11 months

I suppose this post should be titled, "11 months and a few days" since I was a few days late taking the picture this time. But as you can see from the pictures of our little monkey, we have our hands full!

This month has been all about the standing. As you can see above, we started out with a kind of stretching exercise.

 Here we are looking super grown up with our piano. I can't believe it's time to put the legs on this toy again already.

 Here she is holding onto the strap of Anna's booster seat. She looks like she's ready to water ski!

 And here the adventure begins to take her monthly lambie picture. I had to set the camera to "continuous" mode and keep snapping while pushing her back into her seat.

So next month...walking? I wouldn't be surprised!

Bathing Beauties

Naturally I had to get pictures of the first combined bathtub party. The girls took to it very well, Sophie especially. We just need to work on NOT trying to stand up in the tub quite yet. I think Anna would prefer less splashing as well, but Sophie as usual is the fearless one, a real water baby.

 Sophie has eyes only for Anna.

The finished product--fresh and squeaky clean!

Hitting the trails

This past Saturday, I shared one of my great passions with my daughter: horseback riding! Thanks to Groupon and a friend from church, the two of us took a one-hour trail ride in perfect weather and in a beautiful setting.

 Anna was quite excited about getting to wear a helmet. "Just like a bicycle helmet!" she said. Adults did not have to wear them, but even the smallest size for Anna looked huge. (Appropriately, I took this picture right by the equestrian warning sign.)

 Our group from the back of our horse.

 

Picture of our faithful steed, "King Kong" (no, really) taken from the saddle.  He was the biggest boy in the group, I'm pretty sure. Part draft horse, probably, and wide as a bus. Anna and I rode together, so they gave us the gentle giant. He was a wonderful horse. One of the staff remarked when they saw Anna, "Little  princess needs a white horse to ride." That, and I think he liked my reaction when he announced something named Kong was going to be our mount.

 Our friends joining us in this adventure.

The view from up here.

 


 I had to include a picture of this "station", too. The stable is actually part of something called "Adventure Park" and includes a zip line. I would have thought that would upset the horses, but apparently they are used to it.

 
Our friends behind us.




 We made it! (I'm trying to hold Anna's helmet back so she can see. It kept falling forward over her eyes). So I had a great time, and Anna was very brave. An hour is a long time for a 3 year old, and Kong had a long stride, especially up the steep hills. She told me that night as we were getting ready for bed, "Horses go up and down, up and down." It was memorable for her, to say the least.


 Here we are at a park afterwards, eating some lunch. That, and the playground afterwards, were more Anna's speed. But we are again very grateful to our friends for including us on this fun trip.

9 and 10 months

Time for a bit of blog catch-up. Our little girl is growing faster than our internet connection can upload, it seems. If I could just click and send straight from our camera...Anyway, she is a daily delight. At 9 months, she was not quite crawling yet. Or rather, she was crawling sideways and backwards, but not forwards. Surprisingly, this did not frustrate her. She is quite cheerful and takes setbacks and detours in stride, so to speak.

 This is one of my favorite mischievous grins.

 

By 10 months she is definitely crawling, with the bruises on her forehead to prove it. Nothing can stand in her way: no table legs, open dishwasher doors, or big sisters. Anna will see her from across the room and start calling, "No Sophie, no! No! No! I'm playing here!" And Sophie will just keep on coming, with that big grin on her face.

Also, our other big milestone for the month is that the first tooth finally appeared on March 13! You can't see it in any of the pictures yet, but it's there. That toothless grin will be changing very soon.

Our little girl is 3!!!

 In some ways it seems like only yesterday that Anna was born. And yet when I try to remember life before, and therefore without, her, it's difficult. People talk about how "everything changes" with children, and yet even that generalization doesn't quite cover the reality. "Everything" is a surprisingly weak word when you think about it. It's so obviously a well-intentioned exaggeration. What we mean is, things you wouldn't expect to change, or maybe things you didn't know could change. "Everything" is a catch-all for perspective, probably because that tends to change so little. Few things grab you that deeply.

Anna has. Her interest in books that reflects our own introverted tendencies, her plays on words that betray that paternal love of puns (sigh), her honest questions, her stubborn streak, and her love of animals, all familiar yet cast uniquely in her personality--these things cause us to see ourselves, our parents, and our purpose in life differently.

And let's not forget the diapers. Yes. Let's not. The mundane sustains the miraculous, I suppose. It's still mundane, and with a three year old, there's a lot of it.

Still. 3. What an amazing gift to celebrate.

We celebrated the day at home with a small family party.

 

She LOVES her balloons!

 

A perfect tribute to her favorite place--the zoo!

Due to family colds, we had to postpone the friends party for a couple of weeks. It's nice at this age that time doesn't mean much yet. We had 4 guests come to the house to play and do a few crafts. 

 

 

 

 

 And Sophie enjoyed herself, too. She partied 'till she dropped. Right across Daddy's lap.

 Happy birthday, special girl. We love you so much.

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra

One of our favorite library story times of the year has to be the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra visit. Throughout the spring, a string quartet plus a reader travel to all the Knoxville library branches and present a 30 minute story time with music accompaniment and audience participation. Afterwards they invite the children to come up and try out different instruments. Both Anna and Sophie were enthralled. Sophie even got some appreciative laughs at her attempts to sing along. But Anna was in her element during the demonstrations.

Bongos:

Cello: with the bow

and plucking.

I am particularly impressed that they brought a cello just her size.

(I am of course very behind on our monthly updates. We've had one or two things to celebrate around here in the last month or so! I do have photos, and I hope to get them up soon.)

Eight months old

Here are Sophie's eight month photos. She just keeps growing! She is VERY close to crawling at this point. She can wiggle in just about any direction except forward. She gets so frustrated! But she is also very persistent and is clearly eager to start keeping up with big sister, Anna.

I love these two pictures with her little tea cup (Anna gave her a tea set for Christmas). Such a little lady.