So our car is broken again, though this is nothing new but I thought i’d mention it. The roads here are just beating our car up. Every day you see someone pushing a car here- and we have actually helped push two cars with our car. Ironically a fruit truck broke down and needed gas so Will picked him up to take him to get gas and on the way to the station our car broke down!! LOL! We’re looking into getting an ATV to do things around the town and then keep the car for trips to San Jose, Nicaragua, or when company is here, etc. We just found out from a neighbor that another neighbor is selling his ATV so i think we’ll be checking that out. Our car has literally been in the shop almost every week aside from the first week we got here. We had it for 3 months in San Ramon and had one small $20.00 issue the whole time. We have had it for 4 weeks here and have been to the mechanic 3 out of the 4 weeks…but I digress lol. Anyway, right now one of our neighbors brought over a battery charger and hopefully the car is getting nice and charged up. We’ll see…

On to more important things…Sosi!!! She is popping out new words every single day. There are so many new ones each day that i forget to mention all the words. I am going to try and list out a few of my favorites now and I know i’ll be forgetting a bunch but it is just happening so fast. She is absolutely, positively HILARIOUS! Lately she has a thing for her Elmo doll and wants to take him to the beach with her and put him in the WA-WA (ocean). Needless to say, Elmo has also visited the WA-WA in our washing machine. She also likes to dip him in the dog bowl and put him in the sand. Poor elmo. Although there is someone who has it worse than Elmo around here and that would be miss LULU. Oh this tolerant kitty. Sophie is just obsessed with her little kitty and loves to put her in the stroller, the drawers, her plow toy, basically anywhere she can stuff this kitty she does. She also loves to squish and hug her and put blankets and towels over her to pretend she is tucking her in to sleep. Luckily Lulu is one chill cat and lets Sophie do pretty much anything without a peep or hiss. She is finally realizing that she needs to be gentle with the baby kitty but Sophie’s gentle and normal gentle are still a bit far apart. Well at least Lulu gets rewarded since Sophie shares just about everything she eats with the kitty…except her ice cream. When Lulu tries to come get some ice cream Sosi puts out her hand and shakes it while saying “NO, NO, NO” lol…don’t mess with a baby and her ice cream. Sophie also loves tucking in all her stuffed animals, feeding a “ba-ba” to her “bay-be” (baby doll), drinking smoothies, eating everything (except watermelon), playing in the ocean, playing in the sand, playing in the pool, coloring, and throwing balls all over the house. She is one busy little bee lately and has a smile on her face from the moment she wakes up to the moment she goes to sleep. She is full of bigs hugs and kisses, and is an absolute cuddle bug. Mommy and daddy feel so lucky and proud! She really is more than we could have ever imagined. I am so glad we get to live her here and she gets to play at the beach every day and hang out with both her parents. I realize how fortunate we are and just feel so blessed. Now on to the expanding vocab…here are a few of my new faves…

bug (buh), bucket (buck), bird (bir), cat (meeeeow), rock (rock), nose (nose), eye (eeeeye), mouth (mah), hair (air), Nana (nana), Mimi (mimi), bottle (bah-bah), Ernie (enie), Bert (baht)

I’m sure I’ll think of more later but there are a few of her fave newbies. She is also very big on “ELMO SAYS”, it is like “simon says” only “Elmo says”. She knows how to touch her nose, eyes, mouth, and how to tap her toes, shake her shoulders, tap her head, and rub her belly. She also does all the animal sounds now like moo for cow, woof woof for dog, meeeeow for cat, and ROAR for lion (she loves this one). She still loves to dance and is coming up with some very creative moves. She loves ring around the rosey, and chase. Ugh she is just growing up so fast it is crazy!! Well i need to go wake her little butt now since it is almost 3:30 and yesterday she napped until 4pm and we ended up staying up until 12am waiting for her to get tired!! Ok, again, our internet is still mega slow and still working on getting it faster so i can start uploading this video library i have sitting on my computer. Love u all! xoxo

Ahh, closer and closer to the big 2 years! This was a very big month for little bupa butt. She is blurting out new words each day. Her latest favorites are Book and Monkey (monk). She wants to be naked 24/7. She will tell us she has doo-doo in her diaper just so we will take it off (we are losing a lot of clean diapers).

She likes to tell you all the words she knows so if she sees something she knows how to say, you can be sure she is going to say it. She loves to play with her new kitty and pretends Lulu is her baby. She wraps her in towels and carries her around, gives her a gazillion hugs and kisses, and pretends to tuck her in. Lulu is the chillest kitty I have ever met and lets Sophie do all this without a peep and even comes back for more.

Sophie will run straight into the ocean now and is still the biggest water baby i have ever met. She loves the sprinkler, hose, shower, pool, baby pool, etc. She loves to pick up the hose and hold it over her head until she is soaking wet.

She has also been mimicking a lot and is surprising us each day with new things. She will open the fridge and take out the box of juice and sippy cup and hand me both (meaning mom fill me up). Today she went into the cabinet and got out the peanutbutter container and then opened the silverware drawer and reach for a spoon (yes we dip the spoon in our peanutbutter jar). I just crack up at all the things she is putting together now. It is so amazing how much she has been absorbing the past months.

She is sleeping much better at night and has all her teeth aside from her last set of molars. She still sleeps in between mommy and daddy and we wouldnt have it any other way. Luckily we have a king size bed now so this makes life easier.

Sophie apparently loves condiments. She has a little routine with daddy where she will open the fridge and sit down and then hand him all the condiments to open so she can dip her finger in and lick them. She is so bizarre. Her favorites are ketchup and bbq sauce. She will pretend she wants to dip her potato in ketchup and then drop the potato and just stick her hand in so she can lick her whole hand. She will literally just sit there eating a plate of ketchup. Luckily she eats almost everything we eat so I rarely have to make two meals unless we are just having a salad or something. This little nugget will even eat spicy food with red pepper flakes or chili sauce.

Still breastfeeding and now she calls it BUBA. I think she heard me talking about how I need to wean and then a day later started saying Momma…Buba. She says it in the most endearing, adorable soft voice. Oyyyy… i am a sucker.

She loves going to the beach at sunset and having daddy spin her around super fast so she gets dizzy and falls in the sand. She also loves dancing and any kind of music. Sosi can def. break it down. She particularly likes when you root her on (go sosi go) and flick the lights to make it like a nightclub (yes i sense trouble in our future).

Really there isnt much this little nugget muffin doesnt love. Oh i know, other children and watermelon. She likes other children from afar and will point and tell you “baby, baby” but as soon as they get close she clings to mommy and turns into a statue. Watermelon, I am sorry, she gets her disgust for you from her daddy, not me.

She had her first little pedicure this month. I was painting my toenails and she woke up from a nap and came into the bathroom, sat her butt down, and put out her foot. She only has her two big toes polished but she was very proud. She also has her first pair of flip flops now so I guess she wanted to spruce up her tootsies.

She loves watching the monkeys in the trees and waving to the horses as they pass by. She likes watching sand crabs and pointing when they start moving. She loves her bucket (buck) and will just sit contently shoveling sand into it and pouring it out.

Miss diva is now into picking out her own clothes and has worn a dress with a duck on it 3 times in the past week because she likes to see the duck and tell u she is wearing a duck. I will pull out other dresses and she just says “no no no”. She likes to play dress up with shoes that are too big for her and stick stickers all over herself. She is still obsessed with herself in the mirror and will just stare and herself having very important conversations. She also loves watching videos of herself and finds herself very funny (and of course she is).

Whew i could really go on. She has just developed so much this past month that it is unreal. She is such a happy baby and seriously cracks us up on a daily basis. She is cuddly, loving, gentle, and just the sweetest little girl. Mommy and daddy are mega proud!

We have so many great videos but are still having internet issues. I think im going to have to just upload them at a cafe when we go for breakfast. I will try to do that asap.

Happy 21 month bday to our greatest gift in life. Momma and Dada are your number 1 fans! You make us so incredibly proud and happy!! We love you so much and feel so blessed! You are amazing. XOXO

The couple who owns the house we are staying in brought over a little gift for Sophie from their trip to San Jose. The pool is being cleaned so for now she is riding it in our livingroom. 

We have a little smoothie addict on our hands. This was a morning banana/strawberry smoothie.