We are coming to the end of John's 4 month sabbatical, which has been fun-filled and refreshing for our whole family. The first month (July), we stayed home, worked on long-overdue house projects (deep cleaning and organizing) while visiting different churches in the area each Sunday. August 1st, we began the long drive north to Cincinnati to visit our good friends, the Gages, who recently moved there from Texas. After a few wonderful days of visiting with them, we drove east across Ohio and PA before arriving at my mom's house, the place we would call "home" for the next 2 months.
While we were in PA, we travelled to visit family, camp in Rickett's Glen, tour D.C. and visit friends. It was on September 11th (the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and Mary Grace's 3rd birthday), that we lost Sarah's blankie in transit from spending the night at one of our friends' homes in NJ. Sarah has had this pink blankie since birth and it became her security (Linus) blanket about the same time she found her thumb, which was probably around 7 weeks of age.
I remember packing the blankie that morning to make sure we wouldn't leave without it, but Sarah informed me that she snuck it out and forgot to put it back. After many tears, prayers, phone calls back and forth with my NJ friend, who never did find it, we sent Sarah to bed.
Sometime in October while we were on the road either to or from Disney World, Sarah declared, "Mommy, I haven't sucked my thumb since I lost my blankie." I told her I knew and that I was very proud of her. I also said that if Aunt Hien ever found her blankie, she would have to make sure she didn't start sucking her thumb again. It was then that Sarah said something that surprised me. "Mommy, you can tell Aunt Hien to stop looking for it. I don't need my blankie anymore." WOW! What a milestone for my big girl!
Oh, it was also during our weekend in NJ that Sarah's first loose tooth appeared to be loose enough to pull. We were at Jake and Jaya's house for the night, so I implored nurse Jaya to give the tooth a yank. Sarah was very brave at first, but then chickened out. After a couple more weeks of that tooth hanging by a thread, it finally fell out on its own while we were at my mom's salon getting haircuts on September 26th.
So yes, we went to Disney World and had a wonderful week full of memories there, but the big milestones that I'll remember were that Sarah lost her blankie (and quit sucking her thumb as a result) and her first tooth while we were in PA.
