The L.A. Dime

Last Saturday we celebrated Sophie’s 3rd birthday at Underwood Farms. We’d reserved the morning session thinking that late August in LA would be hot, however we got very lucky and had a wonderful overcast morning with the sun starting to peek through just as we were packing up. Sophie and her friends were able to enjoy a horse-drawn wagon ride, feed various farm animals, ride ponies, jump in a bounce house and run free throughout the farm’s beautiful grassy areas. Mom-Mom and Pops were still in town to celebrate this special day and were especially helpful with getting the food set up and Clay entertained. The one request Sophie had for her birthday was purple cupcakes…and purple cupcakes she got….and some purple nails too.

To give Sophie a little one-on-one time, we set up a little pool party on our patio yesterday afternoon. She put on her bathing suit, took all her “swim friends” and had a great time getting wet.

The adjustment for her has been going well – one of her first questions upon waking up every morning and when getting picked up at school is: “Where’s Baby Clay?”. She asks to touch his hand or hold him every chance she can and wants to watch or be involved with everything we do with him.

There have been a few times where we’ve had to tell her to be more gentle or that right now wasn’t a good time to hold him, which has made her very sad. Brad and I are still adjusting to having 2 kids that we want to give our full attention to and some days are better than others..

She absolutely loves her new school though and asks to go all the time. While there, she gets to swim every morning, make a ton of various art work (she calls them her “art projects”) and learns new songs daily. They have a different theme to focus on/learn about every week – Beach week, Recycle week, Space week,….but her favorite so far seems to have been Dinosaur week. It feels really good knowing that she enjoys going there and is happy to learn and grow.

As I hold my newborn Baby Boy and have a conversation with my Toddler Girl, I feel a little overwhelmed by the big responsibility. However, I also feel extremely thankful to be given this opportunity and grateful for my hubby who is there every step of the way, ready to tackle this challenge as a team.

….include food and anything that goes fast – swings, her tricycle & carnival rides. Below are a few pics from our recent adventures with our little toddler….and a visit from Opa & Nana. Hover over the pic to read a brief description

One of Sophie’s favorite past-times is dancing, especially with her Dada. I love watching the two of them sing and dance — Brad shows her new moves, she happily follows his lead and it always ends up with her laying on his shoulder as he sways her back and forth.

Another favorite playtime activity of hers is making us oatmeal, milk and hamburgers in her kitchen. She likes to line us and her bears or dolls up in a row, give us each a bowl & spoon and then fill the bowls up with “home-cooked goodness”. Aunt Mandee added a lovely apron and chef’s hat to the kitchen accessories this past Christmas.

Trying to continuously make progress in preparing Sophie for the transition of becoming a big sister as well as trying to get our house ready for Baby Riddell, we spent this past weekend switching the office/guest room and Sophie’s room. The “new kids room” now holds all of Sophie’s toys, the crib (waiting for the new arrival in July) and Sophie’s new bed. She seemed very excited about her “pink, big girl bed” in the store but we weren’t sure if she’d like sleeping (and staying) in it once we got it home. It’s been about 4 days now and even though she’s gotten up a few times to check on us and in the mornings we tend to find an extra bear or doll in bed with her, she seems to be adjusting ok.

Just a few shots of our silly little Sophie-Bophie who has recently started telling us: ”You’re my best friend!”

With Sophie almost hitting the 2.5 year mark and us wanting to take advantage of an extra day off for this holiday weekend, Brad and I decided to not only talk about the potty and read stories, but to put some Princess Underwear on Sophie’s bottom and see what happens.
Brad printed out a “potty chart” that encourages stickers for the various phases of going to the potty – pulling down one’s pants, sitting on it, flushing it down the toilet, washing hands and of course the big one….actually going on it. Sophie was super excited about the concept and started pilling up the stickers in all the categories….except the one that doesn’t include us getting out the carpet cleaner.
Then, after many many talks about why we wear underwear and what she’s supposed to tell us when she needs to go…….she actually does do it….twice…..for the babysitter!! Brad and I decided to go on a long-overdue-date last night and Sophie decided to impress Julie by going for her.
We made a big deal about it this morning though and am hoping for more stickers today!!

02/18 Update since posting this: She’s been going pretty consistently and gets very excited when Brad & I make a big deal about it. She’s started telling us when she needs to go (rather than us asking every hour or so) and has almost filled up her sticker chart. So far so good…hopefully it’ll last. She’s not yet going at her daycare though but we think the issue there might be is that there’s only a real toilet and not the little potty we have at home and she’s been practicing with.

A trip to Aveda for a haircut and some makeup (our stylist’s next appointment had cancelled b/c it was raining). The rain broke, and we went for a walk with our new Cindumbrella. Today, a cold morning at the park once this thing called sunshine reemerged.

This is a few weeks late but the last time Brad and I went for our check-up at the dentist, we took Sophie along so Dr. Knitter could take a look at her teeth too. She watched Dada have his teeth cleaned first and then she hopped right up into the dentist chair. The dental hygienist was very calm and didn’t get discouraged when Sophie would only keep her mouth open for a few seconds and was really more interested in eating the polishing paste than sitting still. The dentist also took a quick peek and gave us the thumbs up. All in all, it was a good attempt at getting her used to the idea and getting a new toothbrush with Elmo on it was a sure way to win over Sophie for her next appointment.

Many of you might have heard about the wooden horse that came home with us from Germany this past May. The horse was a gift my family got me when I was 3 years old and I loved dearly. Once I outgrew it, it got passed along to my younger cousins and some other close family friends. The plan was always to one day have it with us so my children could enjoy it as well. Well, after an excellent packaging job by my Uncle Peter, which required several rolls of bubble wrap and duct-tape (and a check-in at the “oversized baggage” counter) the horse now lives in our living room. Sophie has taken to it well and rides it quite a bit.

Another one of Sophie’s animal friends is Clifford, the big red dog. Given to her by Nana & Opa for her first Easter, she used to get very frustrated trying to pull it behind her. Over time she figured it out and now enjoys caring for him by talking to him, carrying him and cleaning him on a daily basis. Recently she’s even started having her dolls ride on Clifford.

Labor Day weekend was a very special one at Hamlin House as our little one turned two. It began with the arrival of Nana & Opa, opening presents that family & friends had sent and a flourless chocolate cake (which sadly didn’t turn out very good but Sophie liked the candles on it nonetheless). After dinner we took Sophie to her room to show her one last present – her very own kitchen!! Mom-Mom Saundra and Aunts Mandee & Tasha furnished the kitchen with all the necessary accessories and food ingredients to cook up some yummy dishes. Sophie squealed with delight upon seeing it and now plays with it on a daily basis. “I want to cook” is something we hear frequently now and we’ve even seen her line up her dolls and bears to serve them meals.

On Sunday we hosted an “end-of-the-summer/b-day pool party” which included all our closest friends. The weather was in the high 90’s so we were happy to be able to provide a cooling off opportunity with the pool.

On Sunday we checked out the LA Zoo which we decided wasn’t our favorite. There was a lot of construction going on, the animals were very far away from us and there was little shade. Turns out however that while all the other kids seemed to be content sitting in their strollers being pushed by their parents, Sophie preferred walking (the entire 2+ hours) or sitting on Opa’s shoulders to get a better look at the swinging monkeys.

There was a lot of preparing, cooking and cleaning up all weekend, but it was so very worth it to have our family and dear friends surround us.

Happy birthday Sophia — we love you so!!