Sadie--2 1/2

Sadie is now 2 1/2... I can't believe how big she's getting! These are some things we LOVE about her right now:

• Her ability to communicate--she's always telling us stories and she loves to retell things that she thinks are funny (over and over). We enjoy talking about our days at dinner time. Sadie is always sure to include Kinnick in the conversation also, she usually tells us what he is "saying".
• How observant she is--she is always noticing little things. We are amazed sometimes about what she recalls. Today as we finished a hike, a woman drove by us holding a Starbucks drink. Sadie said "Look Mom! Are we going to Starbucks now?" Tonight when we got home, she was sitting on the couch with her dad watching the Bears game. She pointed out "Dad, they are not wearing blue. Why are they not wearing blue?" Marc explained to her that last week they were not playing at Soldier Field but this week they were.
• Her adventurous attitude toward everything--she loves to go and do all the time!
• Her growing independence--this is sometimes difficult b/c she thinks she can do everything by herself which is sometimes time-consuming and inconvenient. However, it's fun to watch her doing more and more by herself.
• Her love of people--she loves playing with her friends and her brother. She is (mostly) very kind and does a pretty good job of sharing. She adores her little brother and always works hard to take good care of him and entertain him.

Sadie plays hard--this is her third black eye in her less than 3 years of life...

"Just like Mom"--she loves to imitate things that Marc and I do!

Growing up... Some of her recent accomplishments include:

• Riding her tricycle by herself. Her legs are finally long enough to reach the peddles! We're still working on steering, that's a bit trickier.
• Counting to 20 and naming all of her shapes and colors.
• Spelling her name (she loves to get help writing her name!) She can usually recognize S, but we're still working on letters... slowly but surely!
• When Sadie comes to school w/ me she loves to sort objects by characteristics (she loves playing with my "junk jars"), lacing beads onto shoestrings, playing w/ play-doh and the magnadoodles, and playing on the computer (she is still trying to master the mouse!)

Finally, I just have to share a few Sadie sayings:

• One day she was playing with Wrigley and told me she was giving Wrigley a new name. She proceeded to chase him around the house yelling "Honey Sue Gorsch!"
• As we are getting ready to leave, "Come on mom! We have to go so we can get late!"
• When the dryer beeps from the basement "The basement's done!"
• When pulling up to a drive through, "Are we going through the driveway? We are not going inside?"
• The other day she asked me "Mom, why do we have to sleep a lot every night?" I answer, "So we can rest our minds and bodies to play, learn, and work." Laughing, "No mom, that's not why. It's so I won't be crabby!"