Sophia Ballerina

My dear sweet girl who loves ballet (maybe I will finally get a girl who sticks with it) turned four in January.  Surprisingly, this was the hardest kid birthday for me to reckon with.  I think, when you have four children, life is so busy that you NEED the older ones to grow up a little bit so they can be more independent.  It's not that you want to fast-forward their childhood, it's simply about survival. But now my baby girl is four.  I'm not sure I'm okay with that.  

I have enjoyed Sophia being three so much.  On the eve of her fourth birthday, I slipped into her room and watched her while she slept. I couldn't help but feeling a tinge bit sad.  She is my cuddle bug.  She is the child who expects nothing and contentedly sits by my side.  When a kid is three years old, they take everything that you say as gospel truth.  Sophia has these big, trusting blue eyes, that say, "I believe you and I love you and I'm just so happy to be with you right now."  

Now she is four.  Four is and will be great.  But I will always look back at age three with fondness.  Sophia, you are a JOY.  It's been so great having a three-year-old as sweet as you.  

  

Ballerina

Every Thursday I get to take this little ballerina to her class. This is her dream come true. She had to wait a long time for these classes. Did you know that life begins when you're three? I didn't until I had a precocious third-born who had to watch her sisters do all this fun stuff for months and months, until she was finally old enough to do something too. She picked ballet. And now, in her free time, she walks around the house, with her toes pointed, saying "Passe, passe ..."

 

The class is fun enough, but the lollipop at the end makes it even better.

 

A Three Year Old's View of Christ

I have one for the annals of the Christian Parenting Hall of Shame. Can you beat this one?

Earlier this week Sophia, age three and a half, was contentedly scribbling on paper with crayons. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that she was drawing a looming rainbow with a figure of someone underneath. Then she drew a smile and hair. She announced, "This is Jesus. I love her."

"What?" I asked. "You mean you love HIM. Jesus is the SON of God, a male. A man."

Sophia's blue eyes turned stormy gray and she pressed her lips into a thin, angry line. "Jesus is a girl! She has long, curly hair and she is so pretty and I love her!"

Well, I guess the good news is that she loves Jesus, right? In other news, I feel like the biggest Christian loser parent in existence! How could she think Christ is female?

I guess this goes to show that, no matter how many thousands of times Sophia heard the pronoun "he," what mattered most was the visual image she held in her mind that convinced her that the curly, long hair defined the gender.

Kevin remarked, "Isn't that like us?" Many of us have this vision in our minds of who we think God is. How often is our image of God accurate? Do we take God for who He says He is, as revealed in His word? Or do we conjure up our own images of Him and reconstruct reality, to whatever suits us best?

And now I'm trying to decide what to do about Sophia's theology ... And I'm laughing at how cute she is!

Here are some pictures of my little sweetie, taken recently when we were hanging out together in the kitchen:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Singing Soph

Who knew that life begins at the age of four? I didn't know this until I had a three year old with two older siblings who get to do everything but she can't because she doesn't make the age cut-off. It's been trying for her to help drop off the big sisters every day at VBS this week, with all the loud, exciting music happening on stage, knowing that she can't stay too. The good news is that her life will begin in six months!

Today Sophia, Carson, and I went to visit a friend who is moving to Texas soon. Sophia is just the easiest little kid I have ever met. She is so content to play by herself or to play quietly. She is such a joy and she is my little friend. I love being her mom!

Sophia's three favorite things in the whole world are: 1) dressing pretty (she has always been excited by a new pair of shoes, and wants to wear dress shoes everywhere); 2) riding her bike every day; and 3) music. She sings and sings and sings, wherever we are. The other day we pulled up to a playground. She could see the play equipment from her car seat. Kevin was driving and he was about to turn off the ignition when Sophia asked, in her sweet voice, "Can we please stay in the car a few more minutes to hear more music?" She wasn't done listening to her songs yet!

 

 

 

Spring at Conner Prairie

I have never known a kid who loves baby animals so much as Sophia. In fact, she reminds us all the time, "I love baby animals." So, getting to hold these 4-day old goats at Conner Prairie was, in her mind, probably the best day of her life.

 

 

 

 

 

Spring is a fun time to visit Conner Prairie, a local living history place. They had a "scavenger egg hunt" for the kids where the kids had to find eggs at different houses and other places throughout the village and then write down the location. At the end of the day they turned in their papers for a prize at the general store. It was much more fun than those crowded public park egg hunts where you wait in line for an hour and then all the big kids railroad the little kids to get the eggs first. Can you tell I have experience in this? :)

 

 

Miss Congeniality Turns Three

Sophia, our little Miss Congeniality, turned three on January 21. On the eve of her birthday, I went to kiss her goodnight. She was already asleep in her bottom bunk. Suddenly I got really wistful. I realized how much I would miss my little two-year-old. Although I am pretty sure she will still be as cute as a three-year-old, as she has been this last year, Sophia is growing up so fast. I cannot imagine enjoying a toddler more than we have enjoyed Sophia. Kevin and I talk about how, "Joy" was the perfect middle name for her.

Sophia is a little fire cracker, full of energy, full of life, full of laughter. She loves to dish it back to us when we tease her. She says the funniest things. She thinks she is SO big. And she really is. Her ideas and her antics often seem far beyond her short years. Her teachers in a mom's group I attend always remark at what a good artist she is. (She should be since she likes to copy her sisters, who draw constantly!) I am so glad Sophia is part of our family. I could not imagine life without this little girl.

Here she is at her birthday party. She wanted "All the Princesses" on her cake. (Well, truth be told, she wanted to copy Clara's idea of an Ariel birthday. Clara was really upset since Sophia's birthday comes first and she didn't want Sophia to steal her idea. So we convinced Sophia that she could have "ALL" the princesses and she liked that idea. Ahh, the politics of having daughters!! It's all about diplomacy, I tell you.)

 

Granny gave Sophia three dollars in her birthday card and Sophia thought she was one rich lady! You crack us up, little girl.

 

Here are a few older pictures of Sophia I meant to post but, alas, time flies. She is adorable in every way. We love her. Sophia loves her baby dolls. She can often be found pushing her dolly in her doll stroller, a favorite pastime.

 

Sophia is my little sidekick and my helper.

 

Clara has become Sophia's best friend (and roommate), although Sophia enjoys many special times with Meredith as well.

 

Here she and Clara are helping me clean. I put them to work cleaning the woodwork on the stairs and they act like they enjoy it. Boy do I have them fooled!

 

Christmas and Our Gift Baby

Christmas Eve already? This month has been a blur. This year we let Sophia (nearly three years old) do much of the tree decorating. Mom and dad were simply tired from interrupted sleep and she was in her element, enjoying it all so much. In the end, Kevin helped redistribute some of the ornaments to the top of the tree. This year we don't have enough energy to care about perfection! Sophia's job is good enough and we are grateful that someone had tree trimming enthusiasm!

 

Many of the traditions went by the wayside this year but we did manage to make our tree trimming cookies.  

Carson had some worrisome weight gain issues for the first 2 1/2 weeks of his life. He showed weight loss at several follow-up doctor appointments. Finally we started giving him a bottle, which he loved. He has some tongue/sucking issues and this is what he needed to start gaining weight. He is doing well now and we are just grateful that he is healthy and we figured out the problem. We think he is pretty much the cutest thing ever and are enjoying loving on him!!
 

December is a fun month to have a baby. As people around the world exchange gifts, I am reminded that there is no material thing that compares to the gift of a child. We are so grateful for little Carson and so glad he is a part of our family.
   

Winter-in-general is a fun time to have a baby because you can just snuggle up on the couch and enjoy some cuddle time, while the cold wind whips around outside. You are warm and cozy with your newborn. And it is wonderful.
   

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

 

Of Studies and Granola

The pace of the new school year is starting to feel more comfortable and familiar.  Clara and I plod along with her kindergarten books every day and I think she is enjoying the extra attention from her mom.  She is reading really well, with occasional complaints because the work is getting more challenging for her, and she seems to enjoy phonics/writing and math.  Her favorite thing, however, is sneaking off to play with Sophia.  They are best of friends right now.  Clara also loves to do puzzles and bake stuff.

Here are Clara and Sophia on Clara's first day of kindergarten.

 

 

 

Clara, with her phonics book:

 

Meredith is really loving her Highlands Latin School experience.  It has been really wonderful to see her grow and be excited to learn.  One day she came home and said, "Mom, I learned about DIPTHONGS today!!"  She sets her alarm for 6:30 on the three days she attends classes and has been really responsible to self-manage her morning, get herself dressed (and allow extra time for doing her hair, which is really important you know!), and make sure she has all her books and homework to get out the door.  She needs to leave around 7:15 and so far we have been able to have about 20 minutes of bible time, God's World news, and reviewing her memory work before she leaves.  (My pregnant self can nap later in the day!  I love starting out the day with her in a peaceful, constructive way, and I want to still do these things with her every day.)

I had thought Meredith could use a little more outside accountability, and positive peer pressure in a class setting, to do better in math.  This theory has proved to be true.  Math is now her favorite subject, after P.E. of course.  I have really appreciated getting emails from her teacher encouraging me to push her to master her facts.  Otherwise I might still be content to let her battle out the problems on her fingers.  It has been wonderful to not feel like everything rests on me but I am part of a team to help her in her school work.  I also love the schedule of three days of classes because we still have time on the home study days to continue doing all the things that we really loved about full-time homeschooling.  We take long nature walks, have good conversations, do Story of the World, and work on fun projects that Meredith is interested in like learning to sew.  So, I feel it is the best of both worlds.  I am really grateful God has opened up this opportunity.

 

I have learned a valuable lesson: We can think we have a good long-term plan but if we are open to new things, something even better can come along.

Here is Meredith on her first day of school:

 

Here is Meredith completing her homework, with her friend and carpool buddy, Solomon:

 

We have had some early mornings, lately, and here is my precious night-owl daughter:

 

Sophia deserves a completely separate post, all of her own.  (And I will deliver one, soon.)  She is hysterical these days.  Kevin and I have both said numerous times that we have never enjoyed a toddler as much as we have enjoyed Sophia.  Maybe it's because this is the biggest space we have had between children.  Or maybe it's because we are older and finally are more relaxed in our parenting.  Or maybe it's just because she is so outrageously cute with her independent-thinking, nothing-is-going-to-stop-me, third-born personality.

 

Here she is after a "Mom's Day In" (a MOPS-like type program) I recently signed up for.  She is eating some peanut butter granola that I made with the other ladies during the morning session.  I met a woman at my neighborhood pool a few weeks ago and she convinced me to sign up for MDI.  It had been two years since I had done MOPS.  I thought to myself, "I was really happy when I did MOPS.  I really like this lady I have just met at the pool.  YES.  I will do this."  It has not been a mistake.  I really needed those two days a month to just sit and have coffee with a group of supportive moms.  It has been a real shot in the arm so far.  And there are other side benefits, too, like sometimes you get to bring home yummy homemade granola!

 

I never expected that Sophia would be so excited to be in a "class."  The only regular thing I have ever taken her to so far is nursery (i.e., non-structured activity).  When I took her to her MDI class she was so ecstatic.  When I went to pick her up, she did NOT want to leave.  Finally, she resigned herself, but kept walking around saying, "Where's my paper?"  She had colored a picture of a leopard, as a part of learning the Creation story.  For the rest of the day she kept pointing to that picture, which I had hung on the refrigerator, and saying, "That's my lipp-urd. I made it in my class!!!"

 

Other than having little time to write these days, which I really miss, life is good.  As the weather cools and the leaves change and fall, this feels like a new season, in more ways than one.

 

Sophia is Two!

Our sweet, feisty Sophia Joy turned two years old on January 21st.

 

Here she is with her favorite thing to "play" with (when we let her!). She points to it and cries, "Game!"

 

This cake is the first thing that came up when I googled "cakes for toddlers" or something like that and I thought it was just adorable. We didn't have the "Wilton Ball Pan" that is required for the recipe, so I just baked it in a bunch of glass bowls that we owned already and it turned out great! It's fun for me to be creative now and then and make this kind of stuff. And the kids go nuts and love it. :)

 

 

Happy birthday Sophia! We love you bunches and bunches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here Kevin is, encouraging Sophia to potty train. I say "more power to ya!" and I plan to wait at least until summer.