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Saturday, October 14, 2006

Sophie has now been part of our family for 5 months. It's hard to believe that only 5 months ago we were still at the White Swan, preparing to come home. Our time in China was extraordinary, a true bonding experience for her and I since it was only the two of us. Since we have been home Sophie has continued to bond with all of us, amazing us with her ability to draw others in with her hearty belly laugh, kissable dimples and effusive chattering.

Sophie loves to talk. Since about the fourth month home, her English has exploded. She can speak in short sentences, at least the short sentence is the part I can understand! Sophie actually talks all the time. When she first came home I'm confident she was speaking Chinese, but now I think most of what she's saying is English, with a Chinese accent. Even the therapist that comes to our house for Isabelle noticed Sophie's 'accent'. It does make it harder to understand her, but it's pretty darn cute. She's learned to say "my" and "mine"...she does love to lay claim to things she loves. She also says "my turn" too. She is always aware when someone is getting something she thinks is a bigger and better deal. Which makes it very hard to parent her and Isabelle at the same time. Since whatever Isabelle is doing, even if it was to occupy her while Sophie was doing what she wanted to do, seems to be more fun to Sophie! We are trying to slowly teach her some patience and she is doing remarkably well. She used to start crying immediately, getting louder and louder hoping her endurance would wear us out. But we have given her words and/or signs to ask for what she wants and her crying and fussing have been reduced dramatically. She calls everyone in the family by name, no longer substituting "ge ge" for any brother whose name she couldn't say. She continues to call Isabelle "mei mei" and it has really begun to stick! She calls herself XiaoXiao still, but the other day she called herself XiaoSophie. She actually said "XiaoOphie" but that's the best she can do with her name so far ;)

Sophie still loves to be on the go, which is a great thing since we seem to be going all the time lately! She's good to go just about anywhere, even though her favorite place to go right now is the McDonald's play place. She and Isabelle have begun to rely on each other and they are able to venture off, into the tubes and down the slides. She's begun to enjoy American food more, thankfully, since I can't cook Chinese dishes very well. Her favorites are noodles and meat, meat, meat! At dinner she usually finishes her meat and asks for more throughout the meal. We laugh because Isabelle usually chooses the other main food we're serving so they are very well suited as sisters. She also likes apples, raisins and eggs. She's growing well and is now 36 inches tall (40%) and 32 pounds (73%).

Sophie is showing some signs of being ready to potty train. Randomly throughout the day she'll want to go pee pee on the potty. Of course, she does this after she's already gone in her diaper! But we're indulging her, hoping soon she'll be able to use the potty exclusively. She's also showing great interest in learning her colors. In fact, some days that's almost all she wants to talk about! Everything she shows me she says "lellow?" or "geen?" These seem to be the colors she has the easiest time identifying. She is also fascinated with the boys going to school. Everytime we pass their school or a yellow school bus she says "Dalton chool?" I always answer, "Yes, Dalton is at school" but sometimes she asks me over and over, just so we can have a 'conversation' about their school. It's astonishing to see her desire to learn new things, to see how things work and how she influences her environment. She's a very bright child.

Recently we all went to the Georgia National Fair with my sister, her husband and their kids. It was a blast! I was a little worried how the girls would handle the masses of people, lights, rides and chaos. But I needn't have worried about Sophie.

Looking angelic at the Botanical Gardens

Enjoying some pool time

Getting a horseback ride from JieJie

Enjoying the Chinese Moon Festival

Riding the carousel with cousin Taylor

"I love my cousin Dane!"

She loves to be where the action is. Before we'd put her on a ride we'd ask her is she wanted to ride it. Her answer was always a resounding "yes!" Her favorite ride was the race cars, and she loved the part of the ride when the cars raced around the corner. The smile on her face was priceless :)

We also visited the petting zoo at the fair. Sophie just walked right up to the fencing and reached in to pet all the animals, including a llama and a yak! This is a far cry from the little girl who used to be too afraid to get near our 20 pound Jack Russell! The goats were even nibbling her fingers, hoping to be fed, and she just giggled. She has such a fun-loving, easy going personality, we can't wait for the upcoming holiday season! Stay tuned to see pictures of Sophie at halloween...she's going to be a fairy princess, of course!

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