My Sidekick

I am in love with our little Sophi.  As it turns out, I'm not the only one!  Everywhere we go, she steals people's hearts.  I feel like I have a little rock star with me!  Yesterday I got an email from a sweet blog reader.  Apparently, her daughter, Ellie, is smitten with Soph.  Ellie even drew her a picture, and I printed it out-- Sophi loved it!  Along with the picture were several questions about Sophi.  How does she wear a backpack?  How does she get her underwear on?  How does she eat?

All good questions, so I thought it was time for a Sophi post.

For new readers out there, Sophi was not only born without arms, but she was also born missing her right fibula.  This makes her right leg significantly shorter than her left, and weaker too.  We didn't know if she would ever be able to walk and we were thrilled to get her an electric wheelchair that had a joystick she could maneuver with her toes.  Just months later, we were even more thrilled when Sophi took her first steps.  Since then, there is no stopping her!  She can jump and walk up very shallow stairs and gets along great.  She usually doesn't wear shoes because it is like putting shoes on your hands, but when she does, she wears special shoes made just for her by Shriner's.  The right shoe has a lift that balances out her legs quite a bit.  She also wears a brace inside the shoe to give her more ankle support.

To answer Ellie's specific questions:

A backpack-- I usually carry it for her.  When she wants to carry it herself, she either does it with her chin, or I put one strap across her head and shoulder (like a banner.)

Getting on underwear-- Believe it or not, Sophi can pretty much put those on by herself!  She uses her feet to lay them out right, and then takes turns using each foot to pull them up high.  Once she gets them up high enough, she spreads out her legs and somehow wriggles her way into them.  They don't always go on perfectly, but it's still pretty impressive, if you ask me!

Eating-- Sophi is amazing with her little toes.  A wonderful guy named Kevin found a second-hand chair that was the exact height as our table.  He added a strap onto it so we wouldn't have to worry about her falling.  Being flush with the table makes it so much easier for her to feed herself.   She uses a fork and spoon just as well as any other three year old.  She has even used chopsticks by herself before!  The thing that is the most fun to watch is when she eats ice-cream cones-- with one foot!

Sophi can work an ipad like a pro, paint her own nails, brush her own teeth, and give the sweetest hugs in the world.   She can also throw an awesome tantrum, change moods at the drop of the hat, and talk incessantly, but we'll try to brush over that here...

I cannot believe that I am the one blessed to call her my daughter.  She is absolutely ADORED.

She loves to be like Mommy!

Eating Oreos

Thanks, Ellie!

Her special chair

This is what happens when you leave her alone with her yogurt!

She has Grandpa smitten too!

Playing peek-a-boo with her baby

Eating breakfast at the bar

You can kind of see her lifted shoe in this pic.

Waiting for the bus

Her favorite doll-- from Aunt Leslie

This is from a year ago-- it was the only one  I could find of her eating an ice-cream cone.  She can even do the regular cake cones with one foot!