Sophie's 7 month Birthday, Zoo and Pumpkin Patch

Today, is Sophie's 7 month birthday. She now has her 2nd tooth. Her favorite thing is to play with the tags on stuffed animals and blankets. When I took her picture this month, she wouldn't leave the lamb alone. She kept grabbing for it.
Yesterday, we met Brian at the zoo after work. This is the last week of the season that the zoo will be open. The Giraffes were not on display, because they lost power earlier in the day and couldn't run the register at the Giraffe lookout. The zoo sells lettuce leaves to feed the Giraffes. We did see the Swans for the first time yesterday. This one wanted us to feed it. Lillie may look tiny in this picture, because the swans were big. There are a lot of swans and cranes in the area that we live in. There are at least 4 pairs of swans, that we are aware of, on the local ponds and lakes that we drive past. Unlike geese, Swans live in pairs and not flocks. There is only one pair of swans per body of water.

Today, we went to Gull Meadow Farms. They are a greenhouse, orchard and pumpkin patch. They had hayrack rides out to the pumpkin patch and orchards. We did not pick apples today, since it was a little cool. They also had a play area for kids, with a bouncy area, hay mazes, tunnel slide, tractor/train rides and a zip line. Inside, there was a wide selection of canned items from michigan farms.

Lillie's First Day of Preschool

Lillie had her first day of Preschool today. At 10am, Lillie asked "Can you tell me when it is time to go to school?" I said, "yes, after lunch." Lillie responded, "I am hungry for lunch now."
It was "meet the teacher day" and Beth stayed with her, even though she wanted to stay by herself. Lillie's teacher is Mrs. Louden (in the picture above with Lillie). We had circle time, with poems and songs. Choice time with the art room, the dress up/house room and the game room. In the picture below Lillie is playing in the sand with 4 of her classmates.

Peas, birthday party invite and big sister sayings

Sophie had her first vegetable tonight. She had peas and rice. She liked them and had 1/3 of a jar. Right now I am holding her as I write this, because she has her first cold and she keeps waking up. For the past month, she has been schooting around in circles and backwards.
Lillie went to a friend's birthday party today. Gavin (the birthday boy) is in Lillie's preschool class. She had a lot of fun playing with the kids and all of the toys.
Lillie has gone 6 dry nights, so I think that she is night time potty-trained.
Her first day of preschool is Thursday and she can not wait. She really wants to go by herself, but the co-op preschool wants a parent there the first day. She already told me that she does not want to hold my hand.
She is becoming quite the cutie and full of surprises. We went shopping yesterday and she asked to buy a pair of sunglasses. I looked at them and noticed that they were only $2, so I said sure. (She only has 5+ pairs of sunglasses.) When I got home, I cut off the tags and handed them to her. I said, "here are your sunglasses." She replied, "I got those for Sophie."
Two weeks ago we went to the zoo, I packed snacks, drinks, sunscreen, jackets, diapers, and many more items, but I forgot Sophie's noon medicine. (It is OK for her to take it a few hours late, but I like to keep her on schedule.) When I discovered this, in the car at the zoo parking lot, I said out loud, "Sorry Sophie, I forgot your medicine." Lillie replied, "Sorry, doesn't make her tummy feel better."
Yesterday, a Michigan Groundhog wandered into our yard. The groundhogs here are more gray than brown. The one that came to our backyard was bigger than mow, our 14lb cat. She was definitely interested as she stood on her hind legs looking out the window at him.

Who needs to sit up, when you can lay back and watch TV

Sophie is almost ready to sit up on her own. She will sit up without support for 30-60 seconds, if she is focused on a toy, TV program, etc. But when I sit her on the floor in the living room, she would prefer to lay back on the floor and watch TV. We have started to cut back on one of her medicines and I have started to eat cheese. She is really a happy baby and starting to like baby cereal.

Tiny Dancer

Lillie had her first combination dance/gymnastics class today. There was suppose to be another little girl in the class, but she did not show. So, Ms. Shelly kept Lillie busy the entire hour. (Yes, Ms. Shelly is expecting a baby in December) For the first half hour, Lillie had her dance lesson.

Then, during the second half hour she went to the classroom next door for her Gymnastics portion of the class. The dance studio is in a really nice Gymnastics complex. Lillie loved the class, but I know that she wanted to have other kids in her class today.

She loves hula hoops and liked jumping through them in this photo. (Lillie likes hula hoops, because of the Chipmunks Christmas song.) I am glad that we put her in dance/gymnastics class. Today, she got one-on-one attention and she learned to follow directions for someone other than us.