Toddler Alert!

As I watched Sophia feeding her dolly this morning, dipping the spoon into the little cup and jabbing it at dolly's general mouth area, I saw a little girl before me—very much removed from babyhood.

Every day, with each new achievement, Sophia reminds me just how big she's getting. Lately, she's been exploring different ways of walking and moving, like lifting her feet high and thumping them down to make lovely stomping noises. Or walking 'round and 'round in a circle until she's silly-dizzy. Climbing in and out and up and down and all over the place. And going limp when I want her to stand up. And standing up when I need her to lie down (especially when the diaper is off and the butt is poopy).

And Sophia is really talking now. A new word every day. I am amazed that I can understand her most of the time, even when she only utters the first syllable of a word. We are really communicating!

It's especially cool when she blurts out words I didn't realize she knew. Like this afternoon in the car, before heading home from our rainy-day library outing, I handed Sophia her water bottle; after she took a sip, I asked her to hand it back to me, and she replied, "Noooo! Mine!" This caught me by such surprise that I couldn't stop laughing. And I think she thought it was pretty funny too, because "mine" has been the word of the evening. Yikes! Toddler!