Sophia is 22 Months Old

Sophia is 22 months old today -- only 2 more short months and I will have a 2 year old.

This has been an exciting month because of the amazing strides that Sophia has made in her development.  It is so obvious that she understands and comprehends everything that we say.  She takes directives very well and has become quite the little helper for me.

Her vocabulary grows by the minute.  There is no word that she won't attempt to say, either with us asking her to repeat a word or with her trying to get her point across to us.  She mimics everything that her older sister says and does, and her most favorite phrase this month has been, "Awww ... nuts!"  It is something that she once heard Samantha say and now she uses it whenever something bothers her.

My biggest joy with her, especially in the last couple of weeks, has been her potty-training.  I tried to train Sam a little bit too early (when she wasn't ready), and it resulted in discouragement and almost hatred for the potty for a couple of months.  When Samantha was officially "ready" she trained in exactly two days.  This time around, I knew that I was going to wait until Sophia actually showed signs of being ready.

When Sophia started expressing an interest about two weeks ago (much to my complete surprise because I thought that it was a little early), I took full advantage of it.  In the last two weeks, she has had exactly ONE "pee accident" during the day.  All of the other times, she goes on the adult potty (she doesn't care for the little one -- after all, she knows that everyone else in the family uses the big one), and she will pee on command if I set her on there.  During naps and bedtime, she will still have some accidents, but not all of the time.  She has been successful "going #2" on the potty, but not as frequently.  More importantly, she understands the concept already and is still leaning about it.

Christmas with her this year was so fun.  She loved opening presents and really got a kick out of all of the Christmas lights -- either while driving down the road or plugged in all around our house.  I dread taking all of them down because it was always Sophia's special job this year to go around and help me plug the lights in or turn the switches on, and she will be quite disappointed to see them get put away ...

Now that the holiday is (sadly) over, I will begin making birthday preparations for this little monkey.  I already have some ideas in mind and can't wait to see how it all comes together ...