On Aug 21st Sadie came into the kitchen carrying 3 board books, “I can read now!” she proclaimed. Then she demonstrated, reading “There a Wocket in my Pocket,” “Pat the Bunny”, and “I Love you Sun, I Love you Moon.” She stumbled very little – only on “certain …jertain … curtain.” It was a Big Moment, one I hope will go down in the history of Sadie lore, but it wasn’t a big surprise. She’s known the sounds of letters for over a year and she’s been reading words here and there for many months. It was tempting to push, to encourage her to string the words together and read a story, but she usually resisted. Last Thursday was the 1st day that she knew she could do it. She was so proud!
Next to bragging about Sadie’s math skills …. Sadie has been addicted to the game Incan Gold. In this game, treasure (value 1-17) is found and split evenly among the players, with any remainder going into a kitty. Through this Sadie has been learning about multiplication and division. One day at lunch she said, “Four 3’s is 12.” “How do you know?” we asked her. “Because two 6’s are 12,” she replied.
In Sadie’s world, math is important for game playing, and also for doling out and receiving love. “A kiss is a gallon of love,” she tells us. Furthermore, everyone starts with 40 gallons of love. As you give and receive love throughout the day, you add and subtract gallons. And what if you use up your 40 gallons and don’t gain any back? Not to worry – love is regenerated at the rate of a gallon per day! And if that is not enough love for you, let it be known that Sadie loves “my family as much as I love ice cream.” Wow! (We shared this comment with Great-Grandma Richardson. Even in her ill state she appreciated the significance of that declaration, saying “Well, that is a lot!”)
Sadie has long had hopes of being an astronaut, along with a few other occupations. One day she elaborated on her plans to someday pack her lunch bag to go to Mars and be back in time for dinner. It used to be that she wanted to do 4 occupations – astronaut, nurse, paleontologist, and builder – each on a different day of the week, and then stay home with her kids on the remaining 3 days. Now she’s switched plans, from part-time management of different careers to sequencing. She wants to “be everything,” one each year. Astronaut at 30, nurse at 31, etc. As for being a builder, Simon was impressed with Sadie’s block tower and asked her if she wanted to be a builder when she grew up, to which Sadie replied, “I already am one.”
