Year: 2009

Ten Months Old!

Sarah Monthly Updates

Dear Anna,

Today you are 10 months old.  Now it is most definitely time to start planning that birthday party of yours.  As far as you’re concerned, as long as it involves chocolate cake you’ll be happy – we went to another baby’s birthday party last week and you were desperately trying to get that cake off my plate!20090511_sillybaby

Big news this month: you have two brand new teeth!  And now you’re fascinated with all teeth, especially mine.  You’re starting to figure out body parts a little bit – at least noses.  And you like to play the “eyes, nose, mouth, kiss!” game just like your sister used to.

You play “how big is Anna?” and peek-a-boo a lot.  And you’ve learned to wave bye-bye.  You have signs now for “all done” and “water” – that one looks nothing like the ASL sign, instead you clap your hands together and then clasp them and rock them back and forth.  No idea where you came up with that, but we all know what it means now.  You don’t really have any words yet, but you say “Ma!” a lot when you’ve run out of food on your high chair tray – I’m not sure if it’s suppose to mean “Mommy!”, “More!” or “Yo, lady who dispenses the food! You’re not doing your job very well here!”20090511_standing

You’ve tried lots and lots of new foods this month: strawberries, cauliflower, mandarin oranges, Lima beans, kamut (a grain in puffed cereal form), tomatoes (in salsa!), corn, ice cream (of the mint chocolate chip variety), eggs (whole, scrambled), Brussels sprouts, watermelon, ground beef, honeydew melon, red peppers and pea butter.  Phew!  That’s almost as many foods as the hungry, hungry caterpillar ate!  You’re still nursing 5 or 6 times a day, but you do love your solid food.  I can’t eat anything without you wanting to share it with me.

Naps.  Baby, we have to have a little talk about naps.  You’re supposed to take them.  At least every now and then.  If for no other reason than that Mommy gets tired and needs a little break.  You know, to do things like, oh, fold laundry.  Or use the bathroom.  So, could we maybe work on that this next month?  I’d settle for one nap, and it doesn’t even need to be a terribly long one…20090511_withbear

It’s hard to keep up with you, my little monkey.  You have become danger-baby to the extreme.  I’m not sure what compels babies your age to try to kill themselves several times a day, but really, trying to climb head first over the changing table?  Not the best idea you’ve ever had.  Neither is trying to fling yourself backwards out of my arms, or, in fact, pulling up on any object in the house that has wheels, like your sister’s doll stroller.

So this month, do Mommy a favor and try and get a few naps in and keep the gray-hair-inducing danger-baby exploits to a minimum, okay?

Love, Mommy

Happy Mother’s Day!

Sarah Motherhood

We got up this morning and went to Simply Crepes for breakfast.  Aside from a decent wait (they don’t take reservations) it was a nice time.  For as fancy as they look, they have a really great kids menu.

And I got a lovely bouquet of flowers from Denis and the girls:

lilacs, snapdragons, bleeding hearts...pretty!
lilacs, snapdragons, bleeding hearts...pretty!

Dance Photos

Sarah Carolyn

The studio Carrie takes dance at had their group photos done today.  The kids all had to wear their costumes and a bit of makeup.  (As an aside, I actually bought Carrie her own makeup, as I don’t really wear it and all of mine is quite old.  So in the same shopping trip (at Wegmans, where they carry everything) I bought my 4 year old both makeup and a Handy Manny toy on clearance.  Uhhh…)

Without further ado, Carrie in her tap costume:20090509_dancecostume

There’s a pink hat that they’re also supposed to wear, but I haven’t gotten a decent picture of her in it.  For their non-tap number, they take off the hat, add a very poofy blue tutu/petticoat thing, and have child-sized brooms.  Not your traditional pale pink leotard with tutu, but very cute nonetheless.

Kindergarten Screening

Sarah Growing Up

Carrie had her kindergarten screening this morning.  The teacher should have realized she had her hands full when she said something along the lines of “oh, goody, I get to test a four year old” and Carrie piped up with “actually, I’m four-and-a-half now!”

I couldn’t see most of what was going on, but I could hear a lot of it.  It was all I could do not to laugh out loud at some of the things coming out of my child’s mouth!

Highlights of the test:

After Carrie correctly identified her heel, the teacher asked, “Who taught you all of these things?” and Carrie replied, “My imaginary friend!”

At one point the teacher asked Carrie to hop on one foot, and then to walk in a straight line, heel to toe.  Carrie said, “Oh!  Like walking on a tightrope!  I learned how to do that from JoJo’s Circus, and I know a whole song about it: ‘Balance, balance, use your balance, arms out wide and use your balance.'”

The teacher handed Carrie a book (My Little Cat) and asked her to demonstrate how the teacher would read the book.  So Carrie flipped it over so it was oriented correctly and read it front to back (it had all of maybe 20 unique words in it) and the teacher said, “Your imaginary friend taught you to read very well!”  Carrie’s reply?  “No, that was my mommy!”

After the screening was over, the teacher came back out to meet me and said that Carrie is so ready for school she should already be there.  Tell me something I don’t know!  I just hope she doesn’t wind up with a teacher who underestimates her because of her birthday…

Baby’s First Toothbrush

Sarah Firsts

Now that she has two teeth, it’s time to start introducing Anna to the wonders of toothbrushing.  Carrie was so excited about Anna getting to brush her teeth that she wanted to be the first one to do it.

So she was.20090502_toothbrushing

Anna really likes this new chewy thing…20090502_toothbrushing120090502_toothbrushing220090502_toothbrushing3

Sheep Thrills

Sarah Shop Talk

My brother needed to borrow a sheep for a photo shoot, so I lined up all the sheep I could round up in our house in 10 minutes and took a picture so he could decide which one he wanted.  This does not count the beanie baby lamb I found moments later, the second Gund baa-ing sheep that was hiding in Carrie’s room, or any of the other fiber-bearing stuffed toys in the house (there are at least two llamas floating around somewhere).  Plus there are three more Little People sheep with the Little People nativity set.  Oh, and some Lego Duplo ones I completely forgot about…!sheep_lineup

I think we have quite a few sheep.

A Tooth!

Sarah Firsts

Anna has her first tooth today!  For the past few days, I’ve been certain she was teething, and I kept sticking my finger in her mouth to check, but only found bumps on her bottom gum.

Today, I found a tooth!  Her bottom right central incisor, to be exact.

Maybe tonight Anna will remember how to sleep all night again?

4.6 Years Old!

Sarah Monthly Updates

Dear Carolyn,

Today you are officially 4-and-a-half.  You’ve made sure that everyone you see knows it, too!  When I told you this morning that it was your half birthday, you wanted to know if there would be cake.  I thought about it, but instead we settled for ice cream at Friendly’s after lunch.  Maybe next year I’ll figure out how to make you a half cake for your half birthday!20090415_icecream

You are thrilled that the weather is getting nicer.  We’ve spent some time outside lately on your tricycle, blowing bubbles, drawing with chalk…I think you’d live outside all day long if I let you.  At the same time, you would probably be willing to watch TV for the entire day if I let you do that, too!  You now know how to work the entire setup we have – you can turn the TV on yourself, switch the receiver to the right mode, control the DVD player and the Tivo…so the next time one of your grandparents is over to watch you while Daddy and I go out you can be in charge of helping them use the TV!20090330_book

Speaking of things you can do yourself, every day you are getting more independent.  In many ways, it’s good – I’m glad you’ll be able to use the bathroom entirely without help when you go to kindergarten, and once we figure out where to store some of your cups, plates and bowls so they’re within reach I think you could practically be independent for meals of breakfast cereal and pb & j.  In other ways…it’s not so good.  I’m terrified of the fact that you can open any (locked or unlocked) door leading out of this house, and that you’ve learned this month how to get around the extensive network of baby gates we have up.  You’ve used your new skills to get out of the house more than once without permission, and the scary part is that you really don’t get why that upsets us so much.  I think we’re going to have to put hook and eye latches on the outside doors…20090414_trike

You’re an amazingly wonderful big sister.  It’s cute (even though I do try to discourage it) to find you in your sister’s crib in the morning, plotting with her about how the two of you can best make me crazy that day.  You want so much for her to be your playmate, and can’t quite understand why she won’t do exactly what you want her to do.  I predict that in a couple of months you’ll have a little more success with her understanding your directions, though I also predict that she’s got quite the mind of her own and won’t necessarily want to do what you ask!20090410_piano

And even though we’ve had quite a bit of struggle lately, you and I, you are an amazing daugher as well.  You are working to gain your independence, and I am working to keep you safe.  Those two goals can’t always exist in harmony, and sometimes it feels like entire days are spent arguing over what you can and can’t do, and why you can or can’t do it.  I have faith we’ll figure it out, though, and no matter how rough a day we have, I will always, always love you.

Love, Mommy