Sophie's turning one

Sophie wearing the birthday scarf her Godfather, Ben, knitted.

I can't believe my Sophie is turning one already. I still think of her as my little baby and get surprised when she climbs up on something to see what I'm working on in the kitchen.

I'm not the best at taking notes on what my girls are doing developmentally, so I thought I'd do a special post about Sophie for her birthday.

1. Words: "Mama", "Dadda", "Dad Dad", "Uh oh", "OK", "Lugalugalug"

Daddy taking Sophie for a flying basket ride.

2. When we go for walks and she sits in the front seat of the buggy, she points towards whatever she's looking at with her right index finger and says "Oh!"

Enjoying the view from the front seat of the buggy.

3. She loves waving hello or goodbye to anyone she sees. For a long time this was by curling her fingers towards herself, but now she's figured out how to turn her hand and curl it towards the other person.

4. Sophie has six teeth: two down the bottom and four up top.

5. She started taking her first tentative steps at 10 months, and can now walk long stretches at a time without falling over. She likes to hold her hands up above her head when she walks and seems to be better balanced when she's carrying something.

6. She loves Lily and follows her around anywhere. Lily can get away with murder and Sophie just laughs because she's so happy to be playing with her. The two sometimes tussle over their toys, especially when Lily is trying to do a puzzle and Sophie messes it up.

Sophie and Lily playing at Island Bay.

7. Sophie spends hours every day climbing up on things and then back down. She opens draws or turns over baskets to boost herself up so she can climb up onto big chairs or the coffee table.

8. I have to fetch Sophie away from the toilet several times a day. She's fascinated by it (and the toilet brush) and has been known to throw things down the toilet. I'd love to be able to close the toilet door, but Lily needs it open so she can use it.

9. Sophie's a musical wee girl and can often be found banging, tapping or shaking an instrument. Any time I start singing, Sophie starts bopping.

10. It's difficult reading stories to Sophie, because she always tries to grab the book and eat it. She's getting better at sitting still for the first couple of pages at least.

11. Getting Sophie to stay seated in her high chair is next to impossible these days. She always wants to stand on the seat, and I don't have a way to buckle her in.

12. Sophie isn't a big eater and prefers to feed herself. The foods she will usually accept are eggs, meat, stewed apple, butter, yoghurt, coconut oil, chicken or lamb stock, mashed potato, peeled cucumber, avocado, banana, fries, peas, smoothies and smoothie iceblocks.

13. I have to put just a little bit of food on her plate at a time, or she will keep shovelling it in until her mouth is too full to chew, and then it all comes back out again.

14. Sophie loves feeding me and takes great delight in picking up her food and putting it in my mouth. Sometimes I end up eating more of her dinner than she does.

15. It's hit or miss whether Sophie will sleep through the night. Usually she doesn't.

16. When I skype Paul, she hears his voice and comes toddling over yelling, "Dada, Dada!" and tries to bang the keys on my laptop in excitement.

17. She hasn't figured out what to do on a ride-on bike yet, and just sits there watching the world around her.

18. Sometimes she likes to trick me into thinking she's ready to hop out of the bath. She'll pop one leg over the side, but as soon as I move towards her, she jumps back and sits on her bottom again in the water with a big smile on her face.

19. Sophie loves cuddles, and will snuggle into my left shoulder with her shigey.

20. Shigey is Sophie's cuddly and it is actually a set of two matching shigeys that Paul's boss, Melissa, gave Sophie. We rotate them around to wash them.

21. She is such a water baby. In April we holidayed at our bach in the Coromandel for a week and Sophie couldn't get enough of the water. Even though it was cold and there were big waves, she just stood there getting battered by them with a huge grin on her face!

22. Peekaboo is a much loved game, with Sophie hiding around the corner of things and then popping her head out to surprise me.

I love you my Sophie pickle. I'm so glad you were born.