What's up, Sophia Claire?

When Olivia was four, life as she knew it came to an end.  The Tonj and I had been trying to have a baby for a while, and finally I got pregnant and STAYED pregnant.  But, oh, did this child try to scare me to death.  Dr. Friday called me after that stupid alpha-feta protein test and told me that the levels indicated the possibility of Downs' Syndrome.  About a week later I had the amniocentesis, and holy God that was a big needle.  Results indicated no Downs, and about six months later, we got our first glimpse at those glorious blue eyes.

Sophia Claire was, and still is, my angel baby.  She ate everything, slept through the night early (like her sister), and cooed like a baby bird.  And those eyes are such an extraordinary color, like a cloudless summer sky. ::not a clue how to rotate that photo, folks::

Here she is, with Olivia, when she was about two.  This kid is a total comedienne, who spoke in complete sentences very early.  Her favorite thing to do then, and now, was for us to turn music on LOUD and dance.

Sophie is my picky girl - Picky about what she eats and picky about what she is doing and where she is sleeping.  And apparently...

Sophie is picky about her hair.  This is right after her third birthday, and there is a lesson to be learned, so PAY ATTENTION.  I had gone upstairs to get a load of laundry, and stopped briefly to use the restroom.  I had left sweet beautiful Sophie with the long, lustrous thick blond hair, unlike mine or her father's, at the kitchen table with construction paper, crayons and KINDERGARTEN SCISSORS.  She cut the sides of her hair above the ears, and it took three professionals to get it looking like this.  I cried for hours!

Sophie has been insisting, for a while, that she have "side bangs" like her sister.  Now that we are finally at a point where the no bangs look is manageable on her, she has suggested that we just shave her bangs off.  In other words, growing out this child's bangs is KILLING me.

Sophie is my thumb sucker, hence the inward tilting smile.  Her security object is her panky, which is an Easter dishtowel with bunnies on it.  We gave it to her when we couldn't find the Taggie blanket one night, and there was no going back.

And, Sophie starts kindergarten when her sister starts fourth grade.  Again, where did the time go?  My angel baby still wants me at night, and even if I get her to her own bed, I wake up sweaty, because she has climbed in bed to cuddle with me.  How I love this angel child!