Sweet Sarah

It's Sarah's turn to be highlighted today. (o: I love the shirt she is wearing in this picture. It is a self-portrait she did at school. My little artist. I have been getting some photos ready to send in and enter the state fair. Sarah has been fascinated with the process and has been a great cheerleader. She tells me how much she loves the pictures and that she thinks I will win. She asked what I would win for a prize and seemed to think that just a ribbon was kind of lame. I tried to explain that it was just fun to try and enter so we can see my pictures when we go to the fair. (If they get picked to even be displayed.) She liked that idea and asked if she could enter sometime too. She has started dreaming about entering pictures, art and crafts - the wheels have started turning. I love that the whole world is open to Sarah - there are so many things to do - talents to develop, contests to enter, occupations to do someday. Today she said she wanted to be a shoe shiner (?), other days she wants to be an inventor, dancer, pianist, mom, teacher, cook, and so on and so on.

Sarah is a very stressed out girl lately. I think all the time being around her sisters is really getting on her nerves. She is constantly huffing and puffing about this or that being so annoying. Life is very difficult according to Sarah. Some days it just feels like to her the glass is half empty and it's everybody else's fault. She is a master at dramatic sighs and eyes rolling up so often I worry they will get stuck. I get in really big trouble when I point out that she sounds JUST like Napoleon Dynamite when she does a loooong drawn out sigh and/or says, "GOSH!" daddy and I sometimes add to her Napoleon-like drama, "Just make yourself a freakin' quesadilla." Word of warning - don't do this to Sarah when she is in a bad mood. Just a tip - from personal experience. Sometimes she laughs along with us, but there is a gray area that we have to tread through cautiously.

Despite Sarah sometimes acting so much like a teenager it's scary, she really is getting to be quite the young lady. I love Sarah's enthusiasm. I posted an update on the swimming lessons last week. Sarah is now in the second swimming lessons with Natalie and she LOVES it. She has learned to "dive" down head first in the water to retrieve pool toys and thinks it is the coolest thing ever. Natalie is not quite there - she'll put her face in the water but diving is terrifying to her. Sarah is trying so hard to show her just how exciting diving can be. You would think from listening to Sarah, that nothing in the whole world could compare to diving in the pool for toys. Hopefully she will convince Natalie someday. (o:

We went to Chuck E. Cheese's last night to celebrate Angela being completely potty trained - WAHOOOO! That has been our theoretical dangling carrot for each of the girls once they master this wonderful skill. I love that Sarah has not outgrown the little rides, games or even slide. And she still gets just as excited to count up the tickets and get some totally lame, cheap prize when we leave. Sarah was especially drawn to the air hockey game and played Jays and I. She is a very competitive girl and LOVES to win. She got ticked when her daddy beat her, but was thrilled when I offered to play. She had this smile like, "Yeah...someone I can cream!" And sure enough she beat me. She isn't very subtle about her excitement when she wins. (o:

Piano lessons are going well. I am so impressed with Sarah's progress. She learned and memorized "Teach Me to Walk in the Light" from Hymns Made Easy after practicing just over one week! She's only been taking lessons for a couple months! This song has up to three notes at a time and the fingering moves around unlike her regular lesson books. She is now working on "As I Have Loved You" with a sharp. This one has the hands moving around quite a bit and it is driving her crazy. She got so mad that she hid the hymnbook in the piano bench because she said she was mad at it. (o: That's my girl. She gets so mad when she can't be perfect the first time - then I push her to keep trying, there are sometimes tears and then she applies herself and she learns it super fast.

I love my sweet Sarah, even when she's not being super sweet. I try to use the method of just giving her a hug when she is having a bad attitude and this almost always works. Sarah is such a fun and smart girl - I thoroughly enjoy our conversations and time together. We are quite a funny pair because we are both a lot alike - perfectionists, sometimes over-stressed about things. It is a first born child complex, I believe. I am so proud of the young lady Sarah is becoming and can't wait to see her accomplish all the things she wants to do in life.