Bringing Little Ones to Mass... A Useless Venture?

Last week, I read a discussion about taking children to Mass, and in many ways I could see both sides of the debate that followed.  I have strong opinions on the issue when it comes to what's best for our little family, because I've witnessed a beautiful blossoming of faith in Sadie as she's grown, and as her desire for the Eucharist seems to grow every single week.  At the same time I know wonderful Catholic bloggers who wait until their children are older to take them to Mass, who raise amazing faith filled children, and I wouldn't criticize the choices they've made as children before the age of reason are not required to attend Mass and their strategy for teaching their little ones in those early years has worked very well for them.

There was, however, a side in the discussion that made me uneasy (and inspired this post).  There were posts that were adamant that it was simply wrong for children to attend Mass at a young age, particularly as babies.  There was no benefit whatsoever, they insisted, and no reason to do so.  Whatever grace a baby supposedly received was obviously imagined.

And I have to say... I adamantly disagree.  Experience has taught me that the exact opposite is true.

By the time I found out that I was pregnant with Sadie, I'd been Catholic for not quite a year and I was volunteering in our little parish's office, and attending Mass twice a week.  The prayers that surrounded us during that time were amazing.  You see, we lived in an area with a high number of retirees, and our little Church didn't have many families.  As a result, before she was born, Sadie was already the "Church Baby" loved and prayed for by many.  Those prayers were surrounded us as we stumbled through the early days of parenthood.

When she arrived it seemed natural that I'd take her to Mass with me.  While I haven't actually read any books on attachment parenting, the method of parenting I practice most closely resembles what I've heard about it, simply because it made sense to me that my newborn and later infant and toddler, would be with me all the time.  She came along with me everywhere, and spent many a morning in her sling while we were in the parish office after a weekday Mass.  People were happy to see her.  Later, when I did occasionally leave her with Nani while I ran in to Mass (when I was very pregnant with Mae) people were quite disappointed not to visit with her afterwards.

On a practical level, I did see benefits in bringing her along and teaching her that we acted a certain way in Mass, from the very beginning.  Sure I spent plenty of time in the narthex.  I've also spent plenty of time outside the front door, explaining in a serious voice to my now-toddler, that we acted a certain way at Mass, that we were there to see Jesus, and that if we had to go outside we'd be standing looking at the wall, and it wasn't going to be fun.  There was much more to see inside, particularly since we sat up in the front row where she could see everything that was going on.

Now, as a mother who's juggled two little ones at Mass, and watched as they've grown through difficult times, one thing began to become clear to me.  Little ones may not understand exactly what's going on. But still moments arrive when I find myself utterly amazed by what they do notice.  The beauty and love and mystery of what's occurring before their eyes can still touch their little hearts.  And when they're older, like Sadie is, they'll begin to piece together what's happening, with a simple faith that we as adults might well long for.

Last week at Mass I was feeling like my regular dizzy, faint self.  It was a High Mass, and I wasn't sure how long Mae would make it for.  Would she make it to the homily?  Probably.  But after that all bets were off.  Now regular readers have probably gotten a pretty good estimation of Mae's personality.  She isn't one of those quiet, compliant toddlers.  Yesterday, while I was writing my blog post, she climbed up on my kitchen counter, retrieved a five pound beg of sugar, and dumped it all over the house (all under Daddy's nose).  Then when we went outside she ran over to roll in a pile of dirt (this I could tolerate) and then threw herself into a thistle bush and then back into the dirt to roll around a bit more (the bath that followed and the sticker picking out from her hair was not enjoyable for either of us).  She's also what you would call "a runner."  If you put her down she takes off and doesn't look back, perfectly confident that someone is following he and keeping her safe.  So good behavior at Mass is not guaranteed.  And with the added length of a high Mass, all bets were off.  It could have been a very long 60+++ minutes.

Instead, for the second week in a row, she sat next to me, holding a small doll and a chaplet, until after communion, when Daddy scooped her up and held her.

The most amazing moment for me, however, at the consecration, when she looked up, smiled from ear to ear so that her entire face glowed with joy, and began to giggle and clap her hands.  Then she went back to playing with my Saint Philomena chaplet.  That moment, and the pure joy I saw reflected in her little 27 month old face, has stayed with me all week.

At home Sadie showers me with questions.  She loves hearing about Saint Michael.  She demands Saint Therese stories.  When Paul arrived home earlier in the week she announced to him that Jesus had come to earth to open the gates of heaven for us.  Sometimes she'll look at me and say: "I'm not like an angel because I have bones.  I have a body and a soul.  Angels are pure spirits.  I like having bones.  And skin."  Her constant observations and questions amaze me daily.  When we were driving through Wisconsin, seemingly out of nowhere she announced:  "I hate sin!"

And of course, there is the weekly battle before Mass about whether she's old enough to receive, and I frequently catch her with her little outstretched tongue hoping that the priest will forget that she's only four, as she kneels next to me with her little hands pressed together sweetly.

Yes, I guess for me, the value of taking our children to Mass every week is clearly apparent.  Has it been work?  Absolutely.  Have I missed many a beautiful homily and been distracted (or outside) through breathtaking faith filled moments.  Certainly.  Yet, I think, that the moments that have come in place of those moments, are just as much a precious part of my vocation. They are moments that form me, just as they form my children, for they are often the moments when patience is demanded and my  temper is stretched... They are the moment when I am humbled.. and they are the moments that blossom into something beautiful and sacred, as I watch a love for the most blessed sacrament unfold in the hearts of my little ones.

My attention has been imperfect as has theirs.  We've "missed" a lot over the course of the many masses we've attended as a family.  Still, as I watch my little ones and prepare for the baptism of another, I can't help but marvel at what has been given us over the course of these hours that at times have seemed to stretch on and on.

For our family, the question of whether or not to bring our little ones to Mass has been answered...  and I cannot imagine it any other way!

Welcoming a New Baby and Avoiding Sibling Rivalry

When I was pregnant with Mae Bae I found myself perusing article after article about welcoming a second baby into a family.  The advice seemed to pop up everywhere and were impossible to miss.  There were children's books with the same purpose, preparing an only child for the life changing event of sharing Mommy and Daddy's attention with a sibling, and some of them were actually pretty cute.  We received one as a gift that talked about the excitement of having a new baby and stressed all the big kid things a big sister could do, and I had no problem reading that with Sadie, since she was already quite interested in all things baby and all things big sister, at the ripe old age of almost-two.

Still, most of the articles gave me pause (as did the advice at the end of Sadie's book, which I immediately discarded).  I couldn't help but doubt the paragraphs that told me to "reassure" Sadie that "I would still love her just as much" when the new baby came "even though things would be a little different."

Now I knew that I was still totally inexperienced when it came to having more than one baby in the house, and I'm not a child psychology expert or anything, but somehow that seemed like a really, really bad idea.

You see, Sadie was pretty excited about the idea of having a baby sister.  She loved to run over and kiss my tummy.  We'd prayed for the baby.  We'd been joyous when we found out the news.

And that joy had overflowed and been absorbed by our toddler.  Something exciting was happening.  It was wonderful.  Everyone was happy.  There was going to be another baby.  She would be a big sister.  And the baby would love her so much!

Her not-yet-two mind might not have understood completely what having a new sister would be like, but the fact that we were excited meant that she was excited.  She knew that something wonderful was about to happen.

It seems to me that if Paul and I had sat Sadie down and said:  "Sadie, Mommy has a new baby growing in her tummy.  But don't worry.  Things will change, but Mommy and Daddy are still going to love you just as much." her reaction very likely would have been entirely different.

We didn't say those words and Sadie knew that we would love her just as much as she'd been loved before.  Doubt in the continuation of our love never entered the picture.  Of course we would still love her.  She'd always been loved and cared for and it was completely natural that we'd love her and love the baby.  There was no tiny seed of doubt planted by us telling her not to worry because we would still love her.  Those words were entirely unnecessary (and in my opinion could have done far more harm then good).

These days excitement is at a fever pitch around here.  The girls have been waiting for this baby since May 2011.  It's been 17 months since they began expecting a new baby and the fact that this has baby has been so long awaited, with all the ups and downs, joy and sorrow of the last year and a half, means that my tummy gets hugged and cuddled about a dozen times a day.

Mae Bae says:  "Baby, baby, baby!" and both girls have taken to climbing into the crib to play.  And just like her sister, Mae never seems to have considered that having another baby might be anything other than wonderful.  She's heard us pray for this baby and she saw us rejoice when the news came that we were expecting again.  She's heard her sister talk about how she hopes that we have at least seven babies ("five girls and two boys" is the perfect number in Sadie's mind, and I have no idea how she came up with it).

Something wonderful is about to happen.  And of course there will be enough love to go around, because, even at two, she understands that that's how love is.

Sure there will be times when she's frustrated, although I imagine not as often as her sister was, since she's never been the sole receiver of all my attention day in and day out and since she's quite the independent little introvert, who greatly values doing things on her own and having time to herself.

When Mae arrived were a few months when Sadie was a little annoyed with Mommy, since Mommy wasn't quite as fast on her feet getting things, and she might have to wait for a few minutes while her sister finished nursing before we could do something.  But we noticed that the frustration was never focused on her little sister.  Mae could do no wrong, and was to be cuddled and cooed at and protected.  Mommy... well... Mommy could learn to juggle things a little better... and Sadie began to learn to be patient with Mommy, which is a pretty valuable skill.

It's true that with the addition of a new child, things "won't be the same."  But things are never the same anyway.  Sure there's routine, but life changes as we go along, whether a new baby arrives or not.

In our house, the greatest advice that we follow when we prepare for a new baby is to be joyful and treat the coming of a child like the great gift that it is.  When that joy is present it is the most natural thing in the world that the day of the baby's arrival would be as anticipated as Christmas morning and that the other children would welcome their new little sibling with open arms and never wonder if there might not be enough love to go around.

The End of Pregnancy Advice

I have to say, there are some awesome things about being pregnant when you have two little ones in tow.

I remember those days almost five years ago, when I was pregnant with Sadie and I faced all those common pregnancy complaints that pregnant women often lament from people who ranged from over-helpful to down right rude.  The advice and questions poured in, an overwhelming tide of opinions and anecdotes (because those questions aren't really questions are they?  They're more like openings for a lecture!) that could leave a new mother's head spinning.

As someone who had never changed a diaper in my entire life pre-baby, I did the best I could, reading magazines and books that, when I pick them up now, make me shake my head and laugh, in an attempt to gather knowledge for the big day, while sorting through the advice I'd received which often contradicted what I'd already been told.

The advice lasted through Sadie's baby-hood, but transformed, from stranger's touching my belly and telling me horror stories about how they passed out from the pain of childbirth, to suggestions that I fill Sadie's bottle with milk soaked pieces of bread, to get her to sleep through the night when she was a month or two old and lectures about how cold she must be when I let her go out in bare feet on what seemed to be a perfectly lovely day.

In the last few weeks however I realized that these overly helpful, and sometimes baffling, annoyances, died out as Sadie grew.

When you have a two year old and a four year old in the grocery store (even if they're very well behaved) the average person will give you a wide berth.  Sure we've traded these in for comments in line ("Is this one going to be a boy?  It is!  Oh so you'll be done then?") and glares from those who apparently can't come up with any other response when they see a pregnant mom pushing a stroller with two happily smiling little girls (oh yeah, it happens!  And after our cross country adventures I can confidently say it happens all over the country, from sea to shining sea!), but I'm getting used to those.  Besides, I have a husband who says with a straight face:  "Oh no, we're not done.  We were hoping for quintuplets" with such a seriousness that mouths drop open in shock and I'm tempted to sock him in the arm.

Then again, maybe I do know why no one has made it close enough to touch my stomach.  I've had to rescue at least two women in the past month who voluntarily gave their hands to Mae Bae while we were out and about.  She's very cute.  I can understand the temptation  And she doesn't usually bite.  Unless it's a stranger's hand and that hand is covered with brightly colored jewelry that she just has to try to taste.  But having to wrestle someone's hand away from her as she opens her mouth and leans forward in toddler slow motion is more than a little embarrassing.

So you see, those women who would be touching my belly, and then possibly giving me advice are side tracked by the razor toothed toddler and never really had a chance to meet their full, brimming with advice, potential.  And then they're too busy trying to make a quick getaway as Mae reaches for them in a second, more determined biting attempt (seriously, strangers touching her is the only time we have a biting problem!  Even toddlers need their space!).

Ah well.  It makes life much more peaceful, not having to deal with "are you done yet?" and baby birthing/ raising advice at the same time.  I'm not sure I could handle that.

Sadie and the Veil

I bought this veil for Sadie years ago (I think it was when I was pregnant with Mae) and she discovered it, still in it's box, while we were moving.  Yesterday I let her see it for a few minutes before putting it away, into the basket I've designated for headcoverings.  Cuteness ensued.

After downloading the pictures however, I had to pause... a headcovering post... what kind of insanity would follow (maybe I'm a little gun-shy after the last headcovering series post/incident, which ended with a blog post on another site that twisted my words.... with people saying they were going to come over to my blog to "draw blood..." although no one actually did...)?

Am I really up for the insanity at this point (it has been a rather tough month...) all because I posted a few cute pictures of my kid in a chapel veil?  Do I feel like I could charitably field questions from people who apparently have never been around a toddler girl for any extended period of time?  Questions that, despite being typed, have a certain tone:


Why do you force your daughter to wear that?  Do you force her to wear dresses too? and that sort of thing.

Then I thought: Maybe I'll just answer those questions in advance.  Nip it in the bud, so to speak.

Here goes:

This is my three year old daughter.  She found this veil, which I bought her a couple of years ago, and hadn't planned on giving to her for a few more years (maybe around her first communion?) in a box when we were moving.  It was love at first sight.  Mommy has veils.  Mommy wears dresses.  She wants to be like Mommy still.  No dark ulterior motives here.  It's not a commentary on modesty in toddlers (trying not to roll my eyes...).  In our house, at this point, "modesty" for toddlers pretty much involves the occasional question of "Do ladies sit like that?" that comes up because she does insist on wearing dresses, pretty much all the time.  

And I took pictures because I'm her mom and I thought she looked pretty cute.

I hope, despite the lengthy explanation that I felt might (or might not) be necessary didn't ruin all the cuteness!  I just didn't feel up for a headcovering controversy this morning when I was posting something lighthearted!

 

And now... for a blast from the past... This is a picture of Sadie, the Veil Swiper, when the Bishop visited our little parish in Northern California. She'd stolen my veil and wore it for a little while.

I hope you've enjoyed the headcovering cuteness today!

Sadie, Mary and Praying

Sadie discovered a coloring book of the rosary yesterday that I had hidden away for a later date. She immediately began to plead her case for using the book and then asked for her blue crayon. After that she spent quite a while paging through the book and coloring Mary blue, followed by looking for Jesus and coloring him yellow or, in the nativity scene, red (one of her favorite colors).

This morning she found some pieces of cardboard that I'd opted not to use as backing for the shelves and I told her she could use them to draw on. A few minutes later I noticed that she'd drawn a large blue person like shape in the middle of the paper, surrounded by a line of little blue dots at the edge of the paper. If I hadn't seen the book yesterday I probably would have missed what she was drawing.

"Is that Mary with a rosary around the page?" I asked her.

"Yes!" She grinned enthusiastically and proudly showed the picture.

She was also quite shocked yesterday when we went on a walk and I suggested we say a rosary as we walked along. We usually say our family rosary together and so, after a few prayers Sadie began to frantically ask: "Where's Daddy?" When I told her he was at school she said: "Why are we praying?" I replied that God likes it when we pray and talk to Him and she smiled and covered her face and looked a little embarrassed.

I've even heard her praying on her own lately (two days ago she said a little prayer thanking God for Mae Bae and a long list of family members I couldn't entirely understand) and earlier in the week she told me, quite adamantly that she would be asking God to send her another sister.

I can't help but wonder what she's going to say next.

Babies on the Brain

Sadie and Paul had an interesting little discussion last night.

I was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, telling Paul about Sadie's earlier baby comment, while Sadie played in the bathtub. Halfway through the conversation I asked Sadie the baby's name and she gave a repeat performance when Paul asked about the possibility of the baby being a boy. Sadie adamantly denied that there was any chance of that happening.

At some point someone said something along the lines of: "Wouldn't it be nice to have a little brother named Patrick?"

Sadie's response: "No it would not be nice."

Me: "That wouldn't be nice?"

Sadie: "No!"

Hmmm... I'm thinking we better find out the gender at twenty weeks if at all possible to help Sadie be ready for either possibility!

Sadie has actually been quite the little font of baby information lately (both true and not so true). She loves looking at one of the pregnancy books I have, that has images of babies in the womb. And since seeing those pictures she sees "pictures of babies" pretty much everywhere. A star being consumed by a black hole in a magazine? That's a baby. And not just any baby. That's our baby. She's got babies on the brain.

Then there was this afternoon's startling information. She was looking at her own baby pictures and she commented on her "icky belly button." When asked where it came from she said "the doctor" very seriously. The belly button obsession of the afternoon may have been a result of an earlier conversation when Sadie was trying to figure out how the baby was nursing inside of my tummy and I told her the baby got it's food from a tub that went in through the baby's belly button that gave the baby everything it needed. Sadie's eyes were probably the size of saucers by the end of the explanation. She thought about it for a few minutes, examining her own belly button. And now if you ask her how the baby gets food she points to her belly button.

Now if she'd just stop accusing her sister of "trying to eat the baby" every time Mae nurses...

Do More Babies=More Work?

Having our first baby was a huge adjustment. She nursed every hour on the hour through the night, until I night weaned her when she was 18 months old. At one month old she had a marathon nursing session that lasted 7 hours and she screamed every time I tried to suggest we do something else, like, I don't know... nap... We were committed to following the Church's teachings on being open to life and we'd always hoped for a large family, but suddenly I found myself wondering, could I really do this, again and again, year after year? Would I not sleep for more than 60 consecutive minutes until I was retirement age? Were all babies this much work?

Then Mae Bae came along. My first night in the hospital I watched her, worried. Why was she so quiet? When the pediatric specialist came in in the morning to check her with a team of student doctor's I started questioning him about the length of time that she was sleeping. She'd slept for four hour stretches, I told him, my voice filled with worry. Should I wake her?

After he managed to stop looking at me like I was insane he told me to let her sleep when she wanted to sleep and to feed her when she woke up.

Mae is no longer the champion sleeper she used to be (although she's not a poor sleeper either... she slept from 8pm- 3am last night before she woke up to nurse and then from 3am-7am) but I have to admit things are still pretty laid back around here.

The girls are pretty good at playing on their own. At least that's what I thought, until earlier this week when Sadie went to get hay with Nani and Grumpa and was gone for the morning and Mae became a barnacle attached to the side of my leg. There was no way she was going to be leaving my side to play on her own. I had big plans for getting things done that morning, but very little was actually completed. She suddenly needed to nurse more and be held much, much more.

Sadie returned and Mae was transformed back into her normal, independent self. She cruised around the house on her own. She played with her sister. She hung out under the kitchen table (a popular spot). She emptied my cooking utensils out of their drawer (her favorite activity).

It was then that I realized that for me, having two has been much easier than having one. They play together. Sadie constantly says various forms of : "I want Mae Bae to ________ with me!" Examples are: "I want Mae Bae go on walk with me." "I want Mae Bae go in bath tub with me." "I want Mae Bae go swimming with me." "I want Mae Bae go outside with me!" "I want Mae Bae go to Nan's house with me!" Today she was upset because she wanted Mae Bae to sit in the same car seat as she was sitting in. I had to put my foot down.

A toddler and a baby do keep a mom pretty busy. But I've been pleasantly surprised to find that I'm not nearly as busy as I thought I'd be (certainly not twice as busy as I was with one!). It does probably help that they're fairly close together (Mae and Sadie are two years apart, the new baby with be a year and a half younger than Mae Bae).

And Mae Bae and Sadie both seem pretty excited to throw Baby #3 into the mix! It's going to be quite the party at our house...

The Holy Baby Dress

As many of you know Sadie has one request when asked what she wants for her birthday: a "Holy Baby" Dress. I've been planning on making one, but I was a little nervous how it would turn out.

I got to work on the Holy Baby Dress yesterday, partially out of fear that I would leave it to the last minute and then there would be some sort of disaster and it wouldn't be finished in time.

I had already done some work on the skirt (sewed 1 seam and gathered it), so that's where I was starting from yesterday.

I made the dress pattern up in my head as I was going along (which felt dangerous!), but I think it turned out alright! I kept comparing the size to a dress of hers that fits and is slightly big. I also put elastic in the neck, sleeve cuffs and waist so it should expand and fit for a while!

I started out by cutting out the white panel. I wanted the yellow satin cross to be set in it though, so I cut out several different sized squares and two straight lengths for the cross.

It turned out alright!

I reinforced it by giving it a backing (and then thought... "that would make a cute pillow!").

And then the body started to take shape.

I added two short straps between the two parts of the bodice when I began to worry about how big the neck hole was (I was avoiding zippers for this).

But once I realized that the neck was big enough for me to fit my giant head through I decided we were okay.

I added satin lining to the inside of the neck and put the elastic in.

Then late last night I sewed the skirt on (doubled over so that it added thickness). I made it so it should be around calf length. I was afraid if it was too long she'd catch it on everything!

Ta-Dah! I'm pretty happy with the final result. I hope she loves it.

Now I just need to make the habit. I'm making a white snood and then am going to sew the habit over it so that she can run around in it without it flying off.

"Mae Bae Bite Me!"

We've been warning Sadie that her sister has a tooth. And that she wields that tooth passionately to sooth her aching little gums. Until this morning Sadie was laughing off the warnings. Come on Mom, Mae Bae is a Bae. She can't really bite.

Then I heard it. "No Mae No!" followed by "Mae Bae bite me!"

Sadie was more than a little pleased. She cherishes any reason to tell her little sister "no!" If you ask her if she is bossing her little sister around she'll say "Boss! Boss! Boss!" And Mae follows her sister around with an adoring little look on her face, pretty happy to be included in any plan (particularly if it involves the destruction of the house). Their favorite activity is removing every DVD that we own from the cabinet under the DVD player. It has a little lever lock, but they both can open it in about two seconds and in less than five minutes they can create a mound of DVD boxes that pleases them both immensely.

In other news, Sadie continues to grow and looks determined to pass me in height by kindergarten (I'm 5'5"!). In this pictures she's wearing a t-shirt I wore sometime in elementary school... it's a size ten...

Together the girls make up a solid sixty lbs of baby... I never knew that being a mom would be such an upper body workout!

Daily Dose of Cuteness: "Daddy's Driving Across America to..."

This conversation between Nani and Sadie had me smiling today:

Nani: "Who is going to be going on the airplane when you move to Florida?"

Sadie: "Mae Bae... and Mommy and Grumpa and Sadie and Nani!... Daddy is going to drive across America to bring my toys!"

She's been a little sponge lately. She knows her colors and shapes and can count to twenty in English and twelve in Spanish (and lately she prefers to count in Spanish). She's also taken to saying "I haven't done my music yet today!" if she hasn't had a chance to play on my keyboard which is at Nani's house (when she plays on it she adds "I'm trying to wake Mae Bae up" or "I'm trying to wake Dee up" [Dee is the cat]).

Sadie's favorite lesson seems to be geography. Nani put up a map of the US and Sadie loves to sit in front of it. She can tell us where we live and where her aunt lives in Texas and where the school in Florida is. Yesterday she told me that the President lives in Washington D.C. and that his name is "Barak O!" After that I decided to see how much she could remember and told her a few names and jobs. This morning when I asked her who our senators are she said "Barbara and Diane!" Okay... it's a little informal, but she's learning so much! I'm just amazed at what a two year old brain can absorb on any given day!

And Mae Bae has been showing everyone how much she understands by bursting into tears if any character on any of the DVDs Sadie watches aren't being nice. Today Sadie was watching Dora for a bit and there was a king who wouldn't share. When the king said he wouldn't share Mae looked around the room at each of us and then burst into tears. When Dora taught him to share she started laughing again.

The Turtle Bay Dress

Yesterday morning when I was getting dressed Sadie ran into the room like a mini-hurricane intent on rushing me out into the living room. To distract her from climbing up and jumping on the bed I asked her what I should wear. She instantly came to the edge of the bed and said "Turtle Bay Dress!" Now she's told me she wants me to wear my "Turtle Bay Dress" before but I always just thought she was being silly, because Turtle Bay is a park we sometimes visit when we go to "The City" with Nani and Grumpa and so I just assumed by saying "Turtle Bay Dress" that she was asking to go to Turtle Bay.

This time though, I asked her which dress that was (expecting a random answer) and she carefully glanced at my skirts and pulled on this one (I already had the white top in my hand):

I didn't immediately make the connection, but after a moment it came to me. When she was around 14 months old we went to Turtle Bay for their big Birds and Butterflies exhibit, where they have an aviary full of birds and a separate butterfly house. Apparently that moment was pretty big in Sadie's life because I was wearing the same outfit on that day back in September of 2009 and it is now my "Turtle Bay Dress."

We have pictures of the day in her photo albums, but she's hardly touched those in the past year! Here are a couple of my favorites:

Either way... What a memory!

Really Long Masses with Really Little Bunnies...

In one way I think I was rather spoiled to start out with my little one's at a little church. Saturday and Sunday Masses were usually exactly sixty minutes (with the only exception being Easter Vigil) and the girls know that they're expected to be relatively still and very quiet during those sixty minutes.

There are many things that I like about our new parish... my sole complaint would be the length of Mass...

I would love all the singing and extras (okay, maybe not the "extras..." But that's really another post and I'm trying not to get sidetracked...) if I weren't wrangling two wild bunnies who seem to think they're free to get up and move about the building after sixty minutes of quietness. They sat for 105 minutes on Easter Sunday (although part of that was because we got there early to get a seat, Mass itself was only 75 minutes long.). We stood for an hour and a half on Good Friday and left long before the service was ended. And yesterday we left after 90 minutes, when there was a huge line for the bathroom and Mae Babe had had enough and Sadie was on the edge of having had enough.

Do any of the rest of you have parishes that regularly have Masses that are over an hour and a half? How do your little ones do? And do you feel super guilty (I do!) when you finally give up and leaver after communion, knowing that it will be another twenty minutes (after ten minutes of announcements done by multiple people) before Mass is over, making the entire sitting time around two hours?

I think that's what bothers me the most! I feel like we should be able to make it to the end... but when the girls have already been sitting still for an hour and a half, another twenty minutes just seems to be too much!

"Me Too!" (on Praying with a Two Year Old...)

Oh the drama that family prayer time can bring when a two year old is in the house.

Earlier in the week I wrote about Sadie learning her prayers. She would practice saying "Holy Mary, Mother of God!" when we said the rosary together, and this happened to begin on a night when Paul worked late. The next night, however, he was home and the family rosary was back to normal.

Things started off really well. I usually lead and count prayers on my fingers since I'm holding Mae, which means Paul says the second part of each prayer. I smiled encouragingly at Sadie as she joined Daddy on the responses and her little face glowed as she said the words. She actually responded to eight of the first ten Hail Mary's in the decade.

Then, in typical two year old fashion, the smile turned stormy in a matter of moments. When we started the second decade, instead of saying the response Sadie began to say "Me too! Me too!" in a loud, annoyed voice.

"You can pray too. Say it along with Daddy." I told her quietly (hoping Mae would go easily to sleep for once and thinking that the addition of "Me too! Me too!" was making that considerably less likely).

When the "Me too's" continued I asked Daddy to say the prayer very slowly. When that failed we began to realize that "Me too!" actually meant "Just me!"

I think Sadie actually would have been happy to have the prayer go something like this:

Mommy: "Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus."

Sadie: "Holy Mary, Mother of God!"

Daddy: "Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death."

Knowing Sadie, she'd probably like to take over the "Amen!" too...

After a few moments Sadie realized we weren't caving in on this particular battle and promptly fell asleep, although I'm sure she'll be prepared to continue it another day...

I have to admit, hearing her sweet little prayers never fail to put a smile on my face!

Prayers with Sadie: A Hail Mary

When we pray before bed each night (before the family rosary) I'll say the first part of each verse of a prayer and then she'll usually add the last word. We'll do the sign of the cross, an Our Father, a Hail Mary and a Glory Be. Sometimes though... Sadie gets creative:

Me: "Hail Mary, Full of..."

Sadie: "Grace!"

Me: "The Lord is with..."

Sadie: "Thee!"

Me: "Blessed art though amongst..."

Sadie: "Wo-Men!"

Me: "And blessed is the fruit of you-"

Sadie: "Jesus!!!!!"

Me: "your womb, Jesus... Holy..."

Sadie: "Baby you're the one!"

Me: "Mary, mother of..."

Sadie: "God"

Me: "Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death."

Sadie: "Amen!"

My Growing Girls

While I'm pretty average in height (5'5") I remember thinking of myself as "short" growing up, until the spring and summer before junior high when I suddenly grew something like eight inches (and then stopped!). Even in college though, people usually thought I was younger than my age and at work when asked what year in school I was my response of "sophomore" was often met with "at (fill in the name of a couple local high schools)?"

We're running into the opposite sort of experience with Sadie. When she came into the world, 22 inches long, she was already "tall." The last time I measured she was right at three feet (and that was before Maggie was born!) and I know she's grown... I just haven't gotten her to hold still long enough to measure her.

I didn't realize how tall she was, however, until we were at Mass on Saturday and she walked ahead of me and passed an altar server. She came up to the boy's shoulder. I would guess he was nine or ten... and she is now two and three quarters!

Which brings me to the issue that we run into the most frequently with our little towering two year old...

People think she's much older than she is. It seems that the assumption is that she's four, or maybe five. You really only have to be around her for a few moments to realize that she's much younger, but that doesn't stop frowns and glares when she's squirmy (she's quiet at Mass 95% of the time, just squirmy) that I really don't think she'd get if she were an average sized two year old. After all, the expectations for stillness with a five year old are much higher than for a toddler, but few people seem to realize that she is still a toddler!

In Maggie News: she took six steps pushing her sister's doll stroller on Sunday afternoon and now seems determined to learn how to walk. She keeps standing up and letting go of what she's holding on to (she sometimes raises her arms like a "V" and smiles) and trying to just walk without anything. I can't believe how determined she is!

The Startling Toddler: And How Babies are Born...

Sadie has been acting out something lately and I will admit we're all more than a little bit surprised. It all started a couple of weeks ago when somehow the fact that Maggie used to be in my tummy came up. Then Sadie started pretending that her Pooh Bear doll was her baby and that he was in her tummy. She started by getting a blanket and putting Pooh under the blanket on her tummy and has progressed to stuffing Pooh Bear inside her dresses so that she has a Pooh Bear bump.

One day, she pointed at the anatomically correct exit for most babies (on me), although not for our babies since they were both c-sections, and said "Mag!" as if to explain how babies are born (surprising thing to point out when everyone is just sitting around in the living room playing and reading books!). And that pretty much shocked all of us since the extent of the discussion on where her little sister came from was "the doctor took Maggie out of Mommy's tummy."

We don't have cable or satellite TV so it's not like she's seen A Baby Story or anything on babies being born on TV! I have wondered if it has to do with her fascination with all things "poo" (as in animal scat when we go on walks, because we come across a lot of bear and fox scat...) and that she's calling her sister "poo" since she always giggles after she says it.

Most surprising perhaps, was when she was sitting in her beautiful Christmas gift princess dress last night at a restaurant birthday party with the entire family. She decided, in her high chair at the head of the table, that she was going to stuff Pooh Bear down the front of her princess dress and then "deliver" Pooh Bear in a fit of giggles out the bottom of the dress with a flourish. Four generations of raised eyebrows (okay, three since Maggie was too busy playing with her teething ring) shot up.

She was always fascinated with my Maggie bump before Mag's was born and was already pointing at it when asked where the baby was when she was pretty tiny (I think around 17 months old).

I guess Sadie doesn't need this doll to explain where babies are from. And that's a good thing because I can't imagine forking over that kind of cash for a rag doll (or any doll! Heck it's way more than an American Girl doll!).

The Suddenly Talking Toddler

Here's a photo of Sadie showing Maggie "Baby G."

She is suddenly full of words, bubbling to identify everything that she sees (and surprising all of us with her vocabulary, which is a nice change after months of not talking!). She will be two and a half tomorrow.

My favorite moments, that I can think of off the top of my head, are these:

When she makes the sign of the cross and then puts her little hands together and says "A---- Men!" (This is usually when we say grace, but can also be her way of trying to end anything. She wants to news to be over: "A-men!" She thinks a homily is a bit lengthy: "A-men!")

Telling her sister about "Baby G" which is her name for the baby Jesus in our nativity. Yesterday she was down on the floor playing with the nativity and I suddenly realized that every single fischer price animal in the house was clustered in one small area. While I watched I realized that at the center of that area was the baby Jesus figure with the Mary figure close by. When I asked her who all the animals were going to see she said "Baby G!" in an excited voice.

This morning she went and dug through her book shelf and found the rosary coloring book that we have there and brought it over to me. I keep meaning to make copies of the pages to give to her to use, so she hasn't looked at it much. When she brought it over I asked her who was on the cover and she pointed to Mary and said "Mar!"

There were quite a few little girls in the book so I asked her which one she was and she found a picture of Saint Bernadette and pointed it out (before later telling me that that wasn't actually her).

Other favorite words and phrases on her list include: "Hospital!" (because she loves to look at her baby book with pictures of us in the hospital) and "rainbow!" She also likes to look at the picture of us right after she was born and point out the IV going into my arm and say "medicine... arm!" Another favorite photo is the one of the doctor holding her, so that she can say: "doctor! hand!"

It's nice, after the doctor acted like it was so odd that she wasn't speaking much, to have her suddenly using all sorts of words that you'd never expect! It was what we thought was likely to happen, and I'm pretty joyful that it's finally here! And she's much less frustrated (most of the time)!

Our Thankful Leaf Project

Sadie is very proud of our latest craft project. She is currently going through a phase where she loves the fall leaves. This picture that I snapped on our walk on veterans day shows why:

When we go on walks she absolutely has to have a couple of leaves in her hand (or at least, things go much smoother when she does... I need to stop forgetting that!). She holds them and shreds them while I walk the mile and a half across town pushing her and carrying Maggie in the Moby, and then gets two more leaves (if we can find any on that side of town) and shreds them on the way back.

So I got the idea to pick up a few of the prettiest leaves I could find. I managed to protect them from her little tearing fingers all the way home. Then I traced them (while she did her best to steal them from me) and cut out a bunch.

This led to a conversation about what was trash and what wasn't trash, because one of Sadie's other passions at the moment is throwing things away and the leaves I was cutting out apparently looked a little too much like garbage to Sadie. By the end of the first day (with her limited crafting attention span this took several days to put together) Sadie had learned which pieces of paper were leaves, and she'd started putting the leaves in piles and stacking them over and over again.

After the leaves were cut out we talked about what we were thankful for. And we read this book.

The next step was writing down what we're thankful for. We started with family and friends, God and Church. Then things got a little silly. Sadie repeated "Nemo" about fifty times when asked what she was thankful for and then added in "Dora!" She was also thankful for mud puddles, the trundle bed (at Nani's house), the window bed (a futon at Nani's house), flag poles (she points out pretty much every flag pole in town when we go on walks... and since our town looks like the picture below on holidays, that can really slow us down...), weather vanes and puddle stomping.

Once we wrote down many of the things that we're thankful for (we added some for Maggie too) we pasted all of he leaves together. Here's how it turned out:

And here is Sadie, when asked to show me where the leaves are. She showed it to Nani tonight too and is very pleased with herself.

And there is Sadie in her self styled outfit. She is wearing her Cars pajamas with a pink American Flag Tractor Supply Store t-shirt over it. When I met her and Paul at the park after working in the office at the Church this morning she was wearing the layered top with hot pink pants, pink and white rubber boots and crazy unbrushed curls. She's quite the character. And that is another thing that I am thankful for! My little tractor loving princess (and her quiet, nap taking little sister!).

Learning Italian with Muzzy

A couple of days ago Sadie was playing in the living room and as I listened she started talking to herself. After rambling on a bit I heard her say: "One, two, three..." then a pause before: "Uno, dos!" and another pause followed by "un, deux, trois!" The next day as she started climbing up the stairs she said, "one, two... dos!" But when she heard me telling Nani what she'd said she said, in a rather exasperated voice, "Three!"

For a couple of weeks now we've been watching the Muzzy DVDs together as a family each evening. Muzzy is the BBC's language program. When I bought the program we thought we were just getting one language, but we were excited to receive the program set and find that when you order English, Spanish, French, Italian or German, you receive a DVD with all five languages on the same set of disks. You can also order Russian or Mandarin separately, but the five language set is definitely the best deal if you're interested in learning more than one language!

We usually watch Italian together most nights, but every now and then we throw in French (we picked French to watch with Italian because it was close but, we're hoping, not so close as to be really confusing). Hopefully Paul will have picked up enough Italian to help him this January when he travels to Rome!

I was a little skeptical when I first read a description of the story line before purchasing the DVDs. The story is pretty silly. The main characters are the king, queen, princess, king's advisor, gardener and Muzzy, the big green clock eating alien from outer space. The gardener and princess are in love, but the king's advisor also loves the princess. When the gardener is thrown in jail after the king and queen find out that he loves the princess he meets Muzzy the clock eating alien, who is there because he ate a bunch of parking meters. At the same time the king's advisor decides to use a computer program to print out a new princess, who loves him, but the program breaks and starts printing out dozens of princesses. It just gets sillier and sillier from there.

But, most likely because of the silliness, Sadie instantly loved it! And while there are only three short story DVDs (there is a lot of other material that comes with it, from CDs to vocabulary DVDs) I've been surprised by how much they pack into each episode and at how effectively the program seems to be working.

I think it does help that we're using it together as a family and that we've been trying to use what we've learned.

Sadie's little sponge like brain seems to be absorbing so much! When I said "susina" she ran into the kitchen and started trying to climb up on the counter to reach a plum! This program may not make any of us fluent in Italian, but it's definitely a step in the right direction!

The Dangers of Toddler Wrangling

The picture below shows the result of a Time-Out incident from earlier today. While Sadie is 99% over her biting (there were several months where we definitely had a "biting problem" but she hadn't bitten anyone is over a month...) today there was an incident. She had spent the day with the main goal of waking up her sister by shrieking every time she noticed that Maggie had dozed off (after all, Maggie has to be awake to play with her!). After something like a half dozen attempts at waking her sister this way it was time for a time out. Sadie apparently didn't agree with that!

Despite the fact that I was wearing a long sleeved shirt at the time, this was the result:

Ouch!