Miss Sophia Randilyn: Month 22: Santa is on his way...Part 1

What a fun month for Sophie. It starts out on Thanksgiving, where every year we put up the tree and ends on Christmas day, with lots of presents. We packed a lot in this month-- a few visits with Santa, lots of parties and good times. Sophia has really enjoyed this time of year and has all sorts of new words from it - Santa, snow, snowman, angel, Mary. I actually stopped counting since we reached 100 words and now she repeats just about anything. It is still two word phrases like All done, All clean, It's Over. She is also saying verbs this month -- running, walking, coming, going, kicking, cooking. Oh, she is starting to use the potty about once a day, so of course she has all the words that go along with that activity (no need to spell them out here). I absolutely love this age (with the exception of the word MINE being used all the time), but I think I say that every month. ..

Putting up the tree on Thanksgiving. ..and then finding out how much fun it is to play under the dining room table.

Off to Playscape -the only place where Sophia can ride a pink tractor and then dance around in a tutu.

Pop pop came over for some leftovers. Soph can now say his name, and it is different from my Dad who is Papa, which is very cute.

More pics in front of the tree, which Soph thoroughly enjoyed. We played the Charlie Brown ornament over and over and over..

We went with my mom to a winter street festival. So fun- we even saw Elmo!

We also saw a real reindeer

Sophia had fun running through the streets all crazy. Luckily, it was a nice warm day.

Soph went to her first garage party at her friend Noa's place. Along with Pike, the 3 kids had a blast.

Sophia bops in the car ALL the time. I am in the garage so you can't really see, but I thought this was too funny.

Sophia had a nice visit with her Great Grandma Nell. Soph started off in a bad mood, but she soon warmed up to her surroundings, and wanted to sit on the bed and play. Hope you feel better soon Grandma!

We took a trip to the mall to start our Christmas shopping with Sophie and managed to actually buy a few things in between the carousel ride and playing in the "germ pit."

I made the mistake of waiting in line for an hour at Breakfast with Santa. Sophia was fine the entire time (ate a bagel, tried to open all the fake gifts) until we got to the front of the line. She didn't want anything to do with Santa up close! Luckily I was all dressed up to be in the picture, yeah right, at least I wore red...

So I tried again with Santa and she had to keep her distance. Lucky for us, Mrs. Claus appeared. Now she was ok to hang out with. Must be Santa's beard that is so scary!

All of our decorations brought quite a laugh this year.

Soph at a birthday party having fun with her Daddy.

We went to a birthday breakfast party this month, which was a lot of fun. We were even able to get a good shot of all the kids watching a Christmas movie. You may start seeing a theme as we try to get group pictures taken.

Sophia put on a big show at her Grandmother's trimming the tree party at work. All the residents got a big kick out of watching her put ornaments on the tree.

We went to a little gymnastics/ music holiday party, which was a lot of fun. Soph is great at the balance beam.

Open gym continues to be a big hit in the cold weather months. We get to try all sorts of new toys.

Sophia learned her name this month. Her first present arrived (thanks Jennifer and Rob!) and she had so much fun unwrapping it that she wanted to do it all over again.

This reminds me of the story of Nick saving his money to buy bonds at the age of 4. Soph is well on her way. She loves to put money in her piggy bank.

Our first real snowstorm was a big hit. We went sledding in the front yard. Soph wanted to stay outside forever. I bailed early and left her to go walking with her daddy.

After I made her make a snow angel first.. see how happy she is!

My Aunt Julie and the gang came over to celebrate Christmas. We had fun playing by the tree. Soph got her first Tickle Me Elmo, which she LOVES. Thank you!

I watched Leah for 2 days and Soph was so happy to have a friend over. The first day, the girls were inseparable --giggling, holding hands and then dancing in the car.

The 2nd day was a bit more challenging and they fought over toys at the house. They are such girls! Once again, Open Gym saved me. Sophia even learned how to go backwards on the big kid tricycle.