Thursday, April 30, 2009

Baby Back Pack




I finally took pictures of Sadie riding around in her sling!  She loves it and it's so versatile.  All it is really is five yards of stretchy knit cotton from the fabric store.  I found a web site that gave instructions on different ways to wear your baby, and have been practicing a few of them.  The one in the picture, where Sadie rides on my back, is our favorite, but it's also the hardest to get her into.  It's getting easier everyday though, as I start to get better at it (and quicker).

When I remember to bring the sling to church and I put her in one of the front carries it also has worked out really well.  She likes to watch the choir in the balcony in the back of the church and the sling gives her the best view.

What has really surprised me though, is how comfortable it is to wear.  I have two carriers that were great when Sadie was tiny, but as she got bigger (and heavier) they put a lot of stress on my shoulders and I couldn't carry her for very long.  When I tie her on wearing the sling the weight is usually spread out more across my hips.  We walked two miles with Sadie in the sling a few days ago and finally had to stop because she was getting sleepy.  It's also really easy to tell when she's sleepy because when she's in the sling on my back she starts to snuggle her face in between my shoulder blades.  That's the signal that it's time to get inside for a nap.

I just hope the warm fabric isn't too much for summer here (I think it will be!).  I think I'll have to look for some lighter fabric.  It's already getting hot here!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Sadie and Kitty- A Love/Hate Relationship

I was sitting on the couch this morning, watching Sadie play with her toys when she began her assault on Kitty.  Sadie's daily attacks on Kitty are seldom surprising these days.  Their fights usually look exactly the same.  Sadie catches Kitty eying her from across the room.  Words are exchanged (possibly threats).  Then Sadie swaggers over to Kitty, with a confident crawl.  Kitty pops off.  Kitty never seems to realize that things are going to end badly for her now that the baby has control of her neck muscles.  

Usually Sadie hurries the rest of the way over to Kitty and picks Kitty up by her blue scarf.  Kitty, still not knowing when to keep her mouth shut, calls the baby a "cry-baby."  Sadie body slams her into the floor with an indignant squeal.  From there on out Kitty's usually in for a good five minutes of being body slammed, over and over again, and possibly dragged across the living room floor.  It's got to be a little bit embarrassing for a cat that's probably slightly bigger then the baby in total surface area (although Sadie has a good eighteen pounds on her).   
Today the fight went a little bit differently. Sadie headed across the room towards Kitty. She slowed before reaching Kitty and then leaned even further forward (from her normal crawling position) so that she could get a good look at Kitty's face. Then she kissed Kitty square on the nose. Kitty was shocked and probably could have been knocked over with a feather (had she been standing).  For a brief moment I thought that the baby and Kitty had come to some sort of understanding, a truce, if you will.  If they had, it didn't last for long.  Less then twenty seconds after Sadie gave Kitty's pink nose a kiss, she picked Kitty up, by the scarf, and body slammed her into the floor.  

After about five minutes of body slamming Kitty (Sadie has an amazing attention span when she's playing with Kitty) Sadie took a break and stopped.  Then she kissed Kitty again, right on the nose.  Seconds later they were back to fighting.  

Kitty doesn't find constantly losing the fights to be the most humiliating part of her day.  For Kitty the worst part of the day is when the baby pretends like she doesn't see Kitty.  Sadie will crawl very close to Kitty and then she will pretend like she doesn't see Kitty.  She'll turn her back on Kitty and sit down, using Kitty like a very comfortable, rather indignant, sofa.  

Surprisingly enough, despite all the fighting, I think Sadie and Kitty are going to become the best of friends!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Birthday Plans

I was feeling a little nostalgic today, so I picked this picture of Sadie when she was one month old as the Sadie Picture of the day.  

And now there are less then two months left until Sadie's first birthday!  I have so much planning to do!  How much planning, you might ask, can be done for a small, first birthday party that's probably going to take place in the backyard (as long as it's not 110 degrees by then, which is a very real possibility)?  A lot when your an obsessive list maker, who makes lists about absolutely everything.  And there are decisions to be made.  

Such as whether to have a Bunnies by the Bay Birthday or a Winnie the Pooh Birthday.  Nani suggested having both, one for Sadie's actual birthday and one for the day we have people over for the party (I think these are going to be a day apart).  So now I have to decided which theme will be on which day.  Then there's the guest list.  Sadie doesn't know very many babies, but she knows a lot of grown ups from church.  And I'm sure that I'll think of more details that need to be worked out (or maybe the truth is that I just like making lists).  

And now my time has run out.  Sadie is fussing and needs my attention.  It's time for bed!


Sunday, April 26, 2009

Words that We Know

Sadie is really starting to understand the words that people around her are saying.  And she has several favorite words (and sentences) that cause her face to light up.  Here are a few of her favorites off the top of my head:

Phrases

1)  "Sadie, do you see Grumpa's tractor?"
(this results in hysterical laughter)
2)  "Is that Grumpa's truck?"
(Nani thinks that Sadie might become a mechanic when she grows up because of her intestest in trucks, tractors and in flipping her toys over upside down to see how they work)
3)  "Kitty's gonna get you!"
(this is usually followed by Kitty getting a beat down)
4)  "Do you want to pick a book to read?"
(we don't have to guess which book she will pick because it will be one of the same two books it was the last fifty million times)

Words We Know (we can only say a couple of them though)
1)  Momma
2)  Daddy
3)  Nani
4)  Grumpa
5)  Puddy
6)  Kitty
7)  Truck
8)  Tractor
9)  Towel (she demonstrated that she knows this one tonight when we got to the part in her bathtub story when the little bear gets dried off with its towel and she reached up on the edge of the bath tub and grabbed her towel).
10) Wave
11) Clap
12) No (she knows it, but doesn't necessarily listen to it)
13) and we know that she knows that ten comes after nine when we count form one to ten in time out, because when we get to nine she gets impatient and starts to kick her little legs.
14) Horse

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Shoe Shopping

Sadie and I went with Nani and Grumpa to Redding today and did some shoe shopping.  So far Sadie has a pair of cowboy boots, a pair of white patent church shoes and some pink shoes with hard brown soles (or at least that was where things stood before we went to shopping).  

We went to Target looking for sneakers.  I really was only planning to pick out one pair of shoes.  I had a picture of them in my head.  White sneakers with pink trim and pink shoe laces.  There might have been a picture of a princess or a Pooh Bear on them too.  When we got to Target none of the shoes met that description.  But there was a huge amount of pink.  After subjecting Sadie to trying on around a dozen shoes we had learned a few things about shoe shopping for a baby.  

First off I have a question.  Are babies who fit into size 5 shoes not supposed to be chubby any more?  Because by length Sadie's feet are comfortably a size 5.  The width just about works on most of the shoes too.  But the "height" (or chubbiness factor or maybe girth) of her foot appears to be a bit bigger.  Most of the time we could get her foot into the shoe, but then there would be a little role of chubbiness at the top of the shoe.  

So we moved up to a six (actually she was a size five in moccasins and clogs).  And we found the perfect sneakers.  But I couldn't just stop at sneakers.  She finally fits into the beautiful Wizard of Oz type sparkle shoes (in pink!).  Then I found the tacky plastic "jelly" shoes that I loved when I was little.  I tried them on her feet, just to see if they fit, but we left those on the shelf. There's plenty of time for her to discover those and fall in love with them on her own.  Lastly were the adorable clogs, because they were so easy to get on and off and so cute.  And Nani got her the soft white moccasins that will probably be the best for learning to walk around.  

Baby shoes are just so cute!  And now Sadie, who loves my shoes, has some pretty shoes of her own to play with.

Friday, April 24, 2009

A Few of Her Favorite Things

Sadie's favorite toys have changed over the last ten months.  Some favorites have stood the test of time.  Here's a new list, in no particular order, of Sadie's Favorite Things.

1.  Kitty- Kitty is still very near the top of the list.  For those of you who don't remember Kitty or who are new to the blog, I picked Kitty up during the middle of the Christmas madness at the Mt. Shasta Mall, when Paul had dropped Sadie and I off while he went to get the oil changed, a few days before Christmas.  Changing the oil took a bit longer then he expected and Sadie and I ended up being at the ball for more then an hour.  Towards the end of the hour she started to have a meltdown and I plucked Kitty out of a pile of super-sale stuffed animals at Old Navy.  Kitty was an instant hit, saving the day.  These days Kitty is Sadie's favorite wrestling partner.  Kitty spends most of her time in the play pen.  Each day, several times a day, Sadie will fuss to go in the play pen, so that she can body slam Kitty.  She thinks it's hilarious to sit in the middle of the play pen and repeatedly pick Kitty up above her head and then slam Kitty into the bottom of the play pen.  Kitty is a permanent friend on the sometimes fickle favorites list.  

2.  The Cruise and Crawl Gym-  Where else can Sadie practice standing (and in the beginning she practiced sitting by herself in front of it with a pile of pillows behind her) while also practicing punching a smiling orange monkey in the head?  She's even gotten pretty good at picking the balls up and putting them down the ramp, although she has yet to get them into the monkey's hand.  I've even seen the cats swiping balls out of the ball holder at the bottom of the gym and chasing them around the room.

3.  The Giant Tiger and Pooh Balloon-  After discovering how much Sadie loves balloons earlier this week I broke down and paid eight whole dollars (almost nine) for a giant baby Winnie the Pooh balloon.  Sadie held it in her hand as we walked around the supermarket shopping and has continued to play with it since we got home.  She gets a kick out of staring at it and giggling, yanking it up and down and dragging it around the room.  And the little smiley face weight on the bottom makes a great teething toy.

4.  The Singing Hallmark Bunny for 2009-  Sadie is going through a phase where she doesn't want to hold still to let us change her diaper or her clothes.  The Hallmark Bunny (who sings "I wanna hop, hop, I just got to hop...") is a lifesaver.  I can put it next to her head and turn it on and she'll lay, transfixed, as long as the music is playing.  The second the music stops she starts to scramble, so the diaper changer needs to be ready to push the music button again if they aren't done changing her.  The Hallmark Bunny is a little disappointed that Sadie thinks that body slamming the bunny is the way to get it to play music, but I imagine that she'll learn over the course of the next few months that she just needs to press the button.

5.  Bouncy Balls-  Sadie can play roll back for a few minutes at a time, but for the most part she just throws her bouncy ball and watches it bounce off the furniture.  It usually bounces back to her so that she can throw it again.

6.  The Noah's Ark Toy-  The Noah's Ark Toy plays music and makes animal sounds. There are two levels of animals with different shaped feet, so that if the right animal is in the right spot, it will make that animal's noise.  Sadie loves this toy and one of her favorite activities is making sure that none of the animals are on the ark.  She rips them off the ark and scatters them around the room.  The moment I put them back in there spots she races over the re-clutter the room.

7.  The Pop Up Animals-  Sadie still doesn't use the Pop Up Animals in the traditional way.  I think most babies like seeing the Pop Up Animals pop up, out of their boxes.  Sadie likes putting the animals back in their boxes.  She doesn't even need to waste her time putting them away one at a time anymore.  She's realized that if they're out and she flips the top over onto the ground they will all close.  Problem solved.  

Thursday, April 23, 2009

A Girly Girl

Today's pictures show Sadie's Church Shoes as promised. Over the course of the last few days Paul has started to point out that Sadie is already showing signs of being a "girly girl."  It started, unsurprisingly enough, with shoes.  Sadie loves shoes.  While she has only recently warmed to the idea of wearing shoes on her feet, she has loved them abstractly for a while.  Particularly high heels.  She acts like my high heels are the most beautiful, fascinating toys in the entire world and can sit and stare at them (and drool over them, literally) for (relatively) long periods of time.  She zeroes in on them when they're in a room and heads straight over to grab them and drag them back to where ever she's playing.

Then there's the lipstick.  It's actually not lipstick at all, it's just plain cherry chapstick, but we've been calling it lipstick.  Sadie opens her mouth and holds still for chapstick application, although she has been known to try to lick the chapstick to try to taste it.

She's also started to notice dolls.  When we were shopping the other day we walked down the doll aisle and her face lit up each and every time she spotted another doll.  She seemed particularly fond of the baby Ariel doll.  At home however, she seems more interested in body slamming her dolls then in babying them.  

The best part of Sadie's days lately, has been swinging.  Grumpa ordered and installed a swing for Sadie on the porch above the backyard.  She loves it!  Today we also put down a large piece of carpet, because Sadie loves crawling around out there by her swing (it also happens to be where everyone is sitting now that the weather is so nice) but it was too hard on her knees.  So Grumpa went by the carpet store and got a large carpet remnant and cut it down to fit the porch.  Now the porch is the perfect place to play.  We brought a couple books out there and her Little Mermaid bouncy ball and she was content to sit and look at her books and play. 

We also brought out some bubbles that Sadie won in her Easter Basket at the egg hunt in the park, but Sadie wasn't all that impressed by the bubbles.  Nani and I kept blowing them and pointing them out to her, but she acted a little bit bored and didn't even crack a smile! 

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Genius Baby

I know a lot of parents say this, but we have a genius baby!  This afternoon I was sitting next to Sadie on the floor by the bookshelf.  We've replaced the books on the bottom shelf with Sadie's books (because books with paper pages aren't exactly safe in the house at this point) and Sadie was pulling out the books and looking at each one, before setting it on the floor next to me.  

She has a few Spanish baby board books that have pictures of animals, babies and household objects with their names next to them in English and Spanish.  Sadie opened the book that's about babies and turned to a page that shows ten babies crawling around on the floor.  Then she pushed the book over next to me, looked at the picture, looked at me and started to crawl away.  I thought that she was done looking at the book until she stopped after about three steps and turned around and crawled back over to me.  She glanced down at the book and looked up at me with a look that was impossible to mistake.  She was showing me what the babies in the book were doing.  She seemed very proud of herself.

Sadie also wore her "church shoes" for the first time today.  They are white patent leather with cute little tiny heart cut outs(I'll put a picture of her wearing them up tomorrow because right now they are in the camera, which is in the car).  I've read that some moms believe that having "church shoes" helps little kids get the idea that when they're wearing certain shoes they have to be serious.  Sadie looked adorable in her church shoes and was very good today (although I think it may have had more to do with the length of time that we were in church, rather then the shoes).  We'll see.  Hopefully it works!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Which is Better, the Box or the Toy in the Box?

Sadie's eye is almost better.  You can see it here in this picture, although the bruise where she banged it is almost gone.  I really would like to wrap her in bubble wrap for the next few months, or at least until she's sturdy on her feet.  

If you look at Sadie's knee in the picture you can also see a band-aid.  That would be because we let Sadie wear shorts for the first time yesterday and she was so hard on her knees zooming around the room, that one had a little cut this morning.  

It already feels like summer in Northern California.  It was 93 degrees at our house today at 5 o'clock this evening.  I'm really hoping that things cool off.  I want spring before summer's forced on us!  

Today I went to Redding with Grumpa and Nani (and Sadie) for the sole purpose of buying some sort of push toy for Sadie.  I was looking for a shopping cart type toy, because every girl needs a pretend shopping cart (I have pictures of myself next to my cart when I was one, wearing really cool Garfield sunglasses).  

Walmart has the largest toy section in Redding and I walked all over the place trying to find a shopping cart with no luck.  I found a lawn mower that was really cute, but not sturdy enough and a yellow vacuum that wasn't all that cute and that also wasn't sturdy enough.  Finally I found a Fischer Price Lion that could she would be able to ride or push.  The lion looked sturdy and it's when you press it's nose it lights up and plays music.  Sadie saw it in the cart and loved it.

When we got home she loved it too.  Until I took it out of the box.  Apparently I had it all wrong.  She didn't love the lion push toy.  She loved the box that the lion push toy was in.  I had Paul take the box out of the room to eliminate the competition for the lion.  I put Sadie right in front of it.  She turned around and crawled away.  I moved her back over to the lion and pressed it's nose.  She grabbed onto it and it flipped over.  It isn't nearly as sturdy as it looked in the box.  Finally I stood her up next to it to show her how it works.  She immediately sat down, grabbed it and pulled it back over her legs.  She's not quite getting the idea of how it's "supposed" to work.  Maybe the box just had more potential.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

The Mommy Sensor

I've noticed that Sadie has a sort of sixth sense.  It's the Mommy-is-doing-something-that-doesn't-involve-paying-attention-to-me sense.  I followed Sadie around the house today (okay, I follow Sadie around the house every day).  We started in the living room, where she played on the ground for a while, before heading into the kitchen.  I followed her, the book I've been reading in my hand, while she completely ignored me and started to tear the "Sadie Magazines" off the lowest shelf of the table.  There's a little chair next to the table and I sat down on it.  Sadie continued to act like she was alone in the kitchen.  I opened my book and... 

Sadie's Mommy Sensor went off.  I was doing something that didn't involve paying attention to her (completely at least).  She went for the book.  I closed the book and put it on the top of the table.  Sadie spent the next five minutes using all her energy climbing her way up the three levels of the table into a standing position, while I spotted for her, in case she lost her balance on one of the magazine pages she'd shredded that I hadn't yet had a chance to pick up.  

Once she was sure that I wasn't doing anything other than paying attention to her, she sat back down (with a little help) and started to crawl across the room.  After making a loop of the room she headed back into the living room (with me trailing behind).  

I was surprised when she turned right, because she has rooms that she has explored and the den and bathroom aren't on the list.  Instead she stopped in the middle of the hallway and, after failing to pull several books off of a book shelf, stood up, held onto the third shelf and pulled a glass bottle filled with agates off of it.  I caught it just as she let go (and looked disappointed that it didn't hit the ground).  

Now that she's pretty sturdy on her feet (although she didn't walk on her own today) there's a whole other level of baby proofing that is going to have to occur.  She's very determined when she wants something and she isn't deterred when I hide things from her.  She watches me and then she tries to work to get what ever it is that I've put out of her reach.  I can't believe how fast she's growing!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

The Walking Baby

Today has been an eventful day.  A little too eventful.  It didn't start out that way.  I got Sadie dressed this morning and decided to try out my latest experiment.  Baby wearing.  I bought five yards of stretchy jersey cotton and carefully studied the Baby Wearing website that I found yesterday.  I had tried out a couple of the ways to wear your baby yesterday and Sadie had giggled uncontrollably.  This morning I decided to see if I could remember what I'd learned.  

I hoisted Sadie up onto my back, by myself this time and managed to flip the fabric this way and that (it's five yards long and can be a bit unruly at times) until she was securely strapped onto my back.  She giggled hysterically throughout the process and was finally snug and safe on my back.  I have to say that I'm very impressed with the comfort of the different wraps that I tried out.  I wore Sadie for about two hours today and it didn't hurt my shoulders at all.  

After a nap we headed into town with Nani and went to the park.  Sadie bravely crawled through a bright aquamarine play ground tunnel that was about three feet long, from Nani to Mommy and then swung on the swings.  It was getting hot, so we headed home.

Once we got in the house, Sadie went to work playing with her toys.  After making sure that they were all still there (she acts like they're going to disappear every time we leave the house) she went over to the couch and stood up.  A pile of about six baby board books were on the couch and she removed these one at a time and then looked at Grumpa.  I was relaxing in the recliner when she did it and I looked up just in time to see her grab on to the side of Grumpa's chair.  Grumpa had a shocked look on his face when he told me what had happened.

She had walked.  She let go of the couch and walked, two wobbly steps, over to where he was sitting.  

We were still celebrating the milestone when she crawled into the kitchen.  I followed her, expecting her to head over to her magazine pile.  Instead she made her way over to the battery charger where the camera batteries were charging.  When I bent over to take it away from her she let it go.  I relaxed and she sprang, throwing herself forward and slamming her eye into the charger.  Black eye number one.  There was an instant welt and swelling that has since blossomed into a shiner.  

Ten minutes later she calmed down and I set her back on the floor.  She took off, back into the kitchen and I followed her again, watching more carefully this time.  Her magazine's are on a low ledge on a table in the kitchen and she regularly retrieves them while someone sits by and watches.  She can play for almost an hour, completely entranced in the task of shredding little bits of magazine paper.  I had removed the charger and replaced it with outlet covers.  She was safe and sound.  

Until... she raised herself up on her knees, looking around for a new magazine.  Suddenly and without warning she let go with both hands.  This very bad judgement call resulted in a second black eye.  

After that I put her back on my back, deciding that a walk outside in the nice warm sun (with a sun hat of course) was just what she needed, to stop the hysterics.  Grumpa was working with the horses and that would certainly stop the crying and bring smiles.  

We walked down to the round pen and stood for a few minutes before we saw them.  Our neighbors.  Completely naked.  Standing next to the river.  

On the list of things that I never want to see, this is rather high.  If you had asked me beforehand what was on the list I probably wouldn't have thought it up, but it's on there now, somewhere near the top.  

It wasn't like they were in their backyard.  Oh no, their backyard is half a mile away.  They have to walk half a mile, past our neighbor's house, my grandparent's house, my parent's house and our cabin to get to the river, which is also next to one of our tiny towns busiest roads.  It is not private at all!  

Yuck!  I guess this is what we get for living so close to Humboldt County.  

Anyways...  Sadie hasn't tried to walk again since her little tiny steps a few hours ago, and I'm wondering if it was a one time thing for right now, or if she's about to be tearing around the house...  I'm not sure if I'm ready for my not-yet-ten-month-old to be walking!


Friday, April 17, 2009

The Almost Purple Baby

Sadie's high chair tray was completely empty yesterday when I turned around and walked my plate to the dishwasher.  I rinsed it off and squeezed it into the last remaining spot and then turned back to get Sadie.  What I saw caused me to run across the room.  She was a red color that was quickly threatening to become purple.  As I raced across the room I tried to think of what she could possibly have put in her mouth.  There was absolutely nothing that she could have reached.  

I reached her and was about to scoop her up out of her high chair when she let out a sigh and gulped in more air.  Then she started to giggle.  She had been holding her breath.  

I froze.  And very slowly, I turned around so she couldn't see my face.  I didn't want to look happy (or terrified) because I didn't want her to think that my reaction was hilariously funny and something that she wanted to try for again.  I'm really hoping it's a one time thing (at least for several years).  

Sadie is continuing to challenge me on the hearth.  She started first thing this morning, although she seemed to be listening a little bit better.  She crawled over next to the hearth and sat right next to it.  But she didn't touch it.  Then she started to reach her hand out.  Paul told her not to touch the hearth and she smiled at him sweetly.  This was repeated several time.  At one point she pretended that she hadn't been about to touch the hearth, she was really just looking under the rug that sits in front of the hearth.  As soon as Paul was out the door and on his way to school she leaned over and smacked her hand on the hearth one time.  That brought about her first time out of the day.

When we got home from Redding she headed straight over to the hearth.  I asked her not to touch it and then watched.  She reached out her hand and petted the rug, inches from the stones on the hearth.  I think she's definitely testing the rules!  But today was better then yesterday.  She only broke the "do not touch the hearth or the stove" rule three times!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

As Stubborn as a Mule

"Sadie."  I say her name softly at first and, hoping to distract her, I hit all the buttons on her pop up toy so all the animals pop up, something that I know that she can barely stand.  She is undeterred and heads straight for the hearth and the wood stove.  
"Sadie Kathleen."  I say her name a little bit louder the second time and she freezes, her little hand about to extend to touch the stones on the front of the hearth.  She turns and looks at me.  "Don't do it.  You know we don't touch the hearth."  She is still as long as I keep talking, but when my voice trails off after the word "hearth" her hand shoots out again and she turns back towards the stove.

"No.  Sadie.  Do.  Not.  Touch.  The.  Stove."  I stand up and she smacks the hearth with her hand and then sits back.  

"We're going to have a time out now."  Sadie beams at me and submits to the idea of a time out.  We sit on the couch while I count to ten.  She holds perfectly still, her hands on her feet, until I reach ten and then she straightens her legs and squirms to get down.  If someone else was in the room they would be able to tell that this isn't our first time.  And most time outs are stove related.  

I put Sadie down on the ground and she heads straight back across the room for the stove.  "Sadie!"  Grumpa comes in the room and his voice booms.  Sadie freezes again.  She gives us a big smile and then makes a mad dash across the room.  I catch her as she reaches out her hand to brush the cold rocks of the hearth.  Time out number two.

After seven seconds Sadie is impatient and ready to go.  I have the distinct impression that she's planning something, but she's not quite ten months old.  Is that even possible?  Three seconds later she's released from time out and sits for a moment by my feet.  She crawls casually toward her toys, but I see her eyeing the stove.  Her books are a few feet away from the stove and she pretends that she's headed in their direction.  I have a feeling that this isn't the case, mostly because she keeps glancing over her shoulder at me.  I've seen Starr, our horse, with the same look on his face, usually right before he does something that he's not supposed to do.  

She inches closer to the stove and stops.  Sitting up, perfectly straight, she looks at me.  "Sadie.  Not the stove."  She smiles sweetly.  I can almost hear her say:  "Try and stop me, Ma."  She turns.  I give her the benefit of the doubt because one of these days she really is going to listen.  She sprints.  "Sadie!"  She slides to a stop.  This is beginning to remind me of the game Red Light, Green Light.  "Come over here.  Come play with Mommy."  But Mommy isn't fun.  Mommy is knitting.  She stops three more times to check to see if I'm going to stop her before she gets to the hearth.  When she reaches the hearth I swoop in.  Time out number three.

Sadie had five time outs this evening.  There were only five because after the fifth we went in and had dinner and then we went upstairs for bath time.  She definitely has a strong will.  In fact, some people might even say she's as stubborn as a mule!  At least, that's what I was beginning to think this afternoon.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Up, Down, Up: Learning to Sit and Stand

I think that I can relax a little.  Sadie appears to have mastered the fine art of standing up and sitting down on her own.  She has a few different tactics that she uses to go from standing to sitting, depending on the situation and her mood, with varying degrees of success, but for the most part she is no longer plopping backwards and banging her head on the ground.  

When she's near the couch she tends to sit down very slowly.  It's very obvious what she's doing, before she does it, because she puts her hands out in front of her and sticks her butt out behind her.  Then she leans back very slowly, until gravity finally takes over and a moment later she's sitting on the ground.  

When she's feeling a bit more patient she actually squats down first and then works her way into a sitting position.  This is the least nerve racking move that she knows, because she doesn't risk crashing into the ground.

Once in a while though, she still gets stuck.  This happens when she sits down, but keeps holding on to something with one hand.  This has only happened twice, but she was really upset about it!

I still can't believe how fast she's growing and learning!  She's explored the entire downstairs now, which keeps me on my toes.  Her favorite room in the house is the kitchen.  

I don't think it will be too much longer before she's walking!


Monday, April 13, 2009

The Bubble-Wrap Baby

I've decided that Sadie needs to be wrapped in bubble wrap.  She has reached the age where her every movement seems determined to end in a crash.  I watched her crawl across the floor in the living room earlier today.  She is pretty good at crawling and on her way over to see me she put one hand way up in the air, like she planned on waving, and then pitched wildly the in the opposite direction, before face planting into the carpet.  Instead of crying, she rolled and was back up on her hands and knees, determined to grab the book I was reading out of my hands.  

I brought her over to play on her Cruise and Crawl.  She played with the balls on the ramp for a while and spun the little red and yellow ball around.  After about five minutes of fun she decided to see what Nani and Grumpa were doing outside (they were hanging a new hummingbird feeder, because our house is being mobbed my hummingbirds and finches) and she tipped forward and went face first into the purple hippo.  I waited for a moment to see if she would cry, because she bounces back after some particularly bad tumbles without a tear, but this time she let out a few sobs before I scooped her up.  In less then ten seconds she was laughing again.  

The most dangerous place in the house (that she frequents at least) is next to the couch.  I never realized that this particular spot was fraught with danger.  She seems intent on starting her couch scaling attempts from a corner, where the most head-banging potential exists.  I've decided that I don't just want to wrap her in bubble wrap.  I want to wrap her in bubble wrap with a special bubble wrap helmet.

I have noticed that when she's on her own (in other words, a few feet away from anyone "spotting" her) she's a little bit more careful.  She seems to focus a bit more on falling butt first, instead of simply letting go with both hands and free falling backwards.  This is somewhat comforting.  

I wonder when it gets better.  I can't imagine I'll feel like she's safer when she's up on her feet wobbling around.  It'll be so much further to the ground.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  Today was a busy day.  Sadie woke up early this morning to find that the Easter Bunny had already visited Nani and Grumpa's house and there were baskets galore!  There was the basket that Mommy and Daddy had helped the Easter Bunny with, the basket that Grumpa and Nani had helped the easter basket with and the basket that the waitresses from a restaurant we eat at on Tuesday mornings had helped the easter bunny with.  It was a little bit crazy!

After breakfast we got dressed up and headed off to Mass.  Daddy had picked out her dress the day after we found out on the sonogram that she was going to be a girl (although by size we did think it would be for her second Easter) and it was very cute (the matching headband was not a hit).  

Sadie's behavior during Mass (to squeal or not to squeal) is 50/50.  Half the time she sits quietly like a little angel, her eyes fixed on what's going on up front.  However, when she decides that she's bored, she becomes a mini octopus, with eight arms and legs, mind bent on escaping.  What she's going to do when she escapes still remains to be seen.  Today she was on her best behavior.

After that we came home, had pizza for lunch, went on a walk and then headed off with the family to the Easter Egg Hunt in town.  Paul was worried.  He thought, knowing my competitive nature, that I might be, a little too... aggressive, during the egg hunt.  I assured him that I wouldn't knock anyone out of the way.  And I didn't need to (I really wouldn't have!).  We found the silver egg, which means that Sadie got a giant basket (in the top picture) full of prizes.

Now we're relaxing after a big dinner.  Sadie really seemed to enjoy her first Easter.  

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Go-Gurt Drama

Happily Eating Go-Gurt!

Yum!

I Hope We're Not Running Out!

But I'm Still Hungry!

GO-GURT!!!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Peekaboo!


Today is Good Friday and when I came downstairs wearing a dress I was reminded of Sadie’s newest “game,” when she saw that I was wearing a dress and raced across the room, a giddy expression on her face. Sadie’s peekaboo obsession has quickly evolved.

Sadie discovered peekaboo with her blanket. Then she started to realize that there were lots of ways to play peekaboo. The simplest way was to look in the opposite direction and then to snap her head around, while giggling hysterically. When her new playpen arrived, with its net siding, I pretended not to see her when she crouched down behind the netting and then screamed when she jumped up, squealing.

When she saw my dress this morning she was reminded of her newest idea for peekaboo, which she first tried when she saw me wearing a dress earlier this week. She crawled over, a determined look on her tiny face and grabbed the bottom of the skirt. The dress was calf length and when I saw what she was planning I put my hand on my knees (we were at church and I wanted to make sure things didn’t get too out of hand). The skirt was made out of stretchy material though, so she pulled with all her might and brought the skirt over her eyes. Instant peekaboo. She thought it was hilarious.

Unfortunately, today’s skirt was only knee length and she couldn’t quite pull the material far enough to get it to her eyes. She had to settle for closing her eyes, while pulling the skirt back and forth. Apparently this wasn’t quite as funny and after thirty seconds she lost interest.

At the service today she came up with a new version of peekaboo. I was wearing a wide brimmed hat and when Sadie saw it her eyes lit up. She grabbed the brim and started bending the brim up and down. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Sadie's Favorite Non-Toy Toys


1) Nani's Umbrella- I went to find Sadie and Nani today after Paul and I had watched a movie and I found them walking back from Nini and Gigi's house.  Sadie was holding on the Nani's Umbrella with both hands and was absolutely delighted by it.

2) The Kitchen Floor-  I realized today that Sadie thinks that the kitchen is off limits.  I'm not really sure where she came up with this idea, other then the fact that she doesnt really get put down on the floor in there.  Today, when I walked out the door, Sadie, who was in the living room with Nani, watched me go and then sprint-crawled across the room into the kitchen.  That brings us to Sadie's Favorite Non-Toy #3.

3) Magazines-  Sadie is the destroyer of magazines.  She finds there crinkly smooth pages irresistible.  They're good for minutes of uninterrupted play (up to ten).  The key is to put a binkie in her mouth when she goes for the magazine, so that she doesn't feel compelled to shove the magazine into her mouth.  

4) The Couch-  Who knew that the couch could be dangerous?  When I thought of baby proofing the house, the couch seemed safe, in a large, cushioned sort of way.  That was before I understood that Sadie would be attempting to scale the couch recklessly, with very little regard to her delicate little head or that she would see nothing wrong with using the couch to stand up and then simply letting go (we do not have standing down).  

5) Mommy's New High Heels-  I used a gift certificate from my birthday to get a shiny pair of black high heels.  While I was working in the office on Tuesday after church I glanced over at Sadie and saw that she had found the spot where I had placed my shoes when I came inside.  She then proceeded to pull them into the middle of the floor.  I turned around to see what she was going to do and found her sitting over one of them, drooling into it.  I pointed it out to Paul and he announced that she's apparently a "girly-girl."

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Play Time

I just walked into the living room to find Sadie and Daddy playing roll back with the ball.  This is quite a development for a baby who, only last week, looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to get her to push the ball back towards me.  The game of catch held her attention for a couple of minutes, although she has now moved on to body slamming Kitty (her stuffed Calico Cat), who was probably looking at her funny from his seat inside of the play pen.  Kitty is always good for a few minutes of wrestling, whether it's wrestling on the floor or a cage match in her play pen.  

Another favorite activity is deconstructing her toys after they have been picked up.  She isn't really all that interested in her toys when they aren't a mess, but the moment I organize them and put them back into their little places, she hones in on them, picking up each and every one before throwing it down on the floor.  When it's all over she looks a little bit disappointed, although, if I put them away again she's more then willing to repeat the exercise in destruction.  
Despite all the fun, some toys are still a little too overwhelming.  When we went to Round Table last week one of the women who worked there gave Sadie a yellow balloon.  While initially Sadie was delighted, she quickly became irritated.  The balloon clearly wasn't doing what she thought that it was supposed to do (I'm not totally sure what this was, but it involved the balloon fitting into her mouth, which meant Mommy kept being mean and taking it away).  The balloon finally fulfilled it's fun potential when we brought it home and released it in the living room.  Sammy, the cat in the house that most closely resembles Kitty, stood on her hind legs to go after the balloon, which delighted Sadie.  

Monday, April 6, 2009

No Sleep Here!

Desperate times call for desperate measures and I am desperate for Sadie to sleep.  It wasn't this bad a few months ago, but between ear infections and teething the baby that was sleeping through most of the night, and waking up between one and three times, is now waking up between five and ten times (that would be about once every hour) each night.  That means that my maximum sleep time is about two solid hours.  

That, however, wasn't enough to get me to wade through the different methods of getting a baby to sleep through the night, on it's own.  Until last night, when I realized that one of the downsides of co-sleeping with a nine-month old who is the size of a two year old is that you might wake up with a black eye.  Or a fat lip.  

Last night Sadie decided that it wasn't time to go to sleep, and she threw her head back and head butted my top teeth into my bottom lip.  Ouch!  But she was right.  It wasn't bed time.  It was time for Mommy to go downstairs and ice her bottom lip as it swelled up (I also got a chance to see what it would look like if I got plumping injections in my bottom lip and let me tell you...it's not a good idea).  After being socked in the face by a sleeping Sadie three additional times last night, I decided that something needed to be done.  

I headed to Barnes and Nobles when we were in Redding this morning and picked out two books on getting babies to sleep.  The first book, which I read the first two chapters of already, promises a "gentle" way to get your baby, toddler, preschooler or elementary school student to sleep.  The second book is more along the lines of "let your baby cry it out" and I am hoping that the first book works so I never have to crack open the second book.   

So we will now see if the "gentle" method will really working (I feel like I'm talking about training a horse when I write that).  Keep your fingers crossed.  Hopefully it will work!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Palm Sunday: Throwing Socks and Behaving in Church

Today is Palm Sunday, which means that Sadie made it through a very long gospel reading this morning (although I will not claim that she made it through without making a sound).  She squeaked several times, babbled a little, made small squacking sounds, tried to grab the palm of the lady sitting on our right, tried to pet the jacket of the lady sitting in front of us, and used every ounce of strength to try to lift the hymnal out of the back of the pew in front of us so that she could run her finger nails back and forth over the tops of the pages.  Paul and I passed her back and forth, because it takes a lot of energy to keep her quiet for an entire hour and she was not as convinced or lulled by my swaying back and forth, which usually does the trick.  

We've been trying to get through Mass without the assistance of toys or food.  I looked around at a few other blogs that talked about the subject of having babies at church and the general consensus was that you should have high expectations from the very beginning so that it's never a surprise or a change when you decide that the baby is too old to have snacks or a sippy cup at church.  

Some of the moms suggested having church shoes, so that kids know that when they're in their church shoes they need to be on their best behavior.  Once Sadie's old enough to keep her shoes on her feet (so far shoes and socks are kind of a disaster) we're going to try this strategy.  I liked the suggestion of blank patent leather shoes for fall and winter and white patent leather for spring and summer.  I'll write more about that when I know whether it worked for us.  

Speaking of socks, I did put socks on Sadie's feet this morning before we left for church.  Then I put them back on her feet after she pulled them off during the gospel reading.  Then I picked one up off the pew in front of us because Sadie had pulled it off and thrown it (luckily the sock didn't hit anyone).  A few sock replacements later I started holding one sock in my hand to avoid the inevitable sock retrieval.  She certainly is strong willed.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Night Time Reading


These are Sadie's Favorite Bedtime Books.  Time for Bed is her absolute favorite (and I think it may be her favorite book in the entire world too!).  We read this to her before her bath every night and she squeals, usually when she sees the picture of the deer and the kitty.  She also insists on kissing the baby on the last page before we put the book down for the night.  

This is my favorite bed time book!  I love the rhyming story!  Sadie gets a little bit impatient with it, but she likes it when I do the animal sounds.  Sometimes I throw in extra animal sounds to keep Sadie interested.

Sadie's Good Night Boston was what we were reading the night that Sadie decided that she longer hated books (the pages had her a little bit frustrated up until that point).  

And last, but not least, Goodnight Moon.  The classic bedtime book.  Although it does have one strike against it.  It reminds me just a little too much of The Runaway Bunny, which always made me cry when I was little (because the bunny is running away!).    

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Is Sadie in Jail?!?!

Sadie isn't sure how she feels about her play pen.  It seemed like a good idea in the beginning.  She can practice standing up in it and she realized very early on that if she lets go of the play pen wall and free falls straight down onto the bottom of the play pen, it doesn't hurt at all.  And watching her play with Kitty in the play pen is like watching a UFC Cage Fight.  Kitty gets body slammed into the netting, the corners and the brightly colored floor.

The original play pen is the play pen in my pictures and it was actually the bassinet that Sadie slept in next to my bed for several months when she was much smaller.  However when she hit three months old she was over the weight limit for the bassinet (along with pretty much every other bassinet in the entire world) and it turned into a toy holder.  Until now.  

I underestimated Sadie's ability to get around the baby proofing that has gone on in the house.  There are only a few areas that Sadie is not allowed to play in (she tries to hang on the front of the TV stand and she tries to play on the hearth in front of the wood stove) and Sadie is obsessed with those spots.  They are clearly the most fun areas to play in and I am obviously just a big spoil sport who doesn't want her to have fun (this is also why she believes that I secretly hold huge parties with her rubber duckies the bath tub when she goes down for naps). 

It takes a lot of energy to keep up with Sadie when she's determined to get somewhere.  This is where the playpen comes in.  The little bassinet play pen was pretty small, so Nani and Grumpa surprised Sadie with a new playpen that stands at the edge of the living room.  It's a Graco Play Yard and it is very bright (it doesn't quite match the living room as well as the other one, but it has a lot more room).  

As I said at the beginning of the blog, Sadie isn't quite sure how she feels about the playpen, now that it's a (semi) permanent part of the living room.  It's still a lot of fun... sometimes.  However now that we are going through the "separation anxiety" phase it can also be very scary, even when Mommy is less than two feet away.

This afternoon though, she discovered the best part of the play yard.  Grumpa was sitting on the couch and Sadie was in her play pen.  She crouched down behind on of the solid colored corners and then popped up.  Grumpa acted like he was shocked, which sent Sadie into hysterics.  Once she got her laughter under control she continued to crouch down and then pop up, in an enthusiastic game of peek-a-boo.  The play yard is the best peek-a-boo toy ever!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Daily Nature Walks

When we go on walks these days Sadie does more then sit and watch the clouds go by.  She pulls herself as far forward as she can, sits up straight in her little stroller and scans the landscape.  Sometimes we stop and look at the trees and touch their leaves, which Sadie originally thought was a little bit scary, but which has suddenly turned into one of the funniest things in the world.  When we walk by trees she reaches her tiny hand out as far as she can and tries to touch them.  

Trying to touch the trees is how she noticed the wind.  When she put her hand out touch one of the pine trees she felt the wind through her fingers and now, raising her hand and putting it out the side of the stroller is a favorite activity.  

She also likes to reach up and touch the drawstring on the bottom of the shade on the top of the stroller.  The funniest thing about her attacks on the drawstring is that she seems to think that she's being very naughty when she reaches for it.  I'll watch her look around to see if anyone is watching and then, when she thinks we're not paying attention, she'll reach for it.  If she sees me watching her she'll put her hand down quickly and then laugh hysterically.  

We also have a tendency to lose toys on our walks.  We always find them, because they always get "lost" at the same spot.  For some reason, the orange monkey that lives in her stroller along with her plastic keys always seem to dive out of her lap right next to the giant mud puddle at the bottom of the loop that we walk on.  

I suspect that it's not an accident, although I've never actually seen her throw them out.  Luckily it's never happened on our last lap and we always find them before we go inside.