Trick or Treat!

Tonight was Halloween so we took Sydney out for a sugar high (I think Donnie was more excited than her).

We dressed Sydney as a princess and went to a children's party on campus first. Different clubs/organizations set up booths with activities like bowling, bean bag toss, basketball, mini golf, picture taking, "horse shoes," doughnuts on a string...

It was a lot of fun, even though Sydney "cheated" on almost every game. Bowling she did well on, but the bean bag toss and basketball she walked right up to the target/hoop and shoved in the bags/ball.

We only stayed long enough for her to do each activity once and then we left to go trick or treating (Donnie said we weren't getting enough candy at the party). Sydney made out like a bandit and we called it a night around 8 p.m.

When we returned home she finally let go of her "purse" (or pumpkin bag). Long enough to let us pick out a few pieces of candy. Then she dumped what was left (which was a lot) onto the floor and reveled in her bounty.

We took a few pictures on campus, but forgot the camera when we went door to door.

Fall Fun

Looking for some Halloween Fun we took Sydney to a local corn maze. When we arrived we found not only a corn maze, but a huge inflatable haunted maze, an enormous jumping pillow, a pumpkin patch, hayrides, pedal cart racing, singing chicken show, kiddie corral pig races...



The best part is that Sydney is still free! We had a great time doing all of the kiddie things. We were there for 3 hours and never ran out of things to do - nor did we do any of the non-kiddie games/activities.

Sydney even tried her hand at milking a cow

We ended the day at the corn maze. She was most excited about actually finding corn in the maze - only she kept calling them "bananas." Donnie then told her that it is corn and that's what we make popcorn (her favorite treat) from, so she then tried to eat it.

Where's Sydney?

So every night we lay Sydney in her bed, cover her up, kiss her good night, and turn out the lights. As we leave her bedroom we imagine that she is peacefully drifting to sleep, safe and secure.

However, every morning these thoughts are quickly brushed aside when I find Sydney not in her bed, but UNDER her bed. Apparently the ground is more comfortable than her bed.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

We received our first official snow today. It has snowed quite a bit in the mountains, but today was the first time it hit the valley - and stuck. When the snow began it was a rain/snow mixture that melted as it hit the ground, but a few hours later it was all snow and it stuck to the ground.

Donnie took Sydney outside to play in it.

She really liked it, but she thinks it is ice.

Her new bed

When Sydney was born my sister bought her a 4-1 crib - ya know it changes into a toddler bed, day bed, and then a full-size headboard. Anyway, we decided to give the toddler bed a whirl.

Yesterday while she took a nap in our bed, I converted her crib into a "new bed" for Sydney. When she woke up and went into her room she was so excited! She ran to her bed and giggled. There was just one problem: she couldn't climb up into it by herself.

I tried to show her how to do it, but nothing seemed to work.

Finally, Donnie had an idea. We bribed her with a cookie.


So it's only been one night, but she stayed in bed all night and this morning she woke up, got out of bed, and came in to my room to tell me it was morning.

Last night we closed her door so she couldn't come out of her room. This morning Donnie closed the bathroom door, blocked off the other part of our apartment with a baby gate, and cracked her door before he left so she could get out when she woke up. It worked wonderfully!

It was nice to let Sydney dictate her own schedule. Plus, I enjoyed waking up to a smile and a "Hi Mama." Instead of the usual screaming, "Amy! Mama! Amy! Mama!"

Hunger pains....

Yes, the pains of encouraging a 20-month-old to eat her dinner - that's what I am experiencing.

Sydney has decided that she will only eat enough to keep an ant alive. She went from eating everything you put in front of her to eating noodles, salmon, shrimp, and cookies. The problem is I would rather die than touch seafood so she only gets that when we go out to eat (which is about once a month - if we're lucky).

She used to love chicken and rice and so I am trying to get her back into that. We have had some form of chicken and rice for dinner every night for the last week (except when we went out and she had seafood with her Dad). After three nights of semi-adequate eating, we decided to pull out the camera.

Lo and behold our child knows how to perform. As soon as Donnie started taking pictures Sydney dropped her spoon and used her hands to shovel food into her mouth. It turned out to be extremely messy, but she ate all of her food, so it was worth it.