Author: Sarah

Kindergarten Screening

Sarah Growing Up

Carrie had her kindergarten screening this morning.  The teacher should have realized she had her hands full when she said something along the lines of “oh, goody, I get to test a four year old” and Carrie piped up with “actually, I’m four-and-a-half now!”

I couldn’t see most of what was going on, but I could hear a lot of it.  It was all I could do not to laugh out loud at some of the things coming out of my child’s mouth!

Highlights of the test:

After Carrie correctly identified her heel, the teacher asked, “Who taught you all of these things?” and Carrie replied, “My imaginary friend!”

At one point the teacher asked Carrie to hop on one foot, and then to walk in a straight line, heel to toe.  Carrie said, “Oh!  Like walking on a tightrope!  I learned how to do that from JoJo’s Circus, and I know a whole song about it: ‘Balance, balance, use your balance, arms out wide and use your balance.'”

The teacher handed Carrie a book (My Little Cat) and asked her to demonstrate how the teacher would read the book.  So Carrie flipped it over so it was oriented correctly and read it front to back (it had all of maybe 20 unique words in it) and the teacher said, “Your imaginary friend taught you to read very well!”  Carrie’s reply?  “No, that was my mommy!”

After the screening was over, the teacher came back out to meet me and said that Carrie is so ready for school she should already be there.  Tell me something I don’t know!  I just hope she doesn’t wind up with a teacher who underestimates her because of her birthday…

Baby’s First Toothbrush

Sarah Firsts

Now that she has two teeth, it’s time to start introducing Anna to the wonders of toothbrushing.  Carrie was so excited about Anna getting to brush her teeth that she wanted to be the first one to do it.

So she was.20090502_toothbrushing

Anna really likes this new chewy thing…20090502_toothbrushing120090502_toothbrushing220090502_toothbrushing3

Sheep Thrills

Sarah Shop Talk

My brother needed to borrow a sheep for a photo shoot, so I lined up all the sheep I could round up in our house in 10 minutes and took a picture so he could decide which one he wanted.  This does not count the beanie baby lamb I found moments later, the second Gund baa-ing sheep that was hiding in Carrie’s room, or any of the other fiber-bearing stuffed toys in the house (there are at least two llamas floating around somewhere).  Plus there are three more Little People sheep with the Little People nativity set.  Oh, and some Lego Duplo ones I completely forgot about…!sheep_lineup

I think we have quite a few sheep.

A Tooth!

Sarah Firsts

Anna has her first tooth today!  For the past few days, I’ve been certain she was teething, and I kept sticking my finger in her mouth to check, but only found bumps on her bottom gum.

Today, I found a tooth!  Her bottom right central incisor, to be exact.

Maybe tonight Anna will remember how to sleep all night again?

4.6 Years Old!

Sarah Monthly Updates

Dear Carolyn,

Today you are officially 4-and-a-half.  You’ve made sure that everyone you see knows it, too!  When I told you this morning that it was your half birthday, you wanted to know if there would be cake.  I thought about it, but instead we settled for ice cream at Friendly’s after lunch.  Maybe next year I’ll figure out how to make you a half cake for your half birthday!20090415_icecream

You are thrilled that the weather is getting nicer.  We’ve spent some time outside lately on your tricycle, blowing bubbles, drawing with chalk…I think you’d live outside all day long if I let you.  At the same time, you would probably be willing to watch TV for the entire day if I let you do that, too!  You now know how to work the entire setup we have – you can turn the TV on yourself, switch the receiver to the right mode, control the DVD player and the Tivo…so the next time one of your grandparents is over to watch you while Daddy and I go out you can be in charge of helping them use the TV!20090330_book

Speaking of things you can do yourself, every day you are getting more independent.  In many ways, it’s good – I’m glad you’ll be able to use the bathroom entirely without help when you go to kindergarten, and once we figure out where to store some of your cups, plates and bowls so they’re within reach I think you could practically be independent for meals of breakfast cereal and pb & j.  In other ways…it’s not so good.  I’m terrified of the fact that you can open any (locked or unlocked) door leading out of this house, and that you’ve learned this month how to get around the extensive network of baby gates we have up.  You’ve used your new skills to get out of the house more than once without permission, and the scary part is that you really don’t get why that upsets us so much.  I think we’re going to have to put hook and eye latches on the outside doors…20090414_trike

You’re an amazingly wonderful big sister.  It’s cute (even though I do try to discourage it) to find you in your sister’s crib in the morning, plotting with her about how the two of you can best make me crazy that day.  You want so much for her to be your playmate, and can’t quite understand why she won’t do exactly what you want her to do.  I predict that in a couple of months you’ll have a little more success with her understanding your directions, though I also predict that she’s got quite the mind of her own and won’t necessarily want to do what you ask!20090410_piano

And even though we’ve had quite a bit of struggle lately, you and I, you are an amazing daugher as well.  You are working to gain your independence, and I am working to keep you safe.  Those two goals can’t always exist in harmony, and sometimes it feels like entire days are spent arguing over what you can and can’t do, and why you can or can’t do it.  I have faith we’ll figure it out, though, and no matter how rough a day we have, I will always, always love you.

Love, Mommy

Strong Museum, Revisited

Sarah Anna

We went to the Strong Museum again today – this time with my friend Susie and her baby Nikki, who is Anna’s best friend.  Seriously, the babies are someday going to be graduating from high school together and we’ll have photographic proof that they were friends before they could even walk or talk!

It was great for Carrie because she was the only kid old enough to have a say in where we went, so she got to do whatever activity she wanted right that minute.  I even “cheated” at the mini Wegmans and let her choose 10 items to put in her cart: 5 for her and 5 for Anna.  As an aside, this is something I don’t get.  We teach our children to about eating healthy at home and at school, and Carrie just naturally enjoys fruits and vegetables.  So she always winds up filling up her allotted 5 items from the produce section, and then can’t figure out how she’s going to buy milk, cereal and eggs too.  So I’m happy to have found a way to let her pick out more items without technically breaking the rules.  It might become a problem when Anna’s old enough to want to pick out her own 5 items, though!

The babies mainly crawled around the baby spaces and looked cute.

And then Carrie finished up the visit with the messiest, meltiest soft-serve ice cream cone ever.