On Monday we had Sadie’s Mystery Friend from church, Sue, over for tea. She is a physical therapist for 0-3 year olds. She saw our exercise ball and told Sadie about how sometimes she has her patients jump on the ball while she secures it. Sadie didn’t want to try it then. But she tried it on Wednesday with Grammy. Today she made Sue a card to tell her about it, including this illustration:
Sadie’s preschool ended for summer vacation on Thursday. The last day the kids did a little show of songs, dances, and art. We all drove Sadie to preschool. It was a moment to treasure, that sweet cooing from the backseat: “Yeah Frederick. It’s big sister. Everybody is coming to drop big sister off at preschool. It’s the last day. You’re coming to the show Frederick. You’re coming to big sister’s show.” When the show started, the look of shy pride on Sadie’s face when she walked in and found us in the audience was priceless. Her look seemed to say, “I’m trying not to smile, I’m trying not to smile, but there’s Dad, Mom, and Frederick, all here to watch ME!!!!” We and her teachers noticed that Sadie participated more this time than at the Christmas-time event. She did the fingerplays, and even sang and danced a little. Now, except for 6 1/2 days of camp in July and bi-weekly “grandparent camp” days, she’s home for the summer.
We had a teacher’s conference with one of Sadie’s teachers to get a review of the year. She said Sadie and Julia stuck together at the beginning of the year. More recently, they were glad to see Sadie follow her interests more, with or without Julia. Our assignment for the summer: playdates with other (non-Julia)preschool kids.
The last weekend in May, we went to Princeton for our 10th college reunion. The drive down took all day. By mistake, we ended up driving through Manhattan. Sadie (still in a good mood, bless her heart) rolled down her window and yelled, “Skyscrapers! OOOH, look at the skyscrapers! So tall!” We got into NJ around 8PM and still hadn’t eaten dinner, so we stopped by a grocery and picked up some frozen entrees to heat up at the hotel. When Sadie tried the heated “Amy’s Vegetable Lasagna” she said it was “the best food ever! … Other than treats!” The next morning Sadie was talking to herself while we all prepared ourselves for the day. I overheard her say, “I think I’m the smartest girl here.” While she is pretty confident in her abilities, I don’t usually hear her boasting like that, so the timing was pretty funny – to say that at a Princeton reunion, well, that’s really saying something!
We were home for a few days after reunions, then we met the extended Shamel family at Ogunquit. Aunts and partners, Mossy, Pa and GG were all there. I’d been looking forward to climbing with Sadie on the rocks along the Marginal Way, just like I used to do when I was a girl. At first it didn’t seem like she was interested; she wanted to play in the waves. Then, when she did start climbing, fast and high like a little mountain goat, I tried not to let my nervousness spoil the fun. Monday we spent an idyllic day at the beach, where the entertainment for a 4-year-old child seemed just endless with all the building and digging, wading and splashing, throwing and jumping. My memory of the day remains unspoiled, even after Sadie’s critical comparison of our thighs: “I guess as you get older your legs just get fatter and fatter.” I reminded Sadie that my whole body is a lot bigger than hers.
We’ve been setting some maximums for Sadie – 3 maximum treats a day, 5 maximum squares of toilet paper for pee. Now she frequently uses “maximum” in her own speech, imposing some odd limits, like “How about 5 maximum pictures for Julia each day?” (Whatever you like, Sadie.) Or “How about each time we go to that store I can get 1 maximum sheet of stickers?” (Did I offer to buy stickers?) I’m not sure she understand the word maximum to mean that number or fewer. We’ve had some trouble with her expecting 3 treats each day. When she doesn’t get them, she asks to go to see Mrs. Blanchette, our neighbor with a candy jar.
Sadie told me one day that she is starting to learn her lower case letters. She interjects them here and there in the middle of words whenever she likes. What was most surprising is that “d” and “b” were two of the first to emerge, and they are consistently turned the right way. I listened to her as she wrote several letters and I learned she has a way of describing them, “‘r’ is like a line with a hook” and so on. It is interesting how she takes on new projects for herself and likes to figure things out from her own observations.
Last Thursday Julia was here for dinner. We made Frederick some “whirled peas” to eat. Diana tried to feed him some, “Here you go Frederick. Num, num, nummy….” He pushed the spoon away. I tied to feed him some with a similar approach. He made a face and drooled the tiny portion back out. Then when I was starting to clean up dinner, Sadie took the spoon. “Here you go Frederick” she said, putting the spoon in his mouth. Sure enough, her no fuss, this-is-what-is-expected-of-you approach had him gumming and swallowing like never before. Julia took a turn, too. It was only a few bites, but it was the most Frederick had ever eaten.
Tonight I introduced a new weekly cleaning routine, printed and with clip art pictures, to the family. I sort-of expected that I’d be doing the tasks, but I wanted to let Sadie & Ransom know what was planned so they could work around it (like knowing that block towers wouldn’t be able to stay up all day on living room vacuuming day). “Great, so it’s Tuesday,” (or someting like that) said Sadie , “So we vacuum downstairs? Maybe I can hold the vacuum and you can help me move it.” Sure enough, she “helped” me vacuum downstairs. An hour later as we said goodnight, she said (with enthusiasm), “So tomorrow we vacuum the upstairs?” I think this routine thing really struck a chord!
And finally, our favorite opposite of the month, observed by Sadie. Q: “What is the opposite of clockwise?” A: “Timerwise.” Now, isn’t that a more interesting and equally accurate opposite than “counterclockwise?” It had never occurred to me.
Transcript:
participation in sports including competitive
Exceptions:
Does the school need to make any accommodations for the student?: Yes/No
If you have any further questions or need additional information, please call.
Susan Deluca, M.D.
Sadie's Weblog 