Sophia Grace at 3 1/2

Soapy turned 3 1/2 on October 20th!

And probably the saddest most bittersweet piece of news this quarter is that she no longer calls herself "Soapy".  Tear.  Lots of tears.  I tried to convince her to keep saying it, but she insists that her name is "Sophie Grace Riedeman"... stressing the /ph/ sound in Sophie.  :)  Well, we still call her Soapy anyhow.  Soapy.  Soap.  Little sister.  Girlie.  Sister.  Girlfriend.  Lady.  Baby girl.  She has lots of nicknames... many of them referencing her gender.  LOL  And I have a feeling "Soapy" might last for a LONG time.  Just like my cousin Bethany, who stills goes by Bep or Beppy (her childhood pronunciation) to a lot of our family.  :)

A few foggy iPhone pics of the three musketeers back in September.

I heart them!

A few Soph stats at 3 1/2:

Weight:  ??

Height:  39 1/4"

Clothing sizes:  4T shirts (long torso), mostly 3T pants, though several are starting to become floods

Shoe size:  8/9

Big milestones:  starting preschool... and officially becoming potty trained as of the start of the school year in September (a VERY long, frustrating process for her - and us!)

Language:  Sophie is using a TON of big words lately and it's so funny to hear her randomly spout them off.  She can speak so clearly and enunciate when she wants to and has something specific to say.  But if you ask something that catches her off guard - specifically "why?" to anything - she'll start slurring and scrambling a bunch of nonsense babble.  It's crazy weird.  She still sounds a bit lispy when she says certain letters too.  Sophie can recognize all the alphabet letters and name their sounds.  She can also name words that start with each letter.

Bedtime:  I know we should be better at one consistent, guaranteed time, but the honest truth is that it varies.  Usually 8-8:30 on most week nights, but sometimes we'll squeeze in a 7:30 if we're really on top of things and especially if she didn't nap well that day.  Weekends can be a little later depending on our plans.  Sadly, she is back to staying awake in her bed for several hours after we put her down.  We are frequently in and out of her room shutting lights off and taking books away.  :(  Grr.

Wake time:  On her own, Sophie usually wakes around 8-8:30.  On week days, we wake her around 7:15-7:30.

Naps:  Daily for about 1.5-2 hours.  However, she is FAR more capable of surviving a napless day with reasonably good behavior than Will was at this age... and probably better than he currently is too.

Eating:  She's finicky.  Particularly with dinner main dishes and many vegetables.  Her favorites continue to be:  yogurt, pancakes, muffins, pb&j, berries, bananas, apples, pizza, etc.  Occasionally, she will surprise us with eating a random dinner extremely well.  But often, we have to encourage her to eat.  Her portion sizes are far smaller than Will's.  Realistically, she just isn't going to eat as much as him... ever.  He's a pig.  And she is SOOOOO SLOW!!

Behavior:  While I do think the kids share various traits with both parents, Will is definitely more of Craig's mini-me and Sophie, mine.  Sophie likes her solitude.  She plays by herself a lot and does just fine with that.  Her circle of friends will probably remain small as she grows up, and I just pray that the people she chooses to be close to are good.  Sophie chooses special possessions that she likes to carry around with her, just like I remember doing as a child.  They vary, day to day, but she finds security in their presence.  She doesn't have a particular lovey other than her thumb.  ;)  But as I mentioned before, she likes small spaces and especially cozy ones that she creates for herself.  She's very brave and strong physically - tougher than her brother in many ways.  When she gets hurt, she whimpers briefly and recovers quickly.  Sophie is far more difficult to reason with - though we are making progress.  I can tell she will be a good, book-smart student as she grows up, striving to get good grades and care about them.  I see her molding into the "system" of school  without trouble. 

One different thing about Sophie compared to either of her parents is her wariness with unexpected things and her occasionally fearful, lack of trust.  It's still a mystery to me how we made a child this way, considering Craig and I are both pretty confident people, but Sophie is cautious with certain, emotional situations. 

With both kids, we seem to go in phases of more or less behavioral issues like tantrums, whining, defiance, etc.  Currently, Will's on the higher end of those and Sophie has been particularly easy for us.  She's nearly always HAPPY and cheerful and unabashedly loving.  She is considerate of our feelings and sweet with her words.  I would definitely describe Sophie as tender.  She will make a great mother some day.

Books have taken a huge upswing since about age three for Sophie.  She LOVES to "read" and be read to.  I love that she remembers characters and parts of stories that we read.  She likes to participate in repetitive or rhyming text whenever that is called for and is perfectly content to just sit and look at books.  I've frequently found her in what the kids recognize as mommy's reading spot lately.  She loves to grab a soft, fleecy blanket and prop herself up on a pillow just like I do.

At school, Sophie is recognizing and describing more and more of the routines in their day.  She is still occasionally challenging her Nana simply because she hasn't adapted as well to Nana in that authority as well as Will and her cousins did.  But I think she has improved quite a bit from the beginning of the school year.  She LOVES her school days and looks forward to them.  She also particularly loves that her Aunt Shirley has signed on to be a helper this school year and has become quite attached to her there.

I swear I just blinked and our little lady has grown so much.  Her hair is so much longer; her little hiney looks so tiny without diapers; she is taller and more grown up looking; and she is sounding more and more mature each week.  I am so darn in love with this girl - my little Soapy - and I am forever reminded to treasure these fleeting years when we are still pretty nearly her whole world and can make any sadness or boo boo all better.  She loves to be with us and spend time together and talk and read and tickle and laugh and laugh some more.  She tells me ALL the time that "we're best friends, right mommy?" or that "we're a family!"  And I just love it.  I love this age.

I love this girl.  To pieces.  :)