a trip to the Children's Museum and a visit with Santa at the Aviation Museum

Sarah (with her Daddy's help) climbing into a berth on the train at the Children's Museum.

Sarah ringing up our purchase of fruits and veggies at the museum.

We went to see Santa at the Aviation Museum before dinner tonight. They do up all the planes in the hanger with Christmas lights and Santa was all set up in the bush planes exhibit (fitting I think considering where he lives). Sarah had a great time screaming around, climbing in and out of planes and generally having an excellent adventure.

She was fascinated with the idea of Santa and she watched him with some other kids but when she got within a few feet of him she stopped dead. He was very good with kids and laughed and joked. He gave her a little candy cane which she was very excited about.

And that's as close as she got. It really is a weird tradition to take kids to see someone they don't know and expect them to get into their laps. This set up was just Sarah's speed for this year.

After another run around the hanger Sarah said she wanted to go back to see Santa. We were the only ones there this time. She just couldn't bring herself to get too close to him, however.

And then he asked her what she would like for Christmas. Of course she had no idea having never been introduced to the idea (her presents are already bought!). He talked about polly pockets, Hanna Montana but then he said 'Dora.' Well - he had her attention then! He even sang a few of the songs from Dora and she was absolutely transfixed. She couldn't talk, she couldn't move...she just stood there staring at him. Hilarious! Well worth the price of admission. 

When we got home I called my sister Elaine's house where they were celebrating my Mom's, my sister Gwyn's and my niece Katie's birthdays all in one party. Happy birthday you guys. We wish we could have been there.

a big girl bed and a few other milestones

I can't believe that it's almost been a month since my last post. Sorry about that you grandparents. I'm sure you know that life has been a bit crazy around here with my 3 or 4 jobs...

Sarah went to her first birthday party this month (since hers was cancelled in October). Her friend Sonia turned 3 and they made tiaras at the party. Sarah loves hers, however, she's stretched the back bit too much now so it doesn't fit.

Here's a picture of Sarah and her Daddy going for a walk around the block by our house. Sarah is feeling severely deprived of outside time these days. Her tantrums increase when she's cooped up, so we try as much as possible to get her outside every day. 

Sarah wearing the robe and pjs that her Grammie made her for her birthday and eating yoghurt right after her bath.

We moved Sarah into a 'big girl' bed this month and painted her room green. Well - we took the side off the crib (which it's designed to do). She's done very well generally. We've had to tape the closet doors shut because one afternoon I heard all sorts of banging and carrying on when she was supposed to be going to sleep and went into her room to discover that she'd taken everything off her bed and deposited it in the closet. The noise I heard was her being frustrated that she couldn't get to sleep without a quilt or a pillow on her bed. Funny girl. She loves to read to herself at night and at nap time and often ends up falling asleep with a few books in her bed. Her favourite book is the Complete Book of Farmyard Tales (an Usborne book) that has 20 stories all about the adventures of one family on their farm. She could read it to us, I think! She knows it off by heart. We have to store it up high when she's supposed to be sleeping because she's going to ruin the pages if she sleeps with it. 

You'll notice that there's a very large dog under her crib. Her name is Daisy and her Grandpa and Grandma Holm gave it to her. Daisy dog is a great protector for when the monster stage arrives (in 6 months or so I'm told) and when we pull her out at night she acts as a pillow in case Sarah falls out of bed (which hasn't happened yet).

Sarah's still loves her babies and dollies. She carts them around (in two strollers at the same time) and reads to them, sings to them and generally is working hard at being a good mommy to them all. She can count to 10 (sometimes 11), sing all sorts of songs and is getting very good at making herself understood with full sentences. She has a few toddler tantrums but generally she's a happy kid.

gifts from Newfoundland

A few days after Sarah's birthday a package arrived from my friend Christina in Newfoundland. In the package was some clothes (thanks Tina!), a moose cookie and a beautiful handknit doll named Susie. Apparently an 87 year old lady makes these dolls. She even came with a little tag that said, 'my name is Susie, I like you'. How cute. Below is a picture of Sarah doing, 'zoom zoom zoom you're going the moon' with her. I think she's at the 'blast off' point is this picture.

A cuddle for Susie (Sarah's words)

and a kiss.

Sarah shared her moose cookie with her Daddy since I can't eat them. It sure looked good and by the sounds of the people devouring it, it was!

Sarah's birthday and Grandma's visit

Grandma Holm (Dale's mom) arrived on Sarah's birthday so Sarah and I met her at the airport. When Dale got home from work we did some present unwrapping. 

Could it be a baby and a stroller? Wow!

The first thing Sarah did with her new baby was feed her from a bottle. What a great present, Grandma!

The baby also came with a baby carrier that is also a backpack! There goes Sarah tearing around the corner of the island in the kitchen. She has probably asked someone to chase her. One of her favourite things to do. 

We got her a kitchen, which is set up in our kitchen. She loves to make coffee and tea for us.

My parents, Grammie and Granddaddie, got her some wooden food for her kitchen along with some other things. The beauty about this food is that you can 'cut' it apart (the pieces are held together with velcro).

From Bummpa and Nana came a raccoon puppet and a John Deere tractor and bucket.

Some pieces to make bristle people from Auntie Elaine, Uncle Mike and Katie...

And a doodle pro from Auntie Gwyn, Uncle Tim and baby Clara (who was born 3 days before Sarah's birthday).

We took Grandma to the zoo and the Assiniboine park. We stopped for a snack on a bench in the Leo Moll gardens.

Grandma, Sarah and Winnie the bear in the zoo.

Sunday was the day of Sarah's birthday party and I woke up feeling very ill. I sent the gang off to Fort Whyte for the morning while I suffered. By early in the afternoon it was clear that I wasn't going to be any better so we called off the party. We did have cake, though. It had a bit of a zoo theme. Luckily Sarah didn't know what was in store, so she wasn't heartbroken about missing out on a party. A few of her friends were very sad, though. 

This year Sarah enjoyed the party hat part of things. Last year the elastic was snapped (inadvertently) under her chin so she cried.

Cake? You don't have to ask me twice!

Sophia, Sarah's friend from over the back fence, was one of the girls that was invited to Sarah's party. They decided to send the gift over the fence which was very nice. We passed cake over their way. It was already dark out when we did the exchange so that's why the quality of the photo is so poor.

A castle? What a cool present. Sarah's favourite part is the dragon. 

The week before Sarah turned two

It's been a while since my last update so I thought I'd better get one out before the craziness of Sarah's birthday party, etc overtake me. 

First of all I'd like to announce that Sarah now has another cousin. My sister Gwyn and her husband Tim had a baby girl today. I understand that after more than 24 hours in labour because the baby was posterior (sunny side up) she was delivered naturally with the help of forceps this afternoon in Victoria. No details yet, but I'm sure the proud parents will share them when they are rested from their long ordeal.

Now - on to the business of Super Sarah who has turned the corner with regards to her vocabulary during the past week or so and is now absolutely hilarious! Dale took Friday off before he went away last weekend (Yves and Amanda Soulard's wedding) so we took the bikes and the bike trailer and went to Fort Whyte park near our house for a coffee and a walk around. Sarah loves wearing her bike helmet and getting into the bike trailer. 

Dale was home again on Monday and gone from Tuesday to Friday so Sarah and I were alone together for the better part of a week. We went to St. Vital park last weekend since it was so beautiful and we did some pictures of Sarah in the leaves. The best part of it all, as far as she was concerned, was piling the leaves.

 

I bought a lot of apples at the store to make applesauce so Sarah helped out with the washing part. Any chance to do some washing and you can be sure she's in there! She's also decided that clothing is optional. Sometimes it's a bit of a fight to convince her that she has to wear clothes to leave the house!

Wow! That is one extremely well washed apple! Washed with much love, I might add. Sarah still LOVES apples!

One German Chocolate cake with caramel icing by request.

On Saturday it was Dale's birthday so Sarah 'helped' him blow out the candles. A day or so before he got home she started talking about birthdays. I'm sure I didn't mention it first so I have no idea where the concept of birthday came from (maybe from a TV show?). Our friends from over the fence, Mike, Lisa and Sophia came over to help us celebrate.

Sarah wasn't so sure about all this blowing out of the candles part of things, but she LOVED the cake part. She calls it happy birthday cake which I think is a great name for it so that's what we're calling it in our house from now on. 

Playdough is also a favourite at our house. Below is an animal that Sarah and I made together. She called it both a bunny and an elephant. Does that make it a bunphant or an eleunny? Not sure but I thought it was pretty funny looking. Any chance to take a picture!

Sarah fits into her Daddy's shirt with him in it.

She's also just perfected the cheesy smile.

As I mentioned earlier, Sarah's vocabulary is expanding exponentially these days. Last night she looked outside (it had been raining cats and dogs all day) and she said, 'look at the rain! What is happening?' We took this to mean that she was commenting on the fact that the rain just wouldn't stop!

Sarah can also reliably count to 4 and she can count to ten without the number 5 and the number 8. She's coming along, though! :o) Her great interest in numbers stems from the fact that she loves playing hide and seek. She's very good at seeking but she doesn't get the hiding part. Usually after you open your eyes from counting to ten and saying, 'ready or not, here I come' she's standing right in front of you. We also count the time before we go 'bump' over the railroad tracks. We go, '1, 2, 3, 4...bump!'

She's also become a Dora freak. She walks around saying 'swipper, no swipping' all day long. She's also into dolls, doll strollers, the doll bed that Dale brought back with him from Ikea in Edmonton and anything else that you can think of that has anything to do with dolls.

Dale bought Sarah a big girl bed, quilt, bedding as well as the doll bed in Ikea in Edmonton while he was there last weekend. We also bought his brother's Altima and Dale drove it back to Winnipeg. Now we need to sell the Xterra...any takers? :o)

On Thanksgiving Day I did a 5 km road race in our neighbourhood (just getting back into the running thing) and Sarah and Dale came along to cheer me on. Apparently Sarah discovered worms on the walk back to the house. It had been raining all weekend here so there were lots of worms on the road. She thought they were really cool until they were wiggling around in her hand so she'd ask Dale to take it away. As soon as he took it, she'd ask for it to be back in her hand. Hilarious. I'm sorry I missed it.