A walk in the park

I took Sophie to Jericho Beach today and we had a lovely time in the sunshine. First, I did my training run (I'm working towards a goal of running the 10km Sun Run in May), then I let Sophie out of the jogging stroller so she could explore. Even though it was sunny, I've learned my lesson and I dressed her in rain boots, rain pants, and a rain jacket. Totally worth it.


She loves puddle jumping. Why do we outgrow puddle jumping? It seems to make everyone happy!


We threw some rocks into the ocean. You might be able to see where this is going.


Minor setback. She was a little upset, but was quickly distracted by another puddle.


Sophie was delighted by the sight of dozens of mallards flying over to visit her and landing with a splash right beneath the bridge. "Quack quack quack quack!" she said to them in duck language (translated, it means: Nice to meet you!)


I just love this kid so much!

Our little capitalist

Tonight we had Kristi and Munir over for pizza dinner. Sophie's not a huge fan of pizza (silly kiddo), but she ate a whole plateful of edamame beforehand, so I wasn't too worried about her lack of appetite. I thought you might enjoy this little dinner table exchange between Sophie and Dean.

S: "I'm eating the crust because I don't like the olives and sauce so much."

D: "Well, can I have your olives?"

S: "Yeah, you can have them for fifty-five bucks!"

It does a Mama proud. Just wait and see what she'll be charging at her lemonade stand!

Feed the birds

Here's one of my favourite photos from Christmas 2009. Sophie was feeding the chickadees at Heartwood and Jan took this picture. The hat Sophie is wearing was a gift from Grandma & Grandpa and has been a huge hit this winter, we get compliments every time she wears it!

Remedial French

Sophie has clued in to the fact that there are languages other than English. She's primarily interested in French and gibberish. At all times of day, I get requests like, "How do you say, 'This is my eye' in French?" I'm forced to rely on my rusty Grade 11 French skills to field these questions.

Fortunately, Sophie also knows that she can rely on Aunt Kristi for the really tricky French questions. She's frequently telling me, "When I see Aunt Kristi, I'm going to ask her how to say ____________ in French". Merci, Tante Kristi!

Free requests remaining: 0

On the final day of 2009, I am proud to say that Sophie has used all 50 free hold requests that she was given from the Vancouver Public Library for the year. With a mom who is a teacher, a picture book collector and a reader of kid lit blogs, this kiddo has been reading all sorts of cool books this year!

Merry Christmas from Sophie!

Hungry, hungry hippos

Sophie's first exposure to a classic childhood game. She loved it!