Our Sashita is four years old today! What an amazing four years we have had with her. She has had us on our toes from the minute she was born and I have a feeling that is going to continue. Sasha is turning into such a big girl. The words that come to mind right now to describe Sasha are smart, creative, joyful, hilarious, intuitive, and loving. She really does crack me up every day with something she says or does. Lately she has been carrying around a little stuffed cat. The other day I found it sitting on the floor, facing a corner with a small cup of water in front of it. Every day, she refills the cup....such a little caretaker!
I also love the way her mind works; she is always trying to figure things out. Here is a conversation we had at lunch yesterday...
Sasha: Do the Berenstain Bears have Jesus in their heart?
Me: I don't know, what do you think? (my standard answer for everything!)
Sasha: They do, it's a bear Jesus!
So precious. And her memory is amazing. Over Christmas in MN, we had a friend of Joel and Lora's join us named Kyu. Sasha was a little apprehensive around him at first, then warmed up to him after a few days. The other day Nate put on a new sweatshirt and the second Sasha saw it she said "Daddy, you look like Kyu!" Apparently Kyu also had a green, hooded sweatshirt, just like the one Nate was wearing. It just amazes me how her mind makes connections. She remembers things that barely make a blip on my radar. She will talk about the time a car was pulled over on the side of the road at a certain intersection a year ago or remember conversations from months past. I love how she is always learning. This morning on the way to our play date, she gave me a nice long lecture on how Meijer stays open 24 hours a day, so if you ever need anything, even at night, you can just go get it! (I have a feeling she and Nate talked about this yesterday when I wasn't around!)
Sasha's absolute favorite thing right now is the Aladdin soundtrack, followed closely by the movie. We borrowed the soundtrack from Julianne around Thanksgiving and the questions Sasha had about it were neverending. So I let her watch the movie around Christmas time and it became a full-blown obsession. We happen to have the cd in the car (my mistake!) and Sasha wants to listen to it constantly. Rarely are we in the car for longer than 2 minutes before I hear "Can I have 'Hey, Clear the Way?'" She knows every word and her pitch is pretty decent too. So I just tell myself that she is developing musical and verbal skills! I also should admit that Nate and I kind of like singing the Aladdin songs too. :)
I've been on a little bit of a movie kick with Sasha the past month or so, because in addition to Aladdin, I have let her watch 101 Dalmations (although technically my parents did that one), Beauty and the Beast, The Sound of Music, and Mary Poppins. She also got a Tag Reading System for Christmas, so she has been doing that a lot too. We got her a dollhouse for Christmas last year and she has just started really, truly playing with that, FINALLY! She is into My Little Ponies now too. Two or three years ago I bought some My Little Ponies at a Mom 2 Mom sale (because I loved them dearly as a child and was sure she would too) and she has had absolutely no interest in them until about 3 weeks ago. Go figure. And this morning we gave her a Tianna Polly Pocket as a birthday gift and she has been playing with it constantly. So I can definitely see that her playing preferences are maturing. There are still many requests for me to join in pretend play either at home or in the car. Several times a week I must be Santa, Sasha is Rudolph and Lexi is "little Rudolph." And wolves, wolves, wolves, must be a part of everything!
I should also add in this birthday post that the stopping of naps that I thought had occured was a fluke. She hasn't missed a nap in weeks, with the exception of one time I forced her so she could go to two birthday parties, and she was not thrilled with me. She usually sleeps from about 2:00pm until 3:00 or 3:30pm. I woke her up yesterday at 3:30pm and she was beyond ticked that I disrupted her slumber. Unfortunately she does have a hard time falling asleep at night, but I guess we just have to live in this in between stage for a while longer.
I'm pretty sure that I am just as excited as she is (if not more) for her birthday party tonight. This is the first year she has had a "friend" party. We decided that our little house in the dead of winter would not be the best place to entertain Sasha and many other four year olds, so we will be going to Pump it Up, where she will be jumping to her heart's content with ten of her nearest and dearest friends. I will do a separate post on that soon!
Happy birthday to our precious Sasha! You are an amazing blessing to us. We love you so much!
I laughed out loud many times throughout this post. Thanks for the funny stories! It warms my heart that Sasha reads the Berenstien Bear books! Keep up the good work there in the Farm!
Posted by: Allison | January 29, 2011 at 04:19 PM
We'll have to get the girls over sometime soon so Sasha can play with a real kitty! :)
Posted by: Kimberly | January 30, 2011 at 09:04 PM