We have been VERY busy!!. . .

The last couple of months have been very busy. We visited with Sofia's pal from Kazakhstan, Katie, and her parents Greg and Lisa. Sofia was somewhat intrigued by the girl sitting in her high chair, but became very interested in Katie's pacifier. She was tempted to try it out to see if it tasted like hers, but kept putting it back into Katie's mouth instead. We had a great time with them, and hope to see them again soon!

Parks are a favorite stomping ground, and Sofia climbs and runs everywhere. She is fearless and will come down the steepest and tallest slide. She adores the swing, but her favorite is definitely the tire type.

Sofia continues with her Music To Grow On class, and feels very comfortable in it at this point. She will sway and clap to the music that is played. At home she sings all the time, and at bedtime she hums herself to sleep. She seems to enjoy music immensely.

We had a couple of fun visits to the mini-farm to pet the bunnies, see the goats and the alpaca, and chase the chickens. Sofia rode the pony at the farm, but that didn't go so well! She definitely prefers the wooden pony at the farm, and the soft stuffed pony she rides at home.

This alpaca looks just like the toy camels we brought back from Kazakhstan. What a sweet face!!

On a beautiful sunny morning, we stopped at Disneyland to meet Captain Hook. One could see Sofia was NEITHER very fond NOR impressed by him! Goofy was fun, and less scary, and Sofia was OK with him, as long as Daddy held her tightly.

Notice that Sofia is as tall as Minnie! Here she is head-butting the doll because she wasn't sure what else to do with this life-sized 'thing'!!

In January we flew to Sun Valley, Idaho, for the kids' Winter Break, and Sofia was able to experience the snow. She may have touched it in Kazakhstan, but I have a feeling the babies were not outside a whole lot during winter.

The older children in baby homes get the chance to go outside and play in the snow, but I doubt the same applies to the littlest ones. Anyway, it was a great time, and Sofia LOVED the snow. She was unfazed by how cold it was outside, sometimes in the low teens or even single digits.

She loved watching the kids slide down the hill, and couldn't wait until she was on the saucer. She was neither afraid or fazed at all by the speed of it nor was she fazed by the cold. When we were at the hill late in the afternoon, temperatures were down to 12 degrees! Brrr! What a tough baby!

One night we took a sleigh ride to a restaurant about 45 minutes away from Sun Valley Lodge, and it was lovely. Sofia, Alex and Dominique were troopers considering that this specific night the temperature was about 9 degrees. The restaurant was a beautiful historic log cabin, and we had a delicious meal. There was a gentleman playing the accordeon around the room, and when he approached our table he played a sweeet ballad to the kids and Sofia. She was enthralled by the music and the instrument, and smiled a lot.

Last weekend was beautifully sunny and balmy in Southern California, so we headed for the beach. The kids dug into the sand, built castles, and went hunting for small crabs at the many tidepools.

Sofia recently had her bi-annual checkup with Dr. Gary Feldman, of Stramsky International Adoption Clinic in Long Beach. He is an expert on children who are adopted from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and he conducts a developmental assessment to gauge the progress of adopted children. Dr. Feldman was very impressed by her social skills and her overall growth and maturity, and declared her within the 'normal' range. She can now say several words. He did note, however, that ". . .she certainly is a strong-willed child!. . .", as Sofia threw herself to the ground into a full-blown tantrum when she couldn't have the pen she was reaching for. I believe she is already into her ''terrible twos'', and the tantrums started when she was only 17-months old! Thank goodness it doesn't happen all the time, and when it does I remove her from that situation immediately, or, simply ignore the tantrum. If I ignore it, she will cry and scream on the ground for a while, and it eventually passes.

Let's hope this does not continue for very long!. . .