Ski Bunny

It's official. Sabine skis, and we are so proud. (Mommy, in particular, is still giddy.) We had a wonderful long weekend in the mountains with some good friends over Martin Luther King Day, and we packed a lot into 48 hours.



Sabine and her friend E slept upstairs in the loft by themselves. They had a great time playing together, we were really impressed how much time they were able to spend happily without any adult intervetion.



Although there was plenty of hanging around the adults and their boring conversations, too.



We had some good meals



And the older girls really did well with the younger girls

 

Even all watching a movie together.



We managed to get a hike in



Where Sabine and E both practiced jumping off of rocks with Sabine's daddy



and E's daddy




Relaxing in the snow with mommy




as well as in the dirt. That sunshine was welcome!

 But, of course, the highlight of the whole weekend was skiing. Sabine and E took a lesson at the same time. It was a mad scramble getting everyone ready and suited up in the morning, and there were tears and carsickness, and we told ourselves that it would be fine if all they did was play in the snow. Sabine seemed like such a big girl, right up until I sent her off with her instructor. Watching her walk away, I had an overwhelming sense of just how small she still is, and I had to wonder if we had pushed too much.



I didn't have to worry.



She is such a big girl! She did that, over and over, for an hour and fifteen minutes. E's mommy and I were ridiculously proud. (I may have mentioned.) I wish I had some pictures from closer up, but we didn't want to interrupt the lesson. Hopefully we'll have a chance for more pictures soon. In the meantime, we called the whole trip a success.



The girls had a delicious lunch of mac and cheese and M&Ms



And we headed back to the cabin



After a quick rest in the car, we changed clothes and hit the local hot springs.



We all slept well that night! It was a really fantastic weekend, for so many reasons.

A New Year

We have so much to catch up on! It's been busy around here. I stopped doing the monthly updates when Sabine turned three, but it certainly doesn't mean we aren't continuing to document her developments. There are just too many to keep up with these days. But a lot of it isn't as easy to capture with a camera anymore. Rolling over and walking were pretty obvious, but more complex and abstract thoughts aren't as photogenic, even if they are just as spectacular to see.

Here are a few pictures from this month to keep me on track. We went out for a family sushi dinner on New Year's Eve. Sabine continued to work on manipulating chopsticks.

 

We went out for breakfast on the first, and Sabine worked on her knife-cutting skills.



(She also practices at home.)

Sabine has started a new dance class with two of her friends, which she just loves.



Particularly because there is tap involved. Sabine LOVES to tap dance, "like Shirley Temple."



We helped Aunt Dani move into her new partner's office (Congratulations, Aunt Dani!), although Sabine took on more of a managerial role for the move. She also practiced a lot of typing on Aunt Dani's computer.



We have been as social as ever, Sabine has hung out with older kids



Younger kids



Besties from play group who are all about the same age (they've known each other over half of their lives, now!)



And fairy princess birthday parties



Sabine is also still obsessed with the game Go Fish. We play daily. Literally.



Recruiting fresh players whenever possible.



I got some video in the early stages.


Nowadays Sabine is just as animated, but she can play alone. She holds her own cards, and understands some basic strategy. (She is starting to remember what other people are holding from which cards they ask for.) She could care less about winning and losing, mostly it's just asking for fish for the pure joy of it.

Sabine can also really skip now, no more half-gallops. She still loves to play with her dolls and stuffed animals, and has an imaginary brother and sister named Eric-y and Ginny (pronounced with a hard G), respectively. Interesting since Ginny was on the short list of names we were thinking about for her. (Except pronounced with a soft G.) I don't think she knows that, but funny that it was the name she picked for her imaginary sister. Her pretend siblings often go places with us, and have their own seats in the car. Brother sleeps below her in the (imaginary) lower bunk, much like Brother Bear sleeps below Sister Bear in the Berenstain Bears books.

We still get complimented regularly on her speech, Sabine enunciates really well for her age, apparently, and has a good command of grammar for a three-year-old. There are just a few things she still mispronounces, and instead of correcting her anymore, I just relish it. Those baby words didn't last long. Berenstain Bears are "Stair-stain Bears," Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is "Redolph the Nosed Reindeer," and "regular," is "leglular." Otherwise, her vocabulary is pretty spot-on. She does like to make up words sometimes and tell me that's how you say (whatever it is) in French.

I'm sure there's more that I am forgetting, but that's it for the developmental updates for now. Next up, SHE SKIS!

White Christmas

We had a lovely second Christmas up at Grandmom and Grandpa's house. Sabine is thoroughly spoiled. She got new gifts from Grandmom and Grandpa, including more unit blocks to add to her growing collection.



She also got movies from Uncle Eric and Aunt Diana,



and books from Aunt Betsy and Uncle Butch.



She spent a lot of time playing with the old hobby horses,



and no trip to the mountains is complete without making the coo-coo clock go.



There was another full stocking to open,



but the runaway dark horse gift of the year was Go Fish, the card game. We have played Go Fish daily since she opened it. Sabine gets the concept pretty well, we're just working on keeping her cards "secret."



We ended the day with a lovely dinner,



admired the angel chimes



and candles in the Christmas wreath,



and headed home. Sabine was asleep before we were out of the neighborhood. It was a really special day.

Christmas 2012

Silent Night



Get thee ready for an onslaught of pictures. It was too hard to narrow it down, so I am just going to post a ton from our Christmas. Santa dutifully arrived after Sabine was asleep on Christmas Eve, and left one very large present just outside the living room, where the Christmas tree and the rest of the presents were.

 

When Sabine woke up in the morning and wandered out, she wasn't quite sure what to make of it, at first. I think it truly took her a couple of minutes to process what she was looking at. But once she did:

 

OH BOY

 Girlfriend is slightly obsessed with bunk beds, partially because of the Berenstein Bears (who sleep in bunk beds) and because she got to sleep in the kids room, on a bottom bunk, when we spent a weekend with our neighbors at their cabin in the mountains.



This was a great solution, brilliant thinking, Santa. The bed is lofted, but not quite as high as a regular bunk bed, with a play house underneath and a slide to get down. Sabine has started calling herself Sister Bear, and has an imaginary Brother Bear who sleeps below her now. She was also thrilled to see the reappearance of her Rudolph stuffed animal.



We maneuvered the bed into her room, and she spent most of the morning playing on it.

 

Interestingly, all of her other bedmates have been (maybe temporarily?) sent to sleep on the floor. Only Rudolph is allowed on the bed.

 Eventually, she got curious about the rest of the stuff under the tree, and she opened one present before the rest of the family arrived.

 

Santa listened, he brought her doctor gloves, just like she asked for. He also included a doctor mask.

 

Nana, Aunt Dani, and Ethan arrived (Grandmom and Grandpa were already there, having spent Christmas Eve with us) and we got down to business.







 

New Calico Critters stuff is always a hit! Thank you Aunt Dani and Nana!

Ethan seemed to enjoy himself too, and was even practicing walking.





He also spent a lot of time playing with cars and trains. Anything with wheels!

Sabine got lots of great gifts,



and Santa also remembered to bring the requested Doc McStuffins doll. (The title character from Sabine's current favorite TV show.)


We have been giving LOTS of check-ups to all the dolls and stuffed animals in Sabine's room, recently. After a present-filled morning and brunch, we headed up to Aunt Diane and Uncle Nat's house. This year, Sabine got to participate in the gift exchange.



 Many of the gifts are silly, and cousin Jed shared a red nose that he received with Sabine. She was a little unsure of it at first, especially with everyone looking at her, but after Uncle Nat proved it was fun

 
And then daddy


Sabine got into it



And then the nose stayed with us the rest of the night.





 We had a wonderful day, filled with presents, food, and family. It was truly perfect. We hope your holiday was merry and bright as well!

Santa

We went to visit Santa for the first time this year. Sabine has been anticipating this for a while, we talk about Santa a fair amount, but she is also going through a bit of a fearful phase. Our normally independent girl is just a little clingier than usual, so we weren't sure how the actual encounter would play out.

We decided to make a day out of it, and went to see Santa in downtown Denver.

There was a bit of a line, but it actually worked out well because Sabine was able to observe and warm up to the whole process as we watched other kids go before us. (That's her in daddy's arms on the left.)



As we got closer, there was even a large nutcracker, which, as far as Sabine was concerned, was a good omen. She's into nutcrackers this year. (Perhaps we'll try the ballet next year?)



Mrs. Claus came out to see if she was ready, and I thought Mrs. Claus was wonderful, very warm and gentle. She suggested I just go ahead and sit with Sabine when we went to visit Santa, which worked out well. We didn't realize there wasn't a photographer, so the only pictures we got were on my phone, but you can still see pretty well.

Sabine was a little shy at first, but Santa gave her a snowboarding duck, and she warmed up.



To the extent he got a high-five AND a fist-bump. And Sabine also managed to ask for two presents. (A Doc McStuffins doll and doctor gloves, like her friend has. Like, laytex gloves. At least that should be easy enough for Santa to fulfill, odd though it may be?)



We then walked around downtown and admired the lights and ate at a restaurant. All in all, a fun day.