On the 3rd of May, Sophia got baptised

You may have already seen these photos, as they are also posted to my facebook photo albums, but I know that some of our dear family and friends are not big facebook-ers, so I'm putting them here as well.

It was a really fun night, and Sophie did really well. Father Michael is lovely, and he led the whole ceremony in a really personal, unfussy way. Everybody gathered around the alter, the kids ran around a bit and talked and played, Sophie was happy and Dan and I felt very blessed to have so much love and support surrounding us. She didn't even fuss when she had water splashed on her head and oil rubbed into her hair. She looked a little bit confused, but didn't cry. Ah...good times :)

(One of three busy tables at dinner after the ceremony). Thanks Dominika for the gorgeous photos, and Pam for the beautiful dress. I decorated the candle....I really liked it, but as you may notice, the little letter "i" in Sophia Michelle's name came off. oops. Guess I didn't get sticky enough stickers. :)

Conversations with Sophia

I've told these stories many times in the last few months, but I never can remember who has had to listen to them 3 times already and who hasn't got to hear them yet! So it's time to write some of these down, before I forget them. These are some of the stories that make me proud and make me giggle. Stories that cheer me up on days like today when my little girl is not-quite-herself with a low-grade fever and she's mostly just miserable. This is who she usually is when she's feeling well - happy, curious, and very chatty!

Oh, I should probably explain- she does this thing a lot lately, where she's trying to put together these complex sentences. She knows that certain little words go places, like prepositons and question words, but she doesn't quite grasp which word she's supposed to use there yet. So instead she just puts this little space into her sentence where she knows a word should go. It sounds a bit like "uh" so that's what I use in my transcriptions of her speech. That's what it means when you see "uh..." She's not really pausing to think (I don't think), I think she's substituting a word with that sound.


Sophie (looking at a picture in a magazine and pointing): Man!
Mama: Yes, that's a man.
S: I uh....man.
M: No Sophie, you're not a man. You're a girl.
S: (Rolls her eyes, sighs at me, and says in a slighty exasperated voice as she explains to me) I KNOW! I LIKE man!
M: Ohhh. right. of course. I like men too :)
S: Yes.


S: Uh...is Daddy? (shrugging shoulders, palms up, indicating "where?")
M: Daddy's gone to work.
S: I go work? I uh.. I go Daddy's work.
M: When you get bigger, do you want to go to work like Daddy?
S: Yes. I go work... I uh p(l)anes! I work P(l)anes, uh..Daddy, uh Mama!
M: Ok, you're going to fly planes when you get big too?
S: Yes!
M: And you want to fly the planes with Daddy and mama?
S: YES! :)
(She gets very excited when we finally seem to 'get' what she's talking about!)


Sophie's been very pre-occupied with the idea of going to work lately. She likes to list off people and where they are at the moment -"Daddy work. Pete work. Bec work. Grandy work. etc." and then she has to name who is at home at the moment. "Mama no work. Mama home. Zush home uh baby. etc.." If she's not sure about a particular person at any point in the day, she will ask me if they are at home or at work. "Papa work? Bittney home?" etc.
So anyway, the day following that last conversation, she had a new set of career goals!

I was buckling her into her carseat to go out for the day.
S: I go work?
W: Well, not today. Today we're going to the park (or the shops, I can't remember exactly.) But when you get big and you grow up you can go to work.
S: Yes. I big...I go work.
W: When you grow up, where do you want to go to work, Sophie? You could fly planes at work like Daddy, or you could be a teacher for children at a school like Mama, or you could be a doctor and help people who are sick to feel better...
S: I work..I people's doctor! uh...better!
M: That's a great idea Sophie. You would be a very clever doctor.
S: Yes!

Oh, and the first long sentence I remember hearing her say - on the day of her baptism we were all getting ready. I did her hair and we talked about her pretty new hairclips and new dress and pretty new shoes - all for this very special day. We talked about going to church and then having a special party for Sophie and dinner. She walked up to our full-length mirror, admiring herself and having a chat to herself.
S: Hello Soshie! I uh.. two hairpicks uh...my party!

I'll leave you with a few of her latest, surprising new words! octopus (aw-pus), jellyfish (jay-pish), chimp, tricky

May your week be joyful and free from illness :)

Another movie of the chatty Miss Sophie

A few weeks ago, we visited Anaconda - giant camping store. Sophie and I explored and played while Dan wandered the store drooling over toys and picking out a birthday present. Sophie and I had some interesting conversations on the little set of steps by the emergency door - here is one of them that I got on video.

Oh, and at the end of the clip, where Sophie is naming friends (as she loves to do lately - big long lists of everyone she knows. She's much better at it since this film was shot) I missed one of the names at the time. She says "Gandy" which is her name for Granddad, but I didn't figure that out until watching it a few times. Also, at the end she names Nikita (Kitty is what she usually says), and then I switched off the video. So you just missed the next word she said after the camera was off, which was Bobo - her cousin Sebastian.

Enjoy!

Sophie's spinning game

One of Sophie's favourite new games. She made it up, and she makes up the rules as she goes along. She cracks me up :) Enjoy!