Vocal performances- part 2

I can't decide. Do they sound more like Cinderella or the step sisters? Its a close call. . .

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (accompanied by daddy)

I forgot to include this video with the previous post about Sophie. It is a great example of Sophie being her sweet, loving self:)

All about Sophie at 2 years old!

As promised here is Sophie's age 2 update:

Stats:
Height: 33.5 in - 40th %
Weight: 24.5 lbs - 25th %
(Here is how Lily compared at age 2: Height: 35 in - 75th %  and  Weight: 26.25 lbs - 50th %

Behavior:
Sophie is generally an easy going kind of a gal- except for when she gets shy or embarassed (In those instances she becomes very obstinate). She is also very loving and showers her family and her stuffed animals/baby dolls with hugs and kisses. She is very observant; further, she closely watches every move her big sis makes and tries to do the same. In addition, she is keenly aware when something is not as it should be. For example, she has a cow if Lily walks outside without her jacket on! She was also greatly disturbed the day that Lily wore two different shoes on Wacky Tacky day at school. She kept bringing Lily the matching shoe and saying "here you go, Lily- put this one on!"

Speech:
Sophie is talking up a storm- spouting out full sentences left and right(albeit, not always grammatically correct). She generally seems to understand most things that you say to her or ask her. My favorite right now is how she seems to answer every WHY question with either "cuz, it's good" or "cuz, I don't like it". She also loves to experiment with words that she hears her big sis using. For example, right now she is very keen on saying "look mom, it's perftic"(perfect), while holding up any random object of interest.

Knowledge:
Sophie generally knows her colors the majority of the time now and most of her shapes. She can name certain letters (B, M, K, F, E, H, I, L, O, S, Z to be exact) and can count to 10 and sometimes a little beyond. She is definitely different than Lily in this area, who could consistently name all the letters, colors and shapes well before the age of 2, but this just doesn't seem as important to her as it did Lily at the same age.

Motor skills:
Sophie can draw a somewhat horizontal line, vertical line, and a circle (or I should say lots of circles at once:)). She, however, does not have a very long attention span for coloring, so does not practice this as much as Lily did at her age. She's also pretty good with simple board puzzles, shape sorters, and stacking blocks- although she usually knocks them over before she's finished, just for the fun of it:) Sophie can run and can walk up and down steps with one hand on the railing (closely guarded of course). She has jumped a few times, but generally not quite confident enough to take off with two feet simultaneously.

Sleep:
Finally, Sophie is a very good napper. She will sleep for at least 2 hours any time I put her down during the day, or if for some reason she does not get a nap, she is overall fine until bedtime. Its wonderful that she is so flexible. Unfortunately, she is not so easy to put down at bed time. She often sings, yells, and/or jumps around, keeping Lily awake until sometimes as late as 8:30 or 9pm. -and this happens regardless of whether she takes a nap or not!

Sophie's favorite things:
-anything soft: loves to cuddle with soft things and say, "ahhhhh- its so soft!"
-pretend play: cooking in the kitchen, taking care of her dolls and animal friends, having tea parties, etc.
-dancing ballet with her sister
-hugs and kisses (both giving and receiving)
-favorite drink: juju (prune juice): she asks for this first thing every morning
-favorite food: does ketchup count? Basically, anything that is heavily dipped in ketchup pleases her palate. She also loves popsicles and ice cream.

My favorite things about Sophie:
-Her compassion: For example, she's always happy to kiss other's booboos and give a hug and seems truly concerned when Lily is sad and crying. It is so adorable to see her pat Lily and then say "All better now, Lily?"
-the way she happily sings to herself, (somewhat intelligible songs like the ABC song, twinkle, twinkle little star, or rockabye baby) while she is playing
-how she attaches the word honey to the end of her sentances, just like her mama:)  ie- "You all done now, honey?"

Snow White Lily

Word girl, has been ousted from her number one spot in the Hesselton household. Snow White now reigns supreme! It came not a moment too soon, as Sophie and I were getting pretty tired of being captain Huggyface and Crabman, respectively. Now Sophie gets to be a dwarf and I get to be the evil queen- the fun never ends. One thing I've learned from these dress up play times is that there is no limit to the things you can make out of construction paper. This time it was the white collar (created by mom) and the red detailing on the sleeves (created by Lily).

2 years old birthday celebration for Sophie!

Sophie had a wonderful birthday party at Grandma Darby's house last Saturday! In addition to her sister, Will and I, she celebrated with both sets of grandparents, aunt Amy, cousin Paige, aunt Laura, and uncle Chris this year. I think she had a very wonderful time!

What a lovely spread that Grandma put out for Sophie. It was a Hello Kitty theme:)

Sophie is reaching out for that little doggie in the pink purse across the table that was given to her by Aunt Amy. She absolutely loves this!

Sophie got embarrassed whe everyone sang happy birthday to her. Hence the face:)

Notice the finger held up to her lips. After the singing she announced that it was "too loud!"

A trip to the play park finished up the party:

The myriad of hair clips that Lily is displaying came from the Easter eggs gathered earlier at the Easter egg hunt in Grandma's backyard:) Unfortunately didn't get any pics of this:(

Yes, she has been cursed with the static electricity gene- inherited from her mother.

It was a very amusing ride home after Sophie's very fun and tiring birthday party. Lily was complaining about every little ailment both real and imagined and Sophie decided to join in too:
Lily: I've got a very big bruise on my knee- oucheeeee, mommy, said very pathetically
Sophie: I've got a booboo on my knee too, whaaaaaa, mimicing Lily's pathetic tone of voice.
Lily: My nose keeps running and running and won't stop!
Sophie: I've got boogies too! tissue please! etc etc etc. . .
It is so precious to me- how Sophie strives to be exactly like her big sis. Unfortunately, Lily doesn't find it to be as precious as I do:)

Stay tuned for more about my big two year old coming soon!

Play time at the Hesselton's. . .

Lily: "Don't even think about it, Sophie!"

Sophie: "What, Lily?"- very innocently

You knew it was inevitable:)

Firewoman Lily!

She definitely thinks outside of the box, don't you think?

Her firewoman outfit consists of the following improvisations:

 Snow boots substituted for firemens' boots

Scarf substituted for a face mask

Upside down lego box substituted for a fireman's hat

Pink princess gloves substituted for firemens' gloves(they also double as part of her "Word Girl" superhero outfit)

Rolled up blanket substituted for a hose

Sophie wasn't quite sure what her sister was up to, but she decided that she must get geared up too- just in case:)