More Montshire

Sadie and Mommy have been to the Montshire Museum water park a lot recently. We were there Friday and went back yesterday. You can't beat it for toddler fun on a hot day.

At this visit, Sadie was especially interested in this shallow pool where the water bubbles up in little spurts.

It was a fun surprise to run into one of Sadie's best friends, Natalie, at the Montshire with her mommy Amber and her grandma. This photo captures a classic toddler moment. Sadie and Natalie were hugging and kissing each other so sweetly that Amber and I both grabbed our cameras. By the time we had them in hand and snapped the picture, both girls were on to something else. There goes Sadie, heading back to the shallow pool.

I love my Daddy! And Grandpa and Grampy too!

Dear Daddy,
I hope you had a happy Father's Day yesterday. I love you so much! You are my special friend. We always have fun together because you think of games that make me laugh and you make great animal noises. I like to ride on your shoulders and hold your hand. I love it when you pick me up from daycare. It's so funny when you pretend to sleep and I wake you up. I like when you take me for a walk in the backpack or for a ride on my trike. You are the best Daddy in the world and I am lucky to have you!
Love and kisses,
Sadie


Dear Grampy and Grandpa,
A little girl couldn't ask for better grandfathers than you two! You love me so much, so I love you right back. You are the best! I love spending time with you.
Love and kisses,
Sadie

Hot Day, Cool Fun

Finally...a hot summer day! We went to outdoor playgroup and then to the Montshire to cool down with some friends.

Sadie and Nicholas explore a fountain. The mommies are in the background. Left to right, Karin with baby Israel, Maggie, Sarah.

More playing. Left to right, Gabe, Sadie, Lilly, girl in a blue hat who we don't know.


The fun ended when Sadie got some sunscreen in her eye. But Mommy rinsed it out, Sadie felt better and she fell asleep in her stroller as we headed back to the car. Upcoming this weekend: Dairy Day at the coop (free ice cream and other goodies, farm animals, music, etc.) and Father's Day! We'll be in Concord to visit Grampy and beat the heat by going to the pool.

Friends

Sadie greets her friend Isaac at the Lebanon Farmer's Market this evening.

These two are getting to be friends more and more as they get older. Sadie often announces his name when she arrives at daycare, "Keeya, I-gak, Mina!"* So, you know he's important to her.

*Translation, for those who don't speak Sadie, "Aquila, Isaac, Melinda!" Aquila is her daycare provider and Melinda is a toddler a little younger than Sadie.

Save it for a Rainy Day

Grandma and Grandpa got this playhouse for Sadie and we've been saving it for a surprise one day. Yesterday, trapped in the house by even more rain, we decided it was the day. While Sadie was eating her lunch, Daddy set the playhouse up. She was so excited to see it!





We had fun with it all Saturday afternoon and evening. Daddy put it away after bedtime to make another exciting appearance in the future.

Gymnastics!

Daddy came to gymnastics today to take some pictures. We thought it was the last class, but it turns out we get an extra week because we missed a class for Memorial Day, so next week will be the last week. Gymnastics has been a lot of fun! Sadie loved doing all the activities at "nastics". We will sign up again in the fall.

Today's theme was Bugs, which the older group of children enjoyed. Sadie's class, the Baby Bears, had mixed feelings about the many plastic bugs which decorated the gym. Sadie wouldn't swing from the bar, which she usually enjoys, because rubber spiders were dangling from it. Sadie did like the warm up, where the children danced to a song called The Pillbug Dance.

Clapping to the music during the warm up.


Walking on the balance beam.


Jumping on the mini trampoline.


Climbing over an obstacle.


Gathering little plastic bugs and transferring them to a jar.

(Left to right: Josh, Liam, Charlotte and Sadie)

In the foam pit with Mama. The kids run and jump down a long trampoline and jump into the pit with their parents.


We had a great weekend in NYC and got to spend lots of time with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jenny and Grandma Bev as well as a short visit with Auntie Lolly. We'll post some pictures from NY later this week.

One and a Half

Sadie is 18 months old today, so she is now one and a half. Her language development is amazing. It's hard to believe that our little tiny baby, who was just learning to sit up at this time last year, is talking to us. Every day, she says something new or funny. She is combining words now, like "Daddy shoes!", "More cereal!" and "My sandals!".



She likes to name everything she sees and if she says something, she definitely sees it, so we look around and she's always right. A couple of weeks ago we were at the Coop talking to some friends and Sadie kept saying "kitty!" and making her cat noise, which sounds like "reow". We didn't see any cat at the store, so we weren't sure what she was talking about, but she was insistent. Finally, we realized she was looking at a box of kitty litter illustrated with a cat.

She loves to ask for the "ceet!" (receipt) whenever we buy groceries or anything else.



Another recent development is hair. It is no longer true that Sadie is bald. Her hair is still sparse, but she does have some. It's coming in a very light brown/dark blonde, so it's hard to see it in pictures. It curls up in the back. Very cute.

Happy one and a half, Little Sadie! We love you. Love, Mama and Daddy.

Sipping

Sadie drinks water from a straw at the Pub at the Norwich Inn on Saturday.

Now that the outdoor tables are open for the season, we can eat here again! The small indoor dining area at the pub is not entirely baby-friendly so the outdoor tables are ideal. We love this place.

Summer Fun

The Family Place in Norwich, VT offers a toddler playgroup on Friday mornings. In the warm weather, it's outdoors. We tried it for the first time today and we will be back! Lots of our friends were there as well as some older kids. Sadie loves watching bigger kids, so that was a lot of fun for her. In the picture above, Sadie is playing with her friend Hanna, who is 15 months and much more advanced in the hair department.

The facility is amazing and perfect for toddlers...lots of grass and playground equipment such as baby swings, small slides and a wooden climbing structure.

And not only that...

Drawing activities! This is a clear plastic board that the children can draw on with "chalk markers". This was a very popular activity and Sadie took a few turns with it.


There were imaginative play items including 3 or 4 cars, little bikes and scooters, shopping carts, and best of all, a playhouse. Sadie especially liked that it had a phone inside.


On top of all this fun, they serve a snack...goldfish crackers, apples and water. Everything's free.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy birthday Grandma! I love you and I can't wait to see you in a few weeks!
You are one of my best reading buddies.
Love,
Sadie

Happy Anniversary

This weekend, we celebrated Dan's paternal grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary with a family party. What an amazing milestone! Not only have they been married 60 years, they started dating when Regina was sixteen and Chester was seventeen and he invited her to the prom. They are role models of a good marriage, of good parenting and of good grand-parenting. Sadie is their first great-grandchild.


(Great-Grampy, Sadie, cousin Anabel, in the background are Chester and Regina on their wedding day)

We hope Sadie will grow up to have a happy marriage. Luckily, this seems to run in her family. Her maternal great-grandparents were married more than 60 years as well, and both sets of her grandparents have been married more than 30 years. Mommy and Daddy have only been married three years (it will be four in August) so we have a way to go.

Sweet Sadie

Sadie enjoyed her vanilla "ah kree" cone from the Dairy Twirl. Liz K., we were thinking of you because we know how much you like the Dairy Twirl.

Singing in the Rain

I'm singin' in the rain
Just singin' in the rain,
What a glorious feeling,
And I'm happy again.



Actually, we're getting pretty darn sick of all this rain.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mommy, Daddy said he would type this for me. I love you very much and think you are the best mommy around. You are always taking me to do fun things like gymnastics and sing-alongs and play group. You also make me such delicious food! And I am especially thankful for how nice you were to me when I was sick; I know that all of those snuggles made me better! Happy mother's day!

Love, Sadie

Fashionistas

It's not quite as bad as showing up to the Oscars with the same dress as another starlet, but at playgroup yesterday Sadie was wearing the top to a set and her twin friends were wearing the bottoms. This fashion faux pas can be seen on Sarah and Lauren's blog.

Helping the grad students

Sadie helped put cans of PBR into a cooler at a party with Daddy's classmates earlier this week. Very helpful.

Note the barrette...she doesn't yet need to wear one, but it's funny, right?

Healthier

Saturday morning, Sadie woke up feeling much healthier. Finally! She had been sick for 6 days, which is the longest she's ever been sick. We decided we had to get outside for some fresh air.

Sadie lost 2 pounds from the rotavirus. We think you can especially see it in her face. She's starving today, so she'll probably gain the weight right back.

Sick

Sadie had rotavirus this past week. She did her best to remain cheerful, but she wasn't feeling so good, as you can see.

She's feeling a lot better now. She went back to taking two long naps a day, so we can tell that she's still recovering, but she's our peppy little girl again.

Guessing

Yesterday, we were eating lunch at Hanover's newest eatery, Quizno's. It's not that much better than Subway, but it's fun to try something new. They have a toppings station, where you can help yourself to pickle slices, so Sadie loves it since she's a big fan of "peek-als". While we were eating, Dan overheard a group of three people talking about Sadie.

Person #1: How old do you think that baby is?
Person #2: Well, she's sitting up, so she has to be 6 months. (Sadie was sitting in a high chair)
Person #3: But she's picking food up with her hands. So maybe older. (She was eating pickle slices, little bits of turkey and some Veggie Booty)
Person #2: Yeah, 6-12 months old for sure, since she's sitting and eating with her hands.
They continue along for a few minutes. Then, they approach us.

Person #1: Hi! We're medical students and we're doing pediatrics right now. How old is your baby? We were trying to figure it out.
Us: She's 16 months.
Person #1: Oh, we guessed 6-12 months.
Us: That's ok, she looks younger than she is because she doesn't have much hair.
Person #1: Does she know how to walk?
Us: Yes, she's been walking for a while.
Medical students: Bye, baby!
Sadie: Buh-bye!

Keep studying, med students! You'll get it soon.



The pics with this post are from today's visit to the playground. They don't have anything to do with the medical students at Quizno's, but I like to include pics with every post.

Fun Friday

The sun is out! The air is not freezing cold! It's a good day for the swings.

I'm pointing at a little boy I see in the distance.
Then, we got new books at the library, blew bubbles and met Daddy for lunch in Hanover!

PS Is no one reading these days? We love to get comments from our visitors, please don't be shy!

Her own door

Sadie's favorite part of her new climbing structure/slide is the child-sized door. She loves to open the door, go in, shut it behind her, open it, go out and repeat. The slide is fun too, but the doorway into the little "house" is even better.
This photo is from last Friday when we had pretty nice weather.

Gymnastics, the Aftermath

Today was Sadie's first gymnastics class, Baby Bears, at Northern Lights Gymnastics. She loved it. I think she would have liked to stay all day. Her favorite part was running down the giant trampoline and jumping into the "pit"...a big hole filled with small foam blocks. Unfortunately, you can't bring a camera into the gym area, but here is the immediate aftermath of class.

Note, I am not driving while taking this picture. She was fast asleep in the parking lot, before the car was even moving.

Here is Sadie standing in the entryway, watching the other children come in for the class. There are five girls; Sadie, Tieran, Charlotte, two Sophies, and one boy, Josh, in her group.

It was a good Easter

Easter was a really special time for Sadie to see many of her relatives from Daddy's family. She got to spend time with Nana, Grampy, Auntie Kara and Auntie Lolly, as well as her great-grandparents, cousins Karen and Barry and little cousins Anabel and Sophie. Sadie loved playing with the girls, who were so sweet to her! The egg hunt was a particular favorite.

We're hoping to have an album of spring pictures on Ofoto within the next couple of days, which will include all the Passover and Easter pictures as well as lots of other cute ones!

Special Visitor

Grandma came all the way from New York to see me!

We had such a good time. I love you, Grandma!

A Zeisen Pesach!

A Zeisen Pesach is Yiddish for a "Sweet Passover" and is a traditional way of wishing someone a happy Passover. Sadie is very sweet, so it's definitely a Zeisen Pesach with her. We all enjoyed our seder at Andy, Laura and Isaac's house....thank you so much for inviting us. Sadie's favorite part was the yummy, yummy matzah. She also enjoyed finding the afikomen and asking "why?" when it was time for the Four Questions.

More pictures tomorrow!

Hunt and Find

This morning, we took Sadie to the CCBA (our local community center, like a Y) to meet the Easter "buh-neh" and hunt for eggs. By the time we got there, the toddler egg hunt area had been picked clean, so we took Sadie over to the older kids area where she quickly found two eggs. Since it was only 30 degrees out, two eggs was plenty.

Sadie liked the buh-neh just fine as long as Daddy was holding her, but she didn't like him at all if she was alone.

This kicks off our busy Spring Holiday week. Wednesday, we'll have a Passover seder at Andy, Laura and Isaac's house and next weekend, we'll go to Nana and Grampy's house for Easter. Sadie will have lots of opportunities to hunt and find: first for the afikomen at the seder and then another Easter egg hunt at Nana and Grampy's.

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Happy birthday to my best Nana!

Nana, I am looking in this Pottery Barn Kids catalogue to see if I can find you a good present. There are a lot pictures of babies in this catalogue, so I like it, but I'm not sure if there is anything you would like. I love you so much and am sending you lots and lots of kisses!

Excursion

Here's Sadie in the car, ready for a ride to see Beth and Jake. She's got her sippy cup, her Bay-Bee doll and her cute baseball cap. We had a great time visiting with them and their "baby to be" on Saturday. We're so excited for them and Beth is looking adorable. Her belly is just starting to poke out!

Yard-work

Sadie is helping Daddy with springtime yard-work. Thanks for the little lawnmower, Nana!

Snack in the Open Air

One of the joys of springtime is being able to have snack outside. Sadie enjoyed her "mulk" and a big "cooo-kee" on a bench in Hanover. Don't worry, she didn't eat that whole cookie! She was kind enough to share it with Mommy.

She's a little teapot...

Here is a video of Sadie and Mommy playing "I'm a Little Teapot." It cracks Sadie up every time.