Sadie's new spot

Sadie got a new table and chairs to play at in the office and we've put away the playpen that used to be there. She seems to be pretty happy with it. She just keep growing and growing....

Laundry Day

Sadie is eager to be helpful around the house...

The other day, Dad was doing laundry and Sadie wanted to help sort the clothes, who am I to stop her?

<for those of you who read the email digest, there's a video here>

The rest of the day, she kept looking into the various baskets and trying to drag them around the house. I couldn't convince her we were done with the sorting...

Relatedly, I tried to get her to help me put things in the washing machine and she is terrified to go near it when the door is open. No idea what's up with that, so it'll be a while before she's doing her own laundry I suppose...

Music Class Returns

The return of fall means the return of our Music Together class. 

I'm finally getting used to being the only Dad in a room full of Moms, Grandmas, and nannies (I've yet to see a male nanny) and Sadie definitely has a better sense of why we go and what to do while we're there, though I think she's still a bit overwhelmed. These pictures are from week one, where, as you can see, she shook the egg shakers quite a bit (and put them in her mouth only a little).

By week two, she was running around the room and generally having a ball (including being very helpful getting and returning instruments between songs) but is still working on the actual music concept I think.

All-in-all, it's a great time and I know I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester.

200!

This was the 100 posts of independence... A LOT has happened since our first recap.

It's hard to believe there was ever a time this mat wasn't on our floor

Speaking of the mat, this was the day Mark (not pictured) taught Sadie the numbers come out

Standing independence!

On the cusp of two semesters of eating musical instruments... she didn't really figure out what they were for until the last session in May

Food independence!

Pulling up independence!

Enjoying the best Connecticut has to offer

The family all dressed up

Meeting Raggedy Ann

Like I said about the mat...

Coffee-buying independence!

Stacking independence (also, of course, all of her Kansas City family)!

An easy way to get something onto the blog: include a dinosaur.

Stair-climbing independence!

Chair-sitting independence!

Sometimes just getting messy...

Playground independence!

This practically looks like a preview of teenage  independence!

Of course it wasn't ALL independence, there were still some family walks...

(oh yeah, walking independence!)

There were also some pretty big milestones, like a first birthday!

Scooter independence!

(ok, not so much yet, but we're working on it)

Independence Day!

Independence from the stroller!

Dad's favorite picture

Sadie's favorite hat

Oral hygiene independence!

Navigation independence!

Sadie's new favorite toy and companion.

Long-distance stroller independence!

I don't even know what to call this...

In these 100 posts she went from very much a baby to VERY MUCH a toddler... what will we see in the next 100? I suppose that depends on how often we post...

Shoe Shopping

The family is spending the weekend at the Cape at Babulya and Deda's house again.  We are having a great time.   Last afternoon we went to the mall to buy Sadie some shoes for the fall (bigger, warmer).  We got her some very cute Kermit the Frog shoes to celebrate her new obsession with her frog.

On our way out of the mall she insisted on carrying the bag, on her arm, like a purse.  It was very cute.  She's quite the determined little lady now!

Sadie the driver

Sadie had lots of fun at Babulya and Deda's house yesterday and demonstrated a new interest. (see video below).

Sadie is 15 months!

Time continues to fly, it seems like just yesterday it was the beginning of summer and we were celebrating Sadie's first birthday.  And yet, here we are now - it's starting to get colder and Sadie is suddenly 15 months old.

New things since her birthday..

Words!! We're up to about 10 now: hi, oh oh, boo (book), dees (this), ha (hat), uhh (up), door, mo (more), no, baba (bottle), baby, shhh (shoes).  She also loves her new favorite game of pointing to things and saying "dees" which means that she wants you to tell her what a thing is called.

Moving!!  She started walking right before her birthday but now she can do distances.  We've walked to the park near our house, we've taken the train to school once without a stroller, and this morning we walked to the @Union diner and back!  She can also reliably climb up stairs and has started to climb down stairs as well.  She also loves climbing up and going down the slide at the park.

Games!!  She still loves "where's Sadie", but now we've added some other games as well.  Eitan played a chasing game with Sadie at his birthday party and since then we've been enjoying playing that game at home together.  She also now likes to feed her "baby" (her frog) which she's been very attached to and when she wakes up in the morning she talks to the toys in her crib (the frog and Raggedy Ann).


So without further ado, here are some photos.  Sadie with the growth chart. (12 months for comparison on the left and 15 months in the hat on the right)

 

Sadie in the stroller (12 months for comparison on the left and 15 months in the hat on the right).

Bonus stroller photo of Sadie being her adorable silly self

And a bonus photo of us coming home from breakfast where we went without the stroller.

MBTA's newest independently mobile rider

This is a picture of Sadie riding the 66 bus!  Here's the backstory: Dad is traveling all week and last night Babulya picked Sadie up from day care and drove her home so that Mom could go to the grocery store.  However, the problem with this plan was that Mom left the stroller at day care and so this morning the stroller was unavailable for our commute.  So we caught the 66 bus to Harvard, transferred to the red line, and walked from the train to day care.  Sadie did so great! She drank her milk in her seat and held Mom's hand on the platform and during the long (for her) walk.  The only time she needed to be carried was down the stairs to get into the station.  We are so proud of our little city dweller!

Verbal win

This morning upon waking up, Sadie immediately verbally requested her hat.  She then asked for her frog (which she calls "baby") as we were getting ready to leave.  Turns out this language thing is useful!

Midwestern Vacation - Part 4

Here are some more photos of Sadie hanging out in St. Louis

There's fun with Grandma

And games with Grandpa David

And hanging out with Aunt Renee

And then here's some from the playground and generally cute photos...

Meanwhile, on Thursday Mom and Dad went to the Chicago aquarium, which was super fun.  Here we are trying to take a picture of ourselves from the aquarium in front of the Chicago skyline.

But we were so happy to see Sadie when we got back to St. Louis on Saturday and she was happy to see us.  We all had apples for snack together .