Sadie's Favorite Things

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

1. Kitty:  Kitty is already looking a little bit worse for wear.  Kitty made her first appearance in an earlier blog, when I took Sadie shopping the weekend before Christmas (Daddy dropped us off at the mall while he got the oil changed on the car and then it took a little bit longer then we expected because it ended up needing new tires).  After an hour and a half in the very crowded mall Sadie was starting to have a melt down and I picked up a fluffy, oversized, stuffed calico cat and started dancing it back and forth in front of Sadie.  It was love at first sight.  

Sadie and Kitty are now inseparable.  Every morning after we come downstairs, before breakfast, Sadie and Kitty wrestle in the middle of the living room floor.  Kitty usually wins (she is bigger then Sadie), but not before Sadie's given her a good thrashing.  Kitty is definitely at the top of the list.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Horsing Around

Sadie is like a little sponge that absorbs all the information around her.  She has figured out that"up" means to put her arms up because she's going to be picked up and to quickly scan the room if someone says "kitty" because one of her favorite playmates has probably entered the room.  She has known names like "Puddy," "Mommy," and "Daddy" for a while (I honestly believe that "Puddy" is probably the name that is first and foremost in her little head), but now she seems to be recognizing actual words.  

She is also more determined than ever to stay awake from 6:30 in the morning until 7:30 at night.  She doesn't believe me when I say that babies need to take naps.  She secretly believes that we have wild parties the minute that she closes her eyes, eating rice cereal with bananas (her favorite food) and apple juice and milk.  Lately the only way to get her to go down for a nap, for any length of time anyway, has involved putting her in her stroller and going on a walk.  She usually stays awake for the first mile, before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.  

She wakes up the second that I stop walking, which is why I've been walking so much lately.  Today we only walked three miles, but I've been averaging five to six miles a day!  Sadie's new stubborn refusal to go down for a nap may be what I need to keep my new years resolution.  

Grumpa helped me put Sadie's Crawl and Cruise Musical Jungle together today (it would have been really hard to assemble on my own!).  She was hilarious.  She rolled across the room so that she was positioned next to Grumpa's feet and then she tried to wedge her body underneath the pieces of the jungle so that she could see what he was doing (he was screwing the pieces together with an electric drill).  With Sadie's help we got it pieced together and she was motivated to sit up to play with the monkey who drops the ball down the ramp (she can sit up pretty well, but she's so into rolling that the moment I put her down in a sitting position she lunges forward and starts to roll across the room.).  

After playing with the Jungle we went outside to watch Grumpa work with the horses.  Sammy was first and Sadie's eyes were like saucers when he bucked and kicked and got his wiggles out, after not being handled all winter.  Grumpa worked with Black next and before Black went back to his stall he came over and sniffed Sadie (including her diaper).  Sadie was a little bit braver at this point and reached her hand out and touched the velvet on Black's nose!  We watched him work with Starr, before going on our last walk and heading back to the house for dinner. 

It's been another busy day and tomorrow is Sadie's first Super Bowl!