July 2013

Dear Sage at 15 months

by elizabeth

Dear Sage at 15 months.

This month is titled the Travel Month! Just like last year at this time you were whisked around from airports to airplanes to different time zones, were completely off schedule and handled it much better than I predicted. We have created such a tight bond in our little family that when the setting and normalcy of our life gets turned upside down, we can lean on each other and still maintain our sense of happiness. Someone once said to us, that to a child- home is where mommy and daddy are- and I think this is especially true for you. For all of us. Home is when we are all together. So whether we were crammed in airplane seats, squished in the third row of a land cruiser, on the beach for the day, all three in a twin bed in Wisconsin, or on a boat, we stuck together and had a great time.

With the passing of every month, a new layer of wrapping paper is pulled off of you, our little present. You get more connected as you notice the details of our routines. You know the name and purpose of the rooms in our house and are getting very skilled at following directions. You were visiting Daddy in the bathtub and you brought with you a bag of tortilla chips. Daddy said, “Go give that to Mama please” and you galloped down the hallway and found me in the kitchen. You were exploding with excitement over completing this task. I in turn took a marshmallow out of the cupboard and asked you to take it to Daddy. You ran down the hallway screeching with excitement on your way to deliver the marshmallow. This went on and on bathroom to kitchen, kitchen to bathroom.

Your words are coming so fast and you are repeating so much of what we say. Your newest and most powerful development is “no.” We were with Noah the other day and I asked you if you would share something with him. You looked right at me and said, “no.” I burst out laughing. I know this will stop being funny soon but for now your accurate use of the word makes me giggle.

Also making me giggle is your intoxicating little laugh. You suck in air with a vocalized aspiration and it sounds like an old man. I just love it. Today I heard you making this little laugh and found you looking at yourself in the mirror. You were so delighted to see your reflection!

Here are some funny memories of your 15^th month

At the beginning of your 15^th month all animals barked. Now you are finally making moos, meows, and baas. The other day at the park with Dada, two little dogs walked by and you meowed at them. I wish I could have been there to see it. Dada said he was laughing pretty hard.
You can understand so much. You were in the bath and I said, “Sage can you please get your hair wet for me?” You leaned back and dipped your head in the water. Usually I just pour water on your head but you figured this one out all on your own.
This started your new love of lying on your back in the tub with your ears under the water. You relax and enjoy the sensation and sounds of the water swishing in and out of your ears.
You jump off the edge of the pool all by yourself and don’t mind being under for a few seconds.
You get completely covered in sand and don’t care.
Unless you are exhausted or have just hurt yourself, you are always moving.
You are a very strong climber. No fear of heights.
You give big kisses and say MWAH when you give them.
On the airplane you liked to stand on the pull down table and bounce on it like a trampoline.
You say “Hi” really loud and you keep repeating it until people respond back.
You are often running around our house and yard in just your diaper. You have now figured out how to take your shirt off all by yourself.
I counted 20+ words that you say regularly. Nose, eye, mama, dada, no, off, out, outside, more, all done, milk, doggie, Luna, Stella, banana, water, hi, help, bye, hat, other side (you say this when you finish nursing on one side and are ready to switch). The animal sounds you do are-dog, cat, cow, rabbit (you make a rabbit face) and sheep.

Despite our hard days, my heart aches when I am away from you. Today I had to pick you up from daycare early because I wanted to be with you. Last week Daddy and I skipped a date night because we missed you. We were going to dinner and a movie but decided instead to have dinner with you and watched a movie at home after you went to sleep. You have captured our hearts in every imaginable way. We love you Sagey. You light up our life.

On our way to Wisconsin!

At Pier West Restaurant. You loved wandering around on this dock!

On Playa Marsella in Nicaragua

You had so much fun on the beach in Nicaragua. Your happiness is so pure and beautiful!

You love running around naked. It’s so great to let you play and be free.

Here you are with Lyla at Zoomars in the corn pit.

Sitting in the drinking fountain at the park near GGs house.

Auntie G got this sweater for you before you were born. I love it but it’s getting too small : ( On this day you picked it out all by yourself!

Going to the beach!

At the beach with Noah

You love watching animals eat and trying to feed them yourself. Sloane reluctantly tolerates you.

We both still love having you in our bed. With this to look at, how could we not!

You picked this out all by yourself

Lyla, Aiden, and you at the beach.

A big fun game of chase.

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Dear Sage 13 and 14 months

by elizabeth

Dear Sage,

I am not being very timely with these posts. This entry is 19 days late!

As the days go by, time with you is getting busier and funnier. It’s also getting more exhausting. When we are outside of our home you need to be watched very closely or I may find you with a rock your mouth, about to pull a breakable item off a table, sucking down glue, or throwing yourself in the nearest body of water. We have created a wonderfully safe home where you can wander with relative freedom and I find our time at home to be much more relaxing then when we go out. But you like to go out, so we go out a lot. One word you say very clearly is “outside.” You are an outside girl for sure and just like when you were a baby, your mood improves exponentially when you are outdoors. Here are some other fun facts about you as a 14 month old.
• You like to play fetch.
• You have learned how to increase the water flow on the bathtub faucet
• You are much more polite about how you sign for milk only yanking down my shirt when really desperate. You can apply this “asking politely” skill to other things too like “up” or “more”

• You still LOVE the water. You are convinced that you can breathe underwater and our efforts at pulling you above the water level only prove to frustrate you. To you, when we hold you in the water, we are keeping you from all the fun. You have no clue that if we left you to your wishes you would drown!

• You and Dada clocked 30mph on the bike and you were squealing with laughter. The faster the better.
• You sign for bike really well and constantly ask for bike rides. Lucky you, you have a very sweet Dada. When you bring him his flip flops and knock on his office door. He will take a 10 minute work break and bike you around the neighborhood. You cry when it’s over.
• You are really brave and climb to the top of pretty steep big kid slides all by yourself. You are a really strong climber and have really impressed us with all you can do. Just before your 13 month birthday you climbed all the way up the caterpillar climber without any help! Once you get to the top, you like to stand up there and enjoy the view. This terrifies me because I am at the bottom waiting for you to come down and am constatly afraid you are going to forget where you are and fall face first down the slide. Fortunately you don’t. You eventually turn around and like to slide down on your belly.
• You have mastered shaking your head no. And understand when to use it. We ask you, “Sage, do you want to go night night?” you shake your head no. We offer you food and you do a great job of telling us what you don’t want to eat. There isn’t anything you regularly don’t like, but you like to exercise your power and pick and choose between different types of food. The sweetest example of your head shaking was the other morning when you and Dada were snuggling in bed. He told you that he had to go to work and you vigorously shook your head no. You love your time with your Dada.
• You are developing a spunky and strong little personality. I have to be creative about diaper changes and putting clothes on you. When I give you a lot of time and choices you are much more cooperative than when I pick you up and carry you off. The other day, when we were leaving Auntie G’s house you were playing in the driveway. I told you that we had to leave and asked you if you would rather walk to the car by yourself or have me carry you. You put down what you were playing with and marched right over to the car. It was so cute. I am anticipating using the choice strategy a lot in your future.

Here is the most recent list of words that you say consistently. I have come to realize that you understand so much of what we are saying to you but do not yet have the ability to say all the things you want to. Yesterday we walked out to a grassy lawn outside Pier West restaurant in Wisconsin and I had you in my lap. I noticed a bean bag toss game and pointed it out to you. I said, “Sage why don’t you get down and play with those bean bags. You can pick them up and put them in the hole.” You climbed off my lap and did just as I suggested. I was totally shocked and couldn’t believe that you understood me.

Your words at 14 months:
• Bye Bye- sounds like “Die Die”
• Up
• Uppitah and Buppitah (no idea what it means yet)
• Outside
• Help
• Hi
• Doggie- sounds like “Daw-duh”
• Night Night- sounds like “nigh, nigh”
• And your newest addition is the appropriate use of the word Uh-Oh. It’s so funny. You throw your pacifier outside of your crib, or throw food off the table and say “Uh Oh.” It gets a laugh from us every time.