Snow!

Finally, some snow! We were surprised that it snowed all day yesterday but pleased to finally see winter looking as it should look around here.

Sadie loved her new sled. Thanks Nana!

Tomorrow, when we wake up, Sadie will have been alive in 4 different years! Pretty impressive for someone who is only 2 years old.

Jingle Bells

Big Girls

Sadie loves older kids, so she was thrilled to see her big girl cousins on Christmas.

(Left to right, Anabel's doll Kirsten, cousin Sophie, cousin Anabel, Sadie, Sadie's doll)
The girls played together all day. Even though Sadie is much younger, both girls get along really nicely with her and she adores them. As soon as she sees her cousins, she is mesmerized! This year, Sadie could really participate in playing with them and everyone had a good time.

Here they are "sleeping" on the "bunk beds" (I thought it was the staircase, but Anabel said they were bunk beds.)

Laughter

We had a wonderful family Christmas. It was great spending time with everyone. We have many pictures to share, including some terrific ones of Sadie and her cousins. As soon as I get everything unpacked and put away, I'll share them with you. This picture is from Christmas day at Sadie's great-grandparents' house. She's on the porch after coming back from a walk she took with Dan, Bob-Bob and Auntie Lolly (Auntie-Yahddy, in Sadie's words).

Santa, Round 1

Santa came to our house last night to bring presents for Sadie before we leave to spend Christmas at Nana and Bob-Bob's house. Sadie's been very good all year, so Santa was generous to her! As she opening the gifts, she said, "Thank you Santa!"

Here's Sadie sitting on her new blocks:


This looks fun:

Yes, it is fun. Fridge Phonics is up on the fridge already!

Santa even brought Dumbo for Sadie. I guess he knew that she liked watching the "Baby el-fan movie"!

Hanukkah Recap

Tomorrow is the 8th and final night of Hanukkah. Some highlights from the holiday...

Lighting candles with Mommy and getting presents:

Sadie has learned the blessing and sings along when we light the candles! She had learned it by the 3rd night.

Just enjoying the Hanukkah lights:

Notice the ecumenical quality of this photo as Sadie is wearing a Christmas outfit for her menorah lighting. Also notice the holiday cards in the background. If you look closely, you may spot Samuel, Cordelia, Tavyn, Anabel and Sophie, Aili and Ava and even Doug and Kristin.

Making latkes:

We did this on the 6th night. Sadie was already asleep, but Dan and I enjoyed them. Sadie ate a lot of latkes at...

Latkepalooza:

Sadie's favorite part of the party was playing with the cat door with Isaac. The kids were fascinated with the little door that leads to the basement and to make it even better, both Daddies were in the basement talking to the kids.

It's been a really good Hanukkah.

Pajama Day

The last day before the winter break at Mimo is Pajama Day. The kids and the teachers all wear their pajamas, robes, etc. to school. The kids are also allowed to bring a stuffed animal from home in honor of the special day.

Sadie wore her monkey pjs and brought a stuffed monkey that she especially liked. She was laughing when she saw her teachers in their pajamas. One teacher was wearing a pink robe that Sadie noticed was, "Same as ma Mommy robe!"

I'm going to try to bring my camera when I pick her up so I can capture the cuteness.

Pizza-licious

Last week, we went out to dinner at the new Ramunto's Brick and Brew around the corner from the previous location. This is our favorite pizza in the area and of course, we had to try the new location on the very first day it was open. The location on Main Street in Hanover has closed, since the college will be rebuilding that block.

The pizza was just as good as always. Our garlic knots had clearly been made earlier in the day and reheated and it was a little disorganized, but it was the first day, so it's to be expected. We did get our pizza without too much waiting and we got a table right away.

The new location is a lot bigger, a lot cleaner and has more tables and booths as well as more high chairs. They have also really expanded their beer offerings with more drafts and some interesting bottles, which especially pleases Dan.

Mmmmm. Pizza.
(Yes, Sadie is wearing just an undershirt in these pictures. I forgot a bib, so we took off her cute shirt, let her eat in the undershirt and jeans and then put the clean shirt back on after dinner.)

Busy Weekend

We had a very busy weekend. Friday night was the first night of Hanukkah and we had a good time lighting the menorahs and sharing some gifts. Sadie especially loved the Hanukkah playset with wooden menorah, latkes, candles and gelt that Grandma and Granpda sent her. It's so fun!
On Saturday, we had the holiday party for Dan's department.

Santa was there to give each child a present. Sadie waited very patiently for hers.

She was the last child to recieve a gift but she didn't seem to mind.

Yesterday was Andy, Laura and Isaac's big Latkepalooza party. That was tons of fun!

Coming attractions for this week: Hanukkah pictures, Sadie enjoying pizza, a movie from the holiday party and lots more exciting stuff!

Hard Worker

Sadie enjoys "work" very much. She frequently goes to her "office" in the corner by the stairs to read books or play by herself. She also likes to draw and use stickers, which she calls "stickah-work". She loves to sit at tables and desks and to use the computer. Here, Sadie is working at Grandpa's desk in New York.

Also, congratulations to Lyn, Adam and Gilly, who have a little boy on the way to arrive in May! Hooray for a baby brother.

2 Year Check Up

Sadie had her 2 year old well-child check up yesterday. She is now almost 34 inches tall and nearly 28 pounds. This puts her in approximately the 60th percentile for both height and weight for girls her age.


She is doing well on meeting all her developmental milestones, with the exception of jumping. Sadie is definitely more interested in learning words and practicing fine motor skills than in learning to jump, but one day, she'll do it.

Dr. Jessica, our beloved pediatrician, will be leaving the practice in June to move to upstate New York and be closer to family. She has recommended Dr. Meredith to us and we will probably switch over to her.



Sadie has been doing a lot of imaginative play with her baby dolls lately. Here, she pushes her new baby from Grandma and Grandpa in the stroller (she has named this doll "Peddy"), has Bitty in her arms and she is wearing her old beloved Baby-Doll on her back in a wrap. You can see the wrap, but not Baby-Doll, because of the angle of the photo.

Quotable Sadie

Sadie to her daycare teacher: "Santa's comin' to my house for Hanukkah and he's gonna bring me a dreidel!"

And another funny one from tonight at dinner:
Dan to Ann: Did you know ***** ***** is pregnant?
Ann: Really? Is she married?
Sadie: I'm ma'wwied!
Dan: Who are you married to, Sadie?
Sadie: Um....Cinderella!

Santa's OK

Sadie visited with Santa twice this weekend. We went to see him at the mall and he was a very nice, subdued Santa who spoke to Sadie in a very calm, quiet voice. No scary "ho, ho, ho!" or anything like that. She really liked him and was happy to sit on his lap. He gave her a piece of chocolate, a story book and a coloring book.

The next morning, we went for brunch with Nana and Bob-Bob and Santa was there too. This Santa was a little louder and had some very loud jingle bells. Sadie was a bit nervous, but decided she did want to sit on his lap.

We realized later that we have never told Sadie much about Santa and that she didn't know that he brings toys to children on Christmas. Probably should have explained that to her beforehand.

Treats

For Sadie's birthday celebration, I made chocolate mini cupcakes.

We frosted them with cream cheese frosting and Sadie sprinkled them with pink sparkling sugar. They were delicious. I wish I had one right now!

Sadie is starting to love chocolate. Today, we were grocery shopping and she saw some chocolate santas. She said, "Choclit kendy! I want it in ma mouth! Kendy! Peese!!"

We had our first "real" snowfall last night and there were about 2 inches on the ground this morning. Sadie put on snow pants and a jacket and played outside for a little while, but it's very cold today and after about 10 minutes, she asked to go back in.

Stay-Puft Marshmallow Girl

Monday morning, we woke up to a dusting of snow. So, we dressed Sadie in her snowsuit for daycare. They ask that kids wear or bring snowpants every day in the winter.

We think she looks like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters in this suit. It's a little puffy! But it does seem warm. When Sadie got to daycare, she laid down on the floor and said, "Take it offa me! I hot!"

Congratulations!

Our good friend Reggie is engaged! Congratulations to Reggie and his lovely fiancee, Rebecca.

(This picture has nothing to do with Reggie's engagement. However, Sadie, Dan and Grandma all look so happy, I decided to post it anyway. This is on the Central Park carousel over Thanksgiving weekend)

2 years old!

A recap of Sadie's 2nd birthday:

1. Wake up and presents from Mommy and Daddy...

2. Breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa...
3. Swimming in the pool at Grandma and Grandpa's hotel...
4. Naptime...
5. Nana, Bob-Bob and Auntie Lauren arrive with presents..

6. Party with lots of friends and Nana, Bob-Bob, Auntie Lauren, Grandma and Grandpa; party included playmats, a bouncehouse...

and yummy, delicious cake...

7. Out to dinner at Jesse's with all the family...
8. And, finally, bedtime.

Sadie had a very happy birthday.

Happy Birthday Aunt Jenny!

I love you Aunt Jenny! I love that we have almost the same birthday. Happy birthday to you.
Blow out da cannels, Jen Jen!
Love you,
Sadie

Good news for Sadie and sad news for the Wiggles

Sadie is feeling much better today! No more puke and she's been playing happily all day.

In sadder news for Sadie, the Wiggles announced today that Greg (the yellow Wiggle) is leaving the group due to a chronic, but not life threatening, health problem that causes fainting and dizziness. Sadie loves the Wiggles and while she probably won't notice the difference between Greg and his replacement, Sam, it's still sad to hear about someone with a serious illness. Best of luck to you, Greg. You and the Wiggles have given Sadie so much happiness!

A call from daycare...

"Hi Ann, this is Stefanie from daycare."
"Hi Stefanie, what's up?"
"Sadie threw up in her crib at the end of naptime. Can someone come get her?"

So, Dan went and got her and brought her home. She's been in good spirits even though we denied her requests for milk and fell immediately asleep at 6:58, so we're hoping it was just her lunch disagreeing with her.

We're postponing the daycare birthday party until Monday. I put the cupcakes in the freezer to try to keep them fresh.

Getting ready for birthday time

It's hard to post without new pictures! I'm baking mini cupcakes while Sadie is sleeping so that they will be ready for her to frost and decorate with sprinkles tomorrow. She'll bring them to school on Thursday to celebrate her birthday. For her birthday party, I ordered a cake from the supermarket. Hey, I can't do everything!

Little Miss Helpful

Sadie loves helping around the house. She likes to be a part of what is going on and loves to do whatever we are doing.

A few weeks ago, she had a great time helping her Daddy rake the lawn. Bob-bob brought us this little rake, which is supposed to be used for cleaning under the bushes. Sadie loved using it to rake the lawn. She called it "baby rake".

Raking can make a girl very thirsty.

Whoops

In our hurry to leave NYC nice and early this morning and beat the traffic, I forgot that I had stashed Dan's computer and workbag in a closet while we were there and we left it at Grandma and Grandpa's apartment. So, we can't share our Thanksgiving pictures until the end of the week, when Grandma and Grandpa arrive for Sadie's birthday, bringing the computer along with them. But there was barely any traffic, so that was good, and we didn't realize about the computer until we unpacked the car at home.
I'm just glad we didn't forget "Baby", Sadie's beloved little bear/blanket, or we would have some very sad bedtimes this week.

Saturday Snapshot Delayed Until Sunday

Sadie and Jenny had a wonderful birthday party today. We'll post all the details and lots of cute pics when we get back to New Hampshire tomorrow.

Counting Down

In 8 days, Sadie will be two years old. The past year has gone by so fast and Sadie has changed so much. It's hard to believe a year has passed since this picture was taken.

(Sadie at her first birthday party)
Today, we rode the carousel in Central Park with cousins Sam and Isak, visited Aunt Jenny's office, ate a yummy brunch and are now relaxing for a little bit. Tomorrow afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa are having a little New York birthday party for Aunt Jenny and Sadie, so that will kick off a week of birthday festivities for Sadie.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends around the country and around the world (that means you, Doug and Kristin!) Happy birthday to Great-Grampy. Lots of love to everyone.

In New York City

We're here! We got in last night and Sadie stayed awake almost the entire car ride. She finally fell asleep around Stamford, CT. She spent about 40 minutes physically holding her eyes open with her fingers. A quote from Sadie: "I not sleep. I go see Gamma!" But eventually, she fell asleep and we actually transferred her to the pack 'n' play without her waking up!

(Sadie and Daddy make a choo choo train with duplo blocks...this was taken on Monday night)
Today, we visted Grandpa's office, did some shopping, had dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jenny and Grandma Bev and Dan and I went to see the Borat movie. Thanks for the babysitting, Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Jenny!

On our way...

It's hard to get a good picture of a busy toddler!
After dinner tonight, we'll be on our way to spend Thanksgiving in New York City. It should be lots of fun. Aunt Jenny was able to get us seats for the parade bleachers, so watch for us on TV. We'll be in the 68th Street area.
Daily blog posts will continue through the holiday, although they may be short ones.

Imagination

On Saturday, Sadie took a tote bag and loaded it up with stuff (including her cell phone, toy camera, keys, a plastic strawberry and some books). She picked it up, picked up her LaughTop computer in the other hand and walked out of the room. She stopped at the hat basket and put on one of Dan's hats. Then, she walked to the door and yelled, "Bye! I'm goin' ta work! See you 'morrow!"

We didn't let her leave for "work", so she went over to the staircase, unloaded all her stuff and announced "ma office!". We didn't even know she knew the word office.

Conversation

A conversation from earlier this week. Sadie found one of Dan's notebooks from a class he took a while ago and decided she wanted to write in the notebook as well.

(Early in the video, Sadie points to the notebook and says "supermarket"...she's referring to the logo on the notebook cover, which looks very much like the logo of the Co-op where we do most of our shopping.)

Saturday Snapshot

On the porch at the Foothills Restaurant in Warner, waiting to meet Jake and Beth and Samuel for breakfast today.

Baby's First Hibachi Dinner

Sadie and Isaac were mesmerized by their first hibachi dinner at Koto tonight.

They were wide-eyed with amazement as the chef made music with the knives, created a big flame, made a tower out of onions and then prepared our meals. They both chowed down on big dinners of edamame, noodles, chicken and vegetables, especially zucchini. And, their amazement meant that the parents got to eat in relative peace.

The Truth Revealed

"Who made that bat art, Sadie?"
"Stuffin'"*
"I thought you made it at Mimo for Halloween."
"No, Stuffin' make it."

*Stuffin'=her teacher, Stefanie

No bath tonight

A "large water main" broke on Campbell Street, near the green in Lebanon. We're all doing just fine with our minimal trickle of water, and we are hoping that this doesn't mean Sadie's daycare will be closed tomorrow.

Mommy and Sadie

Sadie and I are looking at Nick Jr. Magazine, which we got as a free sample from her daycare. It's not a very good "mah-zah-zine", but we had fun looking at the pictures together.

Daddy and Sadie

Sadie and Dan watched the football game together yesterday. The Patriots lost, but I think Dan's dismay over the loss was tempered by lots of Sadie-hugs.

365 Days

This is Sadie just a few minutes ago.

This is Sadie exactly 365 days ago, in a picture taken on on November 12, 2005.

It's interesting to look at pictures taken one year apart. She is so different from who she was a year ago, but in the most inherent way, she's still the same Sadie.

Saturday Snapshot

My plan for Saturdays going forward is to just post a recent snapshot of Sadie rather than a longer post. I deserve some "time off" on the weekends, right? Right!

Last time until Spring?

Sadie was thrilled to get to playgroup this morning and see that the children were playing outside. We thought that the group had officially moved indoors for the winter, but with the weather in the 50s today, the leader decided it was nice enough to play outdoors.

We had a great time. There weren't too many kids there, so Sadie got to drive the black truck for as long as she wanted.