Step by step...

Slowly, Sophia is getting the concept of walking. She walks very confidently around furniture and with her push toy. She even walks along side us with one hand, but is still working on walking all by herself. She has, however, taken up to four steps by herself until she loses balance. We sit on the ground and try to get her to walk between us. She always takes a couple steps and then falls into my arms and laughs. She thinks it's a game. lol. She is getting closer everyday and gaining more and more confidence with each step.
She is 3 weeks away from her first birthday and is 31 1/2 inches long. She's averaging an inch a month and her clothes are proof of her growth. Her pants are becoming high-waters on her and the sleeves on her shirts are above her wrists. I wonder how tall she is going to be?
She has been so much fun lately and is really beginning to love cartoons like Dora and Handy Manny, which teach Spanish. She gets excited whenever then sing and will bounce up and down in my lap, dancing to the song. I can't believe her 1 year birthday is just around the corner! I look back at her newborn photos and can't believe she was ever that small. It kind of makes me sad :( But I am loving this stage and every moment I get to spend with her.

Hi-Ho Cheerio...

Sophia's new favorite thing to eat...cheerios! She loves them! When she see's me pull the box out of the cupboard and start putting my hand in to grab some, she gets so excited and starts to squeal. It's so hilarious! She picks each one up with such precision with her little pointer finger and her thumb. I figure they are a healthy snack and they teach her hand-eye coordination.
The other day I thought, "why not let loose and let her be a little messy with the cheerios?" So after I swept and cleaned our kitchen floor, I put her on the floor in the middle of a bunch of cheerios, just to see how she would react. Her looked killed me! She had a look on her face like she was in cheerio heaven! She didn't know which cheerio to grab first. I had to capture it in some pictures. Here they are...

How do you use this thing?

So I decided after much debate, to let Sophia try to feed herself lunch today. She has been showing increasing interest in trying to help me when I feed her, and will try to grab the spoon. After feeding her about half of her lunch, I thought, "okay, it may get messy, but she has to learn some time." So I set her bowl and spoon in front of her and let her have at it. She was more cautious and controlled than I thought she would be. I had pictured her taking the bowl and dumping the contents everywhere. However, she just kept on adjusting the spoon in her hand and transferring it front her left to her right, and not quite sure how to scoop the food into the spoon. She never stuck her fingers in her bowl to get the food, just kept dipping the spoon back into the bowl, a little confused. It was pretty hilarious watching her trying to "problem solve" and seeing the little wheels turning in her head.
Since I have been at home and have been able to spend alot more time with Sophia, one on one, I have so enjoyed seeing her learning new things and experiencing her growing personality. I have seen how determined she is and how she goes after something she wants with every ounce of her energy. It is so fun seeing how she is changing! I knew motherhood would be rewarding, but I never imagined it being this much fun! Every giggle melts my heart. I can't imagine my life without her. She is my little buddy :)

Limited time...

Since mid-December I have become a stay at home mom due to the lack of work at my parents business. I have been spending the days enjoying time with Sophia and taking in every minute we get together. Being able to feed her lunch, hold her after nap time and rock her to sleep everyday has been such a huge blessing. And though I tend to stress over money, I know that I should cherish this time we have together, because quite soon it will be gone. I will be returning to work, only part time, coming mid-February because that is when our busy season starts for the nursery. I have so enjoyed our days together and will be sad to see them go. We have been able to sleep in, take baths together and snuggle in the morning and watch T.V. I think both the snow and the economy are teaching me to take time to slow down and enjoy every moment, even the smallest ones. I have also been able to enjoy some hobbies such as oil painting and making earrings and necklaces and it has helped me to get out my creative energy. I am also currently working on one of my biggest New Years resolutions which is to get more organized. Quite the process, but I am hoping to be completely organized by the time I return back to work. Below are a few pictures of what I have been up to, aside from playing with Sophia. I am just so thankful for this time and am enjoying every minute before it ends!

One of my paintings "The Colors of Fall"

A pair of earrings "Live"

One of my necklaces

Down to one...

Sophia usually takes two naps a day and heads off to bed around 8:30 pm. But the last few weeks she has been skipping the second nap and continuing to play and be very active. I thought this might just be due to the hustle and bustle of the holidays and not really being able to keep her on an exact schedule. However, it seems that this is how she prefers it, one nap a day. She takes a long nap in the late morning to early afternoon, usually around 11:30 or 12:00-1:30 or 2:00. This nap seems to rejuvenate her until the evening. I kind of let her tell me when she's ready for bed. She'll start to nuzzle her head into me and want to snuggle. It's really cute and I actually really look forward to it! She has been going to bed between 7:30-8:00pm. This schedule has been working quite well, so as long as she likes it, I think we'll keep it this way :)