She's Ready

Sadie has always been somewhat of a little duckling at my side these last four years. I never had to worry about her running off at the playground or getting lost at the mall. She has never been too far away. Sometimes this can drive me crazy when it's "quiet time" and she's still right there...by my side. I hope I don't shrug off her affection too often when I tell her Mom needs some "mom time." She's the kind of kid who wouldn't mind me playing with her every second of every day. I can only play "Go Fish" so many times. Chase continues to remind me that I will miss her when she's gone all day at school next year. I know he's right. Life will be so boring with out her but I can definitely see that she is READY for school. Her time has come to be entertained through out the day with numbers, words and social interaction. I've been told that it happens to every bored first born and it has happened to mine.
With all her dependent personality traits (she's sitting next to me right now) Sadie can be quite independent when it comes to doing what SHE wants to do. If it's her idea she's all on top of cleaning her room or putting her plate in the sink, but if Mom asks her to do these things it's like I asked for her right arm. She wanted to learn how to tie her own shoes the other day and after showing her a couple of times, she didn't want anymore help and wanted to do it herself. She practiced for a while and can now tie her own shoes (and Jack's if he'll sit still for her).
We got her her own swing so she doesn't have to be pushed anymore (mainly so I can cook dinner and have her play in the backyard with out my assistance for longer than ten minutes). She's figured out that standing on a tall chair and jumping off onto the swing gives her a much higher advantage over the ground. I love watching her swing like Tarzan back there.
I mentioned this before but she's all about making her own breakfast in the morning. This is something I don't meddle with because I love that she will let me sleep in a little longer while her waffle is toasting in the toaster. We make a big batch of sweet potato waffles at the beginning of the week and freeze them so she can have a healthy breakfast every morning. I love coming out in the morning to see her little plate with remnants of syrup (probably half a bottle) at the table. She's really growing up.

Ever since I got a smart phone she begs me to play Angry Birds just about 10-15 times a day. Note to self: NEVER buy a Wii or any other video game because this kid has it in her to become serously addicted. For an electronic fix I've been hooking her up to starfall.com where she plays around with words and reads stories. I love this website because I don't feel guilty having her spend a while learning to read rather than vegging in front of the Backyardigans (a show I can't dis too much because even I like to watch every once in a while:-).

Everyday it's "how will we entertain Sadie today?" Poor Jack is usually just along for the ride. Although he's easy going enough to sit back and play with trains while Sadie and I read books. We've started a new game where I give her a sentence to write on her dry erase board. If she spells everything right she gets a chocolate chip. As you can imagine, she loves this game. Her new favorite thing too do is read scriptures. For a while I was noticing a big change in her attitude after we had been reading for about three weeks. She was kinder to Jack, more willing to obey, and was all around a happier chick. I thought all my toddler problems were solved but realized after a few days that even the scriptures can't make a 4 year old into a perfectly obedient child. Although a challenge to excercise patience with the sass, I can't deny she's adds quite a bit of spice to our lives.
I do think she's pretty fantastic. I love her vivacious little personality. She dances in stores when she hears music, she picks dandelions and brings them into the kitchen for me. She wakes Dad up in the middle of the night because she just "wants to snuggle." She watches American Idol with us and comments on J-Lo's "beautiful lips" and gets out her plastic microphone to sing along with the girls in "pretty dresses." She loves to clean the mirrors with Windex and spray Jack's room with Febreez. She'll mop for me any day of the week and can always be seen humming a tune while at work. She's knows how to operate the DVR and find the recorded Backyardigan episodes. She can dominate anyone in a game of Go Fish or Memory. She's one in a million and quite a delight (when she wants to be:-).