Thanksgiving- we had a wonderful Thanksgiving- we drove up to Lansing and spent the weekend with William's parents. It was a relaxing holiday and Sophia enjoyed family time with Grandma and Grandpa Scholtes!
GRADUATION!! I know this blog is supposed to be all about Sophia but I have to have my little moment of celebration- I finally graduated on December 17th and am now Shay Scholtes, MS. It sure feels good to know that I made it through and will have no more classes, but recent thoughts towards a PH.D?! HMMM! We'll see! :)
Along with that, I've completed my internship and am now working at House of Mercy full time. I absolutely love it and everyday am inspired by the people I see everyday, striving to make their lives better. I can honestly say I made the right choice in where I completed my internship and am so glad they decided they liked me too! :) For now, I am doing some staff coverage for an outpatient counselor- as well as continuing to coordinate the government funded program many of our clients are involved in. After the first of the year, I will move into a more permanent position- more to come on that later.
CHRISTMAS: We had an amazing Christmas- spent with lots of family! Sara got into DSM the Tuesday before Christmas and was able to play with Sophia all week- they hit it off right away and Sophia had fun with her Aunt Sara! On Christmas Eve day we headed to Marshalltown where we ate brunch and opened presents with my dad and Carrie, Christian and Alex and Brooklyn. Sophia got spoiled and got a kitchen, shopping cart, and lots of other fun toys! Next, we headed to my mom's and Sophia napped for a bit- we then ate an early supper and then opened presents too. Sophia got some cute clothes, a baby doll, and a ride on quad. She fit perfectly and all she has to do is push a button to keep it going. She can press the button but not for long so her ride is a little bit stop and go at this point. :) But she has a blast on it! After that, we all just sort of hung out and then we hit the road back to DSM to get the little squirt to bed.
Christmas morning came and we went to church, where Sophia was so good! We came home and opened gifts from Santa- Sophia got an easel with a bunch of art materials, books, puzzles, and another ride on bike! :) Sophia got to play with her new toys and then it was lunch time and nap time. We waited for Will's parents to get here and for Sophia to wake up from her nap before opening the rest of the presents. Again, Sophia was spoiled and got more clothes, books, puzzles, a zoo with animals, and blocks. Sophia was a little overwhelmed and didn't know where to begin and what to play with! But she had fun exploring with all her new toys. We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and enjoyed our Monday off. Today, it was back to the grind, back to work and back to daycare. Sophia had a bit of a rough day at daycare as she has been out for a week, so hope tomorrow is better.
Sophia is also now 17 months and is changing SO SO SO much. She has so many new tricks and is talking SO much, it's amazing. Trying to keep a list of all the words she says so I'll try to remember them now:
Hi
Bye
Nose
Eyes
Sit
More
No :)
MINE
Shoes
Turtle
Monkey (sounds like Mo Mo)
Ball
Book
Mama
Daddy
Banana
Water
Milk
Go
Stop
Bo
Night Night
She is also beginning to let us know when she is stinky or when she is about to become stinky by grabbing her diaper- hopefully this is a sign that she will be easy to potty train! She is also starting to identify pictures in books by pointing to them and naming them. She is also pretty darn good at putting puzzles together as well as building with blocks. She is pretty short so going up stairs is a little tough for her but she has actually begun to walk up the stairs without crawling up them by using the railing- which is a pretty tremendous feat for her little legs.
Sophia has begun to be familiar to the concept of time out- she has a specific spot to "cool down" when she needs to- she only has to sit in her spot for one minute and she knows to stay there until we come get her. It seems to be working so far- if she is starting to do something that isn't ok- I'll ask her if she needs to sit down and she'll look at me and shake her head or say no. Typically that is the only warning I need to give but sometimes she still continues doing whatever it was I told her not to do- so we sit her down.
She definitely tests her limits- especially during dinner time- she is going through a food strike right now and one day will eat and the next she won't. It gets frustrating on my end because I want to make sure she is getting all the nutrition she needs and she is so small as it is that I get worried she isn't getting enough food. But on the other hand, I know she isn't starving and she will eat when she gets hungry. It's hard to not offer her a yogurt or crackers if she doesn't eat well and it is something I am trying to work on as I know she probably knows that if she doesn't eat her supper she will get offered something else. My justification is that at least it's a healthy snack I am offering, not sweets but it's still something she has caught onto and I'm sure doesn't help her eating situation. Typically though, if she refuses to eat and is throwing a fit at the table, we put her down and continue eating, ignoring her, which she dislikes very much. She eventually ends up back at the table and then eats her dinner- this past week though she wasn't responsive to any technique I had up my sleeve and just didn't want to eat. She finally ate better yesterday and ate really well today. She also has become very independent, wanting to do everything on her own- putting on her own shoes and going up/down stairs especially. If you offer to help- you'll get a big NO. We're now entering the Terrible 2's that will last for the next 18 years, unfortunately. :)
