Month: November 2009

Oh, Christmas Tree

Sarah Family, Holidays

I rearranged the living room a smidge so we could put the tree up this evening.  I do love going through the ornaments we’ve collected throughout the years, and Carrie loves to hang things on the highest branches she can reach while Daddy holds her up.

I remember our first tree – senior year of college, we rented half a duplex with another friend, and we put up a tree even though we’d be away over Christmas.  We really had no ornaments to speak of, so I bought all red and gold ornaments and tried to do one of those decorator-type trees.  It came out…well, honestly, pretty ugly.

I like this tree, in all of it’s homemade, mismatched, colorful, paper-towel-angel-on-the-top glory much better!20091130_tree

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sarah Family, Holidays

Our family has a little extra to be thankful for today.  My cousin (the one who had the baby shower a couple of weeks ago) had her baby this morning.  A little early, but healthy.  We’re so happy to welcome Charles (already nick-named “baby Charlie” by Carolyn) to the family!

Human Again

Sarah General

I finally feel mostly back to myself.  I was never officially tested, but the PA at my doctor’s office is pretty sure I had H1N1, followed by a sinus infection.  Luckily (knock wood) nobody else in my family seems to have caught it.  (Washing my hands several billion times in the past two weeks probably helped.)  We haven’t had access to the vaccine for the kids, but I will definitely get it for them when/if it becomes available, because that is easily the sickest I’ve ever been in my adult life, and I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.

5.1 Years Old!

Sarah Monthly Updates

Dear Carolyn,

I’ve been debating for a while now about whether to continue writing monthly letters to you.  On the one hand, I’d like to think that when you’re older you’ll love to go back and read them.  On the other hand, I think that in between now and then you’re going to be really embarrassed that I took the time to document your life on the internet.  Although, rest assured, you are certainly not the only child who has a “mommy blogger” for a mom.

I don’t know what to do.  I love writing the letters to you, and I think it would be really strange to just stop.  Maybe I should write them a bit less often – your birthday and half-birthday?  Or maybe I should write them on good old-fashioned paper…or not.

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See, today you are 5 years and 1 month old.  And I thought to myself that I should stop writing you letters on my blog.  And I was really going to stop.  But then I thought that you’d be looking through someday and get to the last one, when you turned 5, and wonder why I just suddenly stopped.  So, I started writing to tell you that I was going to stop, and now there’s a whole letter full of angst about whether I should be writing you letters.

What will I do next month?  I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

Love, Mommy

Parent Teacher Conference

Sarah School Days

We went to our first parent-teacher conference this evening.  The teacher had a lot of nice things to say about Carrie.  I was kind of surprised to hear that Carrie cries at least once a day at school, but her teacher is confident that it’s just a maturity thing that will come with time, and it’s never more than a fleeting moment in her day.  It must be fleeting, because she’s never once mentioned being sad in school.

We already knew that reading is one of Carrie’s strengths, but she’s also doing really well in math and everything else.  Even though she’s young, she’s holding her own as one of the youngest in a class with a bigger than usual age range, and she’s well liked by her classmates.  I think that’s a pretty good start to kindergarten!

Sixteen Months Old!

Sarah Monthly Updates

Dear Anna,

You are sixteen months old today.  I waffle between thinking that sounds so young and thinking that I should probably stop thinking of you as a baby.

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I’m sorry to say that I’ve totally lost track of your words and your signs.  You have so many at this point that it would probably be easier to list the things you can’t sign or say!  Some recent cute ones are that you can sign “sister” and that you say “nose” (well, “no-oh”) whenever you see a tissue.  You also say “‘appy!” when you’re happy.  You’re starting to sign colors – green, red, yellow and blue – but I don’t know that you know what they mean yet.  It’s a really good thing you sign in addition to speaking, because many of your words sound exactly the same.  You basically can only say the consonants “b”, “d”, “n”, and “p”, so any words that rely on any other consonants are pretty tough to figure out.

The past few days, while I’ve been so sick, you’ve watched a lot of Signing Time episodes.  You’ve been obsessed for a while now, but now you’re a complete addict.  Oh, well, at least it’s educational, right?  Besides, your sister watched a ton of Signing Time as a baby and she’s turned out pretty well so far!

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You are a little independent stinker pants now.  You want to do everything yourself.  Everything.  You use a fork and you make a good attempt at using a spoon.  You climb up on the step stool so you can reach a box of animal crackers on the counter, and you’ve figured out how to open the box and get snacks out.

You also have started having little mini baby tantrums.  Let me just tell you, it’s really, really hard not to laugh when you’re laying on the kitchen floor, kicking and pounding your fists.  And why, you might ask, were you having this little tantrum?  Well, really, it all comes down to me being a mean mommy.  A mean, mean mommy, who won’t let you climb into the dishwasher.  Yes, I’m really that mean.  And yes, mini baby tantrums are really that funny!

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I know it’s cliche, and I know I felt the same way (and still do) with your sister, but the age you’re at right now?  It’s my favorite age.  Every month you’re more fun, interesting, wonderful…more you.  I’m loving watching you turn into a curious, spunky, exciting little girl.

Love, Mommy

Veteritarian’s Day

Sarah Carolyn

The other morning, Carrie piped up with, “Mommy, we made cards for the vegetarian in our class!”

Me: ….???…. You have a vegetarian in your class? Who is it? Are they sick?
Carrie: No, Mommy, the vegetarian. You know?
Me: Um, you mean a “vegan”?
Carrie: No. Maybe it’s not the right word. There’s a day for it, Vegetarian’s Day.
Me: (at this point I’m struggling not to laugh out loud) Oh! You mean you made cards for a veteran??
Carrie: Yeah, that’s it! For Veteritarian’s Day!
Denis and I then tried to explain to her what a veteran is, but I don’t think it quite sank in. I think she thinks there’s a day to celebrate not eating meat. Or possibly for being a veterinarian. Sigh.

So, Happy Veteritarian’s Day!