Before I had children I said I was scared of having little girls. I really wanted one, I was just scared. I was terrified that she would be this little girl who was always a princess, wanted bright, frilly, fancy, curly, heart-shaped, glittered, pink stuff around her at all times. This scared the mess out of me. I have a great relationship with my mom and wanted to have that with a daughter one day, but everything just seemed so much more pink and shiny and "Cinderella" than it was when I was a kid. (Which is hilarious because I went through a phase where I would only wear dresses!) I was never a tom boy, but I had two brothers and my sister was quite the adorable tom boy so I had two options: I could either play house with my dolls by myself or go play G.I. Joe with everyone else.

Well, fast forward to today and my life now. I may have an adorable little tom boy in my house, but God has quite a sense of humor because He didn't give me the princess I was scared of, He gave me a DIVA instead. Y'all, this girl is crazy! (I'm having to go back to saying y'all because I was told the other day by someone that they never would have guessed I was from the South and it cut. Deep. Guess that's what I get for living around people from the NW for so long, even if it's in FL!) Here are just a few samplings of life with my Diva named Sophie...

I walked in her room the other morning and found her standing on her kitchen, wearing a hat that Christopher made at school back in the fall (they were going through the items we saved) and her sunglasses and she was about to climb up higher so she could put her blanket over her window. I've always called her my little monkey because she was scaling walls long before she could walk. She FREAKS PEOPLE OUT when we are in public because she can climb up things that only kids twice her age should be climbing. Or climbs up moving objects. Her daddy would have a heart attack if he saw half the things I let her climb. But my mom always said, "If they are going to do it, at least teach them the right way!" (She climbed into my brother's crib when he was a baby and showed him the right way to climb out. He'd already figured it out, but she wanted to make sure if he was going to do it, at least it wasn't head first.)





We gave up naps when we turned three. No warning. I really didn't care because it was starting to interfere with things. Her teachers feel otherwise and still try to get the kids to nap. Um, Sophie doesn't. She ripped her nap pad with her bare hands. You know, the kind that fold up and have a vinyl covering? Yup, she ripped it almost in half. Another day I was told that she wouldn't keep her feet off the walls and took the posters with her feet. Needless to say she doesn't get a Tootsie Roll when she leaves at the end of the day. One day she had substitute teachers. I think I saw steam coming out of one of their ears when I went to pick her up. I don't really know how I'm supposed to fix these problems other than just say, she's 3, she doesn't nap anymore and keep her away from the wall. I'm sorry that I'm not more supportive, but is it crazy of me to think that a 3 year old should be expected to lie completely still while still awake for 30-45 minutes? I do apologize for her misbehaving, believe me when I say I understand your frustration, but I'm working on it too, so please stop making me feel guilty. I do have good news, she has decided to nap every now and then, her teachers are beaming on those days and she still sleeps well at night. For the most part.





Most of the time she doesn't like when I take her picture. But she cracks me up so much that I just can't help it. She is OBSSESSED with the movie Tangled and quotes it at least 5 times a day. We have forgotten how to use our manners and are constantly have to remind her who the boss is, but she still says it's her. Here's just a sample of some of the conversations we have had:

*When trying to load up to go grocery shopping.
Sophie - "OPEN MY DOOR!!!!!"
Me - "Excuse me???????"
S - "Oh my gosh! Open my door PLEASE!"
(Me - "That really just happened.")

*When trying to unload at the grocery store.
She has my yard stick and insists that it has to come inside with her and she will keep it in her lap. (Yeah right!) So I'm trying to pry her little hands off of it.
M - "Sophie, we can't take this inside. It's too big."
S - "I HAVE TO HAVE IT!!"
M - "You can have it when we come back."
S - "No! I have to have it for every minute of the rest of my life!!!!"  (quote from Tangled)
M - (laughing) "No you don't and you're coming with me."

*When hitting her brother with her Raggedy Ann doll in the car. (It was playful and not being mean.)
M - "Sophie, please stop hitting your brother. You might hurt him."
S - "No, I won't stop hitting him for every minute of the rest of my life, I will keep hitting him!"

*When talking about school next year and that they will be in classes with our best friends' kids Nicholas and Joshua.
M - "Aren't you excited about being in the same class as your best friends?"
C/S - "Yeah!!! We can't wait!!"
S - "Christopher, I'm going to school with Nicholas' brother."
M - "Sophie, are you and Joshua going to be so good when you are in school together?"
S - (shaking her head with a big grin on her face) "Nooooooooo."
(I'm already praying for their teachers.)





We have had quite the battle on Sunday morning with wearing a dress to church. She is super confused because they go to school at our church so she assumes she can wear shorts on Sunday. We finally have started calling mom's day out "school" and Sundays are called "church" so now we don't have quite the confusion anymore. But just in case you didn't see the above photo I wanted to post it again. On this particular morning I asked her to get dressed and you would have thought I asked her to rip her arms off. So, to pay me back for making such a hideous request, this is what she put on. She even got her brother involved in taking the laces out of her shoes. I almost wet my pants when she tried to walk into the building we had to go to that morning. I finally just pulled out the few items that I hated and now I don't care what she puts on. You can only get away with looking like this for so long so I figure she should enjoy it. Plus it makes running errands much more fun when you have this to laugh at the whole time!

I love this girl to death and my life would be so empty without her in it. She has us laughing all the time and she is seriously the funniest person I know. My aunt tells me all the time that Sophie needs her own reality tv show and I agree 100%. Y'all, you would wet your pants if you witnessed half the stuff I do on a daily basis. And your abs would get a great workout!!