Getting Older by the Minute

Sophia, as you know, will be turning 2 in less than a week. She's constantly showing us signs that she's now a big girl - like how she said, "Yes, please" when Isaac asked her the other day if she wanted another helping of green peas, or how she used the potty after getting done taking a shower recently.

Taking a shower seems to be quite the big girl task in itself. But when you consider the fact that we don't have an actual bathtub - just one of those plastic kiddy tubs - sometimes its just easier to let her take a shower. She'll hold the wand and spray herself down (remembering always to do her "Po waschen*"), then use the Avon Roll-On Raspberry Scented Soap her Grandma Becky gave her, and then spray it off. She even does a pretty good job getting her hair wet so that all we have to do is wash it and rinse the shampoo out. I must also admit that she spends a lot of her time washing the shower walls while she's in there - which could be considered the act of a big girl, I guess. :)

She's also getting extremely fun to talk to. When I get home from work, Isaac always encourages me to tell her about my day, and it's really surprising how intently she listens. And how interested she actually looks. When I ask her about hers, she's got so much to say - about horses and monkeys and friends she saw at the post office or at playgroup. The world is her oyster...

Amidst all this growing up, though, I still look at her and see my baby. Despite her loooooong legs and arms, and the way she tells me, "No, no, no" in a really calm voice as she shakes her head, as if she's trying to teach me something I just don't get, she's still the one who started out so small inside of me. She's the one I have memories of lying on my chest after I gave birth to her, squinting because the light was too bright. The both of us feeling slightly out of place, yet also feeling like we were where we belonged. I remember about an hour after her birth she lay in the bassinette beside me. I stared into her eyes for what seemed like an eternity, before finally falling asleep. Our family of two had all of a sudden become a family of three, and nothing seemed more normal.

In about 7 months, that number will change again. And I have a feeling that she will grow up exponentially after that. For now, I want to enjoy my Baby Phia. Her task of Big Sister will come soon enough.

*Po waschen is German for "to wash your bottom".