Secrets, Secrets, They're No Fun. Secrets Are for Everyone!

DADDY: When you were 4 1/2, Mommy got pregnant with your new brother or sister. It was almost Christmas, and you overheard Mommy talking with her friend on the phone. So we told you and asked you to keep the secret and not tell your grandparents. Well, it turns out you are pretty terrible, although hilarious, at keeping secrets. When you leaked the secret to Daddy's parents, they thought you said, "Mommy has a bunny in her oven." Papa loved that and thought it was so cute. When you leaked the secret to Mommy's parents, you did it by giving "hints." "I have a Christmas secret that I can't tell you, but I will give you a hint." Then you said, "Before I go to Kindergarten, I will have to go to the hospital." Which is a pretty good clue. The stories are fun and the memories are good, but we learned...you aren't a very good 4-year-old secret keeper.

Fervent Prayer of a Righteous Girl

At every meal and prayer time for at least the last six months, your fervent prayer to God has been that you would get to see your foster sister again. Even when Santa asked you what you wanted for Christmas, you said, "To see my foster sister again." Which, as it turns out, is a tough wish for the red-and-white big guy to grant. Today, God answered "Yes!" Your face...your and her faces...were epic and priceless.

Vote for Obama

Mommy:
 
Yesterday was the election for president and other things.  We were driving to "preschool" and the radio was still on talk a talk station from listening to election results and so I switched it to the front of the car.  Rush Limbaugh was talking about Romney and Obama in a way that I felt was acceptable for Sarah to hear (I don't usually listen to him because I don't enjoy his disrespectful rants. At this time he was simply saying a vote for Romney was a vote for the idea that being a hard worker is good). 
 
You called from the backseat that you would vote for Obama.  I asked why he would be your choice and you got smiley and said it might be a silly reason and didn't want to share your reasoning.  I was able to politely coax it out of you.  You said, "I would vote for Obama because I like the color of his skin."  I asked, "Oh, you like the color of his skin?" and expected you would mention Jenna.  You said that it reminded you of the boy we went camping with in the cabin (Daniel Kissling).  You paused, then you said he had the same color skin as Jenna. You proceeded to brainstorm all the people you know with similar skin color.  
 
Now I get to use this as a teachable idea that we can like the colors of our skin because all the variations are beautiful but we should compare people for their character and their actions and not let the color of their skin sway our decisons.       

When You Grow Up

Uncle Steve: 

 

I walked with you to 7-11 for Slurpees on Monday. You told me you want to be an astronaut when you grow up.

 

Me:  "Oh yeah?  What planet do you wanna go to?"

You:  "There's one planet with butt in it. I forget, what are the planets?"

Me:  "Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus..."

You:  "That's it!  It's not butt, it's anus!  hahaha!  I wanna go there!"

Star Wars SPOILER ALERT

DADDY:

We are halfway through EMPIRE STRIKES BACK in the Star Wars trilogy. And tonight we had this hilarious conversation:

YOU: *with big excited eyes* Hey Daddy, guess what...a boy at school was talking about Star Wars and he said that Luke Skywalker is Darth Vader's son!
DADDY: He did? What do you think of that?
YOU: It's kind of weird.
DADDY: Why's that weird?
YOU: *makes stftss sound* It just is. Darth Vader's the bad guy!

It cracks me up that people are already ruining movies for you. You just don't know it yet! We're going to watch a little bit more tonight. You're loving it. Even if it is suspenseful!!!

Scary, Suspenseful, or Nervous

DADDY:

Tonight on Daddy/Daughter Date Night after your sister had already gone to bed, while watching the scene from Empire Strikes Back in which Luke is out in the snow all night with Han Solo, you learned the difference between a couple of words ...

YOU: "This is too scary."
DADDY: *pauses movie* "Is this scary like if you were in the street and saw a car coming?"
YOU: "No, it's only a little bit."
DADDY: "Let me ask you...are you worried about what is going to happen to Luke?"
YOU: *nods*
DADDY: "I think what you're feeling might not be scary. I think it might be suspenseful. Or nervous."
YOU: "Are the good guys going to come save him and Han Solo?"
DADDY: "Yup."

Alphabet

This was self-motivated.

I told you the numbers at the bottom so you could write the date.

This is pretty dang fabulous for a 4-year-old to do on their own:

Writing Books

MOMMY:

During this summer, Daddy has spent the mornings at Starbucks writing his novel. 

You, also, have started making your own books.  You like to fold paper and staple it like a book.  You got this idea from the book Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk.


This morning you woke up early, 6:59am to be exact, and came into my room to wake me up. I informed you that it was too early and that you needed to get into my bed and sleep until the alarm went off at 7:30.  You climbed up into my bed on Daddy's side (Daddy had already left for his first day back at school).  After about 15 minutes of you not falling asleep (I'm guessing on the time), you climbed out of bed, walked around to my side, gave me a kiss on my lips, whispered, "I'm going to write books," and went to the living room.  I, not wanting to wake up decided that seemed like a safe enough activity for you to do for the next 15 minutes while I snoozed.  Before my alarm went off, you came back in asking for help with something.  I complained that you shouldn't be awake and asked why you were out of bed (I'm selfish about my morning sleep) and you reminded me that you had informed me that you were going to write books and that I didn't stop you then.  

I love that you are excited about the idea of writing.  I'm not always excited about when you want to write them. :-)     



About books, but not related to this story:
Both Daddy and I wrote and illustrated separate books for you.  I wrote Bob the Blob about a blob that needed to find a hat to wear out in the sun.  I chose the main character because it seemed easy to draw :-).  Daddy wrote Dock the Sock about a sock that had no color until he met a sewing machine that added color to him.  I quite enjoyed Daddy's drawing of the sewing machine character.   You kept my story.  You gave Daddy's story to our upstairs neighbor.  I think you liked mine more :-).   

Lipstick

MOMMY:

Today in the car you had brought a purse with some lip gloss in it that you got for your fourth birthday (I forgot who gave it to you).  You announced that you thought I should buy you some lipstick because you don't have any and you want some.

I asked who you knew that wore lipstick.  You didn't name anyone.

I asked you what lipstick was.
You said, "It sticks to your lips."
"What sticks to you lips?"
"Lipstick."
We proceeded to do a little who's on first? bit where you were able to answer, "Lipstick" until I explained what lipstick was.
"It can make your lips look a different color."
"Oh, like dying your lips?" This alluded to a conversation we had the day before in the car about a woman driving next to us with blue hair.  Oh, I love teachable moments that allow me to build your vocabulary!

I explained that lip gloss is good because it make our natural beautiful lip color just look a little more shiny and bright. Lip gloss is great.  You're not getting lipstick for a long time (we'll see how long I stick to that idea :-) ).  I don't even know if I have lipstick.  This is where me parenting girls is going to get interesting.  I have friends that wear make-up, we'll make sure you figure it out when the time comes.  

  

Inspiration

MOMMY:

We went to see Charlotte's Web today for a $1 each as part of the Summer Kid's Club.  On the way home you told me that you wanted to paint a picture.  You have been wanting to paint a lot more lately but you proceeded to tell me that you wanted to paint a picture of fireworks in the sky and just faces looking up at them, just faces with no bodies showing.

Remembering that there were fireworks in the movie Charlotte's Web, I asked you what inspired you to want to paint that.  You asked me what inspired meant.  At first I said, "It's like where you get the idea from." You then answered that you got the idea from your head. :-)  I explained that something can give you an idea and that can inspire you.  You then said that you thought you got the idea from Charlotte's Web because there were fireworks in the movie when they were at the fair.

I loved that you were able to pinpoint where you got your inspiration for your painting and that I was able to add another word to your vocabulary.

Here is your finished watercolor painting. You asked me to do the black sky although you did it around the orange, yellow, and green circles.  The orange circle is Daddy's head, the yellow is you, and the green is Poema. The colored circles above you are the fireworks.

  

She may have heard this used differently.

Guffaw:  Tonight you were at our house with your sister and you told G-Momo you were going to pick out a movie to watch.  G-Momo said "But I want to watch the Angels game."  
 
You replied:  "We don't always get what we want" and then you went to pick out your movie. 
 


 

Star Wars: Episode IV

DADDY:

Tonight, you officially watched Star Wars: Episode IV for the first time. Throughout the movie, you got very nervous during the suspenseful scenes and I had to talk you through many parts to explain what was happening. But I'm pretty sure you were logging things away and trying to figure out what happened. No way did you understand everything, but you got the general gist of the story: The good guys always win, even if bad stuff happens along the way. I told you that one of the reasons we like stories and movies so much is that they all are a little bit like God's Big Story -- in the end, he wins and makes everything better again.

• You were so excited Luke blew up the Death Star w/o getting hurt.
• When Leia kissed Luke on the cheek, you asked, "Are they going to get married?"
• When Han Solo and Luke destroyed the 4 Tie Fighters, you asked, "Why is Han Solo's shirt unbuttoned?"
• You were very comforted that they said they'd try to fix R2D2.
• Until I explained it to you, you were convinced OB1-Adobe went to heaven & since he disappeared & talks to Luke & helps him...that he is their God.

It's so much fun to be able to pass the torch of these fun stories on to you and have some amazing daddy/daughter time.

Obedience

DADDY:

You've been struggling a lot lately to listen the first time. Mommy's been really consistent lately, and you've been earning lots of timeouts. You totally know what you're doing too, and when you finish your timeouts, you explain to us exactly what happened and what you should do better next time.

A couple weeks ago, we bought the Disney movie TANGLED and set up a cool system for you to earn the movie. Every time you obeyed one of the categories on our list, you got to remove a lock of hair from Rapunzel's hair, and when the hair was all gone, you earned the movie -- 40 pieces in all.

Things from the list:

* Stay at the dinner table the whole meal
* Clear your dinner table
* While going potty, wipe, flush, wash your hands, and all that jazz
* Obey Mommy and Daddy the first time
* Keep your shoes on in the car
* Put away toys before moving on to next toy station

It took you a lot longer than we thought it would -- about 2 weeks -- but you did it and you earned it and you're learning about obedience and your heart and that God loves us even when we don't obey but he's happier when we do.

Tummyache

MOMMY:
You were supposed to be napping.  You came out and said you had an upset stomach.  It was about an hour before we needed to leave for Tae Kwon Do and I was thinking it was maybe just gas.  I told you that I though you were just going to fart a big fart and feel better.  I tried to get you to drink water and tried to teach you the fetal position to help you get more comfortable.  I figured you weren't going to be able to go to Tae Kwon Do because you seemed to be really uncomfortable.

I got you to take a warm bath.  This seemed to help.  You stopped complaining and were moving normally.  There was time to get ready for Tae Kwon Do, so I had you get ready.

We were driving to class and I noticed you looked to be falling asleep. I heard you sort of cough so I figured I'd ask you a question to try to keep you awake for Tae Kwon Do.  You answered the question and then I watched you throw up all down the front of yourself.  I quickly pulled over and you said, "Look, vegetables." You proceeded to point out that I was incorrect by saying, "You said I would fart, but I threw up." You didn't quite understand that you couldn't go to class or our playdate with Ellie after and you looked at your dirty uniform and said, "I wonder what Master Carla will say." 

You were fine after a nap.  Sometimes you randomly throw-up or spit-up and then you're fine.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION 4 CHILDREN

>>> Always & Never DADDY: "Sarah, you didn't put those folders away correctly. You knocked over ALL of the African animal toys." SARAH: "I did not knock over ALL of them." DADDY: "You're right. You didn't knock over ALL of them. You knocked over a lot of them."

Steve's Uvula

Uncle Steve:

 

On June 16, 2012 I went with you, G-momo and Guffaw to the Angels game.  I was sitting next to you in the car on the way and asked what is in my throat and opened my mouth...

 

Sarah: "Nothing." 

Steve: "Is there something hanging in there?" 

Sarah: (looks in my mouth and starts giggling)

Steve: "What is it?" 

Sarah: "It looks like a penis." 

Sarah, news radio and unemployment

Guffaw:  

You are apparently listening to the news and you must find it interesting.  This past Wednesday, I picked you up to babysit you and your sister while your Mommy and Daddy went on their date night.  When I started the car the radio came back on.  I had been listening to a news channel and it happened to be the time when the sports news came on so I listened to the sports scores and then turned it off so we could talk.  After a little while you asked me to turn the radio back on.  I asked what you wanted to listen to and you said the news.  You said you wanted to hear the sports news.

You are also picking up on topics discussed in the news, which recently has been reporting on our current tough economic times.  Later that same Wednesday evening you had this discussion with G-Momo and me:

Sarah: "I lost part of my job the other day." 
Guffaw: "You lost your job?  What job was that?"
Sarah:  "I lost part of my job."
Guffaw: "What part of your job did you lose?"
Sarah:  "The money part, but later I found it. It was behind the door."

Pinata

DADDY:

You were at a birthday party for our landlords' daughter Athena, 2 years old.

They started hitting the pinatas, and I tried to coach you on the skills of candy/toy scavenging.

Then when the thing exploded and the frenzy began, you were so slow in the cutest way possible. You'd pick up a squirt gun and carefully examine it, investigating how it works. While kids around you stormed for toys.

And when you found the slide whistle, you casually figured it out. All said, you got like 5 toys and candies. But you were joyful.

DADDY: When we moved to Fountain Valley, we had you sort through your belongings to get rid of a bunch of stuff you were clinging to. You little pack rat, you. We've been learning a lot in our lives about being sensitive to letting God show us what we treasure in our hearts and that earthly stuff is just stuff. It's not wrong in and of itself, but if we're clinging to it so badly, sometimes we've just got to learn to let it go so our hearts can learn how not to cling to anything but Jesus.

So we did this with your coloring papers. You love coloring. You love art. And you never want to throw ANY of it away. You must have had hundreds of papers filed in your organizer bin. So many. Too many. We had you sort them into 3 stacks: throw away, take a picture with, or scan to computer. Then we threw them all away.

Here are the scans:

A few pictures from Chuck E. Cheese's

\

Christmas 2008

 

 

Your hand at 3 years old.

A note you wrote to Grandma Lavinia.

A record of when you knew how to write all your letters...kind of .

A church coloring paper.

I loved how you colored in certain specific shapes and that's it.

You love learning how to write your letters.

You amaze us at how well you color in the lines and make your colors match!

This was a coloring page from church.

A note from Grandma Melba and Papa Jack (Papa Jack died this year and went to be with Jesus)

A note from Grandma Lavinia

 

Talking to God

DADDY: You are 3 1/2 years old, birthday coming in July.

When I woke up this morning, Mommy asked me to go check on you because you had been sleeping in our bed but were no longer with us. I assumed you had gone back to your bed. Or perhaps you were playing out in the living room, although I hadn't heard you out there at all.

I checked the living room first because I had some photos to edit on the computer. There you were, sitting on your knees and elbows on the beanbag by the front windows. The blinds were open and you were staring outside toward the front porch. You turned to me and smiled, brushed your hair back behind your ear.

I had a choice. (1) I go to computer to edit photos or (2) I go sit by my daughter. I'm glad I chose #2 because otherwise I might never have heard you tell me, "I'm just looking out the window talking to God." I love that you think about God and that he is drawing your little heart toward him. He loves you and your heart.

Also, you told me, you were watching the flies that were buzzing over the plants.

Love you.

Disney Themes

G-Momo:

For the last few months, Sarah, Beauty and the Beast has been your movie of choice, which is not a problem for me because it's my favorite Disney movie. However, I've found myself singing Beauty and the Beast tunes at the office, so when you were over last night and went to the movie shelf, I tried to get you to try a new movie. 

The conversation went sort of like this: 

"How about Aladdin?" 
"What is that about?" 
"A princess who lives in a castle but she wants out to see the world so she runs away and meets a boy who is poor and steals to get his food." 
"That's just Rapunzel in Tangled." 
"How so?" 
"Rapunzel wants to get out of the tower and she meets a thief. It's the same thing, but I'll watch Aladdin once. Are there scary parts?" 
"I only remember the funny parts."  

Three years old and you already compare and contrast movies. You are such a clever girl!
 

Choice Words

DADDY: Your current words of choice are a "little" frustrating for your mommy and I right now. Recently, when we ask you to do something, you say, "Hold on." New rule...

Virgins of the Bible

MOMMY: You asked me why John 3:16 says different things: "only begotten son" or "one and only son," so we talked about NIV, King James, and NASB. You concluded that they're all different ways to say the same thing because there are different virgins of the Bible.

Count to 100 in Korean

Here is how to count from 1 to 100 in Korean for your Taekwondo classes:

1 - hana

2 - tul

3 - set

4 - net

5 - tasot

6 - yosot

7 - ilgop

8 - yodolp

9 - ahop

10 - yol

11 - yol-hana

12 - yol-tul

13 - yol-set

14 - yol-net

15 - yol-tasot

16 - yol-yosot

17 - yol-ilgop

18 - yol-yodolp

19 - yol-ahop

20 - sumul

30 - sorun

40 - mahun

50 - shween

60 - yesun

70 - irun

80 - yodun

90 - ahun

100 - baek

Donuts Are Healthy Too

Daddy:

When we were leaving ROCKHarbor HB this morning, you walked by the donut table and when we got about half way across the parking lot, you looked up at me and said, "You know, Daddy, donuts have eggs in them..." -pause for thinking- "...& nutrients...so that means they're healthy."

Grammy's 2012

Daddy:

Tonight, we were watching the 2012 Grammy music awards. You didn't know who she was, but when you saw Lady Gaga on the screen, you shouted out with complete excitement, "I saw a girl who was caught in a net." Her face was wrapped in a black funeral/fishing net and she had shiny gold shoulders.

Hands down, best line of the night.

Con Trails

DADDY: "Daddy, look! It's a con-trail!" you said, pointing to a fresh white cloud streak in the sky. "It's brand new!" I love the stuff you notice, and even more, I love that you know the words for them!

Signs You Wore for Daddy's 33rd Birthday

Letter to Santa (Pretend City)

@ Pretend City, 1/28/2012

Letter to Santa

"Love to Santa Clause, Sarah"

Learning Music

Copycat

DADDY: It's so cute to see the ways you try to copy me. I'll be playing with Poema, getting her to giggle, and you'll crawl up next to me & copy me to get Poema to laugh too. You get pretty disappointed when she doesn't laugh at your attempts. I don't think you've realized that she giggles at you for totally different ways. She loves her big sister. Especially when you are yourself.

Candid cutie

Guffaw: Tonight you got to spend the night with G-Momo and me.  I had been working and got away late so I arrived home after you did.  You had persuaded G-Momo that we should watch Beauty and the Beast as your night night story but because I got home late G-Momo and I had not yet eaten dinner.  Your mommy and daddy had fed you already, so you were ready to start watching the movie.  I offered to cook while G-Momo and you began watching the movie.
 
At that point you entered our conversation.  You said all three of us should watch the movie.  G-Momo said that one of us would need to cook unless we waited to start the movie until after dinner was ready.  At that point, you apparently decided you did not want to wait to start watching the movie, so you said to G-Momo: "You can cook, because Guffaw is more fun." 
  
Fortunately for you, you're so cute even G-Momo laughed.

Right Back Up Again

MOMMY: We were at the park at a playdate and I looked over to see you standing and reaching for the monkey bars.  Your daddy and I allow you to do things as you get big enough for them, so, unlike some moms, I don't hold you as you move your hands across the bars, I just say, "Looks like you'll get to do that when you get bigger." Well, today you were able to reach the first monkey bar and your face lit up.  You grabbed it and hung for a few seconds and then dropped to the sandy ground.  You tried it again, with me standing near (because I didn't want you to fall backwards and hit your head on the ladder).  This time you fell on your butt. You cried loudly for about a minute.  I asked if you were ok and you said, "That hurt my butt." I expected you to be over the monkey bars but as you calmed down, you walked around to the other side of the ladder to climb back up again.  You were saying something about trying it again.  Once again you fell on your butt and cried a little less. Then you tried again, except this time you just jumped off the ladder and landed successfully on the ground and then you went on to play somewhere else.

Double dates and turtles

Tonight G-Momo and Guffaw got to baby sit you on a Friday night because your parents are leading a class on Saturday morning.  You and G-Momo called me at work to let me know you were joining us for our date night.  I rushed away from the office to meet with you at Jon's Coffee Shop.  When I arrived you had been joined by your Uncle Steve.  G-Momo told me you asked to call him so he could be your date since it was a date night.
 
You apparently liked your date.  You kept leaning over and kissing him throughout dinner.
 
One of the reasons we had chosen Jon's Coffee shop is they have real turtles in a little fountain in the restaurant's lobby.  You finished before Guffaw and G-Momo so you took your date to watch the turtles for a little while.  When you came back you told us that one of the turtles was swimming under water.  You then announced very matter of factly that:  Turtles can hold their breath under water for 100 minutes.  I said really and you repeated it.  Fascinated by your turtle trivia knowledge I asked where you had heard that.  You looked at us with a sweet unashamed smile and said:  "I just made it up."
 

An Angel at an Angel game

I have been meaning to tell about the time G-Momo and I took you to an Angels game for Friday Night Fireworks.  We bought you a red Angels t-shirt to wear so you would be a good fan, like G-Momo and Guffaw.  As we were driving there I explained to you that the Angels' color is red, so fans who root for the Angels wear red.  When we got to the stadium parking lot we needed to walk ahead with me so I could get you a ticket.  You had just turned 3 a short time before this and so you no longer got in for free.  As I was walking rapidly through the parking lot carrying you began identifying cars by their logos.  "That's a Toyota.  That's a Honda.  That's a Ford."  Each time you correctly identified one as we walked by I commended you and you then proudly said: "I know all these cars!"
 
When we got to the ticket line a stadium security guard saw me holding you in line.  He came up to us, commented on how cute you were and asked your Guffaw how old you were.  The guard sort of suggested that if I would just say you were 2 you could get in for free.  I said you were 3 though and we would not say you were still 2, especially since you would know if we said you were younger than you are.  The guard then reached in his pocket and pulled out an extra ticket.  He said someone had given him an extra ticket to give to somebody and he wanted you to have it.
 
We had asked you what you wanted to eat and you had said you wanted Carl's Jr. so I took you to the Carl's Jr. at Anaheim Stadium's food court.  As we stood in line you looked at the two guys in front of us and then said: "Guffaw, those people aren't wearing red!"
 
During the game an Angel hit a home run, which prompted a short fireworks display.  Later, after the game we watched the full blown fireworks show.  As we left the stadium you said you liked the home run fireworks better than the end of the game fireworks.  You were more fun than either fireworks display.   

Dancing pickle perceptiveness

On Sunday, November 20, 2011 G-Momo and Guffaw were driving by a newly opened restaurant called Mr. Pickle.  To promote its opening the restaurant had a dancing pickle performer on the street corner.  Your aunt Amber had just driven by ahead of us and called ahead to alert us to show you the dancing pickle.  The light was red so we stopped and pointed to the the performer and said: "Sarah look at the dancing pickle over there!"  You looked at it from your car seat vantage point and then informed your apparently gullible grandparents:  "I think that's someone's costume."
 
 
 

Safe

DADDY: A couple of weeks ago, you asked me to snuggle with you at bedtime. Of course, I said "yes" because there's only so many more times you're going to ask me. In the glow of your nightlight, you told me about your day and other various, very random, things that came to your mind. You were mostly stalling, but I enjoyed every moment.

 

After a while, you fell asleep, and I was struck again by how innocent and amazing you are. I started praying that God would protect you and keep you safe, would guide you and teach you, would draw you to himself.

 

His answer made me weep. He said to me, "I am. I gave her you. And I'm doing it through you."

 

Even as I type this, it brings tears to my eyes.

Coloring for Gracie

DADDY:

We Skyped with Godfather Nate, Godmother Jen, and your friend Gracie today. While we were talking, you and Gracie both went off and colored something for each other, then when you finished, you brought them to the web camera and showed them to each other.

This was your coloring for Gracie:

To Be Like Daddy

DADDY: You came up to me at home with your shoulder bag packed and a smile on your face. "I'm going to play basketball and then go to writing group," you said. You opened your bag to show me its contents: a mini basketball from the Target $1 bin and your Sesame Street ABC tracing book. "It's my writing book. Like you." I love how you long to be like me. It's the highest honor and responsibility and oh, so stinking cute.