Sophia absolutely loves her 2 year old class at Spring Valley Baptist. Mrs. Christie and Mrs. Daniela are so much fun, and she latched on to them immediately. A few friends from her class last year have also switched to 3 days a week, so she has familiar faces, but now she has 9 classmates and a lot more girls (yay!), although she likes the boys better. She gives me a "Bye, Mom!" when I drop her off and a big hug when I pick her up and comes home every day with a whole sandbox in each shoe. The whole staff at school gets to hear about her day as we walk from the classroom to the car every afternoon, and she loves carrying her new backpack with Bear Bear in it.
This week Soph told Daddy and me she wanted to have a "meeting." She sat at the kitchen table while we were eating dinner, (all we could see was her face and little hands,) and said she needed our attention. We then proceeded to have a talk about her birthday party in November, which she's given considerable thought to apparently. She told me we would need cupcakes, banners, balloons, streamers, signs, and snacks. She knew exactly what the theme would be and told me who she wanted to invite. She listed some family, her teachers, and then the boys in her class. When I asked the names of the girls? "Ummm...no." Haha and so it begins. :o) 
Sophie is also quickly becoming quite the gymnast. She listens so well to her teacher, Miss Tiana, and she has already memorized the names of all the tumbles and skills. She is so good at the balance beam and front roll, and is working on the bars and handstands already. I can't believe they start everything so young! I thought they'd just be running around and doing a flip or two, but they're prepping her to be a total Olympian. Most of all I love that she enjoys it. Mommy and Daddy got to go to the first football home game last weekend and had so much fun with our friends tailgating and riding around in the gamecock golf cart. It was so ridiculously hot, and I almost passed out in the stadium from the heat and had to leave in the third quarter - good thing I had only been drinking water all day and I have such a great hubby and friends! Sophie spent the day at home with G.G., Big Mack, and baby Ben. What a handful! Poor Geeg had 3 kids to take care of all day ;o) I came home to a clean house, laundry done and folded, dishes clean, and perfectly happy baby girl. What amazing parents?!
Sophie has become quite the singer, and picks up on new songs almost immediately after the first or second time. She loves the "Pontoon" song by Little Big Town so much that I actually bought the CD yesterday to surprise her. We listened to that song about 6 times today, and I'm pretty sure I heard her singing along to a few other songs too already. She's so much like me it's scary. I'm posting a video of her in the car singing another of her favorite songs. I have to be careful now to turn the station when the "bad songs" come on. The last thing I want is her singing along to "blow my whistle." Yikes!
Today we went to the zoo to visit our animal friends and we ventured over to the botanical gardens for the first time. She was "kinda nervous" to take the tram, so we hiked over the bridge and a quarter mile up the hill to the gardens with no stroller! We took our time and I called it our nature hike, so she loved it. I taught her about maple leaves and a few types of berries and acorns, and she screamed every time the tram went by. When we were in Disney World she told everyone her favorite ride was the parking lot tram (!) so I couldn't understand why this smaller tram scared her so, but we hid when it came by and giggled. She loved the pink playhouse in the children's garden and I taught her how to make a wish on a penny before throwing it in the fountain. She told me her wish had been that "we could be Octonaut friends forever." I had to talk like a British polar bear boat captain the rest of the day, but it was precious. :o) We went back over to the zoo, she conversed with the zebras and ostriches for awhile, fed the giraffes, danced to the African drums, rode the carousel, visited Rain Man and Betsy (the llama and cow,) participated in the bird show, and entertained everyone she met along the way. I tried to talk to her about it while we were on the way home, but she sternly told me "I'm busy SINGING mom!" No one tells you when you become a mom that you can no longer talk on your cellphone or sing along to the radio anymore! GAH! Haha. 
Daddy has drill this weekend, so I will take her to Orangeburg tomorrow to spend the weekend at G.G.'s house. I'm sure she will come home with some new toys and a lot of stories to tell me.
See ya real soon! ☼
