Here's a lesson in procrastination: I put off going through the pictures for April because there were 200 of them. Then, I realized that all but 20 of them were taken by Sanaa, and while those are interesting to me to see what she thought was worthy of picture-taking, I shall not bore you all with those (or store them forever on my computer).
It was apparently a relatively non-eventful month, except I got to go away for the weekend to the Cayuga Lake Wine & Herb Festival with my good friend Aileen. Cayuga Lake is in the Finger Lakes of New York. Upon arrival there, I discovered I had broken my toe sometime in the past day or two. Nothing like a day of winery visits to numb oneself to the pain of a broken toe. :)
March, while cold, was a wonderful month of celebrations. Sanaa had her first sleepover by her friend Hannah, enjoyed birthday celebrations in not 1, not 2, but three different ways, and got a ukulele!
While I would have more to say if it wasn't 4 months later (maybe I will get caught up soon), I think the pics and videos up above say it all. She was a happy kid with all the birthday love, and I was a happy mom with the general low-key nature of it all.
Nothing especially noteworthy happened in the month of February. All I can really report is that we got a hang of this hair thing in our house. One night you wash and comb, the next day you sit for 1.5 hours to get it braided, and then bam - no thinking about hair for 2 weeks! This girl is AMAZING at sitting patiently for her hair to be braided at the salon. The iPad + reminders of not wanting to have fights with Amma and Daddy every morning really did the trick.
With January came the start of Sanaa's next school adventure. She joined a Montessori school here - quite a nice one with a playground that I could only dream of. That first week was full of ups and downs as she got pretty sick just as I was adjusting back to work after having taken a few weeks off, but we made it through...with lots of snow. I can't remember much else about that month - that's what I get for waiting 3 months. No more!
The one magical weekend afternoon was when she and I went shopping for her "inside shoes" for Montessori school, and I found myself being tugged by her to go into a very fancy piano store. My admonition was that we could go inside, but that she could not run around touching everything. But I can't say anything other than she was DRAWN in by some kind of inner power. When she walked in, and we stood near the first few pianos, she didn't want to leave. She went up to the man in charge and asked to see some more. She was polite, he said yes. And, then there was a separate room with the most expensive ones - and she didn't want to leave until she could go in there too. There were pianos in there that had been played on by the likes of Billy Joel. Because of how she carried herself, he said yes. And further, he allowed her to play one! While I know NOTHING about musical instruments, apparently the way she played this piano was different than what other children typically do (something about methodically hitting the black keys - who knows). I found the whole thing magical because I knew I had been caught - here I was telling her no no no/don't go in, and there she was ready to carry herself appropriately. I like being found to be wrong as a mother - it sets me right and opens my eyes to where else I might be limiting her.
Anyway, she was talking enough about pianos and guitars for the next couple of months that we got her a ukulele for her birthday last month. Ask me how many times she's played that? (Hint - can be counted on one hand :)
December was a fantastic month. I have to wonder if it was a unique year because Sanaa understood that "Christmas" exists - thinking everything that was a tree, sparkled, was lit up, or what not were all "Christmas" (and why not, actually?). But she didn't know about presents until the night or two before when we put presents under the tree for family and she started to wonder what that might be all about.
Lots of baking, time off, wonderful wintry holiday functions, and the last day of school before she moved on to her new Montessori education. I almost cried on her last day.
My baking for Christmas Eve was off, I'll have to say. Somehow my lack of training in mixing techniques managed to manifest itself in the quality of the first few items. But then thankfully my dear friend Aileen came over and gave me a solid baking lesson and things turned out better than they started.
I just found these in my phone and thought they were a fun memory to share as we are expecting 6 to 12 inches of snow in the next 36 hours, and these are a happy reminder of sunny and warm times in Florida in November. Love you guys, Karen & Matt!
