My Little Bear

The first ten minutes of Sarah's day consist of stretching and grunting like a bear coming out of hibernation. Now she has the appropriate outfit.

The Cutest Face In The Whole World

I may be biased. But only a little. (Editor's note: This post started with just one picture but I couldn't resist adding more. I've got 6 others of her smiling but I'll refrain. These are the best ones.)

And Sarah has just started to laugh. Talk about the best sound in the whole world! As soon as we can capture that on film, I'll post that too.

I chopped and dyed.

Now Sarah can't rip out my hair. She's okay with that since now it doesn't get in her face all the time either. The darkness was an impulse decision made in the chair but I don't have hair remorse or anything.

Try as we might

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it's best to keep your child from watching TV until they are two years old. It's best for their cognitive development and verbal skills or something. So we are trying really hard to keep from entertaining Sarah with the TV (which is unfortunate because nothing could be more efficient than the tube). She catches glimpses of it while I'm bouncing her around and she is often unintentionally held facing the TV. But as tempting as it is, we haven't sat her in front of the TV so we can eat dinner with both hands, sitting, and without her screaming just yet. That doesn't mean she hasn't tried to stare at the musical colorful box in our living room. Yesterday I laid her down at the base of our TV stand to take her picture. The TV was on and this is her sneaking a peek. It's like a drug. The more we keep it from her, the more curious she is about it.

We are also trying to dress Sarah in something besides pajamas for church. Since we moved to 1 o'clock church, I don't anticipate her sleeping through Sacrament meeting so I can't use the "she doesn't get out of her carseat" excuse anymore. I don't think she likes dresses. She's dang cute in it though. And she better get used to it. She's got a few others she needs to wear before she grows too big for them.

I was trying to get a smile on camera. I got it!

And I just thought she looked funny with her hood on in her carseat. She wasn't amused.

Dianaisms

My mom was cleaning out the hall closet and ran across an old calendar from 1988. It had some Dianaisms in there! The Dianaisms of Diana at about age 4:

"Sometimes when I'm asleep my think goes out of my head to heaven and then comes back."

"I wish I was 16 years old because I don't have enough think in my head yet."

Diana: "Meredith, do you know how to make a Chinese 'e' ?"
Meredith: "Do you mean cursive?"
Diana: "Oh yea."

Diana listening to the theme song of "Father Knows Best": "That song is different. It didn't used to have a trumpet in it." She was right.

Mom: "Diana, have you had your breakfast yet?"
Diana: "Do you see a mustache on my face?"

"Grandma, sometimes I call you Granny, and sometimes I just call you Apple." (Age 3)

Mom: "Diana, pick up 20 things in your room before you eat."
Diana after a few minutes: "That means I have to pick up 5 things 4 times." (A regular math whiz at age 4)

"Mom, are dreams just thoughts in you head when you are asleep?"

Blessing Day

Sarah was blessed on December 28th. She was an angel all day except for when I was trying to get a good picture of her in her dress. It was the one I was blessed in 25 years ago. Pretty stylin' huh?

And Justin and his dad duking it out on the Wii.

Christmas Fun

Sarah didn't really get the whole opening-presents thing of course. It was more like, "Hey Sarah, here's your present. Over here. No, not the lights-this giraffe over here." Next year she'll be a pro.

Justin with his new car stereo his dad drew for him. Ours is broken so we're really excited to put this one in. :)

See how appreciative kids are for their presents? I know you can't spoil a baby, but wow she looks ungrateful.

And if you noticed the wardrobe change, it's because her gomer parents went to grandma's house without any diapers or change of clothes. It was a short Christmas visit but long enough for me to remove her poopy diaper, discover the lack of diapers in her bag, discuss with Justin how to make a diaper out of paper towels and a zip-loc bag, and for her to pee all over her changing pad and pajamas. Seizing the opportunity that she had just pooped and peed, we risked it all and put her in her carseat in just her onesie and headed back home. Justin got her dressed and I put a half-dozen diapers and a change of clothes in her bag. We may be new at this but we learn from our mistakes.

December Catch-Up

Here's what Sarah's been doing these past couple of weeks.

Trying on Justin's worn-out hat. Looks like she likes it as much as I do.

Taking a look at the Christmas tree. She's content down there for quite awhile. So if my tree is still up in March, you'll know why.

Getting dressed after a bath. This picture is misleading, usually she thinks it's torture.

And what she does most of the time, just sittin' pretty.