Sarah Jane at 4 and a half

This weekend Dave and I finally tackled the obstacle course that has been accumulating at the bottom of the basement stairs.  Boxes and boxes and boxes of baby STUFF that we amazingly don't need anymore.  So hard for me as every little stained onesie, swaddling blanket and chewed on toy is a tangible moment in time that goes away as soon as I put it in the box. Poof.  Dave was pretty mystified when he found me finally breaking down over the box of burp rags. I certainly don't miss baby spit-up but packing away all those sweet soft little diapers that Dave's Aunt Belle gave us when Sarah Jane arrived was just too much.  There is so much baby in those beaten up rags!  So much anticipation when I washed everything I got at my baby shower (twice - with Dreft) and then stood in front of the brand new dresser trying to decide where everything would go.  And now she's going to Kindergarten? It was too much to think of not remembering which is the whole reason behind this blog in the first place.  I write this partly so our family who is far away can know our kids but also for the Hansel and Gretel style crumbs that help me find my babies.  Moral of the story - I'm sitting down to write the Sarah-Jane-at-4-and-a-half that I should have written in February.... 

Here's a day in SJ's life:
She is, and always has been, our first kiddo up.  She gets up with the sun, these days just before 6. As of about two weeks ago she magically began to dress herself.  She has figured out that if she shows up dressed, we don't make her take a shower.  Hair - not so clean these days.  Her favorite clothes are hand me downs from Teacher Alison's daughters.  She puts on a skirt, a shirt and hot pink socks and calls it good. She hasn't worn pants in over a year. Two days ago she carefully picked out an outfit for each of her siblings and laid them out just so while the rest of us snoozed.  So helpful, so Sarah Jane.  While Dave and I get ready for work she entertains her brothers, alerts me to potential problems, plays "Cinderella" with Anna and for the most part is perfectly lovely. 

Goofy in the morning:

We head downstairs early these days, usually around 7:15 and have breakfast.  M/W/F are cereal days.  Tu/Th are eggs and toast.  Sat and Sun (Mommy and Daddy days) are pancakes and french toast.  All made by dad, our breakfast chef.  Sarah Jane generally eats breakfast.  She generally doesn't eat anything else for the rest of the day. 

At 7:45 Vicky comes and at 8 Elizabeth comes.  We push Dave out the door and then launch into a flurry of shoe finding, sock shodding, hair brushing (whining, crying, flouncing off, pouting, more crying), sun screening (more of the same), shoe finding (again - we've lost them by now), lunch getting, lunch losing, lunch getting, shoes on for the third time, leaving.  I always want to leave at 8:20.  We always leave at 8:40.  I know I should shrug and go with it but it drives me batty.  By the time I FINALLY get the girls into the car and am waiting for them to do their "clicks" I have to sit with my head on the steering wheel doing deep yoga breathing to keep from blowing purple steam out my ears.  (Throwing that one in there for when I'm nostalgic about pre-school four years from now.)

Sarah Jane was in the Blue Room at Berkeley Hills this year with Teachers Kris, Lisa and Caitlin.  Her best friends were Audrey, Bryn, Callie, Colm, Wade and Preston but she happily plays with everyone.  She LOVES school and learned all sorts of things this year.  She can write her name and read from sight a growing list of words.  Her name is now in the right order in a straight line, different from the random assortment of s's, j's and n's that used to pop up on the back of her art work.  Below is Sarah Jane's graduation speech, Teacher Caitlin read it.

They also sang some songs, not SJ's strong suit (for posterity note all the parents behind their iPhones):

Sarah Jane gets picked up from school most days by Grandma or Zeke.  She plays in the park and then jumps into the car to go get Anna.  At home she has quiet time or a play date while her brothers and sister nap.  At four she and Anna head out with Elizabeth for the afternoon adventure - Studio Grow, the library, the park,, some lucky days they hit Target (a favorite).  They arrive back home right at 6 and sit down for dinner.  Sarah Jane is usually wailing about what is or is not on her plate (unless it is plain spaghetti of which she will usually condescend to eat 1 to 2 bites.)  She has learned (from watching her LITTLE sister) to ask please to be excused and to clear her place.  She even occasionally thanks her mother for "the delicious dinner," which she did not eat.

After dinner she plays with Anna while the boys get their bath and get ready for bed.  At 7 I take the boys upstairs with their bottles and Sarah Jane and Anna sit down for a glass of warmed up milk, fruit and a bowl of plain yogurt with honey and granola.  Which Sarah Jane DOES eat.  At 7:30 we brush teeth (3 times out of 5 it's a fight though we're getting better) and read books.  Anna's first, then Sarah Jane's.  We just started our first chapter book - Besty-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace.  I'm not sure if she's listening but having a chapter book makes her feel very grown up.  At 8 sharp we head upstairs and Sarah Jane gets in bed.  Previously, Sarah Jane always asked me "to sit a while" so I would get comfortable in the rocking chair and settle in for 40 to 60 minutes of reading my iPad interrupted by trips to the bath room, water fetching, book fetching, tucking in, re tucking in, blanket finding, PJ changing and more water.  The wails that would ensue when I tried to sneak out before both girls were sound asleep kept me glued petrified to the rocker for longer and longer intervals.  Not my favorite part of the day.  Dave suggested I stop.  I rolled my eyes - YOU try and stop.  YOU have the fight.  GOOD LUCK with THAT.  But as usual, he was right.  Two weeks ago I announced at 11 in the morning that "Tonight I am not going to stay a while."  "Ok," SJ shrugged. And at 8pm headed up to bed and went to sleep without me and without a peep. Really? That's all it took?  All those hours of sitting there and all I had to do was announce I was wasn't going to anymore? REALLY????  

Other things about Sarah Jane right now that I want to remember:

She has loaded up one of my old purses full of things that one might find in a purse and carries it with her everywhere.  Her purse contains chap stick, Kleenex, several pens, a pad of paper, an old cell phone, a brush, hair ties and spare keys.  She came up with all of those items herself.

Sarah Jane loves taking photographs.  Her favorite part of Disneyland was the disposable camera I bought her.

Sarah Jane loves to draw and spends hours with her art box which is arguably the best thing I have ever done as a mother. 

Sarah Jane goes to soccer on Saturdays and tennis on Sundays.  She's still scared of a lot of things but jumps right into the scrum and last Saturday scored three of her team's four goals (the fourth was an own goal.) She's not that in to defense (see below.)

Above all else, Sarah Jane is a great big sister.  She keeps her siblings safe, happy and in line.  Here she is hanging with her brother's in the play house.

She no longer fights with Anna about who gets which cup, plate, fork, straw etc. because "I'm 4 and I know it's the same, right mommy?"

Speaking of being four, Sarah Jane, lucky goose, gets to turn five twice this year.  Once in August for her real birthday and once in April for her school birthday.  Pictures of the rainbow cupcakes and birthday girl below.  Passing out the cupcakes might have been the highlight of her year.

Writing her name in the book we gave her school for her birthday (a BHNS tradition):

Sarah Jane is a joy right now.  I think last time I wrote an SJ update I likened living with her to harboring a tiny terrorist.  How far we've come.  She's morphed into a nurturing, silly, still sometimes stubborn but loving little helper.  We are so lucky to have her.  (Apologies for the many details, someday I'm going to want to remember all this.)

Sarah Jane at 4+

Squeaking in under the deadline, here is Sarah Jane's post...

I'm not going to lie, 4 is a tough age.  Sometimes I feel like I'm a hostage held captive by two tiny terrorists.  The two year old is 100% irrational, equally likely to implode as she is to giggle and she is easily distracted when she gets close to the brink.  The four year old however, is a whole other beast.  She is often sweet, lulling her captives into complacency.  Just when we start to think we are safe, she lists off her demands and if I don't deliver, all hell (in the form of ceaseless, heartbroken, and really, really loud wailing) breaks loose. 

As a result, I am constantly trying to anticipate her needs but as her wants are rather capricious, my inner conversation goes something like this, "Is today a pink-is-my-favorite-color-day or will the color of the day be purple? If I hide the pink and purple cups and just go with blue and green, will that avoid a standoff or cause a meltdown? Should the green beans be on the same plate as the noodles-plain-no-butter-but-yes-on-the-cheese, or should I put the green beans on a separate plate, and if I use the separate plate, should I use the princess plate or the purple plate the green edge and if I use the purple plate with the green edge, should I use the purple cup, oh wait, I decided on the blue cup..."  This ceaseless chitchat in my head is somewhat insanity provoking and in case you hadn't guessed, no matter what I try, I always lose.   I have this conversation around clothing (NO PANTS, NO LONG SLEEVES, ONLY SHOES FROM TARGET NOT THE FANCY EXPENSIVE SHOES FROM REI MOMMY AND DADDY INSIST ON BUYING), hair brushing (NO BARRETTES, NO PONYTAILS, ONLY TEACHER LISA IS ALLOWED TO TOUCH MY HAIR), food (NO VEGETABLES, NO SAUCE, NO MEAT EVEN THOUGH YESTERDAY I TOTALLY MESSED WITH YOUR MIND BY ACTUALLY EATING FISH BUT THAT SO ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN AND ISN'T IT CUTE THAT YOU GOT YOUR HOPES UP), etc. 

The good news is that the terrorists themselves get along great and are nearly always nice to each other.  They play together, read to each other, hug, say sorry and even occasionally share nicely.  They are also incredibly loving to their little twin terrorists in training.  There are clearly two teams in this house and I'm on the losing side.  

That said, there are more than enough redemptive moments to make it all worthwhile. 

I love being reminded that Sarah Jane is clearly related to us.  This weekend we were walking down Josephine St when (and I swear this is a true story) Sarah Jane pointed at a purple electric car and said, "Mommy, see that purple car over there?  Do you put gas into it like other cars?"  The only way she could possibly know that is by inheriting Dave's crazy brain of which at least 93% is dedicated to noticing obscure things about all things with wheels.  She is also related to me.  The other day I got her to drink her Keefer (yogurt juice for those of you not versed in kid food) after 20 minutes of begging by declaring a chugging contest between Sarah Jane and Anna.  It was gone in less than 13 seconds.  So "A" team.  See exhibit below:

(Dad not pictured as he was on the "B" team. Also, I know this is inappropriate for a post about Sarah Jane but sometimes I have to remind myself that once upon a time in the not so distant past, I was not the mother of four...)

It is also very fun to see how much Sarah Jane is learning right now.  She loves going to school, she loves her friends and she really loves her teachers.  Her school has a play based curriculum so there is very little formal learning but they do a great job slipping things in.  For instance, they often sort objects by the sounds they start with and now Sarah Jane's favorite game is to sound out the first letter of a word ("ta-ta-ta-tiger... T!")  She also practices writing her name at least once a day.  They have name cards that they can get to use as guides but Sarah Jane no longer needs hers.  She gets all the letters down (and she has a lot of letters!) but they tend to be in a fairly random order and all over the page.  The teachers assure us this is entirely normal and I'm having fun watching the random orbit of letters in her mind coalesce into a name.  Yesterday Sarah Jane wrote her first word on her own - "Zoo" which she has repeated several times.  So fun to have your first word be zoo!

Last week on Wednesday Sarah Jane brought her brothers in for sharing time.  Elizabeth and I sat with Eli and Roby and the kids all asked us questions.  Sarah Jane kicked it off by correctly identifying the boys despite the fact that I had dressed them in matching outfits (something we don't do very often.)  After wowing the crowd with that party trick, she got to call on her friends when they raised their hands.  We got great questions including, "Why doesn't Eli have blue toe nail polish?" and "Why were there two babies in your tummy?" (Try explaining that to 18 four year olds.)  After circle time some of the kids went outside and the rest stayed inside to take turns helping us give the boys their bottles.  Also, Eli showed off his rolling and Roby giggled.  They were a big hit.  When Elizabeth and I left nearly all the kids playing outside were pregnant with twins - they had all stuffed beanie babies up their shirts.  Some of them had even managed to concoct identical beanie baby twins.  Sarah Jane felt very special and wants to invite her brothers back soon.

Sarah Jane is still very scared of dogs, even Pickle (my parent's very small poodle), though she eventually calms down when we visit.  She also told me the other day that she is scared of both Nemo and The Little Mermaid because there are sharks and scared of Cinderella because there are Stepmothers. 

A typical day in the life of Sarah Jane goes something like this:
She is awakened between 5 and 5:30 by either her sister who wants to play with her or her brothers who just want to make a lot of noise.  After demanding her bottle she turns the light on in her room, heads to the bathroom all on her own (a recent and MUCH appreciated development!) and then plays very nicely in her room or on the floor in our room with her sister.  They read books, play with dolls or horses or make forts in their beds.  At about 7 they lose patience with us and insist that we get up.  Between 7 and 8, Sarah Jane is very busy taking care of her brothers while mom and dad get dressed.  She usually manages to fit in a melt down or two during that time, usually about the outfit I have picked out. 

At 8 we go downstairs and eat the breakfast dad has prepared.  Sarah Jane loves breakfast and almost always eats it with minimal pleading from me.  At 8:10 dad is pushed out the door (literally, the girls like to push him out) and Sarah Jane demands her tea (with milk and sugar thank you very much.)  After tea, I chase her around the house (usually while nursing a baby) begging her to put her shoes and sweatshirt on.  We then load into the car and head up to school.  Sarah Jane is dropped off at 9 and plays intently until pick up time at 1.  We usually play in the park outside school until 1:20 when we need to go get Anna.  Most of the girls Sarah Jane goes to school with are nearly a year older than her (with fall birthdays they all just turned five.)  These ladies are experimenting with forming cliques and excluding people.  Sarah Jane has not yet figured out this behavior and most of it sails right over her head.  She is entirely agnostic about who she plays with and runs around with both boys and girls, even if they aren't running with her.  When the weather was warm her favorite thing to do was start "Naked Club" which involved taking off nearly all your clothes as fast as you could and then running around and around yelling "Naked Club Naked Club Naked Club."  In Berkeley this is totally permissible. 

We head home after picking up Anna at Teacher Bari's and Sarah Jane plays quietly in the back room while Anna snoozes and the boys eat.  She usually plays with her "Happy Birthday Toys" which are all the toys she got for her birthday that had little parts (all of them) which we put in a box which only comes out when no one is around to consume and choke on hundreds of little plastic things.  She is a very good sport about not having access to her birthday presents for most of the day.  On that note, Sarah Jane LOVES her birthday.  We began planning her four year old birthday in January of last year.  We began planning her five year old birthday on August 23rd and haven't stopped since.  She likes to talk about all aspects of the party; who is going to come (all her "kids"), what we are going to do (bouncy house, princess party, gymnastics party), what we're going to eat (pizza), what color cupcakes we're going to have (pink, purple, blue, red, depending on the day) and of course, what she's going to get.  She loves the getting part. 

At four Sarah Jane and Anna head out to the park (in good weather) or Studio Grow (in rainy weather.)  Sarah Jane occasionally goes cheerfully but generally requires pleading, demanding, more pleading and finally bribery.  Upon receipt of her bribe she cheerfully loads into the stroller and heads out.  (Did I mention I'm on the losing team?)  At 6 she returns and refuses to eat the dinner I have prepared.  At 6:30 she heads upstairs with me to help me put down the boys (and she is actually extremely helpful; delivering sleep sacks, turning on the sleep sheep, pulling the curtains, turning on the nightlight and turning off the overhead light all while entertaining whichever baby I'm not changing.)

Between 7 and 8 we sprint through bath, dessert, reading, teeth and bed.  Sarah Jane's favorite books at the moment are Make Way for Ducklings, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and all the Knuffle Bunny books.  Unlike her sister, Sarah Jane falls asleep about 30 seconds after her head hits the pillow.  So wonderful.

Despite the four year old dramatics, we are really enjoying Sarah Jane right now.  She is a sweet and loving big sister, happy but sensitive, a fantastic welcomer when Dave comes home, a bit bossy with her friends (always the big sister), eerily observant, responsible and careful.  While Sarah Jane is timid and scared about a lot of things, occasionally she surprises us with a "WHEEEEHOOO!!!" from the backseat when Dave accelerates through a corner.  Apparently nothing prompts you to go faster than a four year old egging you on from the backseat. 

Pictures of SJ below...

This cake couldn't have made her happier...

 With birthday guests Brady and Alejandro (Elizabeth's son.)

 Providing photography services for a very important photo (GG with her Great-Grandsons)

On the big day!

 Receiving her congratulatory calls

 Getting

 Twins with her twin doll (outfits by Grandma)

 Cake number two

 Skinny dipping at Echo Lake

 SJ and her crew

Sarah Jane at 2 and a half

Sarah Jane is now 2 and a half and it's been exactly six months since I wrote her last update. My intentions were to write a new update every three months but the first three months of Sarah Jane's two year old experience were both very busy and pretty rotten. At first I felt bad that I hadn't recorded it but in retrospect, I'm not sure it will do anyone any good to remember it in any detail.

Sarah Jane meets her sis!

Our despondent two year old

In a short summary, she was pretty tough for the first two months after Anna was born. From the get go she was very sweet and gentle with Anna. She was interested in everything Anna did. She liked to hold Anna and she liked to talk to Anna. When I fed Anna, Sarah Jane liked to "feed" her animals too. Once, when I was in the shower, Sarah Jane climbed into bed with Anna, took off her shirt and attempted to feed Anna herself. She was nearly always gentle with Anna, and never did anything intentional to hurt her. (Once they banged heads by accident

but Sarah Jane was far more traumatized at making Anna cry than hurt.) So while Sarah Jane adjusted to Anna's presence with grace and love, she turned all of her ire towards her parents (me in particular) and boy did she make us pay. Every single thing that we did became a huge fight. Every item of clothing, every shower, every bite of food, she fought all of it every step of the way. She struggled and kicked and screamed and manipulated us like a pro. She had a sixth sense for when I really, really needed her to take a nap and on those days, no naps. She knew when I was in a rush, and on those days, I would get all her clothes on and she would take them all off. It was really bad for about two months and then it was like she forgot that there was life before Anna and relaxed a bit. Also, we started doing time-outs and they really worked. Sarah Jane likes time-outs. She is usually sent into a separate room - the bathroom or the laundry room, where it is usually pretty dark. At first I would stay with her but quickly realized she didn't need me. She would stand facing the wall with her hands on the wall and her feet spread, like I was going to pat her down (for the record, SHE came up with that part) and she would just stay there until she told me she was ready to come out and be good. I would go get her and all would be better. Sometimes the better didn't last more than 45 seconds and sometimes we would have 8 timeouts in a row but she never seemed to mind and they eventually would do the trick. She often gave her dolls and stuffed animals timeouts and also Aunt Ellie frequently gets timeouts (but none of her other Aunts and Uncles.)

Riding the bike with Daddy during paternity leave

 

 

Happy to see Veronica and Brady, Anna was 10 days old
That's all I have to say about the dark times. It wasn't so much fun. But things are better now. There were some good parts to the dark times too. She successfully and absolutely painlessly made the transfer from the crib to her big girl bed in October. There was zero drama involved much to our utter shock. Additionally, Sarah Jane started school in September. She goes to Bari's three times a week, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Bari is the mother of my high school friend Erica but we didn't know it when we signed her up. The aid there is a woman named Cynthia who was the aid in my second grade class. She calls me Abigail. She is also the mother of another girl I went to high school with. Berkeley is a small world. Sarah Jane LOVES her school. She didn't cry at all the first day I dropped her off and soon she was saying "Yay Teacher Bari! Yay Teacher Cynthia! Yay Kids! Yay Toys!" when we turned the corner off Euclid onto Cragmont on our way to school. In the Fall her favorite friend was Wesley but lately Wade and Ezra have been getting more attention. Ezra is a bit rough. Usually the question "what did you do at school today" involves some form of the answer "Ezra hit X, X cried, Ezra got a time out." In January Ezra gave Sarah Jane a black eye. Sarah Jane is very popular with the boys at school and is often mobbed by 5+ little boys when we walk in which freaks her out a bit. I hope this is not indicative of what is to come. The freak-out part is ok. The mobbing part I guess I will expect. She is beautiful. She also has girl friends at school, the best ones are Lily and Mia.

Photo shoot with Anna, 3 weeks  

First first day of school.  Total meltdown.

Meeting the chickens with Uncle Nat

On Wednesdays and Fridays we tried to have play dates either with Emma who went to Bari's for a couple of weeks or with Brady. We usually saw Brady on Fridays and we alternated going into the city or having the Chuns come here. In the dark times Brady and Sarah Jane were not getting a long very well. They would squeal with delight for the first 10 minutes and there would be lots of hugs and holding hands but then someone would hug too much or a toy wouldn't be shared and we would disintegrate into fighting, hair pulling, kicking, pushing and biting. Not great. A timeout would fix it temporarily but we had a two hour limit on visits.

Big sister Sarah Jane at an outing in the city with the Chuns

So moving onto 2 and a half... A typical day for Sarah Jane goes something like this: She wakes up between 6:30 and 7. She often reads quietly in her bed and comes in to our room when she hears us waking up. Sometimes she comes into our room before we are awake but sits quietly on the floor near our bed reading or playing with toys until we wake up. So polite! After we get up, she requests a bottle. She then gets a shower with mommy or daddy and chooses what she wants to wear (pants, jeans or a dress, she almost never chooses jeans.) She still likes to be wrapped up like a burrito with the towel but we don't usually sing the song anymore which is sad. I like the song. At about 8 we go downstairs for breakfast. If we wait for even just a few minutes after 8, she has a total melt down. For breakfast she has oatmeal with raisins and a tiny bit of brown sugar and sometimes bananas. Lately she has been finishing it all (for the first part of "2" she ate about every 4th meal no matter what we did, now her appetite is back.) When she cleans her plate she gets the clean plate award ("Ding ding ding, clean plate award!" (with a point at the awardee.)) That always gets a big grin. After breakfast we load into the car and head to Bari's or to our play date. I pick Sarah Jane up from school at 1:30 and we come straight home and are in bed by 2. For a while she was really fighting the naps but now she goes down happily. She sleeps for a long time, sometimes until 5, and she is usually VERY grumpy when she wakes up. She has a second bottle when she wakes up (still 4oz, heated up 22 seconds exactly.) I try to get her outside though in the dark winter we haven't been so successful at that. She either is grumpy all the way to dinner or snaps out of it if we can figure out a way to distract her (a visit to the park, a visit from Aunt Whitney, a puzzle or drawing all sometimes work.) I try to get her to have a snack when she wakes up as sometimes that helps too. She has dinner at 6pm, and no longer has a complete melt down if she doesn't eat EXACTLY at 6pm. She goes to bed at 7:30 though usually that gets stretched to 8 and she stays awake in bed for a long time.

Being goofy at Totland

Halloween parade on Chestnut Street with Brady

We used to have very elaborate night time routine; we read at least two books, sang two songs (Moon song and Campfire song - in that order, though sometimes we switched it up with Swing Low and she often asked for Ellie's song but I don't know what song that is.) Then I had to tell her the sleep boat story which went something like this: You've been playing outside all day at your castle. Why do you have a castle? Because you are a princess. Now it's time to go to bed so you go inside your castle and go upstairs and change into your PJ's - No way! You have PJ's on too?, You brush your teeth - Really??? you just brushed your teeth too? Then you go downstairs and outside the front door of the castle and you go down down down the stairs. It's dark outside but there are candles on the stairs so you can see. The air is cold but the stairs are warm on your feet because the sun has been shining on them all day. At the bottom of the stairs is a big lake. And in the lake is a little boat and it's the sleep boat! In the sleep boat is a bed, a BIG GIRL BED! just like yours and an old black dog with a white star on his chest named Rufus and he's there to keep you safe. (Just like your pillow.) You climb into the boat and into the bed and get all snuggly with Rufus and then we cast off and you float out into the middle of the lake and you rock rock rock and look up at the stars and the moon and the dark sky and then you close your eyes and you drift off to sleep.

Sarah Jane LOVES to cheers! (Christmas 2009, one of her 4 Christmas outfits)

Bed time lately has gotten much more efficient. We put Anna down at 7 and then Sarah Jane and I and sometimes Daddy if he is home, have a bit of alone time which is nice. We put her PJs on downstairs and then come upstairs to brush her teeth. Then we go into our room and read a book on our bed. Lately we've been reading The Tomten every night. She often likes to parallel read where I read one book and she reads another book at the same time. She is very curious about reading and has asked me how to read several times. She knows a bunch of her books well enough to say some of the right words on the right pages but usually when she "reads" she makes a sing-songy mumbling sound that sounds suspiciously like my voice. After the Tomten we carry her into her room and we do NOT tuck her in. She likes to go to sleep on top of the bed and I usually tuck her in right before I go to sleep but invariably she ends up with her head down at the foot of the bed, outside the covers by morning.

Fun at the pool in Florida with GG and GreatPapa

Four Generations in Florida

 

Sarah Jane almost always makes it through the night in her own bed but maybe 2 nights a week she has a bad dream sometime around 3am and requires a very quick soothing. She usually isn't really even awake, just needs a parent to run in and tuck her in and tell her she's ok. Sometimes if Anna is very loud or if the dream is very bad, she comes in and sleeps on the floor in our room. I always try to set her up with a nice soft blanket and make it cozy but she invariably ends up on the hard floor where she sleeps splayed out face down. It doesn't seem to bother her.

Sarah Jane's favorite activities include puzzles (which she is very good at, particularly the animal one Aunt Whitney gave her for Christmas and the alphabet one), playing with Anna, talking to the chickens (as long as they are in the coop), running (after Aunt Ellie or Daddy), playing with the trains, drawing, typing letters on the computer or my blackberry and reading books. Preferably the same book over and over. While she isn't so good at numbers (she can count but it's more like a song, anything over two is "a lot" and she doesn't recognize any numbers except "the number eight" which is always said that way, all three words, like they are one word), she is VERY good at letters. She recognizes the following uppercase letters as they "belong" to the following people:

A - Anna
B - Brady
C - Aunt Kiki

D - Daddy

E - Aunt Ellie

G - GG and Grandma
H - Hoverman (This one she actually says "H for Hoverman,"  the other ones just get the owner)

I - Imani (friend from school)

J - MINE!

L - Sometimes Lilly sometimes Laurie

M - Mommy, working on Uncles Matt and Mike

N - Nana, working on Uncle Nat
P - Papa
S - MINE! (She knows it's an S)
T - Thomas
V - Veronica
W - Aunt Whitney (often confused with Mommy's which is understandable)
Z - Zeke

For those of you that are counting that is 18 out of 26 or 70% of the alphabet. She sees the letters everywhere; when we are reading books, on my blackberry, on signs when we are driving and on the computer.

She has just recently, maybe in the last three weeks, started stringing more than one sentence or phrase together such as "Daddy I miss you, you no go to work?" or actually putting sentences together correctly such as "This is my seat" (vs. "mine" or "my seat".) Her whole approach to communication has changed. She could talk in brief sentences but most things were short phrases ("buy mato and cumbers") but now she can tell a whole story with no pauses for prompting in between sentences. For instance, the other day on the way home from school I heard that Wesley dropped his lunch on the floor and he cried and Teacher Bari threw away the lunch because it was dirty but Wesley ate something else instead.

Sarah Jane playing in the ocean in Hawaii in February.  Note: NO waves

Another new development is extreme separation anxiety, which arrived just in time for my return to work. The week after we returned from Florida, so at the end of February, Sarah Jane was unable to attend school because she got hysterical every time we tried to drop her off. This from a girl who never once cried, not even the first day when we left her. She also started crying when Elizabeth showed up. She says "Mommy no go away" or "Mommy go work?" frequently. Dave thinks because she knows she's getting to me but I think she's being sincere. Maybe a mix of both. It definitely gets to me! She has always been scared of certain things but those fears are now very dramatic. Things she is scared of include trains, waves, dogs including Pickle, the chickens, cows, goats, lions (real and plastic), car washes and strange people. That is not an exhaustive list. She becomes quite hysterical at the sight of any of those things and entirely non-rationale. We have no idea what the correct response is and are muddling through the best we can. If she remains scared of plastic lions when she's 18 then I will know we did it wrong.

The other thing that produces extreme anxiety is the potty. Sarah Jane has complete control over her bladder. She often goes for hours with no diaper, but she absolutely refuses to go to the bathroom in the toilet. We have tried Jelly Beans (1 for trying, 2 for peepee, 3 for poopoo), forcing the issue by withholding diapers, multiple potties, potty seats and potty training books. She will sit for a VERY long time on the potty "trying" but nothing ever comes out. When she really has to pee she demands a diaper, I put it on, she pees in it and then she takes it off and gives it back to me. The other girls at school are starting to make progress, and Brady is fully trained, so I'm hoping the peer pressure will kick in soon. I've pretty much had it with two year old poops.

One of my favorite memories of Sarah Jane from this period in time is from November when I woke up from a nap, Sarah Jane cupping my chin in her little hands with her face inches from mine cooing very softly"cockadoodle doooooooo, cockadoodle dooooooooooo."  Another favorite thing she has done is to name Anna "Beebana."  It has caught on.  Also, for the record, Sarah Jane can type "8" on my Blackberry by holding down the shift key and hitting the 8 button.  I think that is fairly advanced.  Speaking of the Blackberry, Sarah Jane loves to talk on the phone.  Another one of my favorite things that she does is "show" the person she is speaking with on the phone what she is doing, i.e., holds the phone up to "see" her dinner or her toy or a book we are reading.  She has utter faith that whoever she is talking with can see it and everyone she talks to plays along.  

Hawaii in February

Sarah Jane is at a very fun stage.  Two and a half is almost rational, able to communicate, cuddly, affectionate, at times cooperative, helpful, loving, clean, silly and smart.  It just keeps getting better and better!

Sarah Jane at 20 months

Sarah Jane is in a VERY cute phase and we are really enjoying her. She had a very tough February and March as she was sick (with three separate colds) and getting multiple teeth throughout the 6 week period so we were all pretty miserable. She forgot how to go to sleep and stopped eating all together but in April we turned a corner and she got much more cheerful (and healthy and no more new teeth thank goodness!)

Sarah Jane can now put 2 words together (I Sit, I done, I chair e.g., my chair, Mommy sit, Mommy stay, All done.) However, she still can't say "More Please" much to Daddy's distress. He tries VERY hard, every time she asks for something to get her to say More... Please. She will say "more more more" and then "please please please" and she looks at him like he's very silly for expecting her to say the two together. I think she's just messing with him at this point...

She has a very good English vocabulary and is starting to work on Spanish. She has always said
"Agua" and now also says "Zapatos" and "Manos" which means Vamanos which means, "Let's blow this joint already! I'm ready for the park." I think she also says "Mas" but more often says "more"

Her hair grew a lot and now can go in full pigtails and she's usually pretty good at letting me do it in the morning. She's in size 2 pants and size 18-24 months everything else. She's ~25lbs and I think she's 33inches but I can't remember exactly (bad mom...)

We spent the weekend with Nana and Papa at Stinson Beach and Sarah Jane had a great time, as long as we let her stay inside. She did NOT love walking on the beach and she is terrified of the water. But she LOVED the ocean, as long as she was pointing at it from inside and saying "Ocean!" She can have a full conversation about the trip to the beach. It goes something like this:

-SJ "Ocean!"
-Mom "We went to the ocean, what happened there?"
-SJ "Fishing!"
-Mom "Yep - Daddy and Papa went fishing didn't they?"
-SJ "Wet. Waves."
-Mom "Yep, daddy got wet. Who else was there?"
-SJ "Benton!" "Hef" (Geoff) "Ball!!!!"
-Mom "Yep - Uncle Geoff was there, you are right! And he threw the ball to Bentley, didn't he? Good memory!, Did Bentley go in the water?"
-SJ "Wet."

Sarah Jane loves to read books. She gets me to sit on the couch (she says "ouch" and runs to her room to get books.) She is very particular about which books she picks out and goes through phases of liking one kind or another. For at least two months she has LOVED the "Flap" books (peek-a-boo books with something under a flap.) Mom is very tired of them. She has five and she can usually find all five and bring them out. Much to mom's distress. Her latest trick is that she recognizes the letter C as "Moon!" Sometimes she runs partway to her room, turns around, holds up her hand and says, "Mommy - Stay!"

Very interested in who owns what - mommy's chair, daddy's chair, Sarah Jane's chair, etc. When we get in the car she points at the passenger seat and says "Dada", at the driver's seat and says "Mommy" and then at her seat and says "Jane." She knows which barrettes are hers and which are "Bady's"

Loves to wave byebye at the window when someone leaves

She goes to bed between 7:30-8, gets songs and then usually goes straight down, no crying (since January), likes to put her head on the big pink and brown blanket and then gets tucked in with the pink blanket and the green knit blanket from Andrea. Very particular about two blankets. Doesn't like to have any animals or dolls in the bed with her but if we sneak them in after she is asleep she likes to play with them in the morning and mommy and daddy and sneak in a few more zzzs. When we are singing songs she holds onto my ponytail with one hand and pats my back with the other.

She is getting her top and bottom eye teeth and bottom molars and is a bit grouchy but seems to be easier than the last batch (in March.) As usual, when teething, she also got a cold (Dr. Aunt Whitney thinks we are pretty silly to think the two go together but I have a number of data points...)

Sarah Jane is a very picky eater and I got in trouble with the Dr. for not feeding her enough veggies. I have been trying to sneak steamed and pureed veggies into her food with varying degrees of success. She loves fruit, fish (crackers), cookies, PBs and veggie straws. Basically anything that is bad for her. Aunt Carrie taught her to like tomatoes last night, hopefully that will last.

Knows who goes together - Gradma is coming... Zeke?... Buckle? (Pickle the Poodle)

Knows that Nana and Papa live in Daddy's computer (skype) LOVES to talk to them or at least ask to talk to them but then gets a little shy when they actually show on the computer

Her best trick is picking out cars (she has her Daddy's car gene.) She can pick out any color Mini (Aunt Whinney!) and any color Bug (Caca!) and any Smart (Mama! - Noise!) The noise means she knows that Grandma can make her car beep.

She got a cooking set for Easter from her Nana and after watching me make Egg Salad, got out her plastic eggs from Easter and "cooked" Egg salad herself.

She just spend her first night away from home without mommy and daddy. She went to Grandma (Mama) and Zeke's and stayed there while Mom and Dad spent the night in Carmel for Mother's Day (and a Xmas present from Grandma and Zeke.) The whole way across the bridge she said, "Zeke???... Mama????... Buckle???...." and then would start again. She LOVES the chickens in the backyard and can say "Chicken" and "Egg" and "Bacbacbacbacbac" She likes to go into the Chicken Coop with Zeke and has only broken two eggs (doesn't understand the concept of "Gentle" yet. They took her on the Little Train in Tilden but she did not enjoy it. She was very nervous, held onto Grandma VERY tightly and said "back, back, back" the whole time but didn't cry. She didn't fuss once the whole time we were away but was VERY grumpy when we got back.

Sarah Jane at 9 months

Sarah Jane is crawling (she started on Mother's Day!) and pulling herself up to standing on whatever she can grab a hold of and just this weekend (Memorial Day) she figured out how to walk with assistance (she leans backward and goose steps, hasn't figured out how to bend her knees yet.) She doesn't know how to sit back down from standing up so sometimes she gets stuck. She used to know how to wave but quit as soon as she figured out how to crawl. Every now and then she will wave first thing in the morning but that's the only time. She has two bottom teeth, acquired back in February and just got her top right tooth on Memorial Day weekend. The first two teeth seemed to be a bit more painful than this last one though we had a couple of rough nights. She can say bababa and dadada and mamama but not really in relation to anything. She is not interested in clapping though she can bang two plastic things together great. She LOVES music and when it comes on she bops around and nods her head and bounces her whole body. She thinks her dad is the greatest and gets nervous about new things.


A typical Sarah Jane day goes something like this:

She usually gets up around 5:30. I'm still nursing so she comes into bed and "snuggles" with me. Snuggles in quotes because she's not really a cuddeler, more of a kicker. Then she fusses for a bit until I get up and play with her. She likes to pull all of her toys off the shelf and dump everything out of the baskets. She loves the aquarium toy, particularly the clam, and anything that stacks (alphabet blocks, plastic stacking toy.) She's good at pulling things out, has not yet mastered putting things in.

She just started getting breakfast around 7:30. She gets oatmeal with mashed up bananas and raspberries.

Veronica comes at 8 and then Brady comes at 9. Sarah Jane is always very happy to see Veronica but not so happy to be passed from mom to Veronica but once she's there, she's pretty content. She never cries when I leave for work (or at least we haven't gotten there yet.)

She has a bottle and goes down for her morning nap around 9:30. She sleeps until about 11, Brady sleeps in her room in the pack n' play.

They wake up and have lunch. Sarah Jane loves sweet potatoes and avocado. She hates anything else that is green (broccoli, pees and green beans are NOT appreciated.) She never likes the first bite but if you can persuade her to try a second, usually she'll eat the whole thing.

Then there is a trip to the park in the double stroller. Brady and Sarah Jane LOVE the park and go in the baby swing together, back to back.

At home, there is another bottle and the afternoon nap around 1:30.

At 3:30 there is the final bottle and more play time with Veronica.

Mom comes home around 4:30 and is very happy to see Sarah Jane who always crawls into her lap and gives her a hug and then zooms off again. The hug makes mom's day. Brady likes to crawl into mom's lap too and Sarah Jane is usually not to pleased about that.

Until this week Sarah Jane ate dinner at 5:15 and then had a bath (which she LOVES) and went straight to bed (after nursing and the nightly rendition of Goodnight Moon) at 6:15 but this week we are stretching until 7:15 so dinner starts around 6. If I put her down before she gets tired she goes down happily but waiting until she's tired guarantees about 10-15 minutes of truly unhappy crying which breaks my heart. Not very much fun. Looking forward to growing out of this stage.