growing girls

It is definitely time for a Sasha and Alexis update.  They are both growing and changing so fast, I really cannot keep up.  I have so much to say about both of them, I will need separate posts.  I guess I'll do Sasha first...older siblings get all the perks!  :)

School has been absolutely amazing for Sasha.  She has grown up so much in the past month...we seriously saw major changes in her behavior after just a few days of school!  Her awesomeness has confirmed what Nate and I thought all along...that she needs tons of structure and tons of activity.  I've always been able to provide that in the mornings, but with Lexi sleeping all afternoon, we always had trouble there.  Afternoon preschool was definintely the right call for her and I only wish she could go every afternoon.  (She has Fridays off).  She could probably manage going all day, but I don't want her gone from me for that long yet!  All day kindergarten will be here before we know it.

Now that she doesn't nap, she can fall asleep super fast at night, at 8:00pm.  It has removed a huge area of tension in this fam!  She is usually up around 7:30, sometimes closer to 8:00am and she is well rested and ready to go.  Her behavior at home is so much happier too.  Not nearly as many temper tantrums and battles for control, or picking on her sister.  She often continues a project that she was working on at school when she gets home.  She'll pull out craft supplies, sit at the kitchen counter and work away.  Right now she is into cutting out hearts and coloring them.  Her drawing skills have gotten really good too.  Not that I have any idea what 4.5 year old drawing skills should be, but to me they look good!  She also loves to "write" notes.  She has lots of pads of paper that she carries around the house and scribbles on.  There have been a couple times that she has been mad at me and "wrote" me an angry note.  Last week as we were packing to go on a church retreat, she carried around the pad and pencil and checked off everything we needed.  She would say "Got the sleeping bags?"  I would say "Yep." and she would say "Check!" and make a mark on her paper.  This went on for quite a while.  She also has paper and pencils in the car and draws and writes then too.

Sasha also loves reading.  We have been going to the library preschool storytime every Friday morning and we always bring home a big bag of books.  I am happy to say that we achieved our goal of reading the "101 Books for Preschoolers" that the library has.  Anytime there is a moment of crabbiness or just a little bit of time to be filled, we sit down and read.  I have noticed that it has such a calming effect on her, and on Alexis too, who usually sits and listens.  I hope that she is on her way to loving reading as much as I do, because it is such a gift.

Her language....I don't really know how to describe it.  But her vocabulary is amazing.  And her questions and comments and insights.  She is smart.  On Friday at the library storytime, she sneaked back to where I was sitting and whispered in my ear "Does she (storytime leader) have a baby in her tummy?"  I just love that she knew to ask me that privately, rather than yell it out.  (And yes, she does have a baby in her tummy!)  She is definitely picking up on the social stuff we teach her.

The hardest area with Sasha right now is probably dinner time.  For the most part, no matter what I make, she doesn't want to eat it.  And she doesn't want to sit in her chair.  So you can imagine that it is not the most fun time of the day.  Nate usually takes over the on discipline when it comes to dinner time and it usually ends in Sasha sitting at the table until she takes like three bites of food.  Ah well, can't have everything perfect!

So that is our Sasha in a nutshell.  Super cute, super fun, super smart, and still just a little stubborn!  She is a good kid. 

Comments

[K]

You've pretty much described my four year old :) Except neither of my boys has picked up on the social skills yet like not announcing why they need to use the bathroom. I'll call it a boy thing. I wonder what it would be like if Sasah and A were in the same class - they would make quite the team!

[Aklein]

I love her! :)