Red Light

Sarah enjoys playing a game called Red Light Green Light. When we say Red Light, she has to stop. When we say Green Light, she can go. It is designed to build executive function (think self control or impulse control.)

It is fun, too, except that Sarah likes to say Red Light every 3 1/2 milliseconds.

Oatmeal

This morning Sarah helped Papa make oatmeal for breakfast. She of course wanted to do each step "for myself," and Papa tried to let her help in as many ways as possible. We added chopped-up apples, cinnamon, and raisins. Sarah also demanded to add huge chunks of banana to her portion.

However, when it was done, she absolutely refused to touch the stuff. Even her bananas.

Tortilla Pizzas

So Papa got the idea to make pizzas on a couple of tortillas we had lying around. We'd use the mini toaster oven. Too bad Mama threw away our cookie sheets because they would have really helped. Papa thought it would be a fun activity to start teaching Sarah how to cook.

After The Spaghetti Sauce, The Chopped Green Pepper
(Thanks Mama!)

After The Onions & Pineapple, Some Chopped Mozzarella Cheese
From A Big 10-lb Bag We Got At American Discount Foods
(Mama Loves Cheese So Much The Bag Has Almost
Disappeared In Just A Few Days)

Waiting For The Cheese To Be Golden Toasty

We Were So Hungry We Tore Into The
First Pizza Before Pausing For A Picture
(Sarah Only Wanted To Eat The "Peepee-ronis")

At Our Second Breather For Photos

Verdict: Tortilla Pizza sounded like a good idea, and was quite delicious, but the tortilla is flimsy and floppy and harder to eat than regular pizza dough. Also, it cools off faster than you might expect. The house still smelled delicious in the morning!

Sarah and Nana

Sarah had a bit of a bumpy relationship with Nana. She preferred to go spend time with her aunts and uncles rather than spend much with Nana. It probably has something to do with Nana correcting her and the other people not.

Nana told me the following story:

Tu suegro me decia, Elvia, si disciplinas a los ninos, no te van a querer. Si les das todo lo que quieren, te van a querer. Y asi fue, el no les pegaba, y yo si. Y todos me dicen, mi papa fue bueno conmigo, pero mi mama no. Pero ves, todos, todos crecieron derechitos, gracias a mi Tata Dios.

(Your father-in-law used to say to me, Elvia, if you discipline the kids, they are not going to like you. If you give them whatever they want, they'll love you. And it was like that, he didn't hit them, and I did. And they all tell me, my dad was good to me, but not my mom. But look, each and every one of them all grew up honest, thanks to my Grandpappy God.)

Planting Seeds

Sarah got interested in planting seeds and using a shovel, and asked Papa to help her plant something. So we found some orange and lime seeds, a little hand shovel, and went to look for a place. Stephen tagged along too, and wanted to help dig. We chose a spot near where the washing machine water drains so that the soil will stay moist without being watered. If a tree sprouts up, we can move it to a better location before it gets too big (there might be a tank blocking root growth underneath where we planted).

The Problem With Two Kids And Only One Shovel

"I Want That Shovel Back" vs. "Ha! I Have The Shovel!"

"Don't Even Think About Touching My Shovel"

We'll check back next year (or sooner) to see if the seeds grew!

Running

We went to the park the other day and had a good time, playing on playground equipment (including Nana swinging on the swings with the kids) and Sarah climbing up some tall things, and even looking at some cows and horses on the other side of the hill. But the time was too short and Sarah didn't want to leave. She got frustrated on the way home and was saying she was too tired to walk and needed to be carried, but Papa came up with a little game that changed her mind. Papa and Sarah started racing each other from lightpost to lightpost, Sarah always winning, and she ended up running all the way home, plus some extra, which was pretty far. Score one for Papa (and Sarah!)

Sarah was funny too because she was running zig-zag in front of Papa, apparently to try to keep him from passing and getting ahead. This girl!

Time With Sarah

This morning, besides trying to teach Sarah how to use a hoe, I spent time teaching her how to use an axe to split wood and how to light a wood fire in the water heater.

She gets interested in the things that she sees and I do my best to involve her and introduce her to how things work and why. She gets frustrated though when she is not allowed to do every part of the process, like in starting a fire or splitting wood (she can hardly hold the axe up herself).

She got interested in the hoe after seeing me use it on the fruit trees that were recently planted for Nana. There are apple, peach, apricot, and pear trees back there now that Nana wanted me to help dig holes to capture water for.

Sarah is a good worker and does some of her most useful work with Stephen, playing with him, talking to him and helping him not to cry sometimes when Mama is too busy with something else.

Sarah was spending so much time with Tio Guero and others that it was nice to spend some time with her.

Sarah Hoeing

Sarah Learning How To Use A Hoe

"Don't Take A Picture!"