18 months!

As close readers of this blog may have noted, Sadie turned 18 months 2 weeks ago with nary a mention here.  We kind of dropped the ball on that one, but better late than never, right?

So... here is she is in the stroller at 18 months..

And at 15 months and this time last year for comparison.

And here she is next to the growth chart...

And at 15 months and this time last year for comparison.

Family Portraits

Over Thanksgiving we mentioned taking family portraits, well, the USB stick has arrived and we can share them with you here. 

Sadie was great during the photos (doing them at Grandma and Grandpa's house rather than at a studio surely helped). Here she is doing her best cherub putto. (Wikipedia informs me that the chrubim are "often confused" for putti.)

Next, a photo Mom and Dad thought impossible when the photographer described it, but it turned out pretty great...

Walking back, Sadie gave a couple perfect looks:

Mom and Dad haven't had any professional photos since the wedding, so we got in on the action too...

 
Dad's desk at work will have this new multi-generational photo:

Dad and Sadie had a good time prepping for that picture:

Saving the best though... these are probably the highlight of the shoot:

And not least, our little family...

Some Chanukah Presents in action

Sadie's been enjoying her treasure trove of Chanukah gifts. Here are a few pictures of her hard-at-play with some of them this long weekend.

First, from Great Aunt Ava and Great Uncle Steve, a collection of puzzles using the same geometric shapes.

Aunt Renee also sent a purse, necklace, and set of bracelets. Sadie has had a ball carrying around the purse, putting the jewelry in the purse, and even stuffing another purse into the purse! Here she is with one bracelet, and, of course, the purse. 

Gifts of clothes and books are surely to appear in future updates!

Thank you to everyone who sent something! Happy holidays to everyone!

6th Night of Chanuckah!

Last night Sadie opened 2 puzzle presents from Aunt Ava and Uncle Steve.  Here are some pictures of this event.  Note:  I tried to get a picture with Sadie's face in it, but she was so engrossed in the puzzles she refused to look up for more than a split second so I gave up.

 

And here is a bonus photo.  On Friday Alice and Max came over with their new addition (Elliot!).  It was a lovely evening.

Happy Chanukah!

Here is Sadie eating dinner after we lit the Menorah.  She's too little to be distracted by the site of presents yet!

After dinner we opened some presents...

And read the new Elmo book Sadie got.

Thursdays with Babulya and Deda

Since Mom has had to go back to work full time, Sadie has been spending Thursdays at Babulya and Deda's house with her cousins.  It's been working really great.

Babulya sometimes takes and sends pictures, which we don't post enough of. So... here they are all hanging on Deda yesterday.

Sadie - Now (Almost) Officially a Toddler

Sadie will be moving to Toddler 1 at day care on Monday Dec 15, the day she turns 18 months.  This week is her transition week and so she spent this morning playing in her classroom (see pictures).  She is adjusting well (according to the email from the teachers) and it is a bittersweet moment for Mom and Dad.

UPDATE: When Dad went down to see Sadie, he was informed she was unwilling to leave the Toddler Room this morning and was only lured out with a promise of lunch.

Wordplay

Sadie has a couple of fun words at the moment. Captured on video for you...

Thanksgiving 7 - Thanks and Goodbye

Thanksgiving night, Taylor showed Sadie how to play the piano. We didn't grab any pictures of them then, but Sadie returned the the piano on Friday, enjoying herself as you can see.

Once nighttime came, it was time to say goodbye to our St. Louis family as we were leaving very early the next morning.

Bye-bye Aunt "Nae-Nae-Nae-Nae" Renee.

Sadie learned how to give someone a kiss just in time to say bye to Grandma.

And we don't have a picture of Grandpa's goodbye, but Sadie continued her habit of long goodnight hugs with Grandpa, which is a perfect excuse to show this picture again...

Bye bye to St. Louis. We had a great time.

Thanksgiving Part 6 - The Zoo

Two fortuitous things came together this week...
1) Sadie has a new found love of labeling animals and acting out animal sounds
2) St. Louis has a great zoo that is also free, making a short trip guilt-free.

In preparation, here is Sadie reading a book featuring elephants.
(This may or may not really just be an excuse to show off her new overalls).

As you can see, it was a cold day at the zoo, which resulted in more than a few empty enclosures.

The hippos were missing (perhaps they'd gone Berserk?) but the fish were still there...

The elephants were out and Sadie had a great time making elephant noises at them, directing only a few back at the camera.

 Then it was off to find Sadie's spirit animal, the frogs!

 We saw lots of jumping and some hopping. Sadie was pretty into it all

Our trip is nearing it's (blogging) end... Next time on Sadieblog, some long hugs...