After reading last night’s post, I felt I was being too hard on Sara.  After all, she is only 3.  I sometimes forget her age, as she is constantly reminding me of all the things she’ll be able to do when she is 5.  Apparently when you are 3, FIVE is the place to be.  It all happens at FIVE.  She’ll be a big girl, going to school ACROSS the hallway from her current classroom when she is 5.  LA-TEE-DA, Saucy La-La, Shi-Shi Livin’ when she is 5.

So…to summarize: here is where we began:

And this was hard.  This was very, very loud.  And hard.  Greg is smiling only because he is in some kind of sleep-deprived state of psychosis.  We had no idea who we were, what we had done, and why we had done it.  Lean in closer.  You can smell the fear.

Here is where we are:

Sara still cries.  She is crying right now, because 1 hour ago, I dared to put her to bed at the exact same time I’ve put her to bed every night for a year.  But she smiles as much, if maybe not slightly  more, than she cries.  And when she does cry, she can usually tell me why.  At which point I can finally put down the parenting books and actually BE a parent.  And because God is kind and generous, Sara finally has a rhythm to her moods.  I can see them coming and going, crashing and ebbing.  I can predict them rather than be a victim of a drive-by preschooler meltdown.

Literally minutes after birth, she’s screaming while being held by Aunt Jenny and Grandma

Now, she’s Grandma’s favorite sous-gardener (what’s a name for Junior Green Thumb?)

So maybe Sara isn’t a Marxist.  But she’s definitely a dramatist.  If Hollywood decided to shoot “The Hills, The Preschool Years”, Sara would be the first one in the coffee shop, complaining that she is feeling “lonely and frustrated” (her favorite words of the month).  Then she could feign WAY better tears than Lauren, and say, “But…BUT, I thought I could watch Jeopardy before bedtime!” (her favorite whine of the month). WHERE is my juice box?  What do you mean they are out of sprinkle donuts?  Can anything go RIGHT TODAY?!!!!  MOMMMMMYYYYYY!!!!!!!

Tune in next week for our next episode of The Hills, Preschool Years.  When absolutely NOTHING whatsoever happens.  At all.  Nothing.  It’s like watching ice melt.  In winter.  WHY do people watch that show?

We didn’t start out a dress or hat lover

Ducky Wigglebottoms IN THE HOUSE