Sophie is 2 1/2 Years Old

At the end of January, Sophie will be 2 1/2 years old.  I think she seems much older than that because she is such a smart, well-behaved little girl.  Here are some fun facts about her:

• Sophie is the best big sister.  She is always aware of where Aspen is and tries to make sure she is happy.  She shares toys with her.  She tries to share her food and sippy cups with her.  And she is always giving her hugs and kisses (although she is a little aggressive with her, she doesn't maul her like other kids do).
  
• Sophie was potty trained about Halloween time.  She had been pooping in the potty since 18 months, but I figured it was time to buckle down and finish the job.  At first I tried having her wear panties in the morning until she had an accident, then I would switch her back to diapers.  I think I was confusing her by switching back and forth all the time.  So I decided to completely commit to panties (except at night time).  Sophie picked it up really quickly.  In the first week she only had about 3 accidents.  Then she only had 1 in the two months after that.  Around Christmas time she started having a daily accident, but I think that was due to the excitement, Isaac being off work, and rushing around to lots of different places.  She made potty training seem really easy.  Isaac was working a difficult schedule at the time, so it felt like he came home one day and I said, "Sophie is officially potty trained".  He thought it was the easiest thing ever.
  
• Sophie is a talker.  I think she talks really well.  It's hard to say if I am just biased because I am around her all the time, but she seems to talk much better than the kids in nursery her same age.  She gets really excited to talk to people when they come over and often won't quit talking from the moment they walk in the door.  She also is a little jabber-box in the car.
• Sophie's favorite meal is lunch.  She eats breakfast fine, very slowly, but will eat everything.  She eats as much as I do for lunch.  But she is usually difficult at dinner time.
• She is so spunky and full of energy.  She loves going new places and is really adventurous and fearless.  She loves playing with her friends, especially Claire and Lucy.  Her nursery teachers told me that she asked the names of all the other kids in nursery, so that prompted them to teach the kids each other's names.  She loves to know who people are and calls everyone her friend.
  
• Sophie gets really involved in her tv shows and movies.  She often starts crying and yelling if any of the characters are in trouble.  She has definitely branched out and will watch new shows instead of the same four shows over and over.
• Sophie is really creative.  She found Isaac's headlamp and thought it looked like a camera, so she went around taking pictures with it all the time.
  
• She loves puzzles.  Sophie got lots of puzzles for Christmas.  I thought they would be too advanced for her now, but she has been awesome at them.  She needs a little help so I say things like "can you find the girl's arm?" and then she can locate the piece and put it in the right place.  Her attention span while doing puzzles amazes me.  One day we sat at worked on puzzle after puzzle for 2 hours.  In my opinion, that is incredible for a 2 year old.
• Sophie loves "swimming" in the bathtub.  She hates getting out of the bath.  Every time it is a battle to get her to get out.  We usually have to bribe her with something in order to get her out without a tantrum.
• Sophie LOVES nursery.  She rushes there after sacrament meeting every week.  She asks if she gets to go to nursery all the time.  Whenever they open the door for parents to pick their kids up at the end of church, she will take one look at Isaac and me and start crying.  I am sure the leaders think we are abusive parents or something because she is the only kid who doesn't want to go home.
• Sophie loves to sing.  Unfortunately she inherited my singing voice.  She knows the words to lots of songs like "I am a Child of God", "Away in a Manger", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and others.  She often makes up her own songs with imaginary words mixed with lines from songs she knows.
• Lately Sophie hasn't liked reading books with us very much.  She wants to do everything herself.  So if I try to read to her, she will grab the book and go sit by herself to read it alone.  I am trying to teach her to read a little, and am hoping she will be reading by age 3.
  
• Sophie is a master of trying to get out of going to bed at night.  When she was first potty training she would yell "I need have go potty" so we would let her out of bed.  We never knew if she really had to go or was just trying to get out of bed.  Once we got that to stop she decided she needed a drink.  Now that clever little girl yells "I want to read the Book of Mormon".  What kind of parents wouldn't let their kid read the Book of Mormon?  Sometimes I think she is too smart for her own good.
  

Sophie is such an amazing little girl.  I really think she has the perfect personality.  She is so sweet, smart, adventurous, funny, thoughtful, and completely beautiful.  She makes Isaac and me laugh constantly with the things she says and does.  I wish I could record all the hilarious things that come out of her mouth.  It has been so much fun to watch Sophie grow up.  She is definitely a little toddler and can push our buttons and drive us crazy, but I think that overall we are so lucky to have such a wonderful little girl.