Hot Summer Days

It has been hot here lately...really, really hot and really, really humid.  Our Mongolian princess is not equipped to handle this Central Texas heat!  Sofie loves the pool so that is where you will usually find us.  She can swim from one end of the pool to the other in nothing flat...has gotten so brave and is turning in to quite the little fish!



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Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Baba's of creatures great and small...and a special shout out to Brandon on his first Father's Day.  You are a wonderful Baba!  We love you!!!

Bath Time

This is what it sounds like pretty much every night in our house at bath time...I seriously need to enroll this kid in some singing classes:

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And this is what it looks likes after bath time...while Mama is making dinner:

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3 Months

Sofie and I were looking at our photos from China today and I realized June 1st was our 3 month anniversary of becoming a family!  Each month I look back on the previous and am amazed at how much progress we have made.  Sofie is so much sillier and more comfortable than even a few weeks back.  She is speaking many, many words in English and has begun composing 5 and 6 words sentences.  She knows colors, is learning many letters and can count to 12!  We don't have any problems communicating - her comprehension is fantastic and if she is trying to convey something to us and gets stuck, she puts her pointer finger to her cheek, says "Hmmmmm" and uses hand gestures and words.

Our girl is now referring to herself as Sofie and has learned her full name (Sofie Yan Cornett) and can tell you how old she is...and how old she has to be before riding a "Scuba" (school bus) and go to school.  She knows the names and faces of all her Nai Nai's, Ye Ye's, cousins and Aunties & Uncles.  Her newest and most precious thing to say is "I love you" and when we respond in kind, she says "I love you the most".  Such a sweet girl!

She also loves to grab her purse and say "Bye, Bye...Later!"  And when we ask where she is going, she tells us she is going shopping for tangerines...bananas, bacon & eggs:

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Sofie also knows how to say "please" and "thank you"...and says "thank you Mama for food" each time we sit down to eat a meal.  She still eats pretty much everything we do and still loves fruits and vegetables.  We've had so much fun introducing her to so many new foods.  She & I are growing tomatoes and she loves to go out and check how many "baby tomatoes" we have.

It seemed no one had ever read a book to Sofie when we first met.  She only wanted to look at pictures and would not listen if you tried to read to her.  She now sits quietly and listens and loves, loves, loves her books.  Her favorite toys are still the simple things - corks, boxes, fabric vegetables and a little pot & spoon to "make dinner", stuffed animals.  Curious George is hands down her favorite show to watch and Madagascar her favorite movie now.

I think the most significant progress we have noticed is it seems our sweet girl is finally starting to understand what it means to have a family.  We talk about it throughout the day and it seems she has figured out that everyone has a Mama and Baba and that we are hers...her family forever.

Chatty Monkey

A small sampling of the chatter regularly heard in our home...this went on for about 10 minutes:

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