THREE

Three years ago today, sweet Sofia, you made your grand entrance into this world in Villa Nueva, Guatemala and changed our lives forever.

You are one sweet, smart and totally sassy little individual. I absolutely respect and admire your streak of stubborn independence, even if it does drive me crazy. "I can do it" is probably the phrase we have heard out of you most this last year and by crikey, you pretty much can. You love to swim and are completely fearless in the water. You have mastered riding your trike and will ride for block after block given the chance. You are nutty for a good slide in the playground but still insist on giving the swings a miss. You love going to school and sing your ABC's over and over. You can count to 20 (okay so 16 sometimes gets skipped, but who's counting) and are starting to recognize a few of your letters. You can be so, so sweet. You will thank us for making dinner or watching a movie with you. You come into the kitchen and offer to help cook.  Most of the time, I think you are just looking for some cheese worms, but you are very talented at washing tomatoes and will stay focused for quite some time if given work to do. You love, love, LOVE to sing and dance more than anything else. Music classes with Geema are a highlight of most every week and any time music starts you can't help yourself but move. Your body just has music in it......of that there can be no doubt. You love your friends. Jake and Peter are still your best mates.  You have a real wicked sense of humour and sometimes you find the oddest things completely and utterly hilarious. When you laugh, you really laugh and there is almost no room for breath. You love your Geema and Papa like no two other people. No one plays "Follow the Leader" quite like Papa does. You love to have long, long chats on the phone with Aunty Claire, even if she is not on the other end. You are pretty adventurous but at the same time you like to be home, in your own space. This is where you are most comfortable. You still enjoy your food. I think you could survive on a diet of pasta, nuts, melon and chocolate if you were allowed to, but you are also willing to try something new if presented to you.  You have given your Daddy and I a run for our money this year.  You have challenged us as parents and you have spent more than your fair share of time in "time out", but at the same time we have watched as you have become so much more grown up and able to tackle things on your own.  You are sleeping in a very big, big girl bed and are almost entirely potty trained.  You never forget anything and you hear and see everything.   There have been a few times this year when things have come out of your mouth that I know I should reprimand you for, but it sounds just like me, and you are very good at using them in context so it is hard to punish you for the bad example set by your mother.  You have a better sense of direction at two than your Geema ever has the hope of having even if we get her GPS.  You never let us leave without a hug.  If we do forget, you come running after us with your arms out wide saying "You forgot your hug".  Sometimes, out of the blue you say "I got something to tell you......I love you Mummy". 

So, here we are Sofia.  Another year under our belts and your Daddy and I are so head over heels for you.  We count ourselves unbelieveably blessed that out of this whole big wide world, we found each other to be a family, together.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Sofia!

ONE

TWO

THREE