She talks all the time, and there are a few quirks about her language that are uniquely her.  She uses possessive and plural correctly, most of the time, though when the rule isn’t to add “s” she gets confused.  For example, she will say “it’s mine’s.”  She loves to talk on the phone, and has been known to call people on my cell phone without my knowledge.  She is allowed to look at pictures or play games on the phone, so it is not unusual to see her holding it, but every now and then she will mention “call Grammie,” and when we check she has been talking for a few minutes.  Luckily it is usually Grammie who gets called, and she doesn’t mind too much.

Other “Phiaisms” are:
“hold this” – when she does not want to have to pay attention to her snack, but doesn’t want the dog to get it
“charge batteries” – when her iPod isn’t working, or any other electronic device isn’t on or she has been told she cannot use it
“broken” – attached to the end of whatever she has been told she cannot do (I was told “mama broken” a few weeks ago when I responded negatively toward a “hold this” demand)
“mama/daddy fix it” – when she notices something isn’t right/actually is broken
“I jump in” – every time she sees/hears/thinks about the swimming pool
“no ice” – when offered ice in her glass, usually after saying yes twice, then realizing she does not, in fact, wish to have ice; generally spoken in a wail
“go Target” – when she realizes we don’t have at home something she wants

She loves to give directions while driving, to the point that she cries if we turn the wrong direction.  We have had to issue a moratorium on directions from her in the car, else we are constantly hearing “this way” from the backseat, followed by a wailing of “this way” (and pointing) or “left, left, left” or “right, right, right” depending on which direction she thought we should go, but did not.

She is a great helper, especially when I am cooking.  Her favorite spice is cinnamon, and we have caught her standing on a chair in the pantry a number of times, covered in cinnamon.  When she sees me beginning to make dinner or bake, she drags the kitchen chair over to “her spot,” climbs up and sticks her hands right into whatever I am doing.  She also likes to help “clean up” if there is a mess, and she will go grab a tissue from the box and wipe the floor or table.  Unfortunately this desire rarely extends to picking up her toys.

Her favorite food, cheese, has not waned.  However, she has also developed a love of fruit.  She could eat a pound of green grapes in one sitting if allowed, and she also loves blueberries, blackberries, kiwi, apples, oranges and bananas.  She still doesn’t like meat very much, other than breaded chicken nuggets, and to Andy’s eternal dismay, beef jerky.  She likes pasta depending on the sauce, various breads and crackers, and desserts sometimes.  She is partial to ice cream and anything with icing, though only wants the icing and not the cake or cookie.  She does like vegetables, usually cooked carrots, peas, zucchini, green beans sometimes, and cold celery, cucumber, and tomatoes.  She loves to eat, but usually she is begging for something healthy.  She also does a good job stopping when she is full, or has had enough, and is the only child I have seen who puts down a dessert halfway through.  The exception to this rule is gummy candy, her favorite.  Her favorite drink is still, of course, sweet tea.

She loves to watch movies and tv, though we recently canceled our satellite for an antenna, so we watch less actual tv than we have before.  Her favorite movie lately is Toy Story 2, though the old favorites of Mama Mia, The Wizard of OZ, Hairspray, and Enchanted still get adequate playing time.  She also likes to watch VeggieTales videos.  Her favorite tv shows are still The Wonder Pets and Yo Gabba Gabba, which she generally watches on her iPod touch.  She knows the names of some of the characters in each movie, but has taken to calling the rest of the characters by the title of the film itself.  For example, she knows Woody, Jesse, Bullseye, Dinosaur, Buzz from the Toy Story movie, but then calls the rest of the characters “Toy Story.”  As in, “oh no, Toy Story fall down.”

Sophia loves music, and it is never loud enough.  She is constantly asking for us to “tee up” (turn it up), and can tell when we haven’t.  She also likes to dance, and has some awesome booty-shaking moves.

Sophia also loves to read, and her favorite books these days are Biscuit, The Hungry Caterpillar, No No, Yes Yes, and Barnyard Dance.  She recently got a LeapFrog Tag and likes to read a Toy Story book with that.

Sophia still takes a 2 – 3 hour nap every afternoon, but since her birthday has been in a “big girl” bed.  We moved my old full-size bed frame and mattress in, and her old toddler bed/crib out.  We also painted the room a rich lavender, and added some “big girl” art.  She has a hand-pulled Dr. Seuss serigraph, which we purchased when we were in California in January.  She still sleeps with a pacifier, and generally has to have an extra one in her hand as well.  We are planning on taking them away and sending them to a baby who might need them (she generally suggests “baby Cyers,” her friend Bella’s younger brother), but we want to wait until she is through transitioning to her new school in August.  Not that she sleeps with a pacifier at school now, but it would be one less thing to cause drama for her.

Sophia is also a big girl in another way:  she is about 95% potty trained!  Following the path of our friends the Lehmans, who have a little girl a month older than Sophia, we started introducing her to going on the potty at around Christmas time.  We were not very consistent, and we did not get upset when she had accidents, but we made sure she sat on it before naptime, bathtime, bedtime, and other various times during the day.  We also had her spend a lot of time in just thin, cotton panties.  We discovered that the pull-ups are too thick for her to realize she had an accident, and the same was happening when we tried the “training panties” that Gerber makes.  Sophia was followed around constantly, so if she had an accident we could tell her, then take her straight to the bathroom.  She actually did really well when we were out in public, because we took her as soon as we got somewhere, and then again before we left.  She loves seeing different bathrooms, and has to say “hi drain” every time she sees a drain in a public bathroom.  At the very beginning of May, the light switched on and she started going into the bathroom and climbing onto the toilet on her own.  Now she will go days with minimal accidents (unless she wants out of the stroller or shopping cart), or none at all.  We have recently decided to try and potty train her completely, so she does not use a pull-up or diaper even when sleeping.  Most of the time she wakes up with a dry diaper, so we think she is capable.  We have bought some pads to go over her sheets, for easy removal in case of an accident, and will give it a try.

I am so thankful that God has tasked us with raising this beautiful little girl.  As she grows up and we try to teach her about life and what it means to be His child, it is blatantly apparent that she was given to us so that Andy and I can grow more in our relationship with Him and learn the things that we had yet to understand.  I imagine that He spends a lot of time chuckling as we try to teach Sophia something that He has been attempting to get through our own heads.

Well, here is the reason you read all my typing, the latest pictures: