Life as a Mom: Complexities of Language

Little baby Sadie is quite the talker. Sometimes it's frustrating though...she has an arsenal of pretty complex words (for a 14 month old), but her favorite word is NO, of course. I get down on myself for letting this happen. I think, "Why is my baby so unfriendly and disagreeable?" or "I really should be able to 'parent' this out of her." But, alas, the "no" prevails every time.

In thinking about it more, it's pretty cool that she says no, in a way. She's picked up on our voice intonation and she knows when we're asking a question. She may not exactly understand our questions- Are you hungry? Do you want some lunch? Does Sadie want to take a bath?- but she gets that we want to communicate with her and that we are looking for a response from her. And her first response is no or no no no no no no, even though most of the time she is hungry and she does want a bath.

I'm a little worried about the next couple years; she's so strong willed already, I don't know what to expect from her when she's 2 or 3. Well, I love my little bundle, strong will and all, so we'll just have to deal with what comes our way (it's payback time, as they say).

Here's a pathetic video of her "no"ing me:


Here's a video showing off her smartness. Maybe she does know what we're saying...in the video I ask, "What does a cat say?" and she makes a cat sound, pretty cute :)




XOXO Rebecca

PS As I'm signing off, Sadie picked up my glasses and shook her head dramatically and said no. She's right, that's a no, no.

Little Miss: Walking :)

Here's a clip of Sadie walking.  Just a couple days later, she has so much more balance. Last night she was a walking machine...people tell us that we're in trouble! This morning she started climbing, she successfully got to the top stair of my wobbly step stool on her own, oh no! We shall see...


On another note, Mark and I have the tradition of volunteering on MLK day. Any good ideas of local volunteer work we can do with Sadie in tow?

xoxo
Rebecca

PS. It's my favorite sister's bday today! Make sure you send some bday love her way- because she is just that fabulous!

Season of Busy

Things have been a little busy in these parts--

Just this week:

Mark's finishing up a massive paper for his master's program

I finished up a Lit Assessment course I taught online

Our staging was taken away (now we have an empty house)

We had several realtors show our house (which = a lot of cleaning for us!)

Lots of Christmas parties, shopping, and wrapping

AND...the most important....Sadie is starting to walk!! She's gaining confidence and is taking 3-5 steps regularly. Perhaps she'll be polished enough to WOW the relatives at Xmas.

Here are some recent photos-

 Cutie patootie

 See Mom, I can share (with buddy, Kate).

 They both "stole" these items from each other. The grass is always greener...

 Cheese and books= bliss

 blocks!

Bye bye boring furtniture!

My (belated) Birthday!!

Thanks for my party guys! I love being one. It was so cool to have a party at the park!

I liked playing in the sand with the big girls.

 Mmm bangers and beans. Grandma Ruff cooks up some mean beans!

Uncle Aaron cooking with his crazy face on.

I like playing with my baby friends (hi Audrey!), but I play nice so that I can sneak away their food.

 Mmmm- I like to make use of my 8 teeth!

 My cousin Roro

 Some more friends!

 Kate- I got my eye on your bread stick!

 Judah and Micah take a whack at the sticker-filled Zebra.

 Judah got very attached to the Zebra. He didn't quite understand why we were hitting it and why treats eventually came flying out if it.

 I loved when you all sang me happy birthday! I felt so special!

 All done! I liked my purple frosting the most!

Can't wait for my next party!

Love, Sadie Fern

Chatterbox

So my camera's battery is dead, and I can't seem to find the charger anywhere. And can you believe that Cannon charges $95 for a new charger! Hmmm, we'll need to shop around.

Sadie is one- who hoo (pictures to follow at a later date)! We had a lovely celebration for her in the park with family and friends. It was a perfect fall morning. At her 1-yr healthy child visit, her fabulous doctor, Dr. Tenney, reported that she is in the 90% percentile for height, 90% for her head size, and 50% in weight. Sounds like her dad!

Sadie motors around all day, here are some highlights:

• playing with toys- whether sanctioned or off-limit items
• constant talking, including her catch phrases, "uh-oh" and "oh yeah". and she started saying "happy" after her birthday- for reals!
• praciting her standing and taking a tentative step! Perhaps more will follow, soon!
• being a yogi constantly with the downward dog yoga pose
• playtime with friends- she's learning to be gentle and not grab hair
• she's loving food- homemade soups, vegetable/fruit medleys, crackers, yogurt, and of course, cheese

Here's a video shot a couple of days ago- Sadie is in her element. And, she calls this caterpillar toy A-B, because it sings the A-B-Cs. Hmmm, I think I have a little chatterbox on my hands.

Have a great Thanksgiving!!! XOXO

Chatty Lady

Here are several recent videos of our chatty baby. She's 11 months-- 1 year on November 12th. She saying a lot of words now, including pa/ba for grandpa, bye-bye, ma ma, da da, up ("p"), dog, and a few more.

Queen of Crawl

Sadie has had several developmental breakthroughs. In the past week, she's learned to crawl, stand up, and get from lying to sitting on her own! Also, she's started consistently saying bu-bu for bye-bye whenever we leave the house, and she's fascinated with dog and says d- d- every time she sees a dog. One smart baby. The only issue is...she's been interested in practicing these skills, and not napping. Grandpa Vince got to see her in action this weekend...she slept very little, but sure learned to get around her crib. I know this fascination with her new skills will pass...it frustrating and silly all rolled into one!

Yesterday, Sadie shows how she can get up to standing in her crib.


This video is from last week. Sadie's first attempts at crawling. She's gotten a lot faster in the last week. This is a long one, but if you make it to the end-- Sadie says bye bye.

Sleep Sitting

Yesterday was the first day that I saw Sadie sitting up in her crib (after I had put her down). I was very excited that she  finally got into a sitting position on her own. She just learned how to crawl, so I guess this comes with territory.Then, this afternoon I was having a hard time getting Sadie to go down to sleep. Every time I went into her room she was sitting up, crying. I thought she just wasn't tired. Then tonight about an hour after she went to bed she started crying. I went to check on her and she was sitting up crying and in a sleepy daze. Oh my! What a silly bean! I think she's just practicing her new trick, or sitting up unconsciously, and then getting stuck. I wonder how long this will last. It's quite a funny sight to see!

Night!

Sadie Lady

I know I have been a blog slacker lately. Our life has been a little crazy. We are aiming to put our house on the market in a couple weeks, and there is a lot to do to get ready. So for those of you (especially family) that have been waiting for some Sadie updates, here is some video highlights over the past few weeks.

We took her to her 9-10 month appointment last week. She clocks in at 20.5 lbs and 29 inches. One long baby! She's not crawling yet, but cruising around on furniture and moving around wonderfully!


My musical little lady--

Bath time fun!---

Getting ready for Aaron and Sarah's wedding THIS weekend!!!--

rule breaker

Admittedly, this isn't a super entertaining video...but, it's such a milestone for Sadie-- her first swim in Chicago! We loved that Sadie was more intrigued by the lap swimmer in the pool than her first swimming experience. Our little one loves people!

A few days after, mark's parent's condo association made an announcement, "No diapers in the pool!" They're special swimmer diapers, I swear!!

you spin me right round baby, right round...

Little Sadie ladie has gotten the hang of rolling over and is lovin' it! This is a clip of her rolling around in Chicago at her grandparent's:


Happy Tuesday! Hope Sadie's joy brings of spot of warmth to your day!

Seriously....

...can this baby of mine be any more hilarious? I just got this walker for her today....and she is a riot in it! She's also been talking up a storm in the last few days. Funny little lady.

A New Perspective on Life

Sadie was so much fun this weekend. She's a little social girl, and always can rally if there is a party to be had. Mark went to pick her up from Daddy Daycare with Uncle Lon on Friday, and he reports that Sadie glanced at him, as if to say, "Oh hi its you, I'm going to go back to playing now."

I've been trying to get Sadie to sit up for the past couple of weeks now by strategically strengthening her core and upper body muscles (joking! kinda...) to help her balance while sitting. But to my delight, she started sitting up unassisted this weekend. Yeah for Sadie! She's such a big girl!   

Thanks Aunt Claire for the new toy!

Yummy arm! (This is daycare bud baby K with Sadie. Sadie loves to look at baby K.)

K enjoys tummy time, while Sadie naps. Super cute!

Baby K and Sadie play on the bed.

Happy Half of a Year, Sadie!

Sadie is 6 months old today! And to celebrate, we went to the doctor. (side note: Mom celebrated all day by obsessively reading [and finishing!] The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo--loved it!!)

So here are her latest stats:
Weight 17 lbs, 11.5 oz (80% percentile)
Height: 26 in (the same as last time!--there's definitely NO science in measuring a baby)
Head: I forget the inches, but it was big-- in the 90th percentile.

Sadie is so much fun. She has so many little idiosyncrasies at the moment-- it cracks us up! For example, she's not a fan of rolling over, so to entice her Mark gets out the talking Baby Elmo doll --and of course, she rolls over for Elmo. Also, she loves smacking her toys against things to make a loud noise (seen below). And--she scratches her nails against everything to feel the texture. We now have to guard our glasses, because it's the first thing she'll reach for. She also loves her feet, and in the video below she trys to eat them. If you only watch one video, watch the last one--- Aunt Claire taught Sadie to mimic her--what a smart little bundle of baby she is! And so on, and so forth...She is just a ball of fun! It gets better every day! I can't wait for summer!!!


#1 Obsessed with her feet



#2 Obsessed with making noise



#3 Obsessed with the arm trick that Aunt Claire taught me

Pre-Crawling??

Hey parents out there, what do you think? Does this look like Sadie's getting ready for crawling in this video? Sadly, she's lost interest in rolling over. We joke that she thinks, "Been there, done that!". Yet even without a sustained interest in rolling over, she moves around pretty well. I'm not sure how she's doing it, but when I put her down she just wiggles into a new position within a of couple minutes. She loves this singing toy, too.  I am so impressed that she's learned to push its buttons (only some of the time). If she's cranky we just play this toy and she instantly calms down and flashes a big smile. I'm trying to get her to sit up, but it's just not taking! We shall see, maybe I just need to keep at it.

By the way, I love May!! It's beautiful here in Oakland!

Yum yum yum

Oh, I'm such a spastic blogger. I write a flurry of posts, and then you don't hear from me for days, and in this case, weeks! I have a few in the queue....so get ready!!

We have some very exciting news....no, I'm not pregnant. That would be a little crazy, and a tad bit too soon for my liking (Sadie has to be the only child for some time so she can develop all her first child characteristics, dontcha think?). [Pardon the tangent] Sadie ate big people food this week...well, I don't think it's truly big people food, because it's made especially for babies to transition to big people food. But, isn't it wonderful? She ate rice cereal for the past 2 noontime meals....AND....she loved it!!! We had a good hunch that she was ready. All the signs were there: she has been very focused on our food for the last couple weeks, her head control has developed, she's over 5 months old, and she definitely knows how to push things away from her mouth that she doesn't like (She pushes the bottle away when she's done with it).

Without further ado...her she is tackling the first spoonfuls. You can see how she gets more into it the longer she's fed.


And for you folks that never watch the videos, here are some pictures:

Pearly Whites

Sadie's first tooth broke through her gums today!! This is all very exciting for us! It's on the bottom left side of her mouth. Her doctor was spot on. She said it would come though in a day or two, and it came the very next day. Who-hoo!!!

Here's a totally unrelated video from a week ago...

Mark was testing her standing ability. The doctor was also quite impressed with her leg strength, and she's showing it off here...

Big Girl!

Sadie went to her 4-month appointment today. The most surprising news was that she has a tooth breaking through! The doctor said the little bugger should rear its head in the next day or two- wow!!! So early! She has been drooling a lot lately and has taken to chewing (not just sucking) on her hand, two indications that she's teething. Mark and I felt her gums tonight and it's jagged at a point on her bottom gum...that's where the tooth will be! This is very exciting. My little girl is getting old so fast!

Here's a summary of her growth percentiles:
Weight: 15lb 9.4 oz. (82%)--- she was born at 35%
Height: 25" (69%)---born at 82%
Head Size: 16.73 in (83%)---born at 48%

I just want to give a shout-out to breastfeeding! Sadie has had my milk exclusively (except for a little formula during her 24hr stay in the NICU), and she is so healthy! I love that she started out smaller than average, and breastmilk has fattened her up! I also love that it's all she needs to eat for the first 6-months of her life...how crazy cool is that?

zoning out...time for a nap!

It's finally bedtime after a long day with plenty of vaccination tears. She's sporting her big girl teething ring.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Family Naptime: We took a long nap together this weekend. I think there was a good 45 minutes when we were all alseep. This was definitely one of my favorite moments of the weekend. Sadie was so content in the crook of mark's arm. so sweet.

Sadie looked on while I did the dishes this week. I'm loving her new chair we got Sunday...I can plop her almost anywhere! This chair is also supposed to develop her sitting skills. I tried to train her to use her burp cloth to dry dishes, but alas, I'll have to wait a few more years for a sous dishwasher.

We finally weighed Sadie. The last time she weighed in was at her 2-month appointment; she was 12lbs. On Sunday, at 4 month and 2 days, she was 16lbs ...quite big indeed! This happy girl likes to eat. She still seems long to me, and we'll find out at her appointment next week just how much she's grown.

Sadie's 4 Months Today!

Sadie is 4 months old today!

What a big girl! She celebrated by laughing while she was playing! She's been having a lot of laughs to herself lately, and it's a blast to see her having so much fun. We love her so much, especially those cheeks!

Happy 4 months, sweet sadie!