"Helping" Daddy

Alan caught the flu and was home from work today. Earlier this evening he went to lie down in bed and rest. While sitting here on the computer I heard the pitter patter of fast little Sarah feet running to and fro. Pretty soon she comes downstairs and informs me she is helping Daddy feel better. I go upstairs to find Alan tucked in with a whole slew of Sarah's dolls and stuffed animals. She has also dragged a blanket over him and last I saw she was running upstairs with one of her stories (one she has memorized) to read to him. What a lucky man!

Pumpkin Pumpkin...

At Halloween I taught Sarah a little song called "Pumpkin Pumpkin" which goes like this.
Pumpkin Pumpkin round and fat,
Turn into a jack-o-lantern just like that!
At the end of the last phrase the singer pulls a face. Sarah loves this and sings it regularly but of course she changes it regularly. Lately she has been singing, "Mommy Mommy round and fat, Turn into a jack-o-lantern just like that!" Finally I began to get a complex and suggested that it wasn't nice to call mommy fat and so now she sings, "Mommy mommy round and skinny, turn into a jack-o-lantern just like that!" I better get out and exercise.

Settle Down

Last night my parents were over to play games. We told them in front of Sarah that Sarah was such a big girl she could get her jammies on all by herself! Naturally they didn't believe such a story and Sarah was sent to show them just how big she really was. When she came back downstair in her jammies we all clapped and shouted, "Yeah for Sarah! She's such a big girl!" She grinned at us then got this very serious grown-up expression and said, "Settle down guys."

My tummy says...

Just now Sarah came into the room and said, "My tummy say her still hungry for dinner."
"Your tummy's still hungry for dinner?" I repeated. "Yes," she said, "My tummy says her still hungry for candy." I put her off and said I had to write that down and a few seconds later she said,"Your mommy tummy say I can't have any more candy, 'cause your mommy tummy say I have to wait for dinner." And then she left.

I wonder I am

Sarah has begun singing a new song called, "I Wonder (who) I am". It is kind of sung to the tune "I wonder as I wander out under the stars..." Only Sarah's version goes like this: "I wonder I am, I wonder I am. I am Sarah Girl (what Alan calls her), Angel (what Grandpa Paulsen calls her), Chat..terbug (what I call her), Sweetheart (what we all call her), I wonder I am...

She's a little young for an identity crisis wouldn't you say?

Are all 3 year olds this bossy?

Just now Sarah came into the office where Alan and I were. "Come on," she said to Alan, "You forgot to throw me up. Come on. Let's go to the kitchen and you throw me up 'cause you forgot." After a chuckle Alan went with her and dutifully fulfilled the "coming home routine" which involves chucking Sarah into the air several times followed by running around in circles. Sarah loves this but I wonder how long it will continue. Will she be 13 and still asking to be thrown up?

As Alan comes back down the stairs Sarah says, "Let's play hide-and-seek. Let's play "get you". Sit here. (She points to a spot on the floor then runs to the other side of the room turns around and charges Alan. Alan catches her up and tickles her, then chases her around the room. This is how to play "get you".) We are going to have to teach her not to boss us around, which by the way I've been trying to do, and to at least say please, which by the way we have also been teaching and which she sometimes remembers.

Sarah's thumb is amazing

This morning Sarah's thumb became caught in her pajamas. I asked, "Sarah, where is your thumb?"
She responded, "Right here. My fumb go 'woof woof' like Potter."
Now that's one amazing thumb!

Dinner Song

Sarah is at a stage when the world has become a musical, and she has numerous solo parts. Tonight she sang over her soup:

You be so naughty
You not supposed to do that
'Cause you be so naughteeeeeeeeeee.

Then she asked Shannon, "Mommy, what's that song?" Mommy: "I don't know." Sarah declared, "That song called 'Someone Be So Naughty.'"

Baby Jesus, aka Away in a Manger, is back

Of course you know that as part of Sarah's sleep routine I sing her a song. For about a year now I have been requested to sing "Baby Jesus" also known as "Away in a Manger"...all three verses. Don't think that I haven't suggested another song, any other song of the dozens that she knows and is familiar with, but to no avail. "Baby Jesus" is part of the routine and that is that. Since Sarah naps in the afternoons and goes to sleep at night this has amounted to me singing "Baby Jesus" way more times than the average human being would sing it in his or her life-time. I've sung it so much that often my mind wanders while I'm singing and I catch myself into the third verse without remembering singing the second verse.

Then two weeks ago I began to sing "Mother I love you" with the second verse substituting Sarah's name for Mother as a desperate measure to restore peace in the car while running errands. This pleased the small child and it became the requested song for going to sleep by. I didn't even mind singing it thrice, once the way it is written, second with Sarah and third with Daddy in the place of Mother. "Ahhh" thought I, "finally something new." Alas, the thought was short-lived. Three nights ago the request came in for "Baby Jesus." The next night I suggested "Mother I love you" but was denied. Again tonight my request for variety was rejected. I guess I am going to be singing "Baby Jesus" twice a day for another year, perhaps for eternity. I admit that it is one of my favorite Christmas songs, but sheesh a person can only sing it so many times for so long without losing the spirit of the song in mindless repetition.

Not Tall Yet

Whenever Sarah can't do something, or doesn't want to do something her response is always, "I not do it 'cause I not tall yet." This has widespread application in her world. Shannon: "Sarah, I need you to pick up your books and put them back before Emmie eats any more of them." Sarah: "I not do it 'cause I not tall yet. You do it."

It's even applied to others. Once when we were at my mom's house when my mom wasn't home Sarah wanted to watch a movie. I couldn't figure out how to get the DVD player hooked up and working which I told Sarah. Sarah responded, "You not get it working 'cause you not tall yet. You still little." It's so true!

Yesterday when Sarah had an accident in her panties I scolded her and told her she was big enough to know to stop reading her books when she needed to go to the potty. Again the response was "Me still little, I not tall yet." How do you argue with that? Even this morning when she awoke she said her tummy felt funny. I suggested that she was hungry and that her tummy would feel better after breakfast. She said, "Mine tummy feel funny 'cause it's not tall yet."

I'm on to this. Sorry Alan, I can't make dinner tonight because I'm not tall yet.