Well, it's been quite a while since the last posting - sorry to keep you waiting - I know most of you have probably been loosing sleep over this, LOL.  Anyway, here is what has gone on, in a nutshell, since that last posting in June.  Sophia has had her 2nd birthday come and go. We had a blast at a 6 person birthday party where we rented an inflatable bounce house and an inflatable water slide.  It was a blast and we all had fun, there were about 25 of us that were all there including Sophia's brother Ethan whose birthday was also celebrated during that party.  About a week or two before the birthday party, Sophia, Ethan, Mommy and Daddy went on a road trip to visit Aunt Susan and Uncle Bob in Colorado. The kids were real troopers for the road trip and hardly complained about the long hours in the car.  We visited Rocky Mountain National Park and saw moose and elk and deer and other wildlife, as well as traveling the Trail Ridge Road that exceeds 11,000 feet above sea level and is a beautiful drive. We stayed in Estes Park and Ethan was intrigued with the Stanley Hotel and the stories of it being haunted.  One of the elk we saw close to the road just outside of the National Park had apparently gotten tangled up with someones Christmas lights and had its' antlers all wound up in the lights and wires. I am sure the elk is looking forward to losing this years rack of antlers and growing new ones next year as they were a bit in the way of eating. 

Sophia has progressed very well with her academics over the past 4 months. She not only knew her ABC's song before her 2nd birthday, she also knows each letter by name and where in the alphabet it goes.  We have a 'Melissa & Doug' puzzle of the alphabet that she loves to play with and she says the letter of the alphabet and then puts it into the proper place in the puzzle without hesitation.  She also has been counting up to 16 without assistance since the end of July.  Margaret and I attribute a great deal of her learning to several of the learning apps that Sophia loves to use in 'her' iPad. We can kid ourselves and say it is Margaret's iPad, but Sophia uses it 90%-95% of the time now, and calls it "MINE".  Sophia is sleeping about 8 hours a night and then about 90 minutes for a midday nap. She also loves to play basketball.  Ethan has an adjustable hoop up here at our home and when it is on the lowest setting of 8.5 feet, I can lift her up high enough for her to roll the basketball over the rim and through the hoop.  I then set her down and she chases after the ball, comes back with it, stands under the hoop and says "Dada, bask-eyball", to which I am supposed to pick her up again and let her do her impression of Karl Malone once again.

The night before last she was singing songs to Margaret and I. Her favorites are the Barney songs (I Love You, You Love Me), Crap now I have that song stuck in my head again, and "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Sponge Bob, Happy Birthday to you". The funny thing about that is that she has only seen Sponge Bob Square Pants a hand full of times, but she got a McDonald's toy of that creature during the Olympics and became fascinated with him ever since.

Her 2 year follow up doctor appointment is not until the 3rd of October and we are a little concerned the doctor is going to rip us a new one because she is so damn skinny.  She is taller than kids older than she is, but even 18 month pants won't stay up on her bony butt.  We buy 24 month pants and I take them in by hand, (I know, I'm very versatile and some day I'll make a great wife, yeah, yeah, yeah), but you do what you gotta do to cover up the diaper.  Well, she is beginning to stir, so I better end for now, I promise it won't be as long till I write again, and maybe I'll have a funny story or two by then.  If you like the blog, please share with your friends, if not, share it anyways.  Thanks and enjoy.