Christmas ballerina

December 2007 pictures

Here are a bunch of images from December including some pictures from Christmas in Raleigh, NC.

New drums for Christmas.

She's not camera shy.

Tea time conversation.

Aunt Elizabeth in Raleigh.

Christmas day dress.

Elizabeth, Grandma Ludy, Sadie and Jackie.


Grandma and Sadie playing with a new doll.

Standard outfit for a trip to the bank or grocery store.

This is the best part of the day.

Christmas music box.

Unsupervised 2 year old surfing the web.

Sadie and Kai Li visiting Santa in early Dec.

Goodbye 2007

2007 was a fun year as we watched Sadie grow from toddler to little girl. Her vocabulary is exploding with new words added daily. It was great to watch her discover ballet now her current obsession. Her love for Elmo is steadfast as ever as is her love of mushrooms. She knows all the subways by heart and can tell you which stop is hers when she's coming 'downtown' on all the trains she usually rides. She's developing a bizarre fashion sense which we don't discourage because at least she's putting on clothes (she sleeps topless and prefers to be naked whenever possible no matter how cold the apartment is). She's a cunning manipulator as in "Mommy say yes, Daddy say no. Hmmm", this is her common reaction when she notices mom and dad are not entirely on the same page. Sadie knows all the doormen by name as well as her neighbors which is more than I can say. Further, if we've misplaced something all we have to do is ask Sadie where the missing item is and she'll tell us or go get it because nothing escapes her and she remembers everything.

We'll try to post more often in 2008.

More pictures from summer of 2007

here's a bunch more photos of Sadie. Also, I totally forgot to mention Sadie had her first modeling gig this summer, see her groundbreaking work here: http://www.buddhabellynyc.com/details.html.

End of summer '07

Sadie's second summer in the city is winding down. She's had a great time, grew up a lot, is talking constantly and never stops moving. Giving her a bath is like trying to give a large live salmon a bath. Same for changing her or dressing her. She's in constant high speed motion. Here are some pictures and video from her summer:

Sadie in the Summer

In Sadie's world the playground is all hers, ice cream can be eaten
at any hour, Elmo hugs her back, airplanes can be plucked from the
sky once seen and given to her papa, and her crib is really for
jumping. She turned two on June 5 and will sometimes answer
with a peace sign and "two man" when she is asked how old she
is. She also says "one man" so who knows. She is the great
negotiator. Reading two books will turn into four books. One popsicle
will suddenly become two.

She is independent which breaks my heart. I mean I want her to be
her own person. We've been encouraging her in everyway possible. But
when she turns to me in her pigtails and backpack to wave bye-bye and
disappears around the corner with her papa, I want her back in my arms
needing me to round that corner.

Sadie loves the water dodo

Summer afternoon

Sadie run!

Have it!

Referral 1 Year Anniversary

A year ago today we received our referral for Sadie and saw her picture for the first time. Many of the families in our group received their referrals today and went up to the agency on the upper east side to see their new daughters for the first time as well. (the picture on the left under the title of the blog is the first picture we saw of Sadie)

This evening we went to eat at our favorite restaurant in Tribeca to celebrate then went across the street to the playground. Sadie now climbs on the jungle gyms by herself and goes down the slides by herself. She started doing this unassisted this past weekend. It struck me watching her climb up and down the stairs and climbing all over the jungle gym how far she has come since we brought her home back in June.

way off schedule

As I type this Sadie is in her crib sreaming bloody murder. She went to bed fine but within a couple of minutes she started screaming. Jackie went in to check on her twice and she immediately stopped screaming and said "bye bye" and waved. She's fine, she's just really into controlling her environment right now.

Last night she woke up at 3:20 AM screaming, when I went to her crib she was sitting up and said "milk" like it was time to get up. I got her out of the crib, changed her diaper but she wouldn't go back down, she wanted milk. I took her into the kitchen and she was wide awake and in a great mood, except it was 3:30 in the morning. After a full cup of milk I took her back to our bed and layed down. She layed on top of the covers and stared up at the ceiling for about 40 minutes then let me put her back into her crib. Needless to say today has been tough. Her mood swings are frequent and dramatic. Dinner was a fiasco i.e. she didn't eat and just sat in her chair screaming.

She is extremely particular and demanding, she must choose her own plate, her own cup, her own straw, her own fork and if she doesn't get to choose there is hell to pay. Her granola bar has to be unwrapped exactly so or she will through it down and cry as if mortally wounded. Getting dressed, getting in her stroller, food, on and on - she's in total control. Its kind of nuts and wears us down.

All that being said she is so cute and loveable most of the time you just want to eat her up. She's got personality in spades and charms everyone she meets. She's such a great kid it makes the tyrannical behavior almost tolerable.

Here's a video from today:

Catching up

Sorry for the long delay in posting but its been a busy few months. Sadie's first holidays in the US were low key for the most part and we all spent a lot of quality time together. After the holidays things at home really changed with Mom being home full-time and Sadie leaving day care. The transition has been great for Sadie, she's happier, healthier and more secure.

Sadie has been making lots of friends in the neighborhood and is going on play dates nearly everyday. Her vocabulary is exploding too; banana, tunnel, Mommy, stuck, help, big star, keys, taxi, big bird, Ernie, airplane. She understands everything we say to her, even seemingly obscure things like "catch you later" said in an offhand manner and she'll respond without missing a beat, "bye" and not even look up from her playing. Scary.

She loves her "blanky" and keeps it close by most of the morning. When she's ready for bed or nap time she'll announce "nigh nigh" and motion to the bedroom. When we put her in her crib she'll mess around a bit and say "bye bye" when we leave the room.

In the mornings we hear her wake up about 6:45 most of the time and sing and talk to herself for a half hour before calling out for us. Her little voice is so soft and sweet as she babbles it brings tears to your eyes. I can't think of a sweeter way to wake up.

Recent pictures....

first haircut. it was not fun. Sadie lost it.

first snow was fun, she liked it. the matching leopard skin boots and jacket helped.

January day in Central Park.

Mom and Sadie on Bow Bridge in Central Park.

Often meals become a test of wills.