Sadie

Now that I have taken a nice long break from the blog I want to spend some time writing about my girls at their current stages of life. Let's start with Sadie.

Taking a break while pretending to be a BYU cheerleader. 

Apparently they perform shirtless?

 -loves to sing and dance. Her songs are frequently improvised with words about whatever she is playing make-believe with at the moment. Her dancing is equally amazing. I turn Pandora on and she performs on the stage, which is, obviously, the tile in front of the fireplace.

-is a very conscientious student. It seems like she is a very similar student to me as a child. She follows rules precisely and is very concerned with getting anything wrong. She is hesitant to try anything that seems too hard for her. I am trying to loosen her up about school a little.  

Fell asleep on the 6 minute drive to dance class 

-is very excited to be taking a dance class again. After trying a couple of classes at a private studio in Pleasant Grove, I was pleasantly surprised that Sadie chose the hip-hop class. The more serious class was way over Sadie's head (and ability) and I am glad she chose the more fun class. Don't worry, she still wears ballet clothes to hip hop class.

 

Ice cream rewards for good behavior during various things

-has greatly improved in behavior. Sadie has been throwing crazy tantrums since she was about 17 months old. In the past 6 months the number of tantrums has decreased dramatically and she has become a much better listener and helper. When Elise is upset Sadie frequently tries to help by sharing or coming up with fun ideas. I am looking forward to having her help with the baby. She likes to tell people I am tired because I have a baby in my tummy.

-constantly asks for play dates.

On Facebook, which probably won't even exist when Sadie is involved with social media

-is a great reader. I have no idea how she compares to most kids her age but her reading has gotten really good since she started school. Her teacher told me that she is now sending home 1st grade level books for Sadie. Today I had to help Sadie with 3 words from her school book.

-has a hard time with sudden new things or changes. On the first day of the new year in Primary she freaked out because she didn't want to be a CTR-4. She doesn't like that she sits on a different row, has a new teacher, and new classroom. We completely forgot to tell her these things would change. She also has some anxiety about being in front of a big group unexpectedly. We have been at a few things where they invite kids to come up and dance or do something in front of people. Sadie will get excited about it and then cry. At Daniel's home games they invite all the kids to come down to the court to do the chicken dance during a time-out. At the first game Sadie went out there and cried. But now it is is one of her favorite parts of the game.

-is an expert sign-maker. She likes to make notes like the ones above. One day she wrote out lists of all the people allowed in each room. She decided that she and Elise are not allowed in each other's rooms. She loves Dad the most and taped that last one by his side of the bed. A couple days ago she got mad at me and ran to make some special signs. The first one said "I not love you" with a picture of her being mad and me crying. The second one said "I love Dad" with pictures of her and Daniel smiling. Today she made new signs that clarified she loves me and she does want me to be her mom.

-is branching out in favorite colors. For a long time Sadie's favorite color was pink and only pink. She would cry if she had to have a blue plate or utensil at a meal. Around Halloween she decided orange is her favorite color. She also no longer throws tantrums about dish/utensil colors. Thank goodness.

Craft master

-enjoys coloring and crafting. We go through so much paper! And I feel bad, but I usually just throw away her creations. We don't have room for 15 new pictures a day.

 

Pattern blocks and Magna-tiles

-loves anything and everything princess. Although, she got several different block-related toys for Christmas that she has been playing with. Magna-tiles are so cool and she has started to branch out in what she makes. At first she would only try to build things that they had pictures of on the box. We also spend a few hours each week playing with pattern blocks. I am weird and I still love pattern blocks so I don't mind playing with them with her.

-wakes up at the crack of dawn every day. She comes into our room between 5:30 and 6:15 and wants to snuggle in our bed. Usually about a half hour later we kick her out with the iPad and tell her to watch shows.