sweet spot

Sophie's in a crazy nice, sweet, and smart mood lately. I hope this lasts. In just about every way, she's been just lovely to be with. And with this new toy, she was smart enough to put it away off the porch when we left the house so nobody would take it and when she had enough of the boys pulling on it tonight, she told them she was taking it in and going inside. Smart girl, Sophie. Can you be in a smart mood? I doubt it, but I don't want to rewrite the sentence. I'm tired and too exhausted to deal, but I wanted to write this down so when she's not in a nice mood, I can remember the times when she was.

newest toy rocks

Sophie got a Disney swimming pool for jumping off the diving board by herself. This toy has become the neighborhood favorite. Who knew a $20 toy could bring so much joy to all these kids. It can be filled with about a gallon of water. When S. takes it out, she'll come in and out of the house about three times filling a bucket full of water to fill the pool. When she's filling the bucket, she's careful not to make eye contact with anybody or say anything, so as to make sure we don't tell her to stop. Now, there's a lot of shouting going on outside over this toy. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea.

School, soccer, ballet

The cool fall air has arrived. School's back in full swing. Sophie is in the 3/4/5 year-old room. In many ways, I think this is the payoff class. She gets to do a lot of number work and some reading and writing before heading off to kindergarten next year. She's learning how to write her numbers but then will go from writing a 9 into a P. At our local co-op grocery store, I've had her write the numbers down of the prices on the bulk food and she really enjoys that. Then I have to "translate" the numbers for the checkout clerk. On Fridays, Sophie is playing on a soccer team with her bestie. She's not too into it, but I'm not giving up yet. The first game this season she scored. Yesterday she had a bunch of the girls from the local university watching her game and signing a poster for her. This didn't interest her in the slightest. OMG, if I had had 10 girls watching me play and signing my poster, I would have been in heaven. Then the girls told Sophie she can come to their camp this summer. Later she told me she wanted to go to Girl Scout Camp. Yes, yes, Sophie, you can go to girl scout camp, too! But dang, Sophie. Thanks to Title IX, you have these opportunities that didn't even exist when I was young. Sophie's true passion is ballet. She will allow her hair to be pulled back in a ponytail for the duration of class if that means she can dance. The place she goes has a live piano and I have to say, it's enjoyable to listen to Tchaikovsky as they dance around. She's so pink.

what are your hobbies, Sophie?

Sophie: Collecting shells, watching bands, going to carnivals and going to different countries. I guess that about sums it up.

Summer's over

The summer of 2012 will go down in the books as one of the busiest summers of your life, Sophie. We started off in Spain and you got to hang out with us as we walked the Camino de Santiago. After finishing the pilgrimage, we hung out in Santiago for a week before returning to Madrid. After Madrid we hit Paris since you had said you wanted to see the Eiffel tower. We hit every carousel in town. From there, we flew to Venice. You and dad spent a day to go find a beach off the Lido. You're the only American I know that can say they've been swimming off the Lido in Venice. From there we went camping 9 days in Austria with a 3 day break at a B&B because I was feeling a bit claustrophobic with the tent. You went down your first huge water slide and we rode it over and over and over. You got to take horse back rides and feed all kinds of animals. We even hiked a little bit. We hit just about every park we saw. It was exhausting but awesome. Once we returned to the US we took off to go camping with O & J at Virginia Beach. We got rained out, but at least you got to go swimming in the ocean. The next weekend we took off to T & B's. We hit every splash pad we could find in Indy and spend the day at zoo until you were ready to go home. We pulled up to our house at 1 in the morning from T & B's house, slept in then later that evening, drove back to see O & J. O got us tickets to Busch Garden's and frankly you probably had the best day of your life there. We wound down summer with a couple of trips down to J's river house. You got to kayak and play in the water on an intertube and we ate s'mores at their outdoor fire. I have to say, Sophie, being 4 is way, way more fun that being 2. I can't wait for summer when you are 5. We're already making plans. (I actually put paragraphs in this entry, but the fact that it comes out in one long paragraph really reflect how this summer seemed to be, one event after another. The form sort of fits the content.)

Mr Brocolli

We haven't added any pics in a while. This is Mr. Broccoli. He's about the coolest stuffed vegetable ever. Sophie's hanging out with JJ for the day.

How do princesses....

Discussion before bedtime: S: Mommy, How do princesses go to the bathroom? A: Like everybody else, they pull up their dress, pull down their undies and sit on the toilet. S: How does Tangled not step on her hair? (She's never seen this movie, just bits and pieces that she's picked up from friends or seen in passing in the store, and yet...) A: Maybe she keeps it in a pony tail and she's used to it all. S: What sports do princesses play? A: Soccer S: No mom, you just say soccer because you want me to play soccer. Princesses don't play soccer. (Wow, Sophie, am I that obvious?) A: Then what do they play? S: Tennis A: What about golf? S: That's smelly? (What??? Golf-smelly?) A: Maybe they run? S: No, they ride horses. S: What kind of animals do princesses have? A: (Easy answer) Unicorns S: And cats A: sure, and cats. A: Sophie, I have a question, does Santa visit princesses? S: No, they have lots of money and magical powers. (wow, she pulled out that answer without much pause at all) Good night, Sophie. Thank you for such an engaging conversation.