Sunday, May 31, 2009

A New Pool: Sadie's Swimming on the Deck

This picture reminds me of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  This is Sadie's new floaty for summer.  We plan on doing lots of swimming and I thought this would help her get used to the water.  She was pretty comfortable in it and seemed to think it was like wearing additional protective padding when she was tearing around the house.  

Here's the pool.  It was on sale for three dollars at Paul's work and it seemed like the perfect plan to cool down with the hundred degree weather that we've had lately.

We started out by looking at the water.  Sadie, who was excited when we tried the icy cold pool out at a motel earlier this month, was far less excited about her little, rather warm pool, on the deck.

We try the water out.  Sadie lets everyone know exactly what she thought about her new play thing.  She whined loudly until we lifted her out.  Time for a new strategy.  

Sadie was much happier with her toys in the pool while she stayed on dry land.  While a number of horses started out in the water Sadie took the time to fling them across the deck (her favorite activity is throwing things).  

Sadie decided that reading is more fun than swimming.  At least until the swimming pool in town opens next week.  

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Pointing and Pouting

Sadie has a way of letting us know what she wants.  She's become an expert at pointing.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks are when her pointing goes into overdrive, as she lets me know that she absolutely and without exception needs a sip of water between every single bite of food.  If I'm not fast enough the pointing is accompanied by little "uh-uh-uh-uh" sounds.  

Sadie doesn't like drinking water quite as much as she likes sucking it into her mouth through a straw.  We bought two covered cups with silicone straws at Target in the summer section and she fell in love with them right away.  One looks like a monkey head and the other one is a magenta octopus.  She loves them.  She'll sit and drink for about thirty seconds before she's had enough, but having enough doesn't mean that she wants to stop sucking on the fun, squishy straw.  So she keeps sucking, opening her mouth in between gulps to spit the water out.  The first time it happened I thought it was an accident.  After the fiftieth time it began to dawn on me that the water spitting might be intentional.  

If pointing for water doesn't work she pulls out her pouty face.  The pouty face is actually very close to a kissing face, with her little lips puckered, but if you try to kiss her when she's pouting she's quick to open her mouth and stick out her tongue (although that's not an entirely fair representation of Sadie's kisses.  She is getting much better at giving kisses).  

A month from today we leave and drive to Sacramento before hopping on a plane to Boston!  We can hardly wait!

Friday, May 29, 2009

The Gate at the Bottom of the Stairs (and other small tragedies)

Sadie's had a tough couple of days.  She tears across the room at an incredibly speedy crawl and her new goal seems to be to slip out of sight, whether it's around a corner or in another room.  I have been spending a good portion of my days chasing after her and hauling her back into the living room or the bed room or whatever other room we happen to be spending time in.  The weather hasn't helped either.  It has been incredibly humid these last few days (to go with the hundred degree heat) and so we've been stuck inside most of the time, which means that every time we walk past a door that leads to the outside world, Sadie starts to cry (or at least pretends to cry with a hysterical scream) and leans towards the window.  

This afternoon though, things went from bad to worse (at least from Sadie's point of view).  As Sadie has become obsessed with escaping she has also showed an obsession with the stairs.  I followed her up the stairs tonight and she can make it up to the second floor in about thirty seconds.  After dinner she crawled over to the stairs, ready to make an escape and was stopped in her tracks.  There was a baby gate.  She fussed.  She banged her hands on it.  She stood up, on her tippy toes, and tried to grab the handle.  Luckily the handle is so difficult to open that I had to be shown how to press the button and pull to get it to release and open.  Then she laid down on her stomach with her face pressed into the ground.  I sensed a tantrum coming.  We've had a lot of tantrums lately, some for far less upsetting developments.  Instead she lifted her head up and tried to slide through the one inch crack between the gate and the bottom stair.  Finally she gave up and showed the gate to her Dad.  He was not appropriately devastated by the gate's appearance.

Along with the gate, another gate has showed up on her play room door and she's found that the doors to the pantry, the bathroom and the den all close.  That just leaves Nani and Grumpa's living room, dining room and hallway.  That's hardly any fun at all!  But it's a far easier space to chase after her!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Nap Time

The baby is finally asleep.  I have been trying to put her down for a nap for the past three hours (we sailed right past morning nap and are finally settled in for an early afternoon nap).  She resisted the entire time (except for a quick break for lunch) although she was clearly exhausted.  At around 10:30 she decided that she wasn't tired and when Sadie decides something it can be tough, if not impossible, to change her mind.  

Sadie was already sleepy when I started trying to convince her that it was nap time.  We had her Winnie the Pooh lullaby music playing and we read a story, which in hind sight, might not have been a great idea, because Sadie tends to get pretty worked up when we read together.  She becomes focused on who is holding the book (me usually), who she thinks should be holding the book (her) and the unfairness in that arrangement.  The problem is that when she is the one who's holding the book it's either going to end up as a teether (and her sharp little teeth can go right through board books these days) or thrown on the ground in a fit of glee that quickly turns into tears when she realizes that she no longer has her book.  Somehow reading does not seem soothing these days.  

She actually also takes issue with her Winie the Pooh lullaby stuffed animal, so that probably wasn't such a good idea either.  It looks harmless enough.  It's this cute little stuffed bed with a Pooh Bear, Tigger and Eeyore in it.  The comforter across their laps has a heart, a star and a moon that light up when you press the star in the middle, while the entire thing plays music.  When you first press the star Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore say goodnight to each other and to the baby.  That's Sadie's favorite part.  She doesn't like the part where the talking stops and the lullaby begins, maybe because it reminds her that it's nap time.  So she sits next to it, sometimes for long periods of time and presses the star each time the music starts, so that they talk for another thirty seconds.  If she's across the room when the music starts she scowls and races back over to press the star again.  

I should have seen that putting that particular stuffed animal next to her was bound to be a napping disaster.  She would press the button and lay her head down and close her eyes.  Then the talking would stop and the lullaby would start and she would jerk up, into a sitting position, scowl for a moment and press the star again.  This repeated itself for a good twenty rounds of "goodnight Pooh, goodnight Tigger, goodnight eeyore, goodnight little baby..." before I gave up and took Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore away.  

There were tears involved in this nap, but she's finally asleep and hopefully this nap will last a while so she can wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed (but not so long that she thinks a good bedtime is 9pm!).  I'm watching the clock.  

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Time Out with Daddy

Sadie seems to be enjoying her time outs.  The other day she approached the hearth despite the fact that it's against the rules (I know that all of you who read this blog even somewhat regularly are probably not shocked by this) and rested her hand on the top of the stones.  Paul was down on the floor playing with her and he looked very serious when he told her that she had three seconds to move her hand.  He counted very slowly... "three, two...o" when he started to say "one" she snatched her hand off the stones and started to laugh hysterically.  

Less then two minutes later she was back at it, one hand lightly resting on the hearth, her eyes watching Paul to see what he would do.  "Sadie Kathleen!  Don't touch the hearth.  You have three seconds... three, two, one."  Sadie waited a second too long and he had said "one."  That meant it was time for a time out.  Paul leaned forward to pick her up, informing her that she was going to have a time out for touching the hearth, and she started bouncing up and down in place, a huge grin on her face, with her hands up in the air for Paul to pick her up.  

She definitely doesn't seem to think of time outs as a punishment.  

And another story from yesterday...  When we were having lunch at Round Table Pizza I overheard a conversation.   A woman who looked to be in her eighties or early nineties was adamantly telling the two people that she was with that the baby a few tables over was a boy.  I started listening to the argument when I heard "well that's not necessarily true... it could just be a very big girl!"  

It was actually a very big girl.

They finally asked if she was a boy and a girl, but the elderly woman didn't appear to be convinced and when we left I think she was still pretty sure that our little girl (who was wearing an orange shirt with kind of puffy sleeves) was a boy.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Sadie's Walk Through Town

I am a cat person and because I like cats Sadie is very used to being around cats (of course that doesn't mean that she doesn't chase them every chance that she gets).  So we were both a bit shocked today when Sadie and I were walking downtown, waiting for Daddy to get his hair cut, and a woman with a pit bull began walking towards us.  I had crossed over the sidewalk so that we were as far away as we could possibly be without going into the freeway, but she stopped and changed direction so that she and the dog walked right up to the side of the stroller.  Unfortunately our Bob stroller doesn't fit in the Prius (it would have offered a little more protection), so we had the little, collapsable Jeep stroller, and I was suddenly very nervous.  "Oh, don't worry," she said, "my dog loves babies."  By then her big pit bull was nose to nose with Sadie, sniffing her face.  I was so relieved when she pulled her dog back and we were able to walk away.  Her pit bull seemed perfectly nice, but I don't want any dog I don't know sticking it's head next to Sadie's (particularly a dog who looks like it's main job is guarding a pot garden).

Other then that brief incident we had a wonderful walk on a beautiful day.  Paul went to get his hair cut at the barber and we walked towards our next  stop, which was the bank.  Main Street in our town is the freeway, and today was a busy day, so a car went by every few seconds.  Sadie was very animated.  She began by pointing at each and every passing car.  She was unfazed by the giant logging trucks that went barreling by.  Then she saw it.  

If I had only been watching her expression I would have thought that a beautiful unicorn was prancing through a meadow of brilliantly colored wild flowers.  She also probably would have had the same expression if she saw a twenty foot tall glass of milk.  Instead when I followed her gaze I saw a Harley Davidson being driven by a man in black leather.  Sadie pointed, just like she had with the other trucks and cars, but instead of waving she put both her hands in the air and acted like she wanted to be picked up.  We kept walking.  After that she continued to wave at the other cars, but she would make the same "up" motion with her hands every time she saw a motorcycle or a large truck (not a sixteen wheeler, they only got waved at).  

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Sadie's Sunday

This picture was taken yesterday when we were playing outside on the porch.  I tried to give Sadie a kiss and was attacked.  Sadie's kisses are rather passionate these days.  However they have conditions.  

Sadie refuses to give Grumpa and Daddy kisses if they haven't shaved recently (very recently, actually).  If they shaved that morning they might get a kiss before bedtime, but she also may decide that the five o'clock shadow is just a bit too much.  

We finished Sadie's playroom today.  It took three days of hard work, but there is now one room that, so far, appears to be entirely baby proof.  It only took our cat, Delilah, about two minutes to realized that if she sat directly behind me on the bed Sadie couldn't reach her.  After we finished the room we brought Sadie's toys up from the living room and neatly arranged them in the "play area."  Sadie went into destruction mode and flung her toys around.  It now looks like a "real" play room.  

Sadie also managed to slow down the entire congregation when we were exiting Church this morning.  Our priest stopped to say goodbye to Sadie and she grabbed onto his hand and then refused to let go (I never realized how strong her grip could be).  Sadie and I had been standing in the back after a crying episode (she still isn't feeling great) so we were pretty much blocking the doorway.  When Paul got there she let go of Father Lito's hand and latched on to Paul.  She's awfully silly sometimes.  

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Herd Bound

If Sadie was a horse we would say that she's herd bound.  She likes everyone to be home and when everyone is home she likes everyone to be in one room where she can keep an eye on us.  The other day she was sitting on the line that divides the living room from the kitchen.  Grumpa walked by, headed towards the bathroom.  She followed after him.  He got there first and closed the door.  There was a shriek of outrage.  She crawled over to the door and started to beat her little fist on it.  

She was also horrified when we went to dinner at Applebees earlier this month.  The whole family was in Redding but we had decided to go our separate ways for dinner.  Nani and Grumpa and Nini and Gigi were in one car and Paul and Sadie and I headed off in another car.  When we got to Applebees we realized that everyone was there, but we decided to sit separately.  Sadie was fine until she realized that everyone else was there too.  Then the hysterics started.  Sadie is usually very good when we eat out, she likes to watch people and coo at every single person that passes her high chair.  Instead, after she calmed down, moped through the meal, wining and occasionally making crying sounds (no actual tears).

She also hates when we walk and I run into my garden to move the sprinkler around or change the water.  Even though it's only a few feet away it means that my back is turned to her and that is just not acceptable.  Screaming is usually involved.

We don't usually have to worry if one of the horses gets out of the corral as long as the others are still penned up.  The one that's out won't leave the others.  Watching Sadie play at the playground is similar to watching the horses when one of them is out.  She crawls a few feet away from my feet, turns, looks to make sure that I'm there, crawls another step and then turns around and sprint crawls back to my feet.  I hope she's herd bound for a while longer.  I think that pretty soon I'll be chasing after her!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Spring Cleaning

We are knee deep in Spring Cleaning this week.  After eleven months of letting things pile up the cabin is clean and the bathroom we use in the house is clean and I am now working on "Sadie's Playroom."  I haven't even thought about working through the weeds that have taken over my garden.  I tried to convince myself that all the green looked pretty, but now that it's turning yellow and is knee high I don't think I can avoid the inevitable work that it's going to take to get things looking good in the yard.  First I will finish the play room though.  

The house is still not completely baby proof.  Each time we get to a point where we think it's finally baby proof, Sadie grows or becomes more coordinated and is able to reach new, exciting things.  My goal is to make the room upstairs truly baby proof, although the mirrored closet doors present a challenge.  It doesn't help that Sadie is obsessed with them.  And she continues to obsess over climbing the hearth.  Maybe we'll have to get a fence next year that goes around it so she can't reach the wood stove.  

Sadie is still a little under the weather, which means that she took two good naps today.  When she was awake she became obsessed with a bucket full of blocks.  I was sorting through socks, trying to figure out which ones didn't have mates and needed to be thrown out, and she alternated between moving her blocks between two buckets (one was clear and one was red.  She loved the clear one.) and taking the socks that I had set aside out of the box that they were in to fling them across the room.  Cleaning and organizing goes very slowly when Sadie is "helping."  She also found a pile of laminated flash cards and flung them around the room.  But by the time I gave up for the day things were neater then they were when we began, and that is something!  

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Mushrooms and Binkies

Strange things have been going on right outside our back door.  I didn't write about them at first because it was just too strange (and a little bit scary), but now that the airplane is no longer circling over our house and a number of arrests have been made, it feels much safer here.  First of all, for those of you who haven't seen the area we live in, it is very rural.  We drive an hour and a half to do most of our shopping.  Our town's official population is posted as 160 people.  

The good thing about living in such a small town is that you notice when a large group of people moves into the area and acts suspiciously.  In this case a large group showed up and started wandering around the hills around our home.  It was more then a little odd.  

Today, five days since all this started, we finally found out what was going on.  ABC news reported 25 arrests in our little town.  They said that a large group of illegal immigrants had moved into the area and were looking for mushrooms.  I guess they didn't realize that people are very protective of their land in the area and very serious when they post Private Property and No Trespassing signs.  


Now back to Sadie.  

She is still a little fussy, but she was also pretty funny today.  We were sitting on the couch this afternoon and she was refusing to take her afternoon nap.  I started telling her that she really needed to go to sleep and she got an irritated look on her little face, pulled out her binkie and shoved it into my mouth.  I wasn't sure that it wasn't a coincidence or if she was really trying to keep me from talking.  A few minutes later she had reclaimed her binkie.  I started talking to her again, softly, trying to coax her into falling asleep.  For a second time she twisted around and shoved the binkie into my mouth.  She was definitely trying to get me to stop talking!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A Sick Day

We had a tough day today.  Sadie has been a little fussy lately and has been tugging on her ears, but she has been otherwise so cheerful that I hadn't thought much about it.  She's had ear infections before, but the doctor said that the kind of ear infections she has do go away on their own and that we should wait to call, as long as she doesn't seem to be in pain.  

Today we were driving to Redding and Sadie got sick in the car (it involved the bananas she had just eaten for breakfast and it really wasn't pretty).  I realized that the extra outfit that I usually keep in my bag had apparently been left in the house and Sadie's outfit was definitely ruined.  Luckily I had worn a tank top under my shirt and I put my tee shirt on Sadie and headed to Target.

My mistake was in only buying one new outfit at Target.  We got back in the car and Sadie started to fuss.  I let Sadie have a small sip of water our of her cup.  With a minute she was sick again, all over her new outfit.  The second outfit was not salvageable.  

I called the doctor's office and they said they could see Sadie at 12:15.  I'm not sure I would have called if Redding hadn't already had a case of the swine flu and I really didn't think that was what it was, but since Sadie is little and can't really tell us how sick she's feeling, I thought it was better to be safe then sorry.  

Sadie waited outside with Grumpa and Nani while I ran back into Target and bought two more four dollar shirts (I wasn't taking any chances) and then we headed over to the doctor's office.  

Once we got to the doctor's office Sadie was magically transformed into a giggly, happy baby.  They weighed her and she weighed in at 19 lbs 7 oz, however the weight probably isn't all that accurate, because she wouldn't hold still, so the weight kept swinging between 20 and 18 lbs.  After that it was time for her temperature, which was 99.3 degrees in her ear.  Her ears were pink and her throat was red, but after a strep test he ruled it a viral infection and said that we should wait this time on the antibiotics.  

The strep test was not fun.  I had to hold Sadie's head so that she couldn't turn it and she was a little angry with me when it was over.  She put her hand out to go to Nani and after Nani took her she turned and reached for the doctor (who she had allowed to carry her through the office earlier).  Our doctor picked her up (she was still screaming) and she gave him a hug before reaching to go back to Nani and then back to me.  She had had to let everyone know that she was not happy about the tests.

She's had baby tylenol and is now feeling better.  Hopefully this won't be a long night.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Stop Chasing that Cat!!!

Sadie has a problem with chasing our cats.  If you take all the cats that are owned by my Paul and I, my parents and my grandparents, you have five cats and four of them are in constant Sadie Danger.  She can't walk yet, but she still takes off after them, her tiny arms straining to keep up as she tears around the house.  

Today Sammie, a good natured orange and black cat, was lounging on the couch.  Sadie approaches, screaming and tried to grab Sammie's tail.  Sammie got up and walked to the other end of the couch.  Apparently she hadn't seen Sadie's new and improved cruising skills.  Sadie was three couch cushions away.  She inched her way down the first cushion.  What happened next was very cute.

Sadie crouched down and laid her arm across the couch while watching Sammie.  Then she pressed her face into her arm so that her eyes were hidden and she slowly began to inch down the couch, teetering on her little feet.  Every few steps she would lift her head, just barely, to stare at the cat and make sure that she was still there.  

Sammie humored Sadie by laying still until Sadie reached her.  Sadie grabbed the bottom of her feet.  Sammie sighed.  Sadie screamed at the top of her lungs (a sure sign of happiness... it would probably be more accurately described as a giggle/shriek).  Sammie jumped up and launched herself across the room.  Sadie followed her.  

A minute later I found myself pulling Sadie off of Sammie, who had been under the mistaken impression that ten feet would be a good distance to go to get away from the baby.  The cats haven't quite realized how mobile (and quick) she is.

We also had another step today!  Sadie was standing next to Grumpa, who was sitting in a chair.  I was sitting on the couch and Sadie let go of Grumpa's leg, stood with her little arms out balancing, and then took a step before grabbing on to my leg.  She's taken three whole steps on her own now!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Sadie's Eight Words

Sadie isn't a big talker yet (with a few exceptions).  I can count on her to say "mama mama mama" when she wants something.  Her are a list of her words to date.

1. "Hi"- Sadie started to say this early and when she was only a few months old she said it a few times a week and was very amused by the shocked expressions that always appeared on the faces of everyone who heard.

2. "No"- I am glad that we have Sadie's first "no" on camera.  And it was on Christmas morning.  

3. "Mama" or "Mom"- Sadie says this frequently.  Usually with a whiny tone when she wants something.

4. "Dada"- Sadie doesn't have to say this one as often because usually she just has to look at Daddy and she gets whatever she wants.  She already has him wrapped around her little baby finger.

5. "Nana"- She went through a phase when she refused to say Mama and whenever I tried to get her to say it she would look at me, smile and then say "nana nana nana."  

6. "Umpa"- This is a tough word.  Sadie said it the other day after I said "look it's Grumpa!"  

7. "Home"- I was shocked when we were on a walk a few days ago and Nani said "we're going home" and Sadie, who was riding along in her little stroller said "home!"

8. "Be-bo"- Sadie said this several months ago (only once).  We were reading a book about belly buttons and there was a baby hippo that says "be-bo" when he sees his belly button.  And she repeated "be bo" after I said it.

She's growing so fast!  She's going to be chattering away before we know it.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Another Day with Sadie!

We had a date day today and Sadie spent four entire hours away from Mommy and Daddy, which is a new record.  We went to see a movie and then went out for an early dinner (although I did call to check up on Sadie halfway through the date and I talked to her on the speaker phone before we went to dinner).  

Sadie is very close to walking.  She stands on her own now and when she cruises around the room holding on to things she barely holds on to the furniture with her finger tips.  I have to keep myself from grabbing her when she lets go of the furniture, because it's the immediate response as she wobbles to and fro on her little feet, but she can stand on her own.  

I forgot one of Sadie's new favorite foods when I made my little food list the other day.  We were having hamburgers a few nights ago and I let Sadie suck on the end of a dill pickle.  I expected her to make a sour face at the strong flavor.  Instead she began to suck on it happily and opened her mouth for more.  She has very interesting favorites!

The forecast for today put the estimated temperature at 103 degrees in Redding.  It was in the high nineties here.  I'm not quite ready for that sort of heat yet.  

Sadie and Daddy are currently having a conversation about "making good choices."  It involves the hearth (as it always seems to).  Sadie had a time out on Daddy's lap for a choice that wasn't that good and grinned the entire time.  She seems to think time outs are absolutely hilarious!

Friday, May 15, 2009

The Jamba Juice Incident

Sadie is eating tons of new, grown up foods.  She's a big fan of cheese, particularly Yancy's Fancy Garlic Cheese, although she'll settle for plain cheddar when we have anything that involves shredded cheese.  She also loves yogurt.  Occasionally she's gotten to have a taste of Mommy's ice cream, which is also high on the list of things she loves.  

The biggest problem with eating grown up foods is temper tantrums.  Sadie gets so excited by the fact that she's eating grown up food that when it's gone she gets very upset. 

We had an example of that yesterday when we went to Jamba Juice.  Sadie has figured out how to drink out of a straw so I gave her a sip of my Aloha Pineapple Jamba Juice in the car.  Things started out alright.  Sadie drained two inches of Jamba Juice without showing any signs of getting a cold headache.  I was impressed. 

Then the worst possible thing that Sadie could imagine happened.  I tried to take a sip of her Jamba Juice.  It was just a little sip and I slipped the straw back over to her lips in less then five seconds, but it was too late.  Sadie was furious.  She screamed, tears streaming down her face.  I tried giving her her bottle which was full of water.  No luck.  Next I offered her her purple sippy cup, also filled with water.  She threw it violently to the ground.  Luckily we were in the car, so the scene didn't play out in public.  

By the time we got out of the car, the Jamba Juice was nearly forgotten.  And I was much more careful today when I gave her the Garlic Cheese I had brought as a treat to go with lunch at Burger King.  

If I substitute a food that she doesn't mind giving up, like Gerber's Graduate Puffs, Sadie doesn't have tantrum when she's finished.  I'm learning!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Wonder Pets

"The phone, the phone is ringing.  The phone, I'll be right there..."  

I have had the Wonder Pets song going through my head for the past three days.  We watch the Wonder Pets because it's on at 10:30 in the morning, which happens to be the time that Sadie takes her nap each morning.  When she's having a hard time going to sleep we watch half an episode of the Wonder Pets and by the end of it she's usually asleep or at least calm enough to fall asleep.  

A few days ago when we were in the car she started to fuss so I started to sing part of one of the songs.  It was "What's gonna work?  Teamwork!  What's gonna work?  Teamwork!"  Each time I said "teamwork" she would start to giggle hysterically.  

Now we've realized that any part of the Wonder Pets songs make her laugh, which is great because the song is stuck in my head, on replay, so I've been singing it a lot.  

And now it looks like I've got to go sing it again because Sadie is having a fussy day and it has turned into a fussy night.  

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Sadie's Pink Balloon

Sadie wasn't sure about being in her stroller on the day that this picture was taken.  She was feeling a little bit shy, which doesn't happen very often with Sadie and wasn't all that sure that she wanted to be down in her stroller.  There were a ton of kids running around playing and it was kind of overwhelming.  Once we scooped her up though and started carrying her around she decided that the kids' fair was a great idea and even met Smokey the Bear.  

Right now we're trying to figure out how many naps a day Sadie should take.  She usually takes her morning nap at about 10:30, which means she wakes up just in time for lunch.  Her afternoon nap is where the struggle begins.  I realized yesterday that when I try to get Sadie to go down for her afternoon nap she realizes what I'm doing and completely refuses to cooperate.  She insists that she's not tired, that she wants to sit up and that she wants to play.  I started to wonder if she still needed an afternoon nap because it seemed like the morning nap was enough.  

The second that I stopped pushing the nap Sadie decided that it must not be such a bad thing.  Yesterday she actually came over and was sleepy and cuddly (and in her little baby way showed that she was ready for her nap).  

Today she had far fewer tantrums (and a few less time outs).  She only had three wood stove related time outs (she had somewhere between 20 and 30 ten second time outs yesterday).  

The hardest part is not laughing when she touches the wood stove and then looks to see if she's in trouble, because the expression on her face when she does something she knows is naughty is priceless.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The Terrible Twos

Maybe Sadie was still tired from the long day we had yesterday in Redding.  Or maybe she has entered into her terrible twos fourteen months early.  Either way the nicest word I can think of to describe her mood today would be "strong willed."  

So far it's kind of funny to watch.  The first dramatic example of a tantrum came when we were sitting out on the porch, enjoying the beautiful day.  We don't have very long left to enjoy the beautiful mid-day weather.  This weekend the forecast is back up into the three digits.  I guess these few short weeks make up spring for 2009.  

Anyways, while we were sitting on the porch Nani brought out three cups of apple juice.  There were two grown up cups and one sippy cup.  Sadie wasn't interested in the sippy cup.  In fact, the suggestion that she should drink out of the sippy cup, which she usually loves, was met with outrage.  She wanted to drink out of Nani's cup.  Nani let her have a sip, but she didn't just want a sip, she wanted to play in the cup with her hands.  

Then she saw my cup.  She scooted over and started to play nicely next to me.  When I had relaxed a bit and wasn't paying attention she attacked, nearly yanking the cup out of my hand.  I managed to keep it from spilling but she was insistent.  She wanted a cup and it had to be my cup.  I tried a few more times to give her her sippy cup.  Each time she made a big show of smashing the cup into the ground.  Finally I put her cup on the little wicker table, keeping my cup carefully out of reach.  

That's when the tantrum started.  I picked her cup back up and handed it to her.  It went flying across the porch.  Then she threw herself onto ground.  The tantrum had begun.  She screamed.  She kicked her little feet and pounded her little fists against the carpet.  I watched her little face.  The expression was clear.  Outrage.  She was trying to muster a tear, but was apparently too angry to cry.  I picked her up.  The tantrum continued.  I gave her a kiss.  More screaming, along with frequent glances at my cup, which I had tried to hide.  I finally set her back down, where the kicking and yelling continued for about a minute.  

Minutes later she had forgotten about the cup.  She wanted the phone.  

It was a long day.  But at least she took two naps!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Sadie Can Stand!


When Sadie walked earlier this month she did it from the couch to the foot rest that Grumpa's feet were up on.  Until today she had never actually stood still without holding on to something.  While we were out playing on the porch, watching Sammy graze on the lawn, she did just that.  She crawled over and used my knees to stand up and then she let go and much to my surprise, she stood!

I picked out two pictures to go with todays Sadie story.  The first one shows Sadie playing with me at the Turtle Bay Play Area in the mall.  The other shows a baby, who is clearly not Sadie, sitting on my lap.  We don't know that baby (I believe her mom called her Ella when she asked her to leave), but Sadie learned a lot from her.  Here's what happened.

Sadie wasn't totally sure that she wanted to play when we got to the play area in the mall.  We were waiting to meet everyone for lunch (the lunch I wrote about yesterday) and we didn't have anything left to do in town, so we headed over to the mall, hopeful that the play area wouldn't be too crowded in the middle of the day on a weekday.  I wanted to pick up a few of the little purse sized anti-bacterial washes at Bath and Body Works, so I left Sadie with Daddy and headed across the mall.  They met me on my way back.  Sadie didn't want to play.  She had thought about going through a little tree trunk tunnel (which is really only about a foot and a half long), but when Paul went from one side to the other so that she could crawl to him, she got a little bit panicked.  

When we got back to the play area we still hasn't gotten a phone call to go to lunch, so we decided to give playing a second try.  Sadie stayed close to Daddy for a few minutes, while I sat a little ways away and tried to encourage her to crawl to me.  The floor in the play area is pretty bouncy and I knew that if Sadie tried it out she would realize that crawling around in there was really a lot of fun.  

Sadie slowly began to inch her way towards me.  Once she was in the middle of the floor the other little girls who were there playing seemed to realize that she was there.  They were barely older than babies themselves (the oldest was probably two), but it was pretty clear that Sadie was a much smaller baby and they were thrilled that she was there.  One little girl ran over and started pointing at Sadie.  Then she lifted up her arms for me to pick her up.  When I didn't pick her up she turned around and sat down on my lap.  Sadie was shocked by this development.  There was another baby sitting on Mommy's lap.  It was hard to believe.  The little girls mom came over and got her, but yesterday Sadie seemed determined to try out her new trick.  Every time I sat down on the floor with her she would scoot over to me and stand up and then very carefully sit down on my lap.  She's very pleased with the discovery.  She's a quick learner.  

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Mommy Who?

Yesterday we went to lunch at Logan's Roadhouse, a restaurant at Redding.  Everyone was in Redding for the day, so we met Nani and Grumpa and Nini and Gigi there.  Sadie was sitting in her little high chair and I started to quiz her on the names of everyone who was present, to see how well she understands names.  I started with Daddy.  I said, "Sadie, where's Daddy?"  She looked straight across the table at Paul.  So I moved on down the table.  "Where's Nani?"  She turned her head to the right side and looked straight at Nani.  We were ready for a more difficult question.  Grumpa was down the table on the other side of Nani, so Sadie couldn't easily see him.  "Sadie, where's Grumpa?"  She glanced around quickly and then leaned forward a few inches and looked straight at Grumpa.  She responded just as quickly to point out Nini and Gigi.  

We only had one question left.  "Sadie," I said, "where's Mommy?"  She looked to her right.  She looked to her left.  She looked over at the other tables.  Apparently there was no Mommy in sight.  I decided to try something out, but first I should explain it.  

When we decided to breastfeed Sadie for up to two years we were told by several people that we needed to come up with another word for nursing so that she didn't start yelling "boob, boob, boob" every time she was thirsty (that could make for an interesting scene in church).  I decided the easiest thing would be to use the word that I used when I was little.  So I leaned over and said to Sadie, who since I had asked her where Mommy was, was completely ignoring me and said "Sadie, where's Tootie?"  There was an instant look of recognition.  She looked straight over at me and then leaned towards me and started grabbing at the neck of my shirt.  My question must have sounded like an invitation.  

If it wasn't for the refrigerator game I would think that she didn't even know who I was.  However, every time we go in the kitchen we play a game.  We have a bunch of pictures on the refrigerator and Sadie has always loved looking at them.  One of her favorite pass times is being held up to the pictures, while whoever is holding her names each of the people in the pictures.  At first we would pick out all the Mommy's in the pictures and then all the Daddy's and then all the Sadie's.  We usually ended by showing her Santa (she gets very excited when she sees the Santa picture).  

Lately she has started to recognize the names of everyone so well that when we said the names of the people in the pictures she would look straight at them.  So we have started adding pictures of her family members across the country.  That way when she sees all the family this summer, both the Boston and Texas sides, she'll know who everyone is.  It's going to be so exciting!

Friday, May 8, 2009

"Hot, Hot, Please Don't Touch"

Sadie is in time out right now.  Her and Daddy are having a talk about not touching the hearth.  We don't touch the hearth because the stove is built into it.  And the stove can be hot!  We've been trying to explain the concept of "hot."  The other day Nani was boiling sugar and water for the humming bird feeder and Sadie and I came in for a visit.  Nani explained that the stove is hot and that we don't touch it.  Sadie looked at the stove, looked at Nani, who said "hot" again and then reached out with both arms open, as if she wanted to hug the boiling water.  This was impossible because I was holding her, but it's clear that she hasn't quite grasped the concept of "hot."  

Sadie is now out of time out and has decided to sit next to the hearth.  Her back is about one inch away from touching it.  She was thinking about touching it but Paul looked at her and said "Sadie" and then "three" and before he got to two she had scooted a little bit further away.  Apparently right now she is making better choices.  

She's getting very good at balancing on her feet.  She still hasn't decided to give walking a second try, but she seems to be thinking about it more and more and is now an expert at cruising, particularly when it involves going after a cat.  If she stands on her tippy toes and gets as close to the couch as she can with her body she can get any cat, even if it's glued it's body against the back of the couch in an attempt to escape her little pinching fingers.  

And now she's moved across the room and is trying to pull out her diapers, which reminds me of one last story.  The other day Sadie was playing on the floor and decided that she needed a new diaper.  She crawled over to the spot where her diapers are hidden (she likes to play with them so we hide them, but this was the only time, since we've started hiding them, that she went after them.  Right now, for some reason, they are not hidden.) and tried to get one out.  I got the idea and she did in fact need a new diaper.  That's pretty good for ten and a half months!  She definitely lets everyone know what she's thinking!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Vroom. Vroom. Vroom.

We went a little doll crazy when we found out that we were going to have a girl.  The house was littered with various baby dolls long before Sadie was born and there's a hope chest upstairs that is currently full of various princesses and bears, along with a variety of other animals that Sadie hasn't even seen yet.  Lately though, I'm less and less certain that Sadie is going to be a doll type of girl.  

It started when Sadie first started playing with toys.  Her interaction with her dolls looks more like something you would see on WWF wrestling.  She body slams them and tosses them from side to side.  All the while she makes spluttering and vrooming noises with her mouth.  It's hilarious to watch. 

Then the car and tractor sounds started.  She's seen Grumpa out working on the tractor a lot, which may be where the "vroom, vroom, put, put, putter, putter" sounds came from.  She makes them when she plays with her dolls and her animals.  And especially when she plays with her fischer price tractors.  

Today I got down on the floor and picked up her small red tractor.  She was playing with her green tractor, which was being driven by a little kid in a blue bunny costume, and was pulling a wagon behind it.  When she saw my red tractor she started maneuvering her green tractor towards it.  With some spectacular sound effects she vroom vroomed her tractor right into my tractor.  Then, to make the crash complete, she picked up her hay wagon with it's little pumpkin and started smashing it, over and over again, into my wagon.  The picture for today shows the aftermath of the crash.  

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Exploring the House

Sadie has jumped from Phase One Baby Exploring to Phase Two Baby Exploring.  Since she's learned to crawl she's scooted around the house on her hands and knees, checking out the living room before moving on to the kitchen.  After she felt fairly comfortable in the kitchen she started to spend time in the entryway by the bookshelf (she relishes the time she spends removing each and every book from the lower shelves).  Her latest conquests have included the dining room, the back porch/ laundry room and the den.  She usually goes into these rooms when she's hot on the heels (or tail) of one of the cats.  

In the last two days however, Sadie has stepped up her exploration (and demolition) activities.  Her little legs can hardly carry her from one room to another quickly enough.  She still starts her day by attack/cuddling Kitty, but then she rushes in to the kitchen to rip up any of the old magazines and catalogues that have been left on the "Sadie Shelf."  It's actually the best use I've ever found for junk mail.  Sadie loves deconstructing it.  

One of her favorite afternoon activities also takes place in the kitchen.  Sadie loves to sit in the kitchen when dinner's being made.  Her latest favorite activity involves crawling over to Nani and grabbing her foot.  Then she pulls Nani's foot to the side and squeezes between her legs.  She can crawl in circles around Nani's feet for minutes at a time and she thinks it's all hilariously funny.  

It's time for baby gates on the stairs!

What Sadie's Dad's Been Up To: Save USF's MA Theology Program!

I know that this is a little off topic for my blog, but I'm so proud of Paul that I had to add the link.  He's a graduate student at the University of San Francisco and they're cutting the program.  He's been trying to spread media awareness about that fact, because the students and faculty in the program are hoping that there will be a public outcry that will save the program.  Catholic Online picked the story up last night!  Click here for the story on USF's Theology Program.

And here's a link to the Petition to stop it!

I'll be back to my normal Sadie Blogs tonight.  Have a great day and don't forget to sign the petition!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Robby's Visit to California

Sadie and Cousin Robert
Sadie has a handful of cousins on either side of the family (and there is another on the way!).  One of her cousins, a young man by the name of Robert, is almost ten years old.  He and Grumpa have had a disagreement for years.  You see, they both claim that they are Sponge Bob Square Pants and that the other is his loyal sidekick Patrick Star.  Today we have conclusive evidence that Grumpa has been telling the truth all along.  Robert is Patrick Star.  Grumpa is Sponge Bob.  Here are some snap shots from Robby's quick trip out to California for the day.


Grumpa and Robert Visit Sammy


Robert Takes a Ride in the Wheelbarrow


Robert Climbs the Hay Stack

Monday, May 4, 2009

Too Many Duckies

Sadie ended up with a new wardrobe today.  We didn't plan on doing any major shopping, but we stopped by Kohl's and they were having a huge sale.  Most of the baby clothes were 80% off!  That means that most of the cute little toddler dresses were between $3.50 and $6.00.  We may have gone a bit overboard, but when you see a dress for $4 it's hard to pass it up!

Sadie also had a hard time in the toy aisle of Target.  Her current favorite toy is a turquoise sea horse that lights up and plays classical music for five minutes when you squeeze it.  Lately it's really helped her go to sleep at night.  She loves to put it right next to her face when the lights are out.  

When Nani and Sadie went down the toy aisle they stopped and looked at the sea horse dolls (Sadie's sea horse is named Ducky, after the real sea horse that Paul and I had when we started dated).  Sadie thought that it was hilarious to see an entire row full of Duckies... until it was time to leave.  Then it wasn't quite so funny anymore.  Sadie didn't understand why all of the Duckies were staying in the store.  In fact, she was pretty sure that her Ducky was staying in Target.  Luckily, the real Ducky was in the car and when we got there Sadie figured out that he wasn't lost after all.  And now it's time to go down to the cabin with Mommy and Ducky for the night.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Mommy Sensor Strikes Again

Sadie knows that she's not allowed to touch the hearth.  It's the one rule that is enforced throughout the day (probably because it's the one rule that Sadie breaks).  The punishment varies between a ten and fifteen second time out (fifteen seconds when she has already had several consecutive time outs for touching the hearth). 

In a way I have to admit that I'm slightly impressed by her determination.  Today she had three time outs in a five minute period.  And it's not as if she has her time outs next to the hearth.  When she's in time out I pick her up and take her over next to a wall in the hallway by the kitchen, where there's nothing interesting to look at.  We sit down on the ground together and I count to ten (or fifteen as the case may be).  I would have thought, before this afternoon, that putting that much space between Sadie and hearth, would discourage her from returning to wage yet another attack on the wood stove.  After all, there are a lot of distractions between the wood stove and the kitchen.  She has to pass by her lion walker, her play pen with all her toys, Kitty, her cruise and crawl and a heap of stuffed animals.  Sometimes she even has to crawl passed Grumpa's slippers, which she loves to untie.  Today, however, her concentration was unwavering.  She had one task and it was firmly in the front of her mind.  To climb up the wood stove.  

Now to be fair, I have to admit that Sadie's attack on the stove wasn't entirely unprovoked.  It isn't that the stove has done anything, but I bought a book for fifty cents at a garage sale and when the attack occurred I was reading it.  I had picked the book up after Sadie had woken up from her nap, had been changed and had her lunch.  She was playing happily on the floor, content in the knowledge that I was paying complete attention to her every little move.  Then she sensed it.  My attention was elsewhere.  I was, gasp, reading.  She did the only think that really made sense.  She went straight over to the hearth, turned around and glanced back at me, to make sure that I was watching, and then smacked the rocks loudly with the palm of her hand.  
You see, Sadie has learned that touching the stove involves an automatic time out.  And a time out means that she's being picked up by Mommy and carried across the room to the time out spot.  And if Mommy is carrying her to the time out spot, Mommy isn't reading her book.
 
 Apparently, all reading must be restricted to nap time.  Sadie feels that she needs my undivided attention, even when she's playing without me.  The Mommy Sensor strikes again.  And again.  And again... 

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Curls!


All parents probably wonder what their baby is going to look like.  The first question is usually whether they are going to welcome a boy or a girl.  And then there are more specific questions.  Will the baby have their mother's nose or maybe their father's smile?  

We are starting to get some ideas with Sadie.  Some people may not know that when Paul's hair is left to it's own devices it becomes incredibly curly.  Since I've always been a little bit bored with my own hair and it's inability to hold curls, I wondered what Sadie's hair would look like when it finally came in.  

I do admit that I've been hoping that she gets some of Paul's curls.  And now that her hair is starting to fill in (and while it is hard to tell in pictures it is rapidly turning blonde) we're starting to get some ideas.  Especially since it has started to rain.  

Yesterday the humidity started to affect Sadie's hair.  In fact, it transformed it.  She went from having thickening, flat, golden hair to having cute little half curls.  It's hard to see in pictures, but I tried to take it at the best angle so you could get some idea.

And she loves to have her hair brushed with either her little yellow comb from the hospital, or the little red cross brush that came with her first aid kit.  

Friday, May 1, 2009

Garage Sale-ing

Today was Sadie's first city wide garage sale.  This is a twice annual event in Trinity County (I must have been too sleep deprived six-months ago when the last one occurred to notice that it was taking place) and the Trinity Journal devoted several pages last week to maps and descriptions of the various garage sales that are going to be held this weekend.  Our newspaper has the best sounding spots already circled.  Our route has been plotted  

We started early, wrangling Sadie into her blue denim overalls, to go out shopping despite a forecast that includes three days of pouring rain (after weeks of beautiful weather it had to rain this weekend!).  It started to sprinkle lightly as we left the house.  

The first garage sale had something for everyone.  I found an old leather bag that had a label that said $10.  When I picked it up it was heavy and i was shocked to find an old 35mm camera, along with all it's lenses, the flash and the instruction manual in the bag.  While I love our digital camera, there's something wonderful about film cameras.  And the lady who sold it to me said that it was in perfect working condition, but that she'd switched over to digital photos and was selling it.  I can't wait to try it out on Sadie.  Maybe this rain will give us a few more weeks of wild flowers, because I've been meaning to take Sadie's picture with them.  Nini and Gigi left the first garage sale with another great find: a telescope. 

From there we headed into town, where Sadie convinced Daddy that she absolutely could not live without two giant porcelain dolls (one with blonde hair and one with red hair- $5 each).  After checking out quite a few fruitless garage sales we headed home, where Sadie insisted for a solid hour that she was absolutely not tired and would not take a nap.  And now that nap is over (we finally won out that it was nap time, at least for thirty minutes), so my blogging time has run out.  

Poor Kitty is under attack, yet again...