Letter Month Twenty-Four

Dear Sarah Graves,

I can't believe that this is the twenty-fourth time I have sat down to write you a letter like this.  I still get teary-eyed thinking about all the things you do that amaze me and make me so proud of you.  You are a sweet and spunky little girl. 

You are crazy in love with Elmo.  You want to wear Elmo on your clothes, watch him on TV, look at him on the iPad, use any kind of utensil or dish with Elmo on it, and eat any food with Elmo or his face on the package!  You know the other Sesame Street characters, but Elmo is your love.  Your next passion is your baby, Kate.  Kate came with a backpack and lots of accessories and you love them!  We are frequently looking for Kate's bear or bottle and you become upset if she isn't with you in the car or your crib.  I must say that you are pretty good at remembering where many of her little pieces might be left.  Of course, you are still passionate about your paci and your lovie and blankie.  You would like to have your paci all the time, but it is just for when you go to sleep.  Your lovie and blankie are big sources of comfort as you like to finger the fur while you sit and relax.  I worry a lot about you losing them and us not having a backup that will satisfy you, but those are your chosen items. 

You love to sing and you are starting to have some real preferences about songs.  We recently started a new section of Music Together and you clearly know which songs you want to hear.  You sing two of them a lot right now, "Trot Ole Joe" and "Me and You."  You have also learned to sing "Happy Birthday" or as you say it, "Happy to you, Sarah!"  You have the tune for your ABC's, but you don't sing all of the letters yet!  You have pretty good rhythm and I'm hoping that you will continue to enjoy music and learn to play an instrument.  I have been so impressed to see how much you have developed since we first started Music Together several months ago.  During our last session you typically enjoyed doing your own thing with the various instruments in class, but now I notice you following along with Ms. Jennifer and making a real effort to do what she is doing. 

You continue to love school and being there with your friends and teachers.  I hear only good things about what a sweet child you are and how well you listen.  You love the craft projects that you do at school and have such pride when you show me your work.  We have a place where we display your latest work and you love to look at it and say, "Sarah did this!"  Gluing paper seems to be one of your favorite things!  I had never thought to let you try using a glue stick, but when given the chance, you knew what to do and do it pretty well.  I do wish that I could see you eating your lunch at school.  It's hard for me to imagine you sitting at a table with other kids munching away on the various finger foods that I send for you.  You must get distracted because you don't eat all that much of your lunch. 

What to feed you is a constant question for me.  Two of your favorites right now are fish sticks and smoothies made with strawberries and spinach.  Lovie taught you how to make the smoothie and you know the whole process, including which buttons to press on the blender!  You are very interested in cooking, so maybe that will be an interest of yours later.  You love the fruit and vegetable puree in the pouch that you refer to as a fruit fruit.  You ask for one every morning when I get you up and you have one almost every day before you go to meet Daddy in the afternoon.  I wish that you ate more fresh fruit and vegetables and some meat, but you seem to be growing well and you aren't bothered.  We give you a multi-vitamin, calcium supplement, and an omega-3 supplement, so hopefully that's enough. 

You really enjoy your sleep.  You often tell us night night when you are ready to go to sleep.  You run to your room and begin trying to climb into your bed.  Thankfully, I have not found you trying to climb out!  You still go to bed around 7:30 in the evening and wake between 5:30 and 6:30.  You nap around 12:30 and get up about 4.   You wake up chatting and singing and that's how I know you are ready to get up.  If you wake up crying, I try to give you a minute to soothe yourself and occasionally you need me to rock you and help you back to sleep.  I think sometimes you have a bad dream and you try to tell me what was scary in it.  I feel terrible for you when that happens. 

All in all, you are a delightful little girl.  You have your moments when you want your way and you get frustrated that you can't have something.  You don't like to get in your car seat and when it's time to get out, you try to climb all over the car.  It's just part of being a little girl, but it gets frustrating for us!  Fortunately, you are generally an agreeable child.  

Your imagination and your ideas for pretend are growing.  I love seeing you pretend to drive yourself to Popeye's or pretending to bake a pie in your kitchen.  I can't wait to see your imaginary world grow and for you to be able to verbalize more of your ideas. 

You really are a delight to your Daddy and me.  I am so proud of the little girl that you have grown into and I continue to feel lucky to be your momma. 

Love,

Momma