My girl

I have been jotting things down on random notepads or in my phone that I want to blog about and am finally taking the time to do so. Hopefully I will get to do a bit of an 'update' on each of the kids and what they have been saying and doing lately.

Sadie continues to be a very girlie girl and we can count on at least one baby being brought with us at all times. She is my accessory girl and rarely leaves the house without a purse, bag, lipgloss, notepad, blanket for her baby, etc. As a result, the backseat of our car has turned into Sadie's space. I try not to get frustrated and kindly ask her to bring the items back in the house with her whenever we get home, but I inevitably forget! I have written in the past about how messy she can be and then came across this....

I thought of getting it for her room but didn't think the print really looked like 'her style'...more my style....this next one would definitely be her preference of the two....

I am not sure if I should get the print to put in her room as it might allow to think that it's perfectly okay to be messy and not pick things up. Or it could affirm her...what do you think?

I am constantly torn on how to appropriately guide her when it comes to cleaning up her room. In fact, many times when I ask her to clean up her room, it seems such an overwhelming task so I usually offer to help her out (she is, after all, only 4 years old). One day when I came in to lend a hand, I said, "Sadie, do you see how messy this is?" since I think there are times when she doesn't even see the mess....

Her answer? "Mommy, it makes me comfortable. I like it like this."

And there it was....from the mouth of my creative imaginative little girl...mess makes her comfortable.

Sadie is also very sensitive, especially when it comes to other people. She absolutely hates to see anyone in pain and when we have to take Blake in to the doctor, she always asks if he is going to get a shot. When he got his 2-yr shots, she asked if she could wait in the hallway and was tearing up even before it was time. Her tenderness towards others is so sweet. She also started to tear up one day when Wyatt was talking about something at school about a kid making fun of him (don't worry, his friends all backed him up and apparently the teacher intervened and thankfully, Wyatt didn't seem too bothered....he just acted like something was wrong with the other kid!) And we have recently noticed how Blake picks up on Sadie's compassion.....he is usually the first kid awake in the morning and we will be sitting at the counter eating cereal when Wyatt and Sadie come down the stairs. Blake immediately runs over to Sadie and says, "Sadie hug....Sadie hug"...and of course, my cuddly girl obliges and loves the greeting! And if Blake is in timeout and upset, he cries, through the tears, "Sadie....Sadie hold you...Sadie hold you" and it breaks Sadie's heart that she can't go over and hold him.

Sadie's Pre-K school picture---her First school picture!!

Her teacher recently pulled me aside and said what a joy it is to have Sadie in class. She is always excited to be there and enthusiastic to learn. But her teacher really appreciates Sadie's willingness to be an extra helper. There is inevitably one or two kids that might struggle on any given day, whether it be separation anxiety or difficulty with something they are working on, and she always asks Sadie to help that child and she gladly does so....and enjoys it as well. Sadie has one friend that still struggles being dropped off by her mom (reminds me so much of Wyatt at that age) and her mom will asks Sadie to help her do her 'morning routine' at school and Sadie embraces that role fully. Her teacher said Sadie's smile can light up the classroom and is so infectious......I love it!! And obviously, so does Sadie.

Sadie continues to love school...both at school and playing school at home. She remembers every bit of the story from Jesus time at school and one night, I was reading a Children's Storybook Bible to Blake. Sadie looked at the picture and saw the shepherds with their sheep coming to meet baby Jesus. She instantly said, "Mommy, that's not right! The shepherds went quickly after the angel told them.....they couldn't have taken their sheep with them if they went quickly..it would have taken too long." Sure enough, I looked up the story in Luke 2 to see what the Bible said and it said, "SO they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby, who was lying in the manger" Luke 2:16. She loves listening to people tell stories and as a result, she has learned so much from BSF and school this year. And I have caught her on occasion, as I walk by her room, sitting in a chair and holding her Bible, telling her students with very large eyes, "This is THE most important book, the true word of God...these are true stories of real people" and it just warms my heart. The last part of that is directly from BSF and I love it...each week when they tell the story, they remind the kids that these are true stories of real people and Sadie gets it!

She even tried to use this to put off her bedtime one night as we were getting in to bed she said, "Mom I want to read my Bible some more". When I told her we needed to go to bed, she responded with, "But Mommy, it's the most important book and we should read it more than any other book. I am supposed to read it all the time".....she failed to remember that she can't actually read her Bible yet and it was already past her bedtime. But you gotta give the girl credit for trying!

A few other things about Sadie.....

She has a wonderful imagination and is so creative...we were recently in a store looking around and she told me before we walked in, "Mommy, can you call me Ashley?" I said, "sure", without thinking much about it. As I was walking around I said, "Sadie, honey, can you come over here?" And she looked at me and said, "it's ASHLEY!!" I tried my hardest to remember and failed several times, but when I did remember, she was pleased as punch that I would enter in to her make believe world and engage with her on that level. I can guarantee I never had such a wonderful imagination and sense of creativity, and am so thankful she does! She seems to constantly be in a wonderful, dreamy world of her own---how blissful!

And finally....there was a day when we were eating lunch and Blake was done eating, so he had gone off to play. Sadie and I sat at the counter and talked for a good 10 minutes about whatever it was she was interested in that day. I then had to put Blake down for his nap and Sadie down for her rest time (she naps about 50% of the time) and she said as we were talking upstairs, "When can we do that talking thing again?"

I had no idea what she was talking about and literally thought she was referring to some sort of game we had played earlier. When I realized she was simply talking about our little chat after lunch, I thought it was so precious that she called it the 'talking thing' and wanted to know if we could plan a time to do it again!

And finally---Sadie is an amazing sharer. Whenever we have other kids over or even with her brothers, she is so willing to share any toy with anyone. She never worries about anything getting broken, and in fact, when it does happen, she just shrugs her shoulders and says, "That's okay, we'll get another one someday". Her spirit of generosity really comes through whenever we are going to someone else's house. She isn't great about planning ahead, so we will be heading out the door and she'll grab a toy and say that she wants to give it to whoever's house we may be going to. Or she will have a friend over and if they like one of her things, she'll just tell them they can have it. It is wonderful, but I have had to explain that there are some things we can't just give away (like her brand new Christmas gifts or her favorite doll)......should I do this?? Or am I crushing her spirit of generosity and should just let her give anything away? This one really has me confused. But proud at the same time!

And that is my Sadie girl.....so wonderful, sometimes frustrating, and constantly teaching me things--and i mean constantly! The Lord clearly knew I had many things to work on in my own life when he gave me my daughter as my teacher....so humbling.