Sarina’s World

Sarina continued her birthday celebration with her friends and family at Dudes and Divas. She had so much fun, getting her nails done, makeup, putting on costumes, and of course eating cupcakes and pizza. She didn’t want to walk the red carpet herself, but wanted to enjoy the party with Sophie, Alex, Avery, Hannah and others. She loved dancing and using the fake microphones. When we got home Sarina opened her gifts and she really appreciated everything.

Sarina talks a lot lately about her little sister that’s arriving. She asks me if she can buy her food and if the two of them can get bunk beds! Sarina also says sometimes that she wants a baby brother. She is too funny. Not only is she funny when we talk about that, she is also funny in general. She has certain expressions and makes jokes and then will even say “just kidding.” She loves to ask questions and look around at people and things. Sarina knows so many different expressions and words. She even learned about photosynthesis and volcanos at school. Sarina can write most of her letters. She will ask me how to spell something and then write out most of the letters. She is so smart!

Sarina’s school had a mother’s day tea. My mom came and so did I. Sarina made me an apron with her hand prints and a challah recipe on it. We made a challah together and then we had lunch. She was so happy that we were there. She just got up from eating pizza and then hugged me and said Momma! She drew a picture of me and her where she wrote that she likes holding my hand.

Sarina has been taking swimming lessons. Last week she finally let go of the instructor for about a foot. She was wearing flippers. She is so cute when she looks for me through the window. She will take her goggles off and jump up and down and say momma!

We took Sarina to the Museum of the Moving Image the other day because Sarina remembers seeing the leg. The “leg” was an amputated one that had makeup on it, of course. She remembers seeing the leg and then saying that it needed bandaids. She also likes the costumes and toys there.

Sarina has been carrying around a pink unicorn lately. It’s so wierd-she slept with her patico for almost four years and now all of a sudden she sleeps with this pink unicorn. She takes it everywhere and drags it on the subway. She still sleeps with the ducks on the side of the bed but will hug the unicorn. She asks for me and still wants me to check on her.

So far we had two birthday celebrations for Sarina. First off, we asked her what she wanted to do for her actual birthday, which was on a Saturday. She said that she wanted to sleep over at Sophie’s! So on Friday after school I drove her to NJ and we picked up a birthday cake and then went to Sophie’s. Sarina had so much fun playing in the yard and causing trouble with Sophie. The two girls stayed up late talking and putting on lotion. As soon as we left Sarina wanted to know when Sophie could sleep over her place. We were all so tired after the night. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we all had to sleep over since Sarina wanted us to stay in the basement and she sleep in the bed with Sophie. Bryan and I knew that she wouldn’t be able to stay there by herself. But she didn’t ask for us once in the middle of the night!

On sat night we went for Chinese food because Sarina likes the lo mein. She is open to trying new things too although if she sees things like chinese noodles she would rather eat a whole bowl of those! But she likes california sushi rolls for example and salmon.

The Monday after Sarina’s birthday her school threw a party for her. Bryan and I came and brought special cupcakes and goodie bags. The cupcakes were special because they had pink flowers on them, just like Sarina wanted. At school, the other kids made Sarina a book. Sarina wore a crown and sat in the birthday chair. She was lifted up 4 times by her classmates and then was asked what new mitzvah she wanted to do now that she was 4. She said that she wanted to share her toys with her little sister! She also danced with everyone in the class and then danced with us. It was such a nice party and I was impressed. We also made t shirts like we did at Sarina’s 3rd birthday party. She was so happy we were there too, usually she gets embarrassed when we come to school. Bryan and I had to say what mitzvahs she did when she was 1, 2, and 3 and also we gave tzedaka when Sarina came around with the box to collect.

We don’t get a chance to go to the park much anymore but when we do, Sarina loves the slide and cooking in the kitchen. She still needs me to watch her all the time (momma look) but she is very independent and can occupy herself with all the playground stuff for at least 30 minutes. She doesn’t need to play with anyone but when she is with her friends at school or at the park she plays with them. She will say “why is she following me” if there is a little baby following or looking at her and I remind her how she used to do the same thing and she still does it with the big kids. She will watch them and ask me what they are doing.

We took Sarina to the Stamford Nature preserve where she had a good time with Avery and Quinn. She was running after the geese. Quinn was following around Avery and Sarina and the girls had a blast.

Sarina has been out of school for almost two weeks. She spent one week with her grandparents while we were away. Every time I would call she would pick up the phone and say she was busy. She was busy, apparently–going for sleepovers, swimming, shopping, to the library, museum and all over! She made cookies with Nana and “helped” my mom prepare for Passover. When we got home we were SO excited to see Sarina. She was excited to see us too and kept telling us how much she missed us and kept hugging us. She always hugs and kisses us and is a sweet girl. Bryan got us some flowers and she was so happy to get flowers. She loves the flowers in people’s yards and at the stores she likes to stop and smell them. She knows that Zeke likes to eat them so that we usually don’t get flowers. She also likes to wear fake pearls, glitter on her arms, and lip gloss all the time. She will even rearrange her eating so that her lip gloss doesn’t come off!

We spent the first night of Passover with my parents. Sarina sang the Ma Nishtana! She was not shy at all and she wanted my dad to hide the afikomen. We used her seder plate and her hagaddah. She made such beautiful things at school this year for Passover, or Pesach as she calls it. She learned so much and she was telling me about the ten plagues and about cleaning for Passover. The second night we had a seder in our apartment and Sarina wanted to find the afikomen again. She likes salt water and dipping the radish in it. She had a model seder at school which I attended. At the model seder she was singing the songs, drinking the grapejuice, dipping in the vegetable and enjoying herself. I attended the seder and I was so proud of her! She made the hagaddah that the teacher was using as a demo and she wrote all the letters herself, no tracing and no help. She also told the cashier at the super market that she is Jewish and celebrates pesach.

This past week Sarina was with Carolina. She was so excited to see Carolina. She woke up the morning that Carolina was coming and said yay. Then when Carolina would leave at night she would say to me that she missed Carolina and hoped that she would see her more. Carolina also really enjoyed spending time with Sarina.

Sarina loves playing with dolls. We got her a doll that pees and poops and she feeds the doll and likes to change her diaper. she also takes care of her other dolls-she puts cream on them and bandaids and will put them in for a nap. We have to be quiet when the babies are sleeping so that we don’t wake them! Sarina knows about people resting and being considerate. She actually won’t flush the toilet if she knows I am resting because she doesn’t want to wake me. That’s a little extreme but she is aware!

Sarina had a busy Purim week. She dressed up like Belle and I took her to a Purim carnival in Forest Hills. She had cotton candy there for the first time and had fun drawing and making hamataschen. We also walked around to the barnes and noble and the kosher shops. She is a good sport and will accompany me anywhere and keep me company. She loves to ask questions and point out things.

We went to visit an older gentleman to give him shalach manot. Sarina was a little frightened of him, since he was hard of hearing and 90 years old, but she still asked questions and answered them too. We usually visit seniors who are female. She knows about Shalach Manot and she was so worried that she wouldn’t get any but then we got three! She also sang songs to the nursing home near her school and dropped off shalach manot. I was able to be there and I saw her taking pictures with some seniors and talking to them. She wasn’t shy at all and wanted to make sure that all the seniors got the goodie bags. Sarina also was fantastic performing her songs. She likes the song where Vashti has a 100 pimples.

Then we all went to the Hilsenrath Purim party, which is where we go every year. Sarina was a bit shy since she was the only kid there. But then she opened up when the delicious food came out and the youngest daughter showed her all the toys around. She also liked to play Bryan’s guitar and look around. Sarina stayed up late but she was ok. She napped on the way over! She doesn’t really nap at all during the day but she will sit and read or play with her dolls if you tell her that you would like to rest (or watch tv). She is a big girl! She can entertain herself and she knows what she likes to do. She also colors in the lines with her coloring books and practices writing her letters. We had to find things that started with J and she said jelly beans and Jewish. She always says that she is a Jewish girl. It’s cute.

February has been a busy month. Bryan and I went to Sarina’s TuBishvat party. She was wearing a birthday hat since it was the new year for the trees. She sang a song with her class and used hand motions. She was shy at first about having us there but then warmed up. We saw Sarina a lot at school that week. On that Friday she was the Shabbat Ima. She was in charge of collecting tzedaka and she lit the candles with the teacher. I couldn’t believe how grown up she looked with a scarf on her head and she was singing songs, answering questions and sitting at the head of the table. At first she was shy too, since we were the only parents there, but then she was showing Bryan all of favorite parts of the classroom-ie her artwork, magnatiles, mitzvah notes, etc. The other kids wanted to show Bryan their stuff too! The pizza was late for the day, but the kids just sat their patiently and waited. I was so impressed! Looks like Sarina behaves a lot better for her school then she does at home. But that’s ok.

We also had Josh’s birthday party. Sarina had so much fun making a clay airplane with Sophie amd Alex. The two girls were running after each other. They were so busy they didn’t even want tne pizza! Sarina told me after the party was over than she had so much fun. That’s good because in the process we spent hours in traffic and Bryan hurt his nose. But she did enjoy being with her cousins!

Sarina says the phrase “just kidding” now. She also just all of a sudden will say words or phrases that she never had said. If she doesn’t know the meaning of a word that she hears, she will ask me, what does that mean? She always wnats to know what the words mean or what the people are saying in books or on advertisements in magazines or on the subway. She loves to put on puppet shows and then ask me to put on one too about how the puppets didn’t eat healthy or had to go the doctor. We try to hammer home the eating healthy bit since she does ask for junk food a lot more than she used to (she still loves fruit though and other good food).

This week was rough since I had a stomach virus. Every time I pick up Sarina she says to me “Where are we going today momma, who are we going to see?” So it’s been hard just to bring her home. Although she didn’t mind watching Max and Ruby! On Sunday after I felt better we went to the Bronx Zoo. Sarina was terrified of the rhinoceros and she didn’t want to get too close even though she was on Bryan’s shoulders. Then after we left the rhino area Sarina said that she wants to be an animal doctor even though she is afraid of rhinos. It’s so funny that Sarina wants to be an animal doctor because she is terrified of dogs. Even the little dogs that wear funny sweaters and are harmless. She veers away from them and starts to scream in pet stores. We went to the pet store to give her tdedaka to the cats that were up for adoption and she was screaming because of all the dogs waiting to get groomed! She isn’t afraid of lizards, mice, or cats, but dogs, yes. Sarina loved the zoo. She went on the bug carousel and didn’t want anyone to hold onto her! She also likes to stand on the subway and not have me hold her either. We went to as many exhibits as we could-some of them were closed because of the cold weather. Sarina seemed to like the monkeys and the turtles.

Sarina still asks us all the time if we are happy and tells us that she likes our voice. Sarina was so happy when Bryan slept in her room the week that I was sick. She would ask Bryan-Daddy, are you gonna sleep on the lower bed tonight? I took Sarina to ice cream one warm day last week and we went to Dunkin Donuts. She said, momma, if they run out of ice cream we’ll get donuts. And if they run out of donuts we’ll get egg sandwiches.” She is too funny. When Bryan takes her to school sometimes they stop at Dunkin Donuts and Sarina gets an egg wrap. She loves eggs. She used to eat everything but lately has been picky for some reason.

Last week Sarina had a playdate with someone from her school whose name is Chaya. Sarina calls her the Little Chaya since her teacher is named Morah Chaya. Sarina had a blast. She didn’t want to leave when I came to pick her up. She was eating apples and running around and asking me if people could come to our place even though it’s two subways aaway. I invited Laura over the following night-she lives across the street. Sarina was so happy to have someone over and wanted to show Laura all of her dress up clothes. But Sarina wanted me to hide the red dress that Bryan got for her since “Daddy got this for me and it’s special.”

We did the same thing this New Year’s as we did last New Year’s-eat Chinese food! But this year we actually went out to a restaurant. We were in Rhode Island for the weekend. We went to Chinese, walked along the beach and went out for brunch too. Sarina was so happy to walk along the beach and collect shells. We got there right when some people were doing the polar bear plunge and running into the water! Sarina loves going to RI. She asked if maybe nana and poppy could take our house and we could take theirs! I am sure that they would love that one, haha.

After the weekend I took Sarina to the Central Park zoo. She liked seeing the penguins. She is still afraid of feeding the petting zoo animals and drops the food on the floor. I ask her-how do you want to go, bus, train, taxi or car. And she always says bus-she is a city girl! We also started swimming. This time I don’t get in the water, it’s fantastic. Sarina gets right in and I have to watch from outside the pool area. She looks for me the whole time and blows me kisses. It’s the best. But she chats with the kids sitting next to her at the pool area and she goes in with the instructor, she is getting a lot better.
Sarina was anxious to go back to school. She loves it there. She still loves karate and is learning her letters too. She is getting so much better at recognizing letters and numbers. She even knows some Hebrew letters. I picked her up the other day and she said “I made a baby mosie.” She was talking about Baby Moses in the basket. Apparently they called it Moshe, or Moishe. She likes when they have a shabbat party bec she has pizza and she makes challah. She also enjoys playing with the babies there (the dolls) and taking them shopping or taking good care of them if they are sick. She is gentle and thoughtful with them just like she is with her paticos and other stuffed animals at home. She likes to take the paticos in the stroller and will buckle them in and ride them around the apartment. Then she will put cream on her dolls and attend to them. Sarina will “sometimes” be friendly to zeke, especially if she is trying to impress me. Otherwise she still gets jealous and says “give me a hug” if I come home and hug Zeke.

Sarina’s Chanuka started off with a party thrown by her school. We went to the City Hall restaurant and downstairs, were about 6 tables with activities. Sarina got a glitter tattoo, made a tshirt, and saw a puppet show! We lit the menora later on that night at home. Sarina made her own menora, her own dreidel, an apron (i guess to help me make latkes) and some other stuff. She had a card of herself holding a shield where she wrote the word the maccabees. She can write letters now! It’s amazing. Anyway Sarina was running around with her friends. They were so excited to see Sarina. She has so many friends at school. My mom came to the party too and brought Sarina all sorts of Hello Kitty clothes. Sarina sings so many Chanuka songs, some that I know and some that I have never heard of! She enjoys singing and pretty much sings every day on the subway. She makes up songs about everything, usually about her momma and daddy. The people on the subway always smile when she sings and they tell me that it makes them happy to hear her sing.

Speaking of Hello Kitty, Sarina insists on at least one item of her daily clothing be a hello kitty something. She also insists on pink, but if it’s a hello kitty item, then it doesn’t matter what color it is. I really don’t know where this came from!

Sarina had a good time at Nana and Poppy’s for Christmas. We lit the menora and Sarina and Avery ran around together. We played the game don’t tip the waiter-Sarina was really good at balancing stuff! Sarina was following around Uncle David and said to him “I am going to follow you around.” She was going to get in the car with him and run an errand-and she hadn’t even seen him in a year!

Sarina slept in the same bed as me and was so elated that we slept in a “high bed.” She liked watching tv with Poppy on the couch and jumping all over him. She also liked getting eggs for breakfast with crunchy toast (and butter).

We have been busy with Sarina on the weekends lately. We took her to see a kids opera at the Amore Opera company-Hansel and Gretel. She was entranced and didn’t want it to end! I thought that she would be frustrated since even I couldn’t understand half of the words (it was all singing), but she loved it. She walked around the city with her unicorn hat. Of course it’s pink-everything is pink or hello kitty (or both) these days. Sarina has meltdowns in the mornings when it’s time to get dressed and I tell her that she can’t wear the same pink pants that she wants to wear, etc. I took her to the store to buy her two new pairs of pants and told her to pick them out. Meanwhile we went to put one on the other day and she refused! They are not comfortable, she says.

Sarina is so funny, just the way that she expresses herself. Like she says “that’s ok” if I tell her not to do something and she does it anything and says that’s ok or just a little bit or one more. Like she knows best. And then the other morning I went to wake her up and she said “no, i want to stay sleeping.” And then I said you can rest at school during nap time, and then she replied that she was going to rest now instead!

Sarina loves taking the subway with me in the mornings. She always asks me, momma are you happy? And I will say yes, or yes, but I am still irritated at the subway. She said to me this morning that I am beautiful when I smile and that she likes when I smile because she knows that I am happy. She always wants to make sure that I am happy. She also likes to watch tv with Bryan because that means that he is home. She says I want to be a good listener because then Daddy will be happy and I can watch Tv with him and he will be home. She asked me if I was a good swimmer when I was her age. She is obviously concerned because I keep telling her how she has to learn how to swim. We are signing up for more classes after the new year.

Sarina always asks me about a nativity scene on the way to work and now every time we pass by she says that’s baby jesus.
Speaking of babies, we were at a play gym and Sarina said to me that she was going to let the baby go first (who was on the trampoline). She is so thoughtful! Her teachers told me that she plays with all of the other kids in the class and that they encouraged the parents to call me for play dates since Sarina is always so happy and sweet., They told me that if she is playing with a toy and she sees that another child wants to play with it she will hurry up so that the child doesn’t have to wait. She also does not form cliques and invites all the kids to play with her. They love having her in the class.

Sarina went in the closet and told me to wait for her and she would come out and start a show. Then she emerged and started singing her own songs, made up of chanuka songs, and talking about everything from pink lipstick to people in her class. She loves to sing, and will sometimes sing on the subway too and everyone looks and smiles and says things like ” at least someone is happy.”

I went to Sarina’s school for her Thanksgiving party. I read the kids a story. Sarina was so happy that I was there and kept saying “mam”, looking at me, holding my hand and smiling the whole time. She had a turkey sandwich and the class baked pumpkin pies. They were so well behaved–sat there and got dismissed one by one to throw out their trash. I was so impressed.

We had a very busy Thanksgiving. I took Sarina to the Queens Zoo on Thanksgiving day and we stayed home for dinner. She helped me cook a pumpkin pie. Sarina still loves to help me cook and will pull up a chair. Then we went to Pat and Ken’s. Sarina enjoyed playing outside with Avery. The two of them played nicely together and didn’t ignore Quinn too much! Then we went to see my parents. Sarina had a blast with Sophie. She kept saying how she liked playing with Sophie because Sophie was being so nice to her. Sophie would give Sarina the crayons that Sarina wanted and if Sarina wanted to wear a certain costume that Sophie had, Sophie would give Sarina the costume and be “the bigger person.” It was so sweet. They played on the driveway and made up names for eachother. Seneca was Sarina’s made up name. Sarina was drawing and pretending and the two of them were so funny together. The three cousins ate lunch together in the kitchen while the adults were in the dining room. Sarina loved the turkey-she likes grown up food! She is still a big “foodie” and will eat tofu, sushi and salmon teriyaki.