Monday, March 06, 2006

Step by Step

Now that Sophie is past the 3 1/2 mark, the changes in her are more subtle. Not fewer and far between necessarily. Just--different. It's not like "Lordy! She just rolled over!" or "Hooray! She's eating solid food," or "Shit and fuck! Her diaper just exploded!" There seem to be fewer singular events to report on, and the days are a bit more fluid. Yes, we have many many milestones yet to reach, but lately things have just kind of mellowed.

She's still experimenting with her vocabulary. This week she's added the phrase, "ages and ages" as in, "Mom, will you lay by me for ages and ages?" Or, when I told her that Katy was sick and might need to get a shot, she said, "Oh no! She's been feeling better for ages and ages!" She's also throwing in "because" all the time in this quasi-snotty voice--and somehow working in 2 extra syllables. I'll say something like, "Honey please don't pour your drink on the dog," to which she'll answer, "I have to be-cu-u-us he needs a shower."

When we're out in the world, she insists on getting in to and out of the booster in the car all on her own, and gets super pissed if I so much as open her door. She's super chatty in the car, and tells me stories about all her adventures. "So--Mom--today Nicole called me 'Tophie' and I said, 'No! I start with an S and Mrs. Esplin said, 'Sophie, Nicole is still learning the S sound' and I said, 'Well, I start with an S so blah blah!' and Mrs. Esplin told me to sit on the line." She notices the stop lights, and gets very pissed if I turn right at a red light.

She's also started this funny ritual at bed time. One night, she was worried that she would have a bad dream. I said to her, "Why don't you have a dream about going to visit Cinderella at her castle?" Since then, before going to sleep, she asks, "Mom, what will I dream about?" and I have to create this intricate scenario for her--which she interrupts and corrects frequently--and as far as I can tell, she DOES dream about what I tell her. At least that's what she reports in the morning. Weird.

Currently, she's making jewelry with pipe-cleaners and beads and watching Blue's Clues. (This works great! The pipe cleaners hold still and the beads don't slide off because of the fuzz. You can just twist them on, then untwist them and start all over again. We tried using yarn, but she just got too pissed off.)

Today's best thing about being a mom:
It's so fun watching her get excited about the coming of spring. Wherever we go, she's on the lookout for flowers. "Look Mom! Sprouts!!" My parents have a pussy willow tree in their back yard, and Soph's pretty sure that it's a hampster tree. Whenever we go over, she has to go pick a few "baby hampsters" to put in her pocket.

Today's worst thing about being a mom:
Lately, I can't seem to balance my 3 main jobs; mom, teacher, wife. Whenever I seen to be doing ok in one area, I fall flat on my face in another.

8 comments:

lonna said...

For some reason I know hear Sophie's voice as a southern belle. It's quite funny to think of a 3 1/2 year old sounding like that.

Marksthespot said...

lucid dreaming at the age of 3.5! fantastic!

(cue the queensryche...)

Jen said...

I want a hamster tree too! Sophie has a great imagination. A lot of the kids I experience make me not want to have kids, but the stories of Sophie (and Bella and Noah as well) make me think again.

~A~ said...

Check out these LINK I used these with the kids when Button was about 3 and since then ours have evolved, but it's fun.

mrs. awesome said...

it's when the days are going in a somewhat fluid manner that i always get surprised!

NME said...

I've wanted a hamster tree for ages and ages. Sophie is so funny, creative and full of imagination and she obviously gets it from her incredible Mom. You are doing an excellent job.

hazel said...

god, I love sophie. she's just such a doll.

thelyamhound said...

I, too, was once convinced that the pussy willow tree was a source of some mammalian organism or another, though I think I was pretty sure it would turn out to be tribbles (of Star Trek fame).