My 4th child

Yes, I seem to have a 4th child. Or maybe it would be more accurate to call it my grandchild. I am referring to Sadie's baby, named 'babydoll'. I realize that the name babydoll is a bit odd, but that is her name. Sometimes Sadie simply refers to her by her nickname, "Baby". And despite her name being 'baby' or 'babydoll', she varies in age from a month or two old to 60 years old, depending on the day or the situation. The interesting thing about baby is that her behavior almost always reflects how Sadie is perceiving her own behavior on any given day. If Sadie has gotten disciplined several times throughout a day, Baby seems to be getting punished quite often. But if Sadie is feeling pretty good about her behavior, she is extra gentle with baby and proud of her accomplishments. It would be quite an interesting case study for a psychologist.......I can't even begin to understand all the correlations that I'm quite sure are present. It is as if I can watch a 'mirror' of myself as Sadie mothers Baby--which most often times disturbs me. Is that how Sadie feels I act towards her? Do I actually talk like that to my kids? Do they think I only notice when they do something wrong?

All I know is that there are days when Sadie hasn't even been disciplined once and Baby seems to be constantly in trouble; these are the days when I know I need to spend some extra time with Sadie and make sure she knows that I am proud of her, love her, and cherish my time with her. And almost everytime, her behavior and attitude towards Baby changes shortly thereafter.

It is interesting to me that Sadie has chosen to have a 'real' baby as opposed to an imaginary friend. I'm sure there is a wealth of psychoanalysis to be had in that as well. But whatever the reason, it is fun to watch her be a 'mom'. And boy does she get upset if we need to go somewhere and Baby isn't ready and I begin to get frustrated because Baby isn't real. If you ask her about Baby, she will go on and on and on and on.......(you get the picture) about everything baby did, is doing, will do....etc. Sadie could talk for hours without stopping and in fact, she usually does!

That is another thing....she will talk nonstop (I have no idea where she gets this) regardless of whether anyone is listening. In fact one day, I heard her talking and said, "Sadie, what did you say?" and she responded by saying, "Mommy, I wasn't talking to you" (keep in mind we were the only people in the room at the time). She loves to talk and sometimes wants others to listen and other times I just think she enjoys hearing herself talk. She talks herself to sleep and talks as she wakes up in the morning (which also drives her big brother crazy when they are sleeping in the same room and he can't get to sleep because she "Won't Stop Talking!"). The other night she was going on and on about some situation that she was clearly making up as she went along. Our whole family was listening attentively when, right in the middle of the sentence, she stopped and said, "Wait, what was I talking about?" Matt and I died laughing and have since recounted this story several times. It perfectly describes her--her mouth moves faster than her brain! But it was so precious.