The Quinns: Sallie Cate at 4.5 Yrs Old

My sweet Sallie Girl turned four and a half on October 2! This blog will probably be all about John John for a while, so I gotta squeeze in some time for my girls when I can. This child is as sweet as pie but keeps us on our toes! I feel like Sallie gets a bad rap. People think of her being a pistol {which she is}, but I feel like that is so rare these days. She is really the most loving and affectionate child I know, and her joy and love of life is contagious. She is very thoughtful and considerate, has such a positive outlook, and when she's in a good mood, her manners are second to none. But she is stubborn, and if she doesn't get her way- look out! That's when the feisty side comes out. It's really hard to hold our ground with her, but John and I are getting so much better about not giving in.

She was so excited about her face paint!

Some of my favorite things about her: she constantly picks flowers in the yard for a vase in my bathroom, she has an incredible memory for details and life events that seem like forever ago, she is still so cuddly and still seems like my baby, I love how she has to give me twenty kisses and hugs before she leaves my side to go somewhere, and I love how attached she was to my pregnant belly, and thankfully that has transferred well to her baby brother. :)

She is still doing gymnastics and got asked to do an advanced preschool group this summer called Puddle Jumpers. She has continued that into the fall, and it meets for an hour twice a week. That's a little much, in my opinion, but she is good at it, so we'll continue at least for a little while. She was taking ballet again at The Dance Foundation, and although she loved it when she was there, she had started to whine about going. I had already paid through October, so I told her she had to finish out the month, but I wasn't going to make her continue to do it if she really didn't want to. I'm a little sad because I just love seeing her in her ballet outfit, and she really did have so much fun while she was there, but she's busy enough as it is. She's my little homebody and just loves being with me at home.

This was her last ballet class when they could wear costumes.

She is going to school 4 days a week this year {the options were 4 or 5 days, but I still wanted to keep her home one day a week}. She was going 9-1, but at the beginning of October we started the extended day program that is 7:30-3:30. That really helps us out now that Baby John is here. John can take both girls to school for me, and that keeps me from having to load up the baby in the car so often. She is only staying until 3:15 two days a week, but again, it is nice not to have to pick her up at 1:00, come home for a little over an hour, and then load back up to pick up C. The other two days, I pick her up at 1:30 and take her to gymnastics. So far she is doing well with the new schedule. She seems to really like school, and she loves her teacher.

One of her favorite places to perch- the bouncy seat.

She still loves her stuffed animals and lovies, or "friends", and sleeps with a bazillion every night. She comes down every morning carrying a huge pile of them. She has gotten really good at playing by herself. Now that the temps have gone down {a tiny bit}, she loves to play outside. She will also sit and play with her Calico Critters and other dolls. Curran is still not great at playing by herself, but I guess Sallie is always home when she is, so she never really has had to.

Curran was doing her reading from school, and I walked in the room to see this. They are the best of friends!

The way Sallie Cate says certain things totally cracks me up. One day a week, Sinclair is with me when I pick Sallie up from school. And for several weeks, every day when I would walk Sal to the car she would say "Is your niece in the car?" Not "my cousin" or "Sinclair." And one time had I asked her if she knew one of her teacher's kids was in Curran's class at school. She replied, "I know! I saw her little daughter at church one day." I'm not sure this translates well in a blog post, but trust me that it sounds funny coming out of her mouth in real life. :)