The Ruder the Better: Sofia at 22 months

I only have two months left where I can refer to my daughter's age in months! What an amazing journey the last 22 months have been. Sofia made me a mother and has been an absolute joy in my life. I don't have official stats on her since she doesn't need another exam until she turns 2 but I would guess she weighs around 31 lbs and she is very tall (I know, not every exact. I refuse to try to measure her while she is napping). I can tell you that most people guess that she is 3 based on her height, she is as tall or taller than almost all the kids her age in the church nursery. Sofia's eyes have always been blue but in the past few months they have been changing into this bright, stunning, brilliant blue color. I get lost in her eyes when she stars at me, says "Mama" and wraps her arms around me for a hug.

This month we celebrated Christmas and she definitely was a little more into opening presents than she was last year. However, she was very spoiled by all of our family and definitely got way more presents than she needs. She was quite content to sit and play with the first present she got, we really had to encourage her to open more. Overall, Sofia uses between 40-50 words regularly. It's difficult to estimate the number of words because it changes constantly and it's hard to sit down and think of all of the different words she uses. Sofia is a very sweet, empathetic and strong young lady. At 22 months some of her favorite activities include dancing, swimming, playing with musical instruments, Le.go's, basketball, arts and crafts projects, coloring, helping me prepare meals, playing with Frodo, and she absolutely loves to help me care for her brothers. When one or both of them are upset she is so sweet trying to find different things to make them happy or simply smiling at them and repeating things she has heard me say to the boys. She absolutely LOVES helping with their bath time. Our boys really have no chance of being afraid of water since she loves to "rinse" their hair about ten times during each bath. She also loves to sit in her rocking chair and read books. She occasionally will pause and hold out her arms and say "hug brother" and she waits for Tim and I to bring one of her brothers over for her to hold. Her favorite foods are constantly changing, lately she is really into these Fruit Crushers I buy from Tra.der Joe's that are basically pureed apples and carrots. She loves homemade banana bread, goldfish crackers, pasta, lasagna, scrambled eggs with spinach and she loves to drink from my water bottle throughout the day. It's amazing how independent she already is at this age, she still loves to be read to but sometimes when she is sitting in a pile of her books she waves me away when I walk over to read with her. It's also amazing how much Sofia understands at this age.

FORGOT TO ADD: Sofia is still in cloth diapers for almost all of the day (except when she's at the Y) and a few weeks before Christmas she went pee on the potty. She completely initiated this and is still showing interest but I don't plan to do any serious potty training until she shows me more signs that she's truly ready.

These pictures aren't the best, capturing a toddler is quite a task.