure)

Celebrity Look-alikes

Seems to be the thing all of a sudden, so here's sophia's

Top Ten Chews

Sophia is getting more teeth (the other front tooth and one on the bottom, and there is at least one lingering in the gums). This means that she's chewing on everything! So here is a list of some of Sophia's most favorite chews:

10. SNOW

Not easily found at this time of year, but definately was a tasty treat about two months ago. Good thing about Saskatchewan: snow is plentiful for at least six months of the year.

9. SALINE BOTTLE

Truth is that Sophia likes to chew on any bottle with a squeeze top. The rubber feels good. I just have to make sure that the tops are on nice and tight.

8. CHICKEN LEGS

She turned this little stuffed chicken over and over until she decided on the perfect place to chew --the leg was perfect. By the time she was done with it, it was quite wet. Thanks Uncle Muniz for the great gift to Mommy years ago!

7. SPOONS

As you know from previous blogs one of the most entertaining things about meal time is the "wrestle the spoon away from the baby" portion. Now that she knows which end goes in, she keeps a good and steady grip on the spoon. So, now the mess expands from her face to our hands, wrists and the table. Goody!

6. THE MATTRESS

This is a new one for Sophia. I think she particularly likes the cording that runs along the edge. And the risk factor...

5. ADIDAS RUNNERS

Oooh, tasty laces. Thanks Uncle Todd for the tasty laces...

4. HALEY'S COLLAR

Only when the collar isn't on Haley, do we let her chew it. She particularly enjoys the taste and feel of the metal tags. We're pretty sure that she can't get anything from the Dog. It could be worse, she could be chewing ON Haley!

3. THE MONKEY

Way back in June, when Sophia was born, Uncle Todd sent along a toy monkey. At the time it was far too huge for her to hold on to, but in recent days she has discovered the joy of cuddling with this fuzzy friend. She has also figured out that, like everything else, it fits into her mouth. The funny thing is that she spends a lot of time pulling the fur off the top of it's head with her teeth. Again, I am very glad that she isn't chewing on the dog.

These last two do not have picture proof yet, but I am sure that we'll get some soon...

2. HERSELF
Toes and fingers are the perfect size and shape to place into the mouth in order to help soothe sore gums. In fact, her pointer finger has been the finger of choice these last few days. I guess she has taught herself not to use her teeth on herself as it might lead to more pain. Or maybe she's biting herself to keep from feeling the teething pain...we'll never know.

Drum roll please....

1. MOMMY & DADDY
Sophia knows not to bite herself, but that addage does not extend to Mommy and Daddy. When she bites us, those little sharp teeth are fully exposed. And they HURT! She uses them on: chins, noses, cheeks, arms, fingers, legs, toes and ears. The other day, Sophia made her way down my leg taking little sharp nibbles as she went. You try telling a ten month old that biting isn't good. We say "no biting" and she looks up coyly and smiles. What's a parent to do?

Grandpa Time

The Grandparents G were here not too long ago, and I wanted to share this picture of Sophia's quality time with Grandpa Arthur.




These two were having quite a good time looking through the Lee Valley Catalogue. Once she has knowledge of the gardening tools, we will send her out to Grandma Diane's garden at the cottage for practice.

Good Morning

The milestones keep on coming! Last week Sophia figured out how to get herself into a sitting position. The first time she tried it was with her Daddy in the nursery. She gets on all fours and maneuvers herself upright. Well, now that she knows what she is doing Sophia sits up all over the place. The newest place has been her crib. For the past two mornings, I have gone in to find her sitting straight up in bed, just waiting for me to come. It's a nice change from the "help me, Mommy, I have myself jammed into the side/corder of the crib and I can't move, so you have to get me and pick me up" cry/complain. Between sitting up and pulling herself up on everything, life just gets more and more interesting. Oh, yeah, and nothing, NOTHING, is safe anymore since Sophia has discovered that she can use her "commando crawl" to get her places. Mommy and Daddy really do have to start picking things up off the floor...If Sophia has a choice between a lovely, developmentally appropriate toy and a computer cord, can you imagine which one ends up in her lovely little hands?

Book Worm

The "commando crawl" and the ability to puller herself up have come in very handy for our child. Yesterday she discovered that she could make her way over to the book shelf and actually get herself into a position for pulling books onto the floor. There is something about books that just entrances Sophia. She loves to flip the covers and the pages, crush the paper and eventually rip the pages. Two of David's DIY books now have removable instruction pages! :)

Like the selection of books? Sophia is going to be a girl of many talents: photography, home handywoman... I had to stop her from trying to take the pages out of my Graduation Yearbook from High School (I need her to be able to look back at it in twenty years and laugh at the dorky haircuts.)

I know you can't judge a book by just looking at the cover but what about tasting it? Does that help?

Just reading up on stove repair... you just never know when the stove will give up the ghost and Daddy might need some help!

Peering Over

Sophia has taken a new outlook on life...the kind that requires her to dangle with her head pointed towards the ground. Her favorite spot in the nursery is hanging over the arm of the rocking chair (she likes to try to grab the books that are on the ground!). This also extends to hanging over the edge of the bed in our room. If you have ever seen our bed you would know that it isn't very close to the ground, and yet this fascinates her.

"Oh, edge...let's check out what's on the floor....It's gotta be good."

Heading to edge...I am really hoping that this isn't an indication of her future risk taking needs.

The only problem with this need to "hang out" is that she doesn't quite understand the concept of consequences. So, for as much as she likes to hang and peer over the edges of things, she doesn't understand that going too far over could lead to a very unhappy baby. I am trying to teach her that: Edge + height does not = FUN. In fact it equals tears and a fairly large goose egg.

Most Other Children

Generally speaking, most children like to go to sleep with a cozy blanket or a cuddly stuffed creature of some sort. Not our child...



(She fell asleep with a death grip on the Tylenol bottle. Guess it brings her comfort in several different ways.)

A Very Long Car Ride

This last weekend we took our first road trip in a long while. The last time we drove to Winnipeg, Sophia slept most of the way which really screwed up her sleeping routine. This time we decided to be smart and start driving around the time of Sophia's morning nap so that she could sleep most of the way, and still nap and sleep at night like usual. You know driving with a little one who stays awake longer in the car really does make life interesting...



Sophia spent the first two hours of the drive asleep...so peaceful and sweet. Then she woke up. We needed to stop to change her, feed her and let her stretch a little. Then we drove for a while longer. Well, we could only keep her entertained for a short time before she got bored. Bored led to forlorn, and well, look at the picture and you get the idea...



We got there eventually, but it took a lot longer than we remember it ever taking before. Things really do change when you have an infant. We got to spend some time with Uncle Adam, and Alison Sparling. David was there so that he could rehearse with those two as they are doing music leadership at the upcoming Manitoba and Northwest Ontario Annual Conference Meeting for the United Church. So they needed to do some concentrated work. Sophia and I hung out at the Gerhard Grandparents' house (they weren't home as they were in Calgary), and spent the evenings with the others. Auntie Kristine wasn't there as she was in Regina (of all places) for a conference) and we truly missed seeing her.

On Saturday night, Sophia and I provided dinner for the hard working musicians...nothing better than pasta, salad and ice cream to rejuvenate you. Meal times with Sophia are interesting when they are at our own house but they just get darn entertaining when we are out with others. She's a bit of a performer (I wonder where she gets that....).
Here Sophia is contemplating another taste of Auntie and Uncle's oak dining room set. She had already tried sucking on the chair with the only outcome being a good smearing of smashed food. We apologize for any little teeth marks left on the furniture.

Sophia's "look at me, I'm so cute" face crinkle. I have to thank Great Auntie Chris and Grandma Diane for encouraging this particular expressions development and use way back in February. Such a lovely face...what's that about mother's only loving...

Since learning how to extract water from a sippy cup by sucking Sophia has been practicing her kissy fish face...isn't it lovely!?

Uncle Adam

I Eat Like Civilized People

Sophia is on a "I want to do it myself" kick. We lump this in with the amazing milestone month we have had with her. Her new found independance is both fun and nerve wracking, and just a little messy. Some of the new "I wanna do it" stuff includes things like pulling herself up on everything --we have progressed from hanging around at the coffee table to pulling herself up on couches, chairs, and parents' pant legs (all the while chewing them, so if you see us with wet knees you know why!).

I decided that I wanted to see if this extended into the food realm as well. One of the books I was reading (well, re-reading, because I have a habit these days of looking and looking again at the resources we have, just to make sure that everything is going okay.) Well, according to the author, babies between the ages of 9-12 months can begin to learn how to use a spoon. Awesome! Sophia can feed herself. She's a smart girl, she'll figure this out no problem. Spoon with food goes into mouth, empty spoon comes out. Easy, right? What the author didn't mention was the total lack of aiming a 10 month has...


Usually what happened is that Sophia took the spoon, started it off in the right direction and orientation, then decided to turn the spoon upside down and head it straight for her chin, eyebrow, or cheek. She would then drag it across her face to her mouth. The picture above is relatively tame to some of the later faces that day...but let me tell you, bathing is now a daily priority!


Giving her two spoons is not an attempt to increase the chance of food actually getting into her mouth. They both ended up in her hands because she was faster then we were and she got them away from us. Okay, the truth is that we didn't want to get slimed by the food on her hands, so we gave up the spoon quickly in self defense. It looks harmless in the picture, but it is a pain to get off when it has dried.



Sophia did eventually start getting the spoon and most of the food in her mouth. She was pretty pleased with herself and her new found ability to eat like mom and dad. It was cute and we enjoyed the experiment.


We're still working on which end of the spoon goes in the mouth, but we are getting there. David and I have decided to stick with finger foods...she can still feed herself, and less of it ends up in her hair...