Directions?

Mommy: You, I, and Lacey were driving back from picking up pizza, and I half-jokingly asked you, "Ok, Sarah, how do we get home? Do we turn right or do we turn left?"

You replied, "Turn right."

Lacey's face dropped to the floor because you were correct.

Reading

Daddy: Lately, you've been wanting to find words in my books or during our bedtime reading. You'll say, "I want find 'the'" or "I want find 'and'" or "I want find 'for.'" So we'll be reading Go, Dog, Go, and you'll be looking for all the, and, and fors in the book. It is so much fun to see how much YOU want to find the words, and how we totally aren't thrusting this reading thing upon you. You love it.

Sight Words as of 6/30/2010

As of 23 1/2 months old (June 30th, 2010), you've been enjoying the Preschool Prep DVDs enough to have learned the following sight words:

In the approximate order you mastered them...

1. a
2. I
3. and
4. for
5. the (you started out calling it "helicopter" but now you've got it)
6. play (you started out calling every word "play")
7. you
8. go
9. it
10. is
11. in
12. see
13. to


Other words you sometimes recognize:

14. my (about half the time)
15. on (you still call it "pig" because the DVD has it as a pig)
16. was
17. they
18. said
19. are
20. of

Quiet Time

Mommy: In the morning, before the ladybug light turned on (meaning it was to early to get out of your bed) you came out of your room while I was reading my Bible. You said you had to go potty. You sat down on the toilet and I was sitting near you on the big toilet and you said, "I go potty. You read your Bible." After you tried to go potty I gave you the choice to go back to bed again or to read your Bible like mommy. You choose to read your Bible. You were sitting on the futon with your backpack, journal, Bible, and ballarina teddy bear. I heard you say, "God," while you opened your Bible and you were scribbling in your journal.

A Baby?

Mommy: We were in the bathroom after you had messed your pants "like Jenna." You had no clothes on and were standing with your round belly exposed. Jenna touched your tummy and said, "Mommy, does Sarah have a baby?"

Like Jenna

Mommy: Lately you have been verbalizing how you want to do things like Jenna. You have been quite successful attempting big girl (mostly climbing) things like Jenna. You climb in the car to your seat. You climb up the stairs. You climb into your dinner chair. You sit on your knees during dinner (this is not allowed for either of you). You put lotion on. You apply chapstick.

Most recently, you tried to wear underwear like Jenna. We had been telling you that you'd get to wear underwear when you chose to go to the bathroom on the toilet all the time. Tonight, I let you wear underwear and told you that it was just for storytime before bed and then I would change you into your night-night diaper. Within 2 minutes you announced, "I peed my pants like Jenna." I had to control myself from showing too much of the humor I found in this situation. I did not realize you meant really wear the underwear like Jenna (she pees her pants a lot), I thought you just meant wear underwear.

Exerting Your Will

Papa: We were playing on the floor building houses with Tyco blocks. It came time to put away the blocks. We were working together, and you jumped up to go draw on a piece of paper.

"You're not done here yet," I said.

And you replied, "Yes, I are."

So I went over and grabbed you to "help" you back to your blocks so you could finish the job.

Prayer Time

Mommy: Tonight you asked me to lay in your bed with you during night-night time. I curled myself into the toddler bed with you. I realized that your eyes were open and you were just looking at me. I started speaking words of blessing over you like, "God made you special," "You are beautiful," "I can't wait to see what God is going to do in your life," etc. I started to talk about your day. I asked about if you liked dinner and you said, "I like ice cream," which is what you had for dessert. I mentioned going to G-momo and Guffaw's house and you talked about washing the car and playing with marbles. I explained that G-momo and Guffaw were going to be moving to a new house and pretty soon we would need to say good-bye to the house they are living in right now.

We discussed more things, including who was big and little in our family (you brought that up), and then I said that it was time to go to sleep and I got out of bed to leave. You asked, "Pray?" I figured Daddy had already prayed with you but I figured more prayer couldn't be too bad even if it was a delay tactic for going to sleep.

I started thanking God for you and saying some of my normal night-night prayer topics for you. You chimed in with people to pray for and so I would pray for them for about a sentence or two before you would say another name. At one point you said my name and so I was asking God to help me be the best mommy I could be and to give me patience and love. Instead of chiming in with another name you said, "God made you." I was caught by surprise by your comment and realized it was like you were giving me a blessing. You proceeded to say, "God made Daddy. God made me."

During the prayer you mentioned G-momo's house which is something you say a lot during prayer. I was praying that their house would sell and that the family that moved into the house would love it, and that G-momo and Guffaw would find a new house. You said, "God bring a house." What struck me by this comment was I hadn't used that wording, "bring a house," those were your own thought up words connected.

I find some of the things you say to be so interesting and poignant in the moment.

Show Urine

Mommy: We were trying to use positive reinforcement to encourage Jenna to not wet her pants so much. We know that she loves popcorn so we made the deal that she could get popcorn during the night-night story if she hadn't wet her pants all day. To give you a way to earn popcorn we said you would get some if you went potty on the toilet at least once each day.

One night as we were getting ready for bed you ran into the bathroom. You have been doing this some nights just as a way to run away from getting your PJs on. You hadn't gone potty on the toilet yet on this particular day. You sat on the toilet and said, "Show urine." I was slightly confused by your word choice but you quickly stood up and said, "Popcorn!" and ran towards the living room where Jenna was eating her popcorn. I looked in the toilet and sure enough there was urine.

Jesus, Peace

Mommy: You were crying about something and needed to go to sleep. I was holding you and sat down in one of our blue rocking chairs. Many times daddy will say, "Pray to Jesus to come into your heart and he'll give you peace." I can't remember if he said it this time but while I was rocking you I heard you whisper, almost like a breath prayer, one word with each exhale, "Jesus, peace." You stopped crying and relaxed. It was so quiet, only I heard you say it. I thought it was beautiful. I love watching your faith journey.