Language Explosion

Miss Sofia has had a language explosion recently. She's talking sooooo much, and in front of sooo many people!

For Hanukah, she got a tea party set, and yesterday morning, she "invited" (i.e. demanded) David and I into her room for a tea party. Well, she told us such a story! All about how she lives in a yellow house, with Sam, while we live with Micah in "Green" (which is what she usually calls our home). She apparently drives a little red car, while I have my big red car and David has "blue". We had a Tea Party, and she talked about giving gifts and lighting candles. She's been watching the Signing Times "Happy Birthday" video recently...

My parents came up yesterday afternoon, bearing Hanukah presents for the kids (they got snowed out last weekend). They brought the boys three Webkinz each, and Miss Sofia got, among other things, a DVD of Snow White. She spent most of the afternoon shouting "Snow WHITE!"

Today, I took her to our first real Princess movie in a theater, "Princess and the Frog". It was adorable, and I think she really liked it. I got smart, and found my favorite college student, home on break, to take the boys to "Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakuel" so I did not have to sit through that! Plus the boys were very excited to see B, who is like a big brother to them.

We had a nice long weekend. Thursday, Sofia did not have school and the boys got out at 11:30, so we went to lunch with a couple of other families, then relaxed at home. In the evening, my friend R and her hubby came for dinner, and we had a terrific time laughing with them.

Friday we went to another friends' home, for late lunch and dinner, and hanging out and playing Wii. The other mom and I both passed out on the couches mid-afternoon (while the kids were all playing Wii right next to us), and Sofia passed out later in the evening:



Saturday, we slept late (so much for shul again!), and in the afternoon another family of friends came over for hanging out and dinner. Sam also read almost an entire book that day! It was the 5th and last in the Lightening Thief series, and he really wanted to finish it right away. He "reads" using Bookshare, a program he qualified for with his IEP. We download the book to his computer, and the program reads it out loud but highlights each word so he can follow along. It's been a really great help for him to access the same material as his classmates.

Sunday, another sleeping late day, and my parents' visit. Plus, mid afternoon, my mother and I went to a bridal shower (for the fiancee of the older brother of today's sitter). It was a lovely event, with many of the women from my shul, a whole range of ages from 30 to 85. It's a wonderful community.

So today, after the morning movie, we came home, David met us home for lunch, and he took Sam back to the office for the afternoon. My friend came over with her two kids. The little girls played really well for a while, and Micah and the boy found a few things in common, but eventually Micah got "bored" and belligerent, and the other girl got too wound up. So they just left. But it was fun while it lasted.

Tomorrow we are heading into Worcester with another school family, probably to the Higgins Armory Museum, a big private collection of armor from all over the world. Wednesday, Sam has another play date and Sofia has gymnastics. Playdate for me and Micah on Thursday, and then two families coming here Thursday evening for New Years Eve.

Some more photos from my iPhone archive:

Thanksgiving weekend, my niece Lilie and cousin Ian playing with the Dora dressing table:


Sofia is into makin' forts:



Sofia with the big stuffed dog from my sister:


My three kids lighting the Chanukah candles: