This morning I took Sarah to her first “Mother Goose on the Loose” story time at the library! It’s a fun time designed specifically for babies and toddlers with lots of motion songs, rhymes, props, etc. I started taking Anna when she was about 11 months old, and it became a weekly thing until she was 3 (by which time we had transitioned to regular story time). I planned to do the same with Sarah, but as parents of two or more know, each child is different! Sarah has been a much more independent, hands-on, “put me down and let me get into that” kind of kid, and I felt that it would be a frustrating rather than an enjoyable experience for us. Until recently, she has played quite happily in the children’s play area while Anna has gone to the regular story time. But about three weeks ago, she started wanting to go in too, and she has actually made it through! So we decided to give Mother Goose a try today. Anna went too and brought her favorite baby doll do to the motions with.

Mother Goose has a lot of repetition. There are some things that change weekly, but the pattern stays the same, and a large part of the content is the same. Children learn what to expect next. Sarah is really getting into routines lately, and she’s becoming more and more particular about doing things a certain way. I think (and hope) she’ll really get into this and enjoy it! It’s amazing what the children learn when they go consistently.

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… and finally playing outside some! Whew! Fall is here, right? Ok, maybe not. But it’s possible to imagine it is when we can step outside in the evening and the temperature and humidity are not both still 98 half an hour before bedtime.

Here are the girls playing outside tonight on the tire swing and sandbox:

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We took our two kiddos plus one cousin to the zoo yesterday, while we’re having a respite from the 100+ degree heat for a few days. I think we haven’t been since right before Sarah was born. Anna thinks we went once with Sarah in the stroller, and her memory is amazing and she’s usually right about these things; I just have no memory or photographic evidence of it. So we’re not sure.

In any case, it was the first zoo trip that Sarah was aware of and able to enjoy. And she did, mostly (aside from a melt-down when we left the playground area before she was ready). She loves making animal noises, and most things said either “woof woof” or “neigh!”. It was really sweet to see her recognize that something was an animal, even if she didn’t know what it was, and assign it some random sound. We did get her to roar like a lion, though. That’s her newest thing, and it just cracks her up.

I’m afraid I only took pictures one place. Sarah liked the penguins, and the penguins liked Sarah:

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I think this counts as the first time I’ve “fixed” Sarah’s hair:

She just about has enough to do something with! She wanted it down before very long, though.

As you can see, Anna decided to go all out and fix up her hair and her clothes:

She was getting ready for a party, she said. :)

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Happy 18 Months, Sarah!

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My effort to blog more kept me rolling for a couple of months—I blogged about 10 times in Jan/Feb—and then I blogged once in March. Hmm, what happened? Well, here’s more, finally…

Lately Anna has been wanting to eat her afternoon snack at her little table in the family room. One day I just decided to put Sarah there with her and see what happened. She took to it pretty well! I think she likes having snack with Anna at the big kid table instead of her high chair. After all, she’s just as big as Anna and can do everything she does, right? :) She has trained Anna to break up her crackers for her into little bites (even though she is perfectly capable of biting off of a cracker) and Anna willingly obliges.

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I got Anna a “Big Sister” shirt a while back, which she has been wearing proudly. Recently, while shopping at Rhea Lana’s consignment sale, I happened upon the exact same shirt with “Little Sister” on it in Sarah’s size. I couldn’t pass that up now, could I?

And one more, not in “sister” attire, but kind of funny:

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It will be hard to top last year’s Snowpocalypse, as it came to be known, but we got an inch or so a couple of days ago—enough for Anna to don the now-too-short snowsuit and get out in it. And the parenting medal goes to David for getting out there with her while I stayed inside and took pictures from the window. :)

I woke up in “snow day mentality,” in which I basically throw off all attempts at productivity and goof off. I even stayed in my pajamas. That lasted until about 10 A.M., when I just had to get dressed and put on some makeup. The girls managed to stay in theirs all day though.

It’s much better from in here, right Sarah? :)

(I know that would be a better picture if the window weren’t so filthy. With 2 kids and 3 dogs, it stays clean for about 5 minutes after I Windex it.)

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We’ve got a little work to do, but she’s coming along, don’t you think?

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