My Baby Is Eight *Sniff Sniff*

Sophie and me, just moments after her birth (and I even did my hair and make-up before going to the hospital so I wouldn't look like this - I'm not in the middle of a blink either)

My baby Sophie is eight. I.want.to freeze.her.in.time. I've wanted to since the day she was born. She is the sweetest thing ever created. Anyone reading this who thinks their child is sweeter than Sophie is just stone cold crazy and wrong!!!

It's a well known fact in our family that Sophie was the best of the three babies (Ella was the worst, hee hee hee). First of all, she didn't come equipped with the vocal power that both Ella and Eva came with - that was one of the first things that overjoyed us about her. And she was so docile. She would take a bottle or the boob, it didn't matter. Whichever was most most convenient for me was what she would take - so unlike those first two babies :)

And then her head would flop all over the place. It was so hard for her to hold it up for very long. Even at four months old she would suddenly give up and let her head roll onto her shoulder - and smile all the while. When she finally began to walk at nearly 21 months, the entire family cheered her on as if cheering a runner the last mile of a marathon - and she felt as accomplished.

We always giggled when anyone asked her name and she replied 'Popie', and sometimes even 'Dopie'. It was so adorable and heartwarming. She was so excited the first time she said her name correctly when she was five. It was a long time coming after three years of speech therapy, and she just couldn't wait for Matt to get home from work so she could say her name for him.

*sniff sniff*

She is a child who possesses no ill intent. She is easily devastated when she does something wrong. You have to be careful when pointing out that the new word she learned at school isn't a nice one. She falls apart even when such news is broken to her gently. Her innocence inspires a kind of protectiveness in her friends and family. When she is wronged, I want nothing more than to kick some major boo-TAY!! Don't mess with my Sophie!

I will avenge :)

But behind all the delays and the learning disability, lurks a mind that thinks deep deep thoughts.

That brain of hers is always pondering imponderables, like a couple years ago when she woke up, went into our bedroom, crawled into our bed, made herself comfortable and then asked, "why we not all live in Africa?"

Indeed! Why we not all live in Africa anyway?

About a year ago when she woke up one day, she asked, "why we not have chicken legs?"

And about 18 months ago, while I ran her bath water, she asked, "do you believe in ghosts?"

Me: "oh no. All those ghosts like Casper and all that Halloween stuff is just fake and for fun. It's just so we can pretend to be scared - it's all fake."

Sophie: "what about the Holy Ghost?"

Me: "oh... well ... that's different of course..."

My favorite was about 3 years ago though. We were driving past The Little Flower Catholic Church on Kietzke, and she asked if it was a church. I was kind of surprised that she could tell it was a church since isn't at all traditional looking. I answered her, "yes, it's a church - the Catholic Church." The she asked me, "is Jesus in there?" Not wanting to make things complicated by explaining the resurrection, etc., I simply said, "yes, Jesus is in there." Then she asked the most amazing thing ever. She asked, with the last word in song, "did Jesus take the ♫ whee-ee-eel ♫ ?"

Then I both laughed and cried the rest of the day.

Her questions are ENDLESS and always amusing.

Here's a sampling of some I remember her asking over the weekend while we were out of town - all of them completely random:

How old was your great great great great great great great uncle?

What is water in Japanese?

How do babies get in tummies?

What does Van Morrison's wife look like?

Who's gonna die first?

What is poop made of?

*******************************************************

This year she was very conflicted about what kind of birthday party she wanted. For the last four months at least, she's been torn between Chuck E Cheese, a bowling party, a Girly Girl party, etc., etc., etc.. Finally, a couple weeks ago, she settled on a surprise party. How can you not love a girl who innocently requests a surprise party, and then fully expects to be completely surprised? So, a surprise party is what we gave her!

Sophie's arrival and fanfare. There were horns, streamers and poppers - cheering and clapping!

She wore a crown and we barbequed in the back yard - Eva loving on Sophie

Matt's here risking our satellite reception for the pinatas

Ominous sky

Matt lays down the rules (but no one really listened and it was kind of mayhem)

The frenzy

Lightning forced us indoors, so Ella deejayed an impromptu dance party

A good time was had by all! After the party was over and everyone had gone home, Sophie said to me, "that was the best party you ever planned."

That made the party bomb aftermath and debris all worth it :)

Happy birthday Sophie!!!