Saturday, February 28, 2009

Attack of the Kissing Baby

Sadie spent a good portion of the day scooting around the living room on her stomach.  She has gotten the crawling idea down, she just hasn't quite figured out the execution.  She knows that she needs to push herself up on all fours and move her hands and legs.  She can move her legs pretty well and she can move her arms pretty well (although the arm movements are a bit exaggerated).  The problem comes when she puts them together.  When she moves her arms and her legs together, she tries to move her right leg and her right arm or her left leg and her left arm.  This inevitably ends with a sudden pause in movement, just as she's starting to move forward and then a tumble towards whichever side she had just moved.

So it was with a combination of rolling and scooting on her stomach that she made her way around the room, checking out the heating ducts and then making her way over to the hearth to check for any small pieces of wood or moss that had fallen off of the firewood when it was brought in.  After that it was back over to check on her toys and then around to the area between the front of the couch and the coffee table where she stopped to play.  

When I picked her up and hugged her Nani said "are you going to give Mommy a kiss?"  Now Sadie has given what I thought might be kisses (although it's hard to tell the difference between kissing someone and trying to taste them) but I wasn't totally sure.  But when Nani asked her if she was going to give me a kiss she stopped, held very still and looked at my face.  She then gave me a slobbery kiss, followed by two even more slobbery kisses (one of which got my eyelid).  She's still working on her aim.  She is such a little cuddle bug.

Tooth #2 is also officially here.  Sadie's newest way of greeting me whenever I have left the room is with one good bite, usually to a finger, hand or wrist.  It's a good thing we want to home school our kids....I can just see myself writing a blog in a few years to explain how Sadie was expelled from her fifth pre-school for biting...

Friday, February 27, 2009

Swimming with Sadie

Sadie went swimming in the big tub tonight after taking her bath in her little tub.  After a day of bravely exploring (she went down a very tall twisty slide, sat on a tire swing, swung on a baby swing and rode on a bouncy motorcycle and a bouncy elephant) she decided that she was ready to try even more new things.  Tonight that meant trying to convince Mommy that she was big enough to go under water.  

I tried to explain that she wasn't big enough to put her face in the water, but she squirmed and flailed and did her best to flip onto her stomach to go under water.  I held her so that she was on her stomach with her shoulders and head out of the water and let her float with her legs out behind her so that she could paddle her little arms like she was swimming.  And then she leaned forward and tried to drink the water.  From trying to drink the water she quickly progressed to taking big breaths and then plunging her mouth and nose under water.  While she was a little bit shocked the first time she tried this, she didn't cry and took a big gasp before trying it again.  I think she's going to be a little water bug by summer!

Speaking of summer, it's official!  We are going to Plymouth from July 1st-7th.  Sadie is so excited to see Gramma and Grampa and meet all her cousins and aunts and uncles!  

Today was a big day!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Baby Milestones

Sadie is suddenly a lot more mobile.  Yesterday she sat up (as in went from laying down to sitting up without any help) for the first time and today she actually started moving her arms when she was trying to crawl and inched forward.  She can already straighten her legs when she's in a crawling position, so that her bum is in the air and it looks like she is about to stand up.  Prior to today she was pretty good at crawling backwards and rolling to get from place to place, but in the last two days she has become fascinated with learning to crawl forward.  

I tried to demonstrate crawling, since she seems to be having a little trouble with how to place her hands, but she giggled hysterically until she was incapable of even attempting to crawl, because of the spectacle of Mommy crawling back and forth around the living room.  It was (apparently) hilarious to watch.  

She has also become pretty fascinated with Grumpa's slippers.  She spent a good five minutes yesterday trying to untie his shoelace (which actually isn't even a real shoelace.  It's just a decorative tie).  

I can't really imagine Sadie tearing around the room on her own, but I have feeling that we're only days away from that scenario.  The cats aren't gong to be safe for very much longer.  

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Four Stages of Wildness While at Church

Sadie is reaching an age now where holding her while we're at Church can no longer be described as "easy."  She has four modes during Mass.  

1) Quiet and Well Behaved.  (my personal favorite.)
2) A Little Bit Wild (squeals at key moments and an occasional giggle.)
3) Wrestling with a Bear Cub (there's usually a great deal of back arching and reaching for the ground at this point.)
4) Wrestling with an Octopus (she suddenly seems to have eight arms, all intent on escape.  I'm not entirely sure that she realizes that she wouldn't hit the ground running.)

Today she started out Quiet and Well Behaved.  She was sitting on Daddy's lap (she seems to pretend that she's Quiet and Well Behaved whenever Daddy is there, at least to begin with).  However after reaching for me and being handed over, she became A Little Bit Wild.  A Little Bit Wild started out with her hanging around my neck and ended with her reaching for the hymnal on the back of the pew.  We were half way through the Mass before she really started trying to wrestle her way to the ground.  She would also occasionally throw her arms out to Daddy to indicate that she would be just as happy sitting with Daddy as she would if I set her down on the ground (Mommy refuses to play Pop goes the Weasel during church, but she's got Daddy wrapped around her little finger and he'll do pretty much anything to get her to smile, including Pop Goes the Weasel during Mass).  

I finally caved in and let her stand on the kneeler (she had already spent more time with Daddy and was still feeling wild).  At this point standing on the kneeler still defuses the Wrestling (either with a Bear or Octopus) situations.  She's so fascinated with holding on to the back of the pew and gently touching the hymnals that she holds perfectly still.  

Well, not perfectly still.  She does stand on her tip tip tippy toes, while trying to do a pull-up so she can still see what's going on.  

She would also periodically wave at Father Lito at the front of the church (she doesn't remember how to wave all of the time, but she's getting better and better at it every day).  And of course, she got her tiny smudge of baby ashes on her forehead to start off Lent.  

Now I'm off to convince her that it really is bedtime.  I'm afraid that after a half hour "nap" (which was supposed to be bedtime) she seems to think that it's morning.  

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

A Sense of Humor

I never really thought about babies having their own distinct personalities before I became a mom.  Not only does Sadie have her own little personality, she already has her own sense of humor.  I'm not really sure I understand it completely because the things that are hilarious change on an hourly basis.  Here are some of the things that Sadie thinks are funny.

1. About fifteen minutes ago Sadie decided that touching my cheek was the funnies thing in the entire world.  She was having a hard time getting to sleep and I leaned over to comfort her.  When I leaned over the back of her hand brushed my cheek and she was suddenly wide awake and laughing hysterically.  Then every time she touched my cheek she would laugh louder and louder.  

2. The first thing that Sadie ever really found hilarious (at least that was obvious to the rest of us) was when she heard someone cough.  It started when Paul coughed and I (rather dramatically) asked him if he was okay.  For some reason Sadie found this particularly hilarious and laughed hysterically for about five minutes.  After the five minutes passed however, the funniness of coughing wore off.  Now if someone coughs she looks at them like they're telling a joke that she's heard a million times.  

3. Any significant pauses or moments of silence during church: It's likes she senses that she has a captive audience and gets ready to perform in her cheeriest, cutest voice.  I'm not sure what she finds funny during these silences, other than Mommy and Daddy's frantic attempts to hush her.

4. Peekaboo.  Peekaboo is still high on the list of things that are hilarious.  She doesn't even need a blanket.  Imaginary peekaboo is almost as funny as the real thing (imaginary peekaboo is when Sadie pretends that she has a blanket when she really doesn't).  Almost

Monday, February 23, 2009

The Art of Feeding a Baby

Before Sadie started solids, I read a lot of things about the importance of order when trying out new foods.  While some things actually were important (i.e. try one new food every three to five days so you can tell if the baby is allergic to anything and pinpoint what the allergy is immediately) most of it really didn't seem to apply to Sadie.  

One bit of advice that I kept reading again and again said to feed your baby every vegetable you could find before you let them try fruit.  This is because fruit is sweet and the assumption is that once a baby has fruit they won't want to eat anything that isn't sweet.  

With Sadie it seems like the exact opposite is true.  She gobbles up carrots.  She loves peas.  She's a huge fan of sweet potatoes.  But fruit didn't automatically go to the top of her list of favorite things.  When she tried apples, she puckered up her face and ate (unenthusiastically).  Pears met with a similar reaction.  It's not all bad though.  Peaches ranked with sweet potatoes and bananas are her absolute favorite, but overall veggies seem to be more reliable (unless they're cold).  

That brings me to another tidbit that the books gave that hasn't quite matched our real life experience.  I remember reading that babies don't know yet to have a preference when it comes to whether food is cold, warm or hot.  Well, Sadie has opinions about pretty much everything, and that includes food.  Warm is the only temperature she's really been happy with so far (we haven't tried hot).  If she thinks something is too cold, she makes a little face and then proceeds to gag after every single bite that she takes.  

Meats are also not high on Sadie's list of "likes."  I have to admit that I was the same way when I was little.  I was a vegetarian for a little over ten years (from about 10-20) and really didn't appreciate steak until I was in college.  Then again, after watching Sadie's dramatic facial expressions, I tried a tiny taste of one of the Gerber meats and they are pretty disgusting.  I guess it's the no-salt, no-seasonings-of-any-kind thing.  Yuck.  Not a great introduction to a food.  But we've gotten through turkey, chicken, beef and ham and at least we know that she's not allergic to any of them.  

Next we're on to finger foods.  We're not quite ready for them yet, but I'm eagerly awaiting the day when I can distract her with cheerios.  

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Sadie Loves Bull Riding!

The last two nights found our family watching Professional Bull Riding on TV.  Now Sadie isn't supposed to watch TV, but when we came in after dinner she was captivated by the bulls and the bull riders.  She would look bored in between riders, but as soon as a bull came out of the shoot she would laugh hysterically.  I then picked up her Elmo doll and he pretended to ride the Puppy Dog doll around the room and that was even more hilarious.  

Tonight Aunt Jennie called and needed to know Sadie's "girth."  We had no idea so we got the tape measure out (during a hearty dinner of ham, apples and sweet potatoes) and measured her waist.  Sadie's height is 30 inches.  

After checking to make sure that we weren't looking at the centimeters side we discovered that Sadie's girth is 22 inches!  I don't think that she's really unusually chubby, just baby shaped.  I was surprised by how close her length around was to her actual length.  

She's definitely a healthy, growing girl!  

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Binkies and Blankets

Earlier this week I woke up to a baby trying to stick a Binkie into my mouth.  It was quite a surprise.  

She then found the small pile of Binkies that I keep under one of the pillows (it seems that she had discovered it earlier, but was only then letting on that she knew where they were) and grabbed one of them with her left hand.  Since I was still reluctant to get up, she started to entertain herself by clicking the Binkie in her hand against the Binkie that was already in her mouth.  In less then five minutes Sadie had convinced me that it was time to get up and go downstairs.

Tonight Sadie was trying to get to my notebook, which I had hidden under her pink bunny blanket.  In an attempt to distract her, Grumpa put his hand under the blanket and started moving it around, the way you would if you were playing with a cat.  Sadie, who was sitting on my lap looked at the bump moving around under the blanket, looked up at Grumpa and then reached over and pulled the blanket off of his hand.  She then gave Grumpa a look that said that he was very silly to think that he could fool her.  It was a look I hadn't expected to see her throwing around until she was at least a tween.  

Friday, February 20, 2009

An Incredibly Long Day


Today was one of the longest days in the history of Sadie's life.  When we got to the home today, Hoho, Sadie's Great Grandma on Grumpa's side, wasn't doing very well.  We had only planned on a quick trip to Redding to visit her, with a stop at Costco for Nani and Grumpa to pick up food for church, but the plan began to change after less than five minutes in town.  AMR came to pick Hoho up and take her to the hospital and we followed the ambulance over in our car.  

When they took Hoho in to get tests we headed over to a nearby Round Table for a quick lunch.  When I saw the table that Grumpa had picked, I was resigned to a rowdy lunch.  Sadie's high chair was within two feet of another baby, in another high chair.  I had visions of Sadie squealing uncontrollably for an entire meal (her preferred method of communicating with other babies).  I got Sadie strapped in to her chair just as Nani got back to the table with the plates.  What happened next went something like this. 

Mom at the other table: "Oh, what a cute baby.  How old is she?"
Nani: "She'll be eight months old tomorrow.  How old is your baby?" 
Other Mom:  "She'll be a year this month."
Nani: "Sadie's really tall for her age." (this has become the normal tidbit added to Sadie's age because she is usually taller than babies that are quite a bit older, and because when we say her age there's usually a look of disbelief.)
Other Mom:  "Well Natasza is really tall too."  (silence.  I hadn't really thought of the Sadie being tall as being a competitive thing until that moment.  Apparently it is.) 

It also seemed like a kind of funny thing to say because Sadie looked a lot bigger than the other baby and they were sitting right next to each other.  But it got even stranger.  We were both getting up to leave at about the same time and the other mom brought the baby over and said "see, stand her up on the table next to Tasza."  And we did.  And Sadie had a good inch on her.  There was a moment of silence before the other mom said "oh wow.  They're the same height."  

Nani, Sadie and I spent the rest of the time waiting for Grumpa and Hoho at Turtle Bay (you can really only spend so much time waiting around at a hospital with a baby.  We did wait in the main waiting room instead of the ER waiting room where the sick people are).  Sadie loves the fish more than ever, particularly a brown and gold trout with little turquoise splotches, and kept trying to grab them through the glass.  She was also taken with a giant, hot pink Marilyn Monroe painting by Andy Warhol (she wouldn't take her eyes off of it) in the gallery.  We played for a little while on the slide on the playground and then went over to check out the little grey fox in the animal area.  He was playing with a stuffed white and hot pink tiger.  Then it was back to hospital.  

We finally got home at about 6:30 and Sadie has finally fallen asleep.  Goodnight!  I think she should sleep well tonight.  

Thursday, February 19, 2009

A Day at the Movies

We braved our second movie today (the kind in a theater, rather than the kind you watch in the safety of your own home, where no one can hear if your baby comes unglued).  I put a lot of prep into it, with the deluded hope that Sadie would sleep through the entire thing.  I made sure she didn't take an afternoon nap before we got there (and she had only taken an incredibly short morning nap), so she was exhausted by the time we walked into the theater.  

She was asleep before the movie started, and I was optimistic.  It didn't last for long.  Her nap lasted a solid thirty minutes and then she was wide awake.  I took a deep breath and got ready to take Sadie out into the lobby for the remainder of the movie.  

Instead of bursting into tears of starting to fuss, she leaned forward and stared at the screen.  Apparently Paul Blart Mall Cop was right up Sadie's alley.  With people running, jumping, sliding and falling over, she thought it was the funniest thing that she had ever seen.  She sat silently for the remaining hour and ten minutes.  

The next time we walk in to the theater I don't think she'll be quite as willing to take a nap.  

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The Husky Baby Makes Friends

Paul has been hard at work on his final paper for his last class, so Sadie and I spent the day in Redding with Nani and Grumpa so that we wouldn't be a distraction. We went to lunch at Applebee's, which was only half full. It's usually bursting at the seams at lunch time, with a line out the door, but the recession has hit Redding hard and people aren't going out to eat. We were seated in what was clearly the "kid's section." I don't mind as much as I did when Sadie was tiny. If a baby starts crying now she swivels around to see what's going on, but doesn't join in the noise.

Seated at the table next to us was a dad and a very pregnant mom, with two little boys. The boys noticed Sadie right away. We quickly learned that they were expecting their own little sister. The younger boy, Benjamin, who told us that he was three years old, also told his mom that he wanted "that baby! Exactly that baby!" to be his little sister. Both boys took turns coming over to say hi to Sadie. They were very polite and sweet!

Once they turned their attention back to eating, Sadie did everything she possibly could to regain their attention. I was trying to feed her lunch (we started blue berries today), but she was not interested. She would repeat an ear splitting squeal, while I would try to distract her and stick the spoon in her mouth. I finally got her to hold on to her sippy cup (although then it was pretty clear that she wanted the boys to see her with her sippy cup, because she kept taking sips and then turning around to see if they were looking). It was really cute (if you take out the ear splitting squeals) and she had fun.

As we were getting up to leave Sadie made eye contact with a man a few tables away and started to giggle and coo. He was a gruff looking man, who was easily four hundred pounds. I mention this, because of what he said next. He looked at Sadie and then asked Nani (who had just picked Sadie up) how old Sadie is. When Nani replied that she's almost eight months old he said "Wow. Husky, isn't she?" His wife looked like she was going to kill him. Nani's reply was, "She is very tall." I laughed all the way to the car.

Tomorrow we are going to attempt to take Sadie to a movie. This is not an outing for the faint of heart. Hopefully it will give Paul a chance to finish his paper!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Hide and Go Seek

Sadie's games of peekaboo have begun to evolve.  In the beginning she didn't quite understand that when she pulled up the blanket so that she couldn't see us, we also couldn't see her.  A few days ago when we were upstairs she realized that not being able to see someone can go both ways.  We had gone upstairs and we heard Nani outside the door.  I pulled the comforter up over our heads, with my knees up so that there was lots of room to see, and whispered "oh no Sadie, Nani's coming.  Hide.  She's gonna find us.  Shhhhhh..."  Sadie started laughing hysterically.  The more I pretended to shush her, the harder she laughed.  She thought it was even funnier when Nani walked in to the room and started to say "I thought Sadie and Mommy were in here.  Where are they?"  This game was almost as good as peekaboo.  

Today when Sadie was playing on the floor she sidled over to my side.  I picked up one of her favorite blankets and draped it over my side and her body so that it made a little tent.  Laughing hysterically she clutched the blanket over her head and then started pressing her face into the quilt on the ground so that her eyes were hidden.  She even let go of the blanket so that she could hide her eyes.

Nani thinks that she's going to take after me and start deconstructing the living room as soon as she can walk to create forts (just like I did when I was little). She's already starting to try to climb the coffee table and the hearth.

Because Daddy and Grumpa have been working on chain control because of the storms, I had to add a picture of Sadie and Daddy when he was about to go to work. It has nothing to do with this blog, but Sadie loves the bright yellow outfits.

Monday, February 16, 2009

A Girl's Lunch and the Tooth that Won't Quite Come In

Nani and I took Sadie out for a girl's lunch today at Round Table, before we headed to the supermarket to pick up lasagna for dinner.  When we walked in the door, a little girl in a pink hat started pulling on her mom's arm and pointing at Sadie.  Five minutes later when we sat down a few tables away she was still very interested in "that baby."  When I walked by to get a salad I noticed that there was actually a high chair next to the little girl, complete with a cute little baby boy, who looked to be a few months older than Sadie.  Minutes later Nani heard her loudly tell her mom, "I want us to get a baby exactly like that one over there."  Sadie's pink outfit and pink floppy chair cover must have given her away as a girl.  

Sadie is still going through the terrible teething faze.  The first tooth, which made an appearance yesterday, is still just a little line.  With her hair turning blonde and her teeth coming in she's starting to look very different.  And her hair, which is kind of in a crazy phase right now really is looking lighter and lighter every day.  

Tonight's blog will be cut short again.  We are still on a sleeping strike (I can't help but think this has a lot to do with that little tooth that's trying to come in) and Sadie is wide awake (Mommy has brand new darker under eye circles too!).  The upside is that she seems to be sleeping better when she finally gets to sleep.  The downside is that she's seems exhausted all day long.  Hopefully we find a happy medium soon.  

Sunday, February 15, 2009

We Have a Tooth

Tonight will be a short blog.  Sadie's first tooth has finally made an appearance (barely) and she is not happy about it.  Thanks to tylenol, oragel and refrigerated baby toys, she is no longer crying, but she's also not going to sleep.  We ran in to this problem last night too.  

Sadie's usual bedtime is 7:30, but last night she didn't fall asleep until 10:30.  The upside of those very long hours was that when she did finally fall asleep, she stayed asleep, until 6:47 this morning.  I think that counts as sleeping through the night (and if she did wake up I was so exhausted that I don't remember it).  

The only time that her teeth don't seem to bother her is when she's in the bath tub.  She was even braver today.  When I turned the tap on full blast she put her hands underneath it and let it splash onto her face with a big smile.  She also lay back and floated in the big bath tub and then stood up and played in the water.  She's our little water baby.  

Now I'm off to get a fussy teething baby to bed...

Saturday, February 14, 2009

My Baby Can Read (Almost)

Okay, maybe the title was a bit deceptive.  Sadie's not reading yet (although she does love the Your Baby Can Read videos).  But she is finally interested in looking at books.  She's more than a little rough on them though...  
Looking at the puppy...

This is Sadie's Favorite Page

Giving the kitty a kiss.

Fearless


Sadie is fearless.  I discovered this inadvertently when I was washing her hair and she moved suddenly and water splashed on her face.  She blinked but didn't make a peep.  

Lately I've been giving her her bath in her little pink bath tub, inside of Nani's whirlpool tub.  The whirlpool tub has a really high water spout and today while she was in her tub I turned it on.  Because the water is falling from high up it splashes a lot, but Sadie didn't seem to mind.  She kept trying to pull herself towards the water, until I finally pushed her tub over next to it.  The water still wasn't going into her tub, but it was just barely missing it.  Sadie spent the next ten minutes lifting her arms straight up into the water and letting it run down through her hands and splash in her face.  I can't wait to take her to the swimming pool this summer!

Sadie also ate her first cracker today.  It was a Mum Mum rice cracker and I was a little nervous about her having it, even though the cracker box indicated that she was old enough.  She ate the entire thing and seemed to be quite proud of the accomplishment.  She's now had rice, sweet potatoes, peas, apples, pears, peaches, bananas, carrots, prunes, oatmeal, chicken, turkey, beef, squash and pineapple.  Her favorites (surprisingly) are sweet potatoes, peas, carrots and squash.*  I really expected the fruits to rate higher then the vegetables.

*Nani would like me to add that bananas are actually her very favorite food.

Friday, February 13, 2009

One Binkie, Two Binkie... Red Binkie, Blue Binkie...

Sadie is pretty good at picking up her Binkie, turning it the right direction and putting it in her mouth.  She even does it in her sleep.  The other night when I checked on her she had a Binkie in her mouth and a Binkie in her left hand.  However, she ran in to a little bit of trouble at the dinner table the other night when she was sitting in her high chair.  

She already had a Binkie in her mouth and I picked up another Binkie that was on the dining room table and put it on her tray to see what she would do.  She instantly picked it up and turned it around in her hand and looked at it very carefully.  Then she brought it up to her mouth.  But there was a problem.  There was already a Binkie there.  

We now know that two Binkie's will not fit in Sadie's mouth.  I believe she was disappointed to learn this fact.  Sadie thought that if one Binkie was a good thing, two Binkie's would be a great thing.  We've also learned that a baby can not shove one Binkie through another Binkie, so that she can have them both in her mouth at the same time.  This was another disappointing moment for Sadie.  She ended up with a Binkie in either hand, trying to decide which one looked better.  It was a tough decision.  Finally the pink Binkie with the little silver hearts ended up getting thrown.  

She's getting better with words too.  Today was another fussy teething day (made worse by the fact that it was snowing and we couldn't go outside) and Sadie was kind of whiny.  She spent the afternoon saying "mama, mama, mamama, mam, mama" over and over again.  I really hope these first teeth make an appearance soon.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Learning to Wave and Truly Disgusting Baby Food...

We are currently between two storms with more storms lined up in the Pacific Ocean waiting to hit.  Two days ago we got about four inches of snow, today all of the snow melted and tonight the next storm is supposed to hit and we are in the pink section on the weather map and the map key says that that means that we are supposed to get two feet of snow.  I don't think it will be that much, but it looks like we will get a few more inches.  

Sadie is learning how to wave.  Her waving has a lot in common with her talking.  Most of the time when she sees people, or is saying goodbye to someone, she babbles and smiles and does baby things.  But once in a while now she'll say "Hi" in this little squeaky voice and wave her little hand.  Of course if I try to get her to say hi she'll just look at me like I'm totally crazy to even suggest that she can talk.  

However, when we were about to leave Marino's (a restaurant in town) the other day she started doing her wave and looked at and waved to each and every person in the restaurant.  She definitely isn't shy!

She's also on a napping strike.  She is adamant that she is too old for naps and that she will only take naps when we're walking (and she is being pushed in the stroller).  Unfortunately pushing the stroller is kind of difficult in four inches of snow.  It is a testament to the superior engineering of the BOB Stroller that we were able to walk three miles today, through the snow (I pushed the stroller for two miles and held the baby for one).  Despite only napping for about half an hour today, she is currently insisting that she is not tired and doesn't feel like going to sleep (it's 7:45 pm).  

Something kind of weird happened yesterday (and then again today).  We've been doing the one-new-food-every-five-days thing with Sadie to make sure that she isn't allergic to anything.  We've done most of the fruits and vegetables and rice and oats and now we're on to meats.  She's already tried chicken and turkey and this week she's been eating beef.  Yesterday I opened the beef (it's Gerber's First Foods) and scooped it into her little bowl with some squash.  After it was in the bowl I noticed that it was two different colors, light pink and dark brown.  It definitely didn't look "right."  I threw it out and opened another one today (I bought them together, so I imagine that they were shipped together and possibly manufactured together) and the same thing happened.  Only this time I looked at it before it was in the bowl.  The top half was dark brown and then the middle and bottom part was pink.  I tasted it and it was disgusting, but I'm not totally sure it wasn't just typical-baby-pureed-meat-disgusting.  I think I'll try a different brand, because with all the peanut stuff that's going on I don't want to chance it!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

A Rapidly Changing List of Our Favorite Things- The Current Top Ten List:

This list changes on a weekly (or hourly) basis.  Sadie is a bit fickle and a favorite toy one moment is completely ignored the next.  Here's where things stand today.  A few have stood the test of time.  This month at least.  

1. The Red Bucket (with or without yellow lid):  The Red Bucket was actually a bucket with little different shaped blocks in it.  The little shapes fit through the shape cutouts in the lid.  However, the little shapes aren't nearly as interesting as the Red Bucket, which has hundreds, maybe even thousands of possible purposes.  It can be a bucket (which is a little bit boring).  It can be a hat.  Sometimes when they're playing I can't even tell what the Red Bucket is pretending to be.

2. Kitty:  Kitty stands the test of time and still makes the list.  Or at least, thrashing Kitty in the middle of the living room each and every morning makes the list.  

3. The Fischer Price Crawl and Cruise Musical Jungle:  This one is definitely still on the list.  Sadie has figured out how to pick the balls up and put them down the ramp (and how to pick up the blocks from the Red Bucket and shove them up the bottom of the ramp so that the balls can't go down it).  These are both major developments in hand eye coordination.  

4. The Kneelers at Church:  I'm not sure I can say that these are a toy, but they are definitely on Sadie's list of favorite things.  She does her best to get me to put her down with her feet on the kneelers at church and reaches her hands up to hold on to the top of the pew.  She spent at least twenty minutes on Tuesday standing on the kneeler and trying with every ounce of strength in her body to do a pull-up, so that she could see the front while still hanging on to the pew.  And she absolutely DID NOT want my help.  

5. Squeaky Tiger and Pooh:  As fickle as Sadie is these two favorites still make the list because their squeaks make her smile.  

6. The Fischer Price Barn Set:  The Red Barn has yet to lose it's magic.  Sadie still wishes that she could live inside of it with the little plastic cows, pigs, chickens and camels (yes, the camels from the Nativity Scene live in there too).  

7. Teething Toys:  Preferably refrigerated.  These are lifesavers.  These are my favorite things.  

8. The Exersaucer:  Sadie is desperate to walk without help.  The exersaucer offers her a chance to pretend that it's already possible.  

9. Pillows:  Sadie has decided that she is big enough for a pillow.  She's not.  In fact I'm not sure how old "old enough for a pillow" is, but I'm pretty sure it's still a ways off.  However, now whenever she sees a pillow, she rolls over to it and puts her head on it like she's going to sleep. 

10. Baby Cinderella Doll:  Of course Sadie would love the doll with the loud laughter (that kind of sounds like it's crying).  

After a January that felt more like July (or at least April), February is here and it finally feels like winter.  We woke up to four inches of snow and while it started raining this afternoon it's supposed to snow on and off until this weekend.  We need all the water we can get or we're going to run out of water this summer (we come pretty close each year).  Because we have satellite internet we don't have a great connection when it's stormy (that's why there haven't been any pictures), but hopefully I'll be able to post Sadie Updates.  There's always dial up (that's what I did last night!). 

Sadie Update:
Teething continues, and while there's no tooth in sight, I can feel it.  There's a little rough edge under her gums.  She seems to be feeling better today, but these last few days she's felt better in the morning and then gets fussy in the afternoon and evening.  Tylenol seems to help a lot.  

Sadie's refusal to crawl continues to evolve.  She can now push herself up on all fours and bunny hop, but for the most part when she wants to get somewhere she pushes up, looks in the direction she wants to go and then drops to the ground and rolls.  At one point today she pushed up onto all fours and pushed with her hands to try to stand up, which seems ambitious for a baby who can't go from laying completely flat to sitting up on her own.  

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Teething Trouble

Sadie woke up ten times last night.  That's more then once every hour.  And that is a lot of waking up (and consequently, very little sleeping).  So tonight my blog will be short.  

I'm a sucker for the little outfits that they sell that say "Baby's First..."  In November I realized that there was going to be a problem in the coming months.  While I could squeeze a five month old Sadie into a twelve month onsie that said "Baby's First Thanksgiving" on Thanksgiving and photograph her in her "Baby's First Christmas" outfit (also twelve months) at the beginning of December, that strategy wasn't going to work for long.  There was no way she would be squeezing into a twelve month "Baby's First Valentine's Day" Outfit in February or a "Baby's First St. Patrick's Day" Outfit in March (I actually naively bought one of these in a twelve month size last March, thinking that it would be a tiny bit big this year).  

And because I haven't seen a Big and Tall store for babies under a year who are wearing 2T sizes I guess I will just have to accept the fact that Sadie will not be wearing a Baby's First Valentine's Day outfit on Saturday.  

Sadie Update:  I think we can officially say that Sadie is teething.  She's pulling her ears and rubbing her face and I can feel a rough little tooth starting to break through.  And she is completely miserable.  Hopefully this passes soon.  The book says "teething can last from several hours, to days, to weeks."  I'm hoping for hours...

Monday, February 9, 2009

The Doll and the Conveyor Belt

Paul has been busy working on a big paper for his class so Sadie and I decided to tag along with Nani and Grumpa on a trip to Redding, so that we wouldn't be tempted to distract him.  We stopped at Target so that they could pick up a few things and Sadie and I walked around the baby section, determined not to buy anything.  

Now if I had truly been determined not to buy anything I should have stayed on the opposite side of the store from the baby section, where there are bound to be dozens of things that Sadie "needs."  Surprisingly, I was almost successful (if you ignore the little squirt toy that I found in the bath section).  Just as I was leaving the baby section I saw them.  Next to the tiny baby clothes there was a hanger of little baby dolls in pink and green Saint Patrick's Day dresses.  I picked up a blonde doll and a brown haired doll and showed them both to Sadie.  She lunged at the blonde haired doll and looked at her face for a moment before repeatedly "kissing" her face.  Then she hugged the doll to her chest and sat looking up at me.  

It was a done deal.  The doll was clearly coming home with us (besides, can you really put a doll back once its covered in baby slobber?).  
  
We were sharing a cart with Nani and Sadie was sitting in her floppy, cuddling her new doll as we headed towards the front of the store.  By the time we got to the register the doll, and the price tag on the doll, were both covered in baby slobber.  I managed to wrangle the doll out of Sadie's hands, while she tried to hang on to her doll and after a mini struggle I was finally able to hold it out so that the cashier could scan the soggy tag.  After she scanned it I pulled the tag off and handed the doll to Sadie.  What happened next surprised me.  

Sadie looked at her new doll, the doll that she had clung to only moments before and flung it onto the conveyor belt.  Nani picked the doll back up, figuring that Sadie had accidently thrown it, and handed it back to her.  She looked at the doll and looked at the conveyor belt and then threw the doll back on to the conveyor belt a second time.  I've long suspected that when Sadie throws things it doesn't seem to be "accidental."  For over a month she's been doing a look-at-mommy-look-at-the-toy-throw-the-toy-look-at-mommy-to-pick-it-up thing.  

Throwing her new doll on the conveyor belt was entirely intentional.  

I think I've been conned.  Sadie wanted the doll until I paid for it and then she lost all interest.  I hope this isn't a preview of things to come!*  

*Grumpa and Nani indicated that that is exactly how I was when I was little and that apparently I've had this coming for my entire life!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Sadie and Strangers

When I was little I very carefully followed the "do not talk to strangers" rule.  Actually, I followed it so well, that when I was four years old, my Mom had to go back and re-explain the rule with a few exceptions.  

We were visiting my Aunt and cousins outside of Carson City, Nevada and we went to a hot spring to go swimming.  I was bouncing up and down with my cousin (who was a few months older than me) and I bounced my way to an area that was just a little bit too deep.  By the time I realized it was too deep I couldn't bounce back and when a man came over and asked if I needed help I shook my head no, before bobbing under the water again.  I was just barely able to get my mouth out of the water to take a breath, but I still insisted by shaking my head that I was okay.  Luckily, he decided that I definitely wasn't okay, and pulled me out of the water.  

After that Mom and I had a talk about how sometimes, when we're in trouble we might have to ask for help (wow, not talking to strangers is complicated!).  

Sadie is developing a very selective "fear" of strangers.  When she wants Mommy to hold her she can scream her head off to keep from going to anyone else.  However, it is a very selective fear.  Today just before the start of Mass, a man that we didn't know came and sat down next to us.  Sadie is definitely the "church baby" and is used to knowing everyone and being a little social butterfly (although there is another baby now, who is littler than she is, who was baptized today) at Mass.  

Sadie twisted around to study our neighbors face.  He had a full beard, which I thought might put her off a little.  It didn't.  After five minutes of smiling at him, while I jiggled her and tried to distract her, she started to reach out her arms to try to go to him.  When I thwarted that plan she went into a full fuss (just as the baptism started).  I ended up spending the next fifteen minutes standing in the entry way, swaying from side to side while Sadie came up with different excuses to "talk."  

She tried a similar stunt at Sweet Tomatoes in Santa Clara with a teenage girl who was sitting with her family.  Sadie decides she wants to go to somebody and it takes a lot of convincing to distract her and prevent a meltdown!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Sadie and Pumpkin: The Odd Couple- Part II

Sadie is having a difficult time with the concept of "gentle."  Everyday we say a poem from her Mother Goose Nursery Rhythm book.  It says-

I love little kitty
her fur is so warm
and if I don't hurt her
she'll do me no harm
so I'll not pull her tail
nor drive her away,
but kitty and I very gently will play
she'll sit by my side
and I'll give her some food
and kitty will love me,
because I am good.

Sadie and Pumpkin are completely in love.  Pumpkin has a bit of an attitude problem (to put it mildly), except when she's with Sadie.  Most of the time she's a seventeen year old, crotchety cat, looking for a warm place to sleep when she's tired, or someone to scratch when she's not.  When Sadie's in the room she's completely indulgent.  Each afternoon when she comes downstairs she walks straight over to Sadie and starts licking her hair.  Sadie has grabbed her tail, her armpit (try grabbing the armpit of a cat, it's not easy), and large handfuls of hair.  I monitor them very carefully (for both their sakes) but they're both quick.  

Because they're so attached to each other (and because this really seems to be a recipe for disaster, regardless of how vigilant I am when they're in the same room) Sadie and I have been talking about how important it is to be gentle with animals.  I know that she's only seven and a half months old, and is too young to understand "gentle," but I figure that we should probably start early.  Maybe that way the message will sink in.  

Yesterday Sadie had just finished dinner and the rest of the family was about to start eating.  Sadie has a little stack of toys that stay next to her high chair and I hand them to her one at a time.  One by one they hit the ground.  I picked up her bunny puppet, which actually looks a lot like a real bunny.  I made the bunny hop around the high chair, while Sadie squealed in delight.  We talked about being gentle with the bunny and then I handed him over.  

She petted the fur for a moment and I was impressed with how gentle she was being.  I actually thought to myself, "look, she's starting to get it.  This bunny is good practice."  As I said out loud "Good girl.  Gentle.  You're being gentle." she looked at me and then looked at the bunny.  With a huge smile she grabbed the bunny by the ears and started slamming it up and down on the table as hard as she could.  Her little arm went through an entire range of motion, up and down and when the bunny hit the table she looked delighted.

Yesterday when Pumpkin walked in the room she gave Sadie a wide berth and then carefully approached from her head, where Sadie's wild little arms are less likely to grab her.  As Sadie gets more mobile, Pumpkin becomes more cautious.  And I think for a while cautious is going to be just as important as gentle.  

Friday, February 6, 2009

Making Friends


Today was an eventful day.  We had a visitor in the yard this morning and I snapped a few pictures of him before he disappeared back into the forest.  I was fairly sure that I saw a coyote earlier this month at the top of our drive way, so it was probably this little guy.  He really wasn't scary at all (mountain lions freak me out though!).  

Paul took us to Redding today so we could run a few errands (and pick up a copy of turbo taxes so I can get that out of the way).  While we were standing in the checkout line at Walmart, Sadie made a friend.  She was in her little pink stroller and I turned her so she could look at the little boy who was standing next to his mom, in line behind us.  He was three or four and by the time we left he and Sadie were friends.  They had an entire conversation, and this was the part of it that I heard/understood:

Little Boy:  I have a jacket.  It has a zipper.  I can zip the zipper up and down.
Sadie: (smiles and watches him zip the zipper on his jacket up and down)
Little Boy: This is my jacket.  And these are my pants.  And I have shoes on.  I have tie shoes.  (At this point he bends down and starts pulling on his shoe laces) They have ties that tie.  I have tie shoes.  
Sadie: (continues to smile at the little boy)

There was actually quite a bit more to the conversation, but whenever the little boy realized that I was listening to what he was saying he would become very bashful and stop talking, or start talking to Sadie very quietly, so that was the main part that I heard.  After Paul paid it was time for us to leave, and Sadie was upset to say goodbye to her new friend, until we got to the end of the aisle and she made eye contact with a big girl (who was probably about one) and started to giggle.  She's quite a little social butterfly!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

A Tough Day


Sadie is 2'6".  That's right.  30 inches.  That's eight inches taller than she was seven months ago when she was born.

At this rate, she is going to be taller than me by kindergarden.  In another two an a half inches she will be half my height.  

Sadie has been having a bit of a hard time these last few days.  I won't go into all the gory details, but I believe that it has something to do with the iron levels in her food now that she's eating meat (just chicken and turkey so far, but that's all I can think of).  She's still getting tons of fruits and veggies, but apparently she's not getting enough... fiber...  

The doctor said to give her water with a teaspoon of karro syrup in it and I've been feeding her prunes and pears at every meal (she's now refusing to eat prunes and pears), along with a couple ounces of fruit juice once a day (which I've actually now replaced with prune juice since she's refusing to eat mushed prunes).  

I guess I hadn't realized until today, with her tummy hurting, how tough Sadie really is.  Now that she's moving around she is constantly bumping into things (as I run around trying to keep her from bumping into things) and she hardly ever really cries (and she's not even crawling yet!).  She fusses when she's angry and she's definitely capable of having a total meltdown when she's not getting her way, but in a typical day she doesn't usually cry actual tears.  Today, on four separate occasions, her little body went rigid and she cried hysterically and was completely inconsolable.  I felt so helpless! 

To make matters worse, we've finally gotten a little bit of the rain that we desperately need, so we only walked a mile today, instead of our standard 3-6 miles.  Our daily walks are Sadie's favorite part of the day, and I think she definitely missed all the time outdoors.  

I think tomorrow should be better.  Again without going in to any gory details, the prunes are beginning to work!  Yay!!!!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Big Red Barn

This morning as I watched Sadie playing, I realized that I left a very important toy of yesterday's list: her little red barn.  The little red barn is where all the Little People Animals live.  Since she opened her barn on Christmas morning, she has been trying to find a way to squeeze in through the front door.  I don't have the heart to tell her that it just isn't going to happen.

She started out across the room from her farm this morning, but she squirmed her way over to it (after wrestling down Kitty and her monkey George) and started to pull on the roof, in an attempt to get inside with the chicken and pig that were playing in the barn loft.  The barn tipped over and came to rest (very slowly, because her hands were holding on to it) on Sadie's head. I expected panic.  Nani and I were on different sides of the room and we both started to move towards the baby.  Instead of bursting into tears, or even starting to fuss, she was gleeful.  It was the closest that she had ever been to actually being inside of the barn.  She lay perfectly still and looked up at all the animals (who were now resting on her head).  Nani got to her first and lifted the barn up and turned it around so she can see in through the back, which is a little bit more open, although she still can't actually live in in (which is what she seems to want).  

Today's picture is a shot of Sadie's bathing suit for the summer.  It has been unseasonably warm here (although we are hoping for rain, otherwise it's going to be a very dry winter) and the other day we put Sadie in her bathing suit to see if it would fit.  It's a 2T and it is a tiny bit big, but for the most part, it fits.  Hopefully it will still fit this summer.  Is it possible that she will really be a 3T by her first birthday?

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Sadie's Favorite Things

Making lists has always been a habit of mine.  In fact I think it would be fair to say that it's a bit of an obsession.  When we go into stores that carry notebooks, Paul has learned to steer me away from the aisles that actually stock notebooks and pens, and he usually succeeds, unless they've put up an end stand with school supplies ("look Honey, ten notebooks for a dollar!  That's ten cents for each notebook!").  Right now I'm looking at a pile of Sadie's toys in the middle of the living room (she's big enough now that she can roll over to the basket that her toys are in an pull them out herself) and I've started making a list of Sadie's favorite toys.  She's definitely latched on to a few favorites.  Here they are, in no particular order, because Sadie's favorite toy depends on her mood:

1. Kitty:  Kitty is already looking a little bit worse for wear.  Kitty made her first appearance in an earlier blog, when I took Sadie shopping the weekend before Christmas (Daddy dropped us off at the mall while he got the oil changed on the car and then it took a little bit longer then we expected because it ended up needing new tires).  After an hour and a half in the very crowded mall Sadie was starting to have a melt down and I picked up a fluffy, oversized, stuffed calico cat and started dancing it back and forth in front of Sadie.  It was love at first sight.  
Sadie and Kitty are now inseparable.  Every morning after we come downstairs, before breakfast, Sadie and Kitty wrestle in the middle of the living room floor.  Kitty usually wins (she is bigger then Sadie), but not before Sadie's given her a good thrashing.  Kitty is definitely at the top of the list.

2.  Mrs. Bunny:  Mrs. Bunny was Sadie's first friend.  She's the go to toy when Sadie's sleepy and wants a cuddle when we're in the car on a long drive.

3.  Fischer Price Crawl and Cruise Musical Jungle:  Sadie REALLY didn't want to practice sitting up before she got this toy.  In fact, I wasn't even sure she could sit up without support because whenever I tried to put her in a sitting position she would flip onto her stomach and try to attack my foot.  Then we put her in front of the Musical Jungle Gym and she saw the giant orange monkey sitting on top of it.  She grabbed him and the Jungle lights came on and the music started and she was entranced.  She spends ten to fifteen minutes at a time playing with the Jungle (sitting up all by herself) and trying to pull herself up on it and that for Sadie, is hours and hours in grown-up time.  

4.  The Exersaucer: Sadie's mind constantly writes checks that her body can't cash (to use a Grumpa-ism).  She sees other people doing things and she really wants to be able to do them herself.  She already gets frustrated because she doesn't want help.  She wants to do things on her own.  The Exersaucer gives her a little bit of independence and makes her feel like a big girl!

5.  Squeaky Tiger and Pooh:  Sadie has a little squeaky Tiger and a little squeaky Pooh.  The Pooh Bear has a Honey Bee between his paws that crinkles, while Tiger has a Dragon Fly between paws.  They're perfect for traveling because whenever Sadie sees (or hears) either or them she starts to smile.  

6.  Fischer Price Shapes and Bucket: Every once in a while Paul brings home a toy from Long's since he gets a super discount at work.  They're usually simply toys (today it was the Shape Blocks and Bucket with the little shape cutouts to fit the shapes through, a few weeks ago it was the large snap beads that snap together to make a chain) but Sadie loves them.  They're the kind of toys that leave room for a lot of imagination and it's entertaining to see Sadie play with them.  Earlier today she took the lid off of the bucket and stared at the shapes for a solid three minutes, thoroughly entertained the entire time.  

7.  Fischer Price Little People:  I definitely have a weakness for Fischer Price Toys (rereading this list I realized that this reads like a Fischer Price Advertisement) and I think my fondness for the toys is because of my love of their "Little People" line of toys.  Sadie likes the animals the best and thinks they make great teething toys, although there's still no sign of teeth!

Monday, February 2, 2009

A Day at Turtle Bay


Suddenly, Sadie is fascinated with the world around her!  
She's always been interested, but now she's more interactive and so much fun!

Paul is working evenings for the most part right now, so he's getting used to being awake during the day again (it's tough for him to switch back and forth each day depending on his schedule).  We took advantage of the beautiful day and headed back to Turtle Bay to see the geckos and play on the playground.   
When we got to the park we started out by visiting the fish, for the second time in four days.  Sadie pointed out the trout and sturgeon, just in case anyone had missed the giant five foot fish swimming around in the tank (she's really in to pointing at things these days). 

After that we visited the geckos (Sadie watched for a while but then decided that she was going to stubbornly look in any direction in which there wasn't a gecko) and then headed over to look at the different animal pelts (Sadie's favorite were otter, mink and beaver).  From there we headed outside to play on the swings and slide, before heading out to the car before Sadie (and Daddy's) delicate skin got sunburnt. 

She is more determined than ever to resist nap time, even when we're just driving in the car and after a long day I am exhausted (and ready for bed at 8 o'clock).  With a little bit of will power I may make it through Chuck (in 3D).  

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Matching with Mommy

Earlier this month I picked out a few dresses for Sadie at Macy's, using a gift certificate from Christmas.  It's a little bit risky buying dresses for Sadie in advance (these are summer dresses) because we really have no idea what size she's going to be in a few months.  Before she was born we saw an entire rack of dresses on sale (also at Macy's, only this time in Union Square) and went a little bit crazy (we had just found out that she was a girl!).  They were beautiful Christmas dresses and they were 75% off, so we bought some for this year and some for next year.  Or at least, that was what we thought at the time.  

The thing is, we figured out six month old baby would be wearing six month old dresses, rather than 18 month dresses and that next year she would probably be wearing 24 month dresses (just to be safe).  At 20 weeks along, we didn't suspect that our tiny princess baby might be rather large when she was born.  

As it turned out, Sadie wasn't a tiny baby and when she was born we had to squeeze her in to the "newborn" sized outfits.  When she was a month old she had grown out of most of the outfits that had 0-3 tags on them.  So these days I'm a little bit nervous about shopping in advance, even when there's a really great sale.  But I really loved these dresses and I knew that they would be gone by summer.  

I did something that I promised myself several months ago I wouldn't do any longer. I guessed what size Sadie would be this June.  

Here my guess:  2t.  I wouldn't have made this guess with anything involving feet or pants, because her length hasn't really slowed down much, but she's started to turn into a little string bean, and I think some of the smaller dresses might even fit again soon.  
So I bought three 2t dresses and I'm praying that they will still fit this summer.  

That brings us to this Friday.  While Grumpa was at Home Depot on Friday buying cabinet locks to keep Sadie out of the cabinets, Nani and I took Sadie to the mall to walk around.  We went upstairs to the baby section in Macy's and the dresses were marked down even lower.  A rack nearby in the girl's section caught my eye.  It was one of Sadie's dresses (navy blue with white and red flowers that I thought would be perfect for the Fourth of July) in "big girls" sizes (think for grade school ages).  

Now to understand why I would even think of trying on one of these dresses you have to go back to our trip to the bay area last week.  When Kehli, Michelle, Sadie and I were at Target we saw a rack of Christmas pajamas that were on super sale (think $4) and went over to check them out.  There They were.  The pajamas that I had desperately wanted for Christmas, but that were sold out because I waited too long for them to go on sale.  For only $4.  

I happily purchased them (they said they were 10/12, which is 2 sizes too big, but I figured that pajamas can be big!) and happily brought them home.  When I tried them on I found I was mistaken.  Someone had accidently put the girls pajamas in the women's section and while I could fit into them they were ridiculously short (and not exactly comfortable).  

The largest dress that matched Sadie's in Macy's was a girl's 16.  I figured if I could fit into a 10/12 in pajamas a size 16 might be just right.  So I slipped it in with a few other things and took it into the dressing room (I didn't intend to try on the other things, but I was a little embarrassed to be seen walking into a dressing room with a Girl's dress).  I tried it on and it was perfect!  Sadie and I would match!

I still really didn't want to walk back out of the dressing room and when I did the lady who was standing there looked at me like I was crazy and said in an incredulous tone "that worked out for you?!?!"  

Today Sadie and I wore our matching dresses to Mass and got lots of compliments.  And most people thought that I had made the matching dresses because they were so perfect!  And they were on sale!