Beach Day and Cake Girl

Dear Rocket Star Girl,


You are so very sweet.

Yesterday I was taking a nap upstairs and you came in and very slowly and quietly crawled into bed with me. You thought I was asleep, but your tiny hand touched my shoulder (so gently) and then I felt you lean in and give my arm a little kiss.

You made me smile and I rolled over to kiss you back and you said “I be so quiet Momma. We’ll have a sleepover”. We tried to have a “sleepover” but your little legs couldn’t stop wiggling so eventually I carried you back to your room, but with the explanation that I couldn’t stop kissing you so you’d have to stay in your bed so you could get some sleep 

There’s a book that Daddy got from the library for us called “Cake Girl”, and you love it. It’s about a grumpy old witch who bakes a cake because she is lonely and enchants the cake to do things for her, but the cake teaches her to be a loving friend and then the witch isn’t so mean anymore. Well yesterday I went to your preschool and read it your class. You loved it and were so proud, sitting next to me to show everybody that this was your momma. Your class and your teachers loved it so much that they asked me to come back next week at the same time, so we need to find another good book to read by then and I’m sure your daddy will pick out something great for us at the library. Last week he remembered to get “Ferdinand” which is one that I loved and had asked him to get for us.

Yesterday was also “Beach Day” at school, despite the fact that the entire state was being ravaged by a series of tornadoes and it was pouring rain. You went to school in a fish tank top, flower shorts that matched, your pink swim coverup, your swimming “gobbels” and your sparkly red shoes. You looked adorable, and whenever you put on your gobbels, you’d put up your hands for focus and very seriously say, “OK, this is going to be really really funny”, as if it would be so funny it would just BLOW THEIR MIND and they had to be warned first. Seriously your enthusiasm for everything is so fun to watch.

You are so very very dear to me, my little Ruby.

Love, mama

Henry's "Bow Ties", Swimming "Gobbles", and the Scary "Yogurt"

Dear Ruby,


Here’s three funny stories about you.

On Saturday, the day before Easter, I was trying to explain about what was going to happen that evening at Henry’s Baptism. When I got to the part about Henry being baptized, you said “Bowties?” and I tried to explain that no, not bow ties, baptised, but your brain had already decided Henry was going to be outfitted with a bowtie. When I explained about how Father Dale would pour water over his head, you thought that was hilarious too. When Grandpa Sawyer wondered out loud if you even knew whata bow tie was, you shocked us all by saying “There’s a dot in the middle and two wings on the side, like a butterfly”. You are brilliant!

Then, last night, at dinner, you were rooting through your Easter basket goodies and pulled out your swim ring and swimming “gobbles” for the beach. As you sat down at the table, wearing your goggles, you said “Okay class, sit down”. Grandma Hatch and I just looked at each other and roared. Sometimes you are so cute I can’t help myself.

And last but not least, every night we read books to you and last night you picked “Puss in Boots”, one that we have read before but not for a while. The first funny thing you did was that YOU wanted to read the book. You asked me “What’s him name?” (You still have trouble with tenses and pronouns). I told you it was “Puss in Boots”. You said, “okay. Story is. Cousin Boots”. When we got to the part where there was scary looking ogre, you said “What him name?” I told you it was the scary ogre. You heard “Scary Yogurt”. So whenever the ogre came up in the book, you called him the “scary yogurt”.

I love you so.

-Mama

Color Change, Gardening, and Dancing Shoes

Dear Ruby,


Let’s start with the positive.

You get so much joy out of your garden. Daddy and you spent some special time together planting tomatoes from seeds in grandpa Sawyer’s garden plot. Last night, I walked with you and Daddy and it was so fun seeing you light up as you showed me how you could water the plants at the roots and help them to grow. You have your own little elephant watering can and do it all yourself, with daddy standing over you to help you get the water where it needs to go.

I signed you up for your very first dance class at Encore Studios for the summer. It’s a ten week combination Ballet/Jazz program for 4 year olds that begins in June. I am trying to plan out our summer because you will have no preschool and no church choir during the summertime, and you thrive on schedule. Throughout the day you ask what we’re doing and them do a list to confirm “ School, Lunch, Nap, Movietime”. “Right. Mama?” you’ll say.

So..my little dancer. You are very body aware, something which your daddy and I read in one of our books means that you have kinethethetic intelligence, according to Gardner’s theory, which you may learn about someday. You love to dance and when you play act Rapunzel or Beauty and the Beast etc you have very keen body language to express your dramatic little self.

Well, we went to the mall for several errands, one of which was to buy you some ballet and tap shoes. Our first attempt at this did not go well (I will elaborate on your behavior issues later). But. The Good news is that we went back yesterday and you were good as gold. We got you some pink leather ballet shoes with little pink drawstrings in a size 10, and some shiny black tap shoes in a size 9.5. The salesperson who helped us with your shoes actually used to own a dance studio, so he was very helpful and attentive. I thought you’d be over the moon for the ballet slippers, but to my surprise, you were most enthralled with the tap shoes. The closest we got to tears was at the end of the shoe store visit, when I told you we could not wear the tap shoes out of the store. Your eyed welled up with tears and I was afraid we’d leave the store screaming and dragging (like we did the day before) but luckily when I told you you could try them on at home, you understood and did not cry. (To my Relief!!!)

And try them on, you did. You tapped all day. We went on the computer and watched people dancing and I tried to show you different styles of tap and ballet dancing. We watched Gene Kelly and Ginger Rogers, irish step dancing, classical ballet, swing dancing, hip hop dancing and baby ballet and tap class recitals. Every time we watched a dance, you’d say “I wanna do that! Watch me!” and you’d dance your little heart out, with grandma hatch, charlotte and Henry and I as your audience.

So now the negative.

When I picked you up from Ms Courtney’s on Tuesday, she told me that you didn’t go on the field trip to the library because so many of the kids had “color changes”. A color change is when you go from Blue, where you start every day, meaning that your behavior was Very Good all day to Green, meaning not so good to red, meaning it was a very very bad day. You have never had a color change before, but you were one of the ones who had one on Tuesday. You had been talking back, telling your teachers what to do instead of asking for something and pushing Charlotte. When we got home, your dad and I tried to let you know how “serious” this was. I think we did a good job of conveying that the color change was a very bad thing and that you need to behave nicer in general, something you’ve been struggling with for the past few weeks. You are trying, but it must be related to a new baby in the house, with which we expected some behavior and adjustment issues.

When you do have a tantrum, it is awful. You scream so loud that it hurts my ears. You kick and push, shout “no!” or “I don’t want to!” and run away from me with tears streaming down your face. If Charlotte is nearby, she does what you do. She says no and she hits you. You scream and hit back. It’s a mess. As your mom, I try to stock you up on sleep and make sure you have a full belly to prevent total meltdowns. Your dad and I try to reassure you, and grandma and grandpa also try to gently guide you to do the right thing. You understand the rules, it’s just awfully hard to follow them.

First Boyfriend and First Self Initiated Playdate Request

Dear Ruby,


You have slept 2 nights in a row without pullups on and without wetting your bed! You are awesome!!

You are so proud of yourself for going the whole night without an accident. Even when you have one, I feel so bad because you get so sad with yourself and it’s always around 3 am when it happens, so it’s obviously something you just couldn’t control. You are hard on yourself. I just give you lots of love and let you know that “It’s ok, accidents happen to everyone”.

You are wearing 4T clothes now, only because your legs are getting long and your 3T dresses are too short. You are very finicky about clothes though. Every morning I sort of hold my breath while you put on what you are going to wear for the day, because if something doesn’t feel just right, you will scream and demand something else to be put on. I’m just glad it’s warm weather now so we can stop the daily battle with the sock line. Thank Goodness for sandals. If you could have things your way, everyone would get up early, put on their pretty dress and slippers, and begin their day.

While daddy doesn’t like to admit it, you have your first boy who is a friend who says he “loves” you. He’s in your class and his name is Hayden Coyner. He is so cute and he has red hair. I know his mom and she is really nice. Hayden told his mom that he thinks you are “beautiful, and not like the other girls who are all into princesses ALL the time”. His mom wrote your name, “Ruby Sawyer” as his first “girlfriend”. You don’t seem too phased by the attention, just asking if Hayden could have a sleepover, and I suggested maybe we could have him over for a playdate.

Your best friend at Ms Courtney’s school is Ally, who you talk about all the time. I’m going to try to work with her mom so you can have your first self initiated playdate. You two are like two princess peas in a princess pod.



Love, Momma

Found! First pics of Ruby and Henry

R-U-B-Y

Dear precious girl,
  These are the days when we make the big decisions for you.  I am amazed every time I see you write your name.  You learned to do this by a combination of Ms Courtney's and preschool.  Sometimes I worry that in trying to not frustrate you, I end up not presenting you with enough of a challenge.  Then sometimes, I think if I push you too hard to learn something, it will turn you off to learning about it, so that every time I present it, you assume you will be frustrated and cry.

The latest big decision that your daddy and I are making is your education.  You will be going to Kindergarten soon and despite my dreams of your little legs standing besdie the big yellow school bus and my fond memories of school, there is a question of whether we will send you away to school at all.  I am totally for school at the moment.  I think that socially it gives you the cahnce to learn about how to interact with people, a skill you need to learn early.  Your dad is thinking that perhaps homeschooling is a better option. Only further research and discussion between your dad and I will help us come to a decision, but I know that looking back, a lot rests on this decision.  I want you to know that your dad and I always want the best for you and your sister and brother and we really try to investigate to make sure that we are making the right decisions for our brainy babies.

You continue to show me that no matter who teaches you or where you are learning, you continue to shine.