Hocus Pocus!
Last night we watched some of the lunar eclipse. I told Sarah that the earth was going to pass between the sun and moon. Heh, well she looked at me like I was nuts. So instead I said that the moon was going to disappear and then come back.

"Oh, a BIG witch is going to make it disappear!" Hey, made perfect sense to her. Gosh, Mommy. Don't you know anything?

Spanish 101
My dad always told me, "You learn something new everyday." Sarah has proven that tenfold - today was no exception.

Here I was, sitting at my desk reading the last chapter of an excellent book (Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin) when she asked me for a piece of tape as she was attempting to fix a broken toy. I obliged and turned back to my book. "Gracias," said my young ward. *Blink*

"What did you say?"

"Gracias."

OMG! Okay, I know that she would eventually pick up some words at our favorite local Mexican restaurant, but...! And my brain is telling me, "Duh! As a Linguistics minor you *know* that young children pick up languages faster than adults - so why are you surprised?"

Okay, I wasn't surprised... I was shocked! This moment was extra cool! :D

Painted Warrior
Here's what happens when you mix Sarah, water colors and a little help from Daddy:
Painted Warrior
Up Close

And here are some pictures of the bed (in its new Disney Princess attire):
Bed
Sunrise
Sunset
Details

Growing Up
Yesterday I put safety rails on my bed for Sarah. No, not the bed I sleep on, but the bed that was mine when I was a kid. It was actually my great-grandfather's bed and has been passed down from generation to generation - granted, no one has wanted to part with it, but it was passed down nevertheless. It is hand-made from maple. The head board stands at over 6 feet. Carved upon it is the sunrise. The sunset is on the footboard. There are other intricate details too numerous to name and describe. I will try to remember to post a picture of it then you'll understand what I mean about not giving it up.

When I was about 7 years old I was deemed old enough to sleep on this masterpiece. You see, the bed is very tall and my mom was worried that I might fall off before then. The side rails are at least a foot and a half off the floor - you have to climb up into the bed - and with the mattresses, it's well over 3 feet to the ground (quite a painful fall!). I love the bed (my precious!), but I wasn't allowed to take it with me when I moved out - my dad didn't want to part with it as it was his bed before it was mine.

Well, I ended up getting the bed, but only after several years had passed and my parents moved to Mentone (they didn't have the space for it). Yeah! I finally got my bed back! Muhahahaha!

Now it's Sarah's turn to sleep in it. Sure, she's getting to sleep in it way before I ever did, but her toddler bed and this bed were taking up too much room. So last night she got to sleep on it for the first time. She was very excited! I put a stool near the foot of the bed and she climbed up and down without a problem. The safety rails are very sturdy so I'm not worried about her falling off.

This morning Pete asked her if she would like to get in the "big bed" (our bed) with Mommy. "No, Daddy. I have my own big bed." She later told me that she was a big girl. :)

Little does she know that it is still MY bed. Perhaps when she has a child of her own, maybe, just maybe, I'll let her store it in her house. ;)

Pretending
Because it was raining Monday, Sarah and I were playing inside. She found an empty paper box (a box that reams of paper come in) and decided it was going to be our car. She climbed in and I sat in front of her in the "driver's seat." "Where would you like to go?" I asked. "I wanna go to Leslie's house!" "Yes, ma'am!" Off we went. Vroom vroom! "Here we are!" Sarah jumped out of the box, ran over to the dining room table and hugged the pretend Leslie. "She go with us, Mommy," and she picked her up and put her in the "car."

"Where to now?" Sarah thought for a moment. "I wanna go to the zoo!" Off we went - vroom vroom! "Here we are!" Again, Sarah jumped out of the box, took my hand and said "Leslie gonna stay right here!" Okie doke. Sarah and I looked at all the animals. When we got back to the box/car, Leslie was gone! Gasp! "Where did she go?" I asked. Sarah shrugged. We looked all over the "zoo" until we found her looking at the monkeys. "Whew! That was close," said my young ward. We took Leslie back to our car and.... then it was time for dinner. So Sarah left Leslie with a bunch of flowers (Christmas bows) and we went to eat.

I wonder if Sarah took Leslie home after that.... ;)

Neener neener
On the way to school yesterday, Sarah was singing a little song:

"I'm going to the dentist and you aren't. Na na na na naaa na."

Ooooookay.

Nightmares
Every morning I ask Sarah if she "had a good sleepy." And every morning she replies, "I had bad dreams." This disturbs me. My sweet little girl has bad dreams every night?! Nah - she's gotta be telling me a story. So I asked her this morning what happened in her bad dream. "Monsters, Mommy. Monsters got you." Hmmmm. Then she said something totally funny, but I can't remember it - argh! Yeah, a pretty lame ending to this story, but maybe if I stand up and sit down enough it will pop back up into my brain.

*sigh*

The Things She'll Do...
... to get a sucker. As you know, Sarah loves suckers. And I've discovered that she'll do or say anything (at least in her mind) in order to get one.

Example: Wednesday I took her to the doctor for a Flu shot. Keep in mind that she already had two - count 'em, 2 - mini Tootsie Pops from school (as usual). She ate them both on the way to the doctor, which is just a short drive from Southside to Homewood. Okay, she didn't eat them completely - as shameful as it is, she doesn't like the chocolatey middle and gives me the "already-been-licked" sucker - but, you know, she's had TWO. Greedy little hobbitses.

Anyway, so she's had two suckers. There is quite a wait at the doctor because it seems they booked everyone and their mother to get a Flu shot that day. There are two halls in the doctor's office: the left hall is the one where you go in, the right is the way out. Sarah watches the kids coming out of the right hall - they have suckers! "Mommy, I want a sucker, too." Well, okay, I thought. We're going to be here for a while. So, I take her to get one and we sit back down. A little while later, she sees a little kid with Halloween size Sweet Tart packet (it has three pieces). "Mommy, I want candy." "You have a sucker, sweetie." "No, I want candy," and she throws the sucker away. So we go get some Sweet Tarts. She gobbles those up quickly.

Guess what? She wants another sucker so she takes the one she just threw away out of the garbage and sticks it in her mouth before I can grab it. I told her it was yucky and I threw it away in a different garbage can. A fit comes upon her, but we manage to get through it.

Well, to make a long story short (too late, I know), she gets a sucker after her shot (an hour after we got there) - which she did very well. "She poked me!" Hehehe.

Yesterday afternoon, Sarah had two suckers as usual, but informed me that she wanted a shot again. "Why?" I asked. "I want a sucker."

Never would I have thought that a little kid would want to get another shot just to get a sucker. She really amazes me sometimes. Goes to show how much she loves suckers. ;)

Puzzle Soup & the Baby song
Yesterday afternoon, Sarah told me she wanted to "play puzzles." So I took out her puzzles, dumped the pieces on the floor and handed her one. "No puzzles, Mommy. Let's cook." She got up, grabbed her pot and pan and brought them back to me. She then put all the puzzle pieces in the cookware and began stirring. "I making soup," she explained. "Puzzle soup?" I asked. She nodded. She got up again to get her doll's baby bottle, "Milk," she instructed me, and pretended to add it to the soup saying, "Squirt, squirt." I really need to record her saying these things.

Oftentimes, Sarah will sing a song. Yesterday, the song of the day was the Baby song. It goes a little something like this:

Baby, baby, bayyybeee, baby......... ;)

Hello, Operator?
A funny and amazing thing happened last night. Uncle Gavin came over for a few minutes (to feed the cats, but we didn't go to Mentone - long story) so Daddy and I were talking to him out on the deck. I had only been outside for a couple of minutes when I came back inside to tell Sarah it was time for dinner. She was downstairs yelling, "Daddy!" I asked her what she needed. "It's Granpa!" she informed me. "Where?" I asked. "On the phone, Mommy!" I went downstairs to see what she was talking about. In her hand was the phone. I thought she was playing with it, as she sometimes does, and hoping that she hadn't called China in the process. She handed me the phone and lo and behold! Granpa was on the other end. He said that they had been having a very nice conversation. She's full of surprises!