Vocal Little Eater

After much debate and personal trauma for Ryan, he finally caved and bought a video camera. The tiny one we found is a huge improvement compared to the 25 lb. camera Ryan used to carry around on his shoulder. (Besides, one of us has to be carrying the 20 lb. baby!) It's been so much fun to capture Sophia in motion, even though it's sometimes difficult to catch her on film because she is so animated.

At eight and a half months old, Sophia has become quite the chatterbox. She especially likes to explore her vocal range early in the morning, while eating, and during church. She is a true joy and brings a smile to our faces even when she screeches in the wee hours of the morning. Not only is she a talker, but she's also an observant listener and tries to mimic the sounds and expressions of Mami and Papi whenever possible. She uses her ever expanding vocabulary of screeches, Chewbaca gurgles, spitty noises and repeated single syllables (MA, DA, BA, NA, PA, TA, etc) to get her messages across.

Sophia celebrated Mother's day this year by getting her first tooth just for Mami. She continues to amaze us with her new tricks, like crinkling her nose and snorting. (We think she learned this from here little buddy Tomas). Sophia's other hobbies include:

• playing with blocks, which usually involves pulling them out of the container one by one and banging them together as hard as she can
• yanking on any dangly items that get within her reach. These items include sweatshirt strings, Mami's earrings, and mocha's ears
• DANCING, bouncing, and moving whenever possible
• sitting up like a big girl
• avoiding tummy time
• eating (see video below)
  

We'll hopefully have other videos to share soon to show off some of Sophia's other specialties. Until then, enjoy this video and check out the new photos we've added to flickr.