Happy 4th Birthday Sadie-girl!

Little girl growing up... Sadie is now 4 going on at least 14 or 15. It's frightening. Somehow this child has managed to have all the confidence, boldness and outgoing-ness that her daddy, brother and I have never had. What she lacks in knowledge, she makes up for with enthusiasm. That's our Sadie.

Over the past year, we've had some pretty big milestones. Sadie mastered the potty in just under a week (a huge relief after the battle of potty-training her brother). She got to go to her first birthday party (non-relative). She went ice skating for the first time and attended her first ballet class.

She also invented her first imaginary friend- the first of many... but more about that later.

Sadie is my little ball of energy and joy. Yep, I can't think to describe it any other way. First thing in the morning, she wakes up with a big smile on her face and asks "What are we going to do today, Mom?" Something as simple as getting clean clothes from the dryer, she gushes over "Oh, thank you Mommy for my clean pjs" and she takes them and dances into her bedroom to put them away. Every gift for birthdays or Christmas's or for no reason at all is accepted with such enthusiasm that you might be tempted to think that she's acting for someone but the feeling is real, even if it is given with a dramatic flare. She never fails to remind me that anything can be good or exciting if you just look at it from the right perspective.

Now, don't get me wrong, the princess is certainly capable of showing the world her less desirable moods. She can be one whiny-cranky mess when the world aligns against her. Even while trick or treating the other night... it was our first time in the new neighborhood. Everyone was out. It was cold and the princess didn't want her jacket to cover her beautiful Cinderella costume. (Yes, we're a bit of a diva at times) We made it out and over to the next door neighbor's. Then we hit the house after that. After the third house, we had to walk around the corner and down the next street a little ways. Little Cinderella starts dragging her feet, "but I waannna trick or treat" "well, Sadie, that's what we're doing" We could only figure that 1. she was cold and 2. the house here are much farther apart than in Oakland, requiring her little feet to do a lot more walking. She perked up after getting her jacket on but in the end, they only made it down one street before they were done for the night.

She also can hold her own with a tantrum but fortunately those don't happen very often and when they do, it's usually because she is just too exhausted.

Sadie is our social butterfly. She loves being the center of attention. Often we believe that the world is her stage and we're just the audience. This is a lot of fun (most of the time). You never know when she's going to start a song or a dance or talk with a weird accent and poses or take a dive. She continues to be our physical comedienne. In fact, as I'm typing this, she struts down the hall with a blanket on her head and in her most elegant voice asks "how do i look?"

Preschool started a couple months ago and she's in the class Caleb had last year. She goes 3 mornings a week and on Wednesdays, she gets to stay for lunch. And apparently, Sadie already is developing quite the entourage. She has a best friend, Samantha, and judging by pictures in the classroom, they are inseparable, well, until the teachers have to separate them for talking too much during circle time. Recently, there's also been a boy in the picture. Now, Sadie has always managed to get the boys to follow her around but in the past few weeks, we've been hearing about Nathan and how he likes to hold her hand. I was not expecting this and I'm still not sure what I think of this. I think Daddy is even more unsure. But at any rate, she is a friendly, out going girl and I'm thrilled to see her making friends.

In addition to preschool, Sadie started taking ballet lessons. She's been obsessed with it since we were first introduced to Angelina Ballerina and if you ask what she wants to be when she grows up, she'll tell you "a real ballerina one day" (a line from Angelina Ballerina). When Caleb started working with his TSS, we thought it might be good to give Sadie a special activity and so over the summer we tried out a 5 week class through The Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School. Needless to say, she loved it and surprising to us, she really learned things. She would "teach" us how to do curtsies and use phrases that we know she learned from class. After that success, we decided to sign her up for the year. So every Thursday morning, we scramble to get Caleb to preschool and get her to ballet and she's loving it. To top it all off, we're attending The Nutcracker Ballet for the first time this year and she absolutely can't wait to go.

Sadie is very smart but doesn't always use it for good, like her brother. She's learned manipulation and tries very hard to "cute" her way out of trouble, i.e. shrugging her shoulders and grinning when she's caught doing something wrong. I swear sometimes I think I'm living on a sitcom with the antics she comes up with.

Sadie has added more people to our family over this past year... Margot, Sal and Ziggy. Just look back at past posts and you can read all about them. In short, they're her friends from Mexico and they make frequent visits. She also has a Mexico Mom, a Mexico Grandma and a Mexico Grandpa. So far they've been harmless and quite entertaining. For example, her Mexico mom likes to eat ketchup on pancakes.

Sadie loves to play pretend and for a while, we never knew what name to call her. Some days she was Cinderella, some days, Clara, and my favorite, Spider-man Sadie. She's been really great with getting her brother to play along with her and that's one of the special things that we thank God for about her.

She also very much loves her books- almost as much as her big brother. She loves to sing and dance and dress-up and play soccer and ride bikes. She's my active child. We've noticed that she's the kind of kid that gets more spastic the more tired she gets. It's funny to watch but not always funny to put up with.

And surprisingly she manages to have this grace about her despite being a complete clutz. I really have trouble understanding it.

Sadie's our special girl and we've had so much fun with her this year and we look forward to watching her grow over the coming year.

Caleb turns 5!

Another September and another year older for the boy. I was feeling even more nostalgic about it this year. Since he missed the birthday cut-off for kindergarten, this will be his last year spending most of his time with me. I can't believe he's five! I look at his baby pictures and think, is that really him with those big serious eyes taking everything in and that quick smile and of course, how ticklish and quick to giggle. My baby boy is really not a baby any more. He's a full blown little boy complete with fascinations for matchbox cars, legos, dinosaurs and super heroes.

This year has been full of some huge changes and the boy has come through them with flying colors. Grammie M lost her battle with cancer last fall. It was devastating for our family but we were able to make some great memories in those last weeks. In the midst of losing Grammie, Caleb managed to master the potty. This was huge considering that we were spending lots of time driving to and from Latrobe/Derry without any real schedule. Part of me likes to think that God showed a little mercy on me by having Caleb finally get it. It made a horrible time just a tiny bit easier.

There were questions about Grammie and lots of talk of heaven and God. Caleb was my little sunshine through it all- quick to offer a hug and always surprising me with an unprompted "I wuv you, Mommy."

Preschool was another change for him- 3 mornings a week and with new teachers. This year he was able to read and once the teachers were able to print up a schedule for him, the transitions went more smoothly. It also helped that he had a couple of buddies in his class. Andrew and Brandon were visiting from Canada and spent the fall semester in class with Caleb and on many, many outside play-dates.

Caleb continues to love reading and we're up to beginning chapter books. Mercy Watson is still a favorite but we've expanded to The Magic Treehouse books and beginning Marvel comics. Caleb loves Captain America and Ironman but Superman and Spiderman are also pretty high up on his list.

While he excels at reading, he struggles with writing and because of that struggle (I think) he resists it more. His poor teachers had quite the fight to get him to participate in the morning art activity and we have a very incomplete alphabet book but he's trying little by little. I'm not going to ask more of him 'cause this is only preschool.

At preschool, he continues to love music and movement and story time. This year also brought classroom jobs. He seemed to really like passing out napkins and door holder is always a popular job. The jobs have carried over home a bit too. He loves to be given "jobs" to do. If asked to pick up toys, whining will begin but if I simply say "I have a job for you" there's no whining and the task usually gets completed.

Caleb is still our policeman but we've also seen him improve with playing too. He spent one afternoon pretending to be a conductor for a train and taking us all over the country. Sadie is pretty successful in getting him to go along with her adventures. We've even had some issues with Margot (Sadie's imaginary friend) playing with Caleb instead of Sadie. You never know what's going to come up this house. Most recently, there have been lots of battles with evildoers.

This spring we started getting Caleb services to deal with some of his Asperger's issues. Stephanie and Thao came to our house and began working with him in June. They worked on getting him through transitions and used to doing tasks that he doesn't really like. They were really good with him and helpful for us, figuring out how to navigate with Caleb's struggles. The move interrupted things for a bit but I still think the time was helpful. Now at the new house, we've just started with a new TSS and BSC and they're excited to work with Caleb.

Over the summer, we bought and built a new house. This was probably the best way that we could have handled moving. They broke ground at the end of April. We were able to come of out and check it out through all the stages of building. This seemed to really help Caleb get use to the idea of a new house. Once we discussed that there would be potties and that they're toys would be at the new house, they were very excited. We've been in the house for almost 2 months and Caleb has loved it. No tantrums, no sleepless nights, and we now have drive-way dump-truck luge for entertainment.

The little boy is growing up and surprising us with new things everyday. Happy Birthday Monkey-Man!



First time on a horse at Derry Ag Fair



Soccer Skills



The Big Blizzard- we finally got him to play outside with gloves and a hat



Getting Our Christmas Tree



Halloween '09

Sadie's Birthday Pics!

We celebrated Sadie's birthday a couple weeks ago at my mom's. She and Aunt u surprised us by putting together an awesome cake for Sadie. What a way to receive your very first Barbie doll?!

 

 

 

 

The Birthday Party

Well, another weekend gone and Sadie's 1st birthday party is gone with it. It was quite a hit. We had the party at Uncle Jason and Aunt Lindsay's house (thanks again guys) that they were so nice to offer up and to frantically finish installing floors for it- they've been gutting and remodeling this house for several years and are in the home stretch but had a lot to do to get it up to party shape. Now, you're probably wondering why we would have the party there of all places... well, our house is just not big enough to fit all of our family in it and Jason's place was conveniently located half way between here (Pittsburgh) and Derry (where all the rest of the family would be coming from). The closer location also made it easier for my grandma to come.

Andy's mom and dad came in Thursday evening to stay in Pittsburgh for the weekend. G'ma brought Caps for Sale which was a big hit with Caleb. He's been going through Mike Mulligan withdrawal having to take that back to the library. They also managed to bring out two ride on toys that were a big hit. One is a tricycle that has a handle out the back so that an adult can help push the kid as he's pedaling. Caleb took that to the park on Friday and loved it but his feet don't quite reach the pedals yet. The other toy is a car that also has a handle for pushing out the back.

For Sadie, they brought her very own baby doll stroller with a baby to ride in it. This was a hit with both kids. Sadie immediately started giving her new baby hugs and Caleb helped her to put in the stroller. Then they took turns pushing it around the room. Sadie was a little wobbly and had trouble leaning too much onto the stroller- then she would fall over. Caleb learned that it was funny to let the stroller drop and say "oh-no, baby go boing."

On Friday there was a lot of playing with the grandparents and getting ready for the party.

Saturday was the big day. We got a bit of a late start and then traveling out, ran into traffic on 376. We didn't get to Jason's until 2:15 (the party started at 2) but it was all family and they understood. The kids had lots of fun running around the big open space and quickly discovered the empty cabinets in the dining room. Sadie had lots of fun crawling into the cabinets and Caleb had fun shutting the doors on her. There were no tops to the cabinets so she could peak out over the edge and laugh.

After playing and snacking for awhile, we opened presents. Caleb helped open and Cousin Claire helped carry around and read the birthday cards. Sadie liked taking the tissue paper out of the bags but seemed a little unsure about it all. She got some really cute outfits and the little people airplane and mini van were a big hit with all the kids. She also got a little toy cd player that makes music and some soft stuffed animals. She's had lots of fun playing with her new toys and standing her ground when big brother tries to take them from her.

Next it was time for cake. She sat in her chair in the center of the room and we all sang. Then it didn't take long for Caleb to start sticking his fingers into the cake- to help her get started. Sadie didn't need any help though. After getting over the feel of the icing, she discovered how it tasted and then there was no stopping her. She had a blast eating her cake and enjoying all the attention. Caleb and Claire sampled her cake too and then tried to share it with the g'pas and g'mas who were watching.

My mom helped me get Sadie out of her chair and we took her to the bathroom to rinse her off and get her into some pjs. She had icing all through her hair but the clothes weren't too bad. In the bathroom, she was very excited because she thought she was getting a bath but there was only a shower stall so Sadie had her first shower and didn't like it very much.

It was only 5 or so when all this ended but everyone was exhausted, so we packed up and came back home. The kids got second winds after resting in the car on the way in and then had fun playing with all the new toys before going to bed.

G'ma and G'pa left Sunday morning before we went to church. And we all spent Sunday afternoon relaxing.

Caleb turns 2

Caleb is 2 years old!!!

We wrapped up his 2nd birthday party this evening and I think it went well, except for the singing of Happy Birthday, but I'll get to that in a bit.

Caleb had a big day today. It started this morning with a Storybook Walk through Frick Park with daddy. I think it might have been the happiest place in the world. It combined all of his loves, a playground, books and even a bookmobile. Apparently, they set up little areas throughout the park and had story times (complete with carpet squares to sit on). They had crafts for the kids, snacks, face painting and plenty of books. One of the highlights for Caleb was seeing the buses that were shuttling people to and from the parking areas. He kept telling Andy "yeyo skool bus" (that's the best I can do with typing it phonetically).

They were at the story walk from about 9:30 this morning 'til 1. Then we got him home, gave him quick lunch and sent him off to bed for quick nap. G'mas and G'pas and aunts and uncles were coming in at 3 for a little cake and ice cream...or so we thought.

Well, the parkway coming into Pittsburgh was shut down (for hopefully one final time) and that meant even more traffic than usual. On top of that, I'm sure the Pitt football game also added to the traffic. Shortly before 3 we got a call from my dad saying that they were stuck in traffic. Then a little while later, my mom called saying not only were they stuck in traffic but also having car trouble and they wouldn't be able to make it in. Finally at 4 my brother showed up, thinking he was late only to learn that they were the first ones to arrive and then my dad pulled up right after that. During this time, Caleb had not taken a nap but Sadie managed to sneak one in since everyone was late getting here.

The party went really well after the rocky start. Caleb was really excited to see everyone and after Sadie woke up, she was happy to see G'ma and G'pa. We were able to comfortably stay inside since it was so muggy outside, it was nice to be in air conditioning. After some play time and munching on snacks we started opening presents. The highlight of the presents would have to be a birthday card from G'ma and G'pa that played "Celebration" when you opened it. Caleb and Sadie would both stand at the couch dancing to the music and there were a few times where we had to stop with the presents to play the music. G'ma and G'pa also got him Elmo and Ernie bumper cars. Those were quite the hit. Both kids loved chasing them around the dining room. Caleb got a soccer ball from Uncle Jason and Aunt Lindsay that Sadie really liked and grabbed onto several times this evening. Andy and I got him some Thomas tracks and Edward because he's the number 2 engine.

After playing with new presents and coloring new pictures and reading new stories, it was finally time for cake. We set Caleb in his seat. He tasted the icing a bit. Then we lit the candles and began to sing and Caleb began to cry, not just cry sob. We don't know why and can only guess that our horrible singing offended him so greatly that he was driven to tears. Well, I don't know that that was really the case but he was not happy with us singing and attempted to push the cake away, getting icing all over his fingers and then tried to climb into my lap. We cleaned up his fingers and then I held him and he finally let us sing but we could only whisper. He liked the candles but wasn't quite ready to blow them out even though he's spent many meals blowing on his strawberries because they were hot. Caleb got a special cupcake that he mauled but seemed to like and we all enjoyed gluten-free cake and ice cream. The cake wasn't too bad, just very heavy. Gluten apparently makes things lighter.

After cake, we played some more then said good bye to everyone. Both little ones were very tired and happily went to bed.