The Hoverman Honeys....: Sarah Jane at 3

Sarah Jane at 3

First day of school with Anna

First day of school in the Red Room

A typical Sarah-Jane-at-3-years-old day goes something like this:
She wakes up early (sometimes at 3 or 4 but most often around 5:30) and comes into Mommy and Daddy’s room. She wants her bottle and it needs to be heated up JUST SO and god help us if we don’t get it right. We make her a little bed on our floor: two blankets on bottom and mommy’s bathrobe on top and she snoozes with her bottle. When she’s done she either sleeps more or plays quietly with the toys that are scattered all over Mommy and Daddy’s floor. She also sometimes likes to go in and entertain Anna when Anna wakes up which M and D really enjoy!

When M&D get up she sometimes gets in the shower with them but not very often. I’d say we get her in there twice a week? Not hugely clean this little one. She doesn’t not like to have her hair washed and vastly prefers if we wash just wash the bottom. After the shower we go into get dressed. She spent a great deal of time being hugely difficult to dress but is much more agreeable now. She does a very good job getting most of her clothes on by herself which I find very impressive.
After clothes she comes in to help mommy with her makeup. She knows all the steps and likes to put the powder on with the soft brush. We used to try and brush her hair. For a while it worked if we let her put her feet in the sink and play with the water but now we just wait for Elizabeth to come who has much more luck.
At 8 we head downstairs and Elizabeth arrives. We have “Eatmeal” which has to be heated up and then put in the fridge to cool down. Only Elizabeth can do the cool down correctly. She has milk, PBs and a little bit of brown sugar on her oatmeal. She usually eats about three bites.

Then mom and dad leave for work and Elizabeth loads everyone in the car and heads up the hill for the pre-school drop off. Sarah Jane just started at Berkeley Hills and so far loves her “New School” (“Mommy, I go my new school?”) She is in the Red Room and has Teacher Terri, Lisa and Chris. Four kids from Bari’s also are at Berkeley Hills, Colm (best friend), Zachary, Wade and Lucy. Sarah Jane shares a cubby with Wade. Wade wears batman PJs to school most days. Those are the only friends she says she plays with, I think she doesn’t know the other’s names yet. School goes from 9 to 1. First they play inside. Then they have circle time and snack and go outside. Then they have lunch then more circle time and then they get picked up. It’s a hard life…

For lunch Sarah Jane gets a cream cheese sandwich on raisin bread, and then two of: tomatoes, carrots and humus, crackers, fruit, cheese sticks or anything else we can find that she will look at and reject. She eats virtually none of it.

Sarah Jane gets picked up on Monday and Wednesday by Zeke, on Tuesday and Friday by Granma and on Thursday by either her mom or Elizabeth. (For the first two weeks of school I dropped her off 8 of 10 days which was very fun.) Sarah Jane likes being picked up by Zeke best but he cheats and brings her chocolate (Zeke’s treats) so it’s not a fair contest.

Zeke or Granma takes Sarah Jane takes Sarah Jane straight to the park at Bonita and Hearst where Elizabeth rules the nanny scene. One nanny there, Juanita loves Sarah Jane lots and Sarah Jane is very well behaved for Juanita.

After the park they come home and try to avoid taking a nap. Sarah Jane gets very tired and wants to lie down but Elizabeth works very hard to keep that from happening. At 5:30 Anna gets dinner but Sarah Jane waits for Mommy to get home from work which happens right at 6 along with Katie (Owen’s mommy.) Sarah Jane likes to pack up Owen’s stuff and Katie is very patient with the five minutes this adds to her night. I LOVE coming home because Sarah Jane hears the key and comes running yelling “Mommy Mommy Mommy” and gives me a big hug. I love it!

We find something to eat for dinner. I make two plates and then eat most of Sarah Jane’s. She has a hard time sitting at the table, cant’ decide on the seat she wants, what silverware she wants, what she wants to drink etc. Big production to get her settled. Then we mostly get two or three bites down and that’s it. We often have noodles, a salad with chicken, burritos, or something else that got put together in under four minutes which is my specialty. I need to work on putting more food in front of her to try but that takes a lot of effort.

After dinner we go upstairs, put Anna in the bath (though often not anymore as Anna started to not like it) and then we go downstairs and hang out together from 7:15 to 8ish. We read two books on the big read couch. Current favorites are “Welcome to Your World Baby” “Owl Babies” “Boston” (find the animals by Sage Stossel) “Hug” and “Ferdinand”, a good list! She still likes to repeat many times. Not so interested in finding new ground where books, or pretty much anything, is concerned.

At 8 or right before we attempt teeth brushing (“me first, you second”) and bed. Never easy. Sometimes a bribe with a Zeke’s treat and a pinky promise for no fussing during reading time works. Sometimes not. She sometimes goes to bed in her own bed. She sometimes insists on going to bed in Mommy’s bed “You carry me in” (after she goes to sleep we transfer her.) I know this is not best practice but so difficult to be best practice! She also insists that I work in my office while she is falling asleep. Very good for my work habits. Not so good for getting the kitchen cleaned.

She is fully potty trained as of August, no diapers at night (and only had one accident in the very beginning) but she will not go potty on suggestion so she often waits hours and hours in between. We were very proud of how quickly she got potty trained at night. She woke up for about a month with a dry diaper and we talked about it every morning and then one night she announced no diapers. And after that, no diapers. Amazing when things go well.

Sarah Jane is very good at puzzles. In fact, when we were at Tahoe she helped me do a couple of 100-150 piece real puzzles. And she really helped! She can do the big floor puzzles all by herself and does the wooden animal alphabet puzzle faster than I can.

She still knows all the letters but is less interested in them than she used to be. We don’t really yell out when we see them on bill boards on in books anymore though sometimes she surprises me.

She is a VERY good big sister and is very sweet with Anna. She gives her lots of hugs and kisses and looks out for her. She’s also a strict disciplinarian and often says “No Anna, NO” kind of like talking to Pickle. She is usually ignored. She almost never fusses when Anna pulls her hair and is pretty good about sharing though not an angel. Two of everything works better than one.

She does NOT like jeans. She does like dresses. She does NOT like having her hair brushed. She does like buckling her car seat in the car. She does not like waves, the chickens or Pickle jumping though she recently announced that when she gets married “Pickle can come?” She likes to put on the wooden shoes at Granma and Zekes. She loves Brady but they can only last about 20 minutes before there is yelling and in your face confrontation. Those two can push each other’s buttons! She loves tea parties, painting and playing outside with the sand. She likes going to Starbucks with mommy because she gets a treat (mini-scone.) She does not like to eat.

She is very good for Elizabeth, most days. She is a grouch when she wakes up. She is persistent and usually gets whatever she wants. She has a hard time remembering to say please. Time outs no longer work as they make her very upset. She refuses to sleep in side her covers and gets very hot at night (I don’t think she’s actually related to me.) She says funny things like “Mommy, let’s get new baby. But keep Anna. But put baby in your tummy, not mine.” When we finish reading a book she often likes to read it to me.

Oh, and how could I almost forget! She LOVES “Doe A Deer.” Lilly from Bari’s gave out CDs as party favors and they had Julie Andrews songs on them. Sarah Jane loves Julie Andrews so I bought the Sound of Music and boy is it a hit! We only watch it when we are on planes or in the car for a long trip but she is a BIG fan. She loves to sing Doe a Deer and we do so EVERY TIME we get in the car, the WHOLE time we are in the car. She can do all the words and even some of the different parts in the medley.

Recently we've had some fun adventures. We flew to Boston and drove to Hanover for our Tuck reunion and a visit with Aunt Kiki, Uncle Geogg, Cousing Blake and Nana and Papa. We went apple picking in Sebastopol and camping in Sonoma. We also had Halloween and the Chun's came over for dinner and trick or treating. Lots of fun times!

That’s Sarah Jane at 3.