It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Finally the snow has stopped falling! I thought we would never make it out of winter, but the past week has been ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! Yesterday it made it to 70 degrees and today it made it to 65.

In celebration of our new warmth, we decided to go to the park and have a little picnic dinner. We loaded her in the jogging stroller and walked over with my sister-in-law and her children and Donnie's mom. It was so much fun. Before we left Sydney was not in a happy mood, but she completely changed once we made it outdoors. I think we will do this more often...


After we ate, Donnie let Sydney try out the swings and slide. She loved the swing! She laughed and squealed the whole time. The slide earned her stamp of approval as well - as long as she didn't have to go down lying on her back! Her little cousin pushed her in the swing too. Sydney thought that was the greatest thing ever!

Splish! Splash! I love taking a bath...

What a difference a year makes! Last at just 2 months old Sydney thought of bathtime the way a prisoner of war thinks of Chinese water torture. Now at almost 14 months, nothing could be better than gettin in the tub.

When Sydney has a rough day all I have to say is, "Do you want to take a bath?" She stops crying and starts crawling toward the bathroom door. I have to undress her before we go into the room or she tries to head dive off my lap into the tub fully clothed. The only bad thing is you can't take her out until she stands up and "squawks" that she's ready to get out. Meanwhile, I spend the 20 to 30 minutes reading a magazine on the tub's edge. She's still not a fan of having her hair washed, but what can you do?

We give her a few toys, but her favorite thing to do is crawl to the corners and pull down shampoo bottles.

Eating Habits

When Sydney finally had enough teeth and coordination to eat "real" food I was so excited. We no longer needed to buy those over-priced boxes and jars of baby food. We could just give her whatever we were eating. At first it worked out really well. Meal time became easy and grocery bills declined.

Perhaps because she is our first child, and we are still trying to figure things out, we didn't realize what a mistake it would be to feed her off of our plates. It started innocently enough - "Here Sydney, see if you like this oatmeal..." Now it has turned into a huge disaster. Sydney will not eat off her own plate. She refuses to let anything pass her lips that did not come from Mommy's or Daddy's plate.

She's not easy to trick either. I will make her a bowl of food and pretend to eat from it, but when I try to give it to her she slaps the spoon away and moves over to Donnie to see what she can get from his plate. Now, she eats almost my entire bowl of oatmeal in the morning and the majority of my chicken at night.

I guess we'll know better the next time around. I wonder how hard it wil be to change those pesky eating habits...

Books!

We have decided that Sydney has more toys than she could ever play with, and so we are now investing in books for her (Donnie said something about books are cheaper than clothes so if I feel I really can't leave a store without something for her I should just buy a book).

We just bought the "Big Box of Boynton." It contains three board books by Sandra Boynton. The illustrations are absolutely adorable and the words flow in a nice little beat so it is more like you're singing than reading. The three books in this set are "Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs," "Pajama Time," and my favorite "Barnyard Dance!" Also, at Kohls they are selling Boynton stuffed animals for $5. They are a decent size and the proceeds go to charity, so I bought Sydney a "Barnyard Dog." From what I can tell, the ears taste delicious.

For some other ideas on good reads for toddlers, check out Mama Duck's suggestions.

Building smiles...one tooth at a time

Sydney's bottom front teeth came in within a day of each other, and her top right tooth arrived two months later. Then we waited and waited for another tooth, but it never came.

Now, almost two months after the third tooth appeared, Sydney is getting hit hard. Three teeth are trying to break through, leaving Sydney in pain and unable/unwilling to sleep very well.

She spent all last night crying and all morning crying too. I tried singing, reading books,teething rings, Tylenol, Motrin...every little thing I could think of to help. They were all to no avail.

In an act of desperation, I put her in her highchair (naked, of course)and gave her a blow pop. For the next 30 minutes all I heard were shouts of laughter and delight. A sucker can't be too bad for her, right?

Oh we've got letters...

Everday Sydney stares at me as I open the mail and screams because I won't let her help. Well today, she received her very own letter. Donnie's parents sent her a Valentine card. I think she liked it.

Family resemblance

From the moment Sydney was born I thought she looked just like her dad. Over the last 12 months, however, she has slowly changed. I noticed her lips were Ralston lips and she had a little curl to her hair, but nothing major resembled me or my side of the family.

Then at Christmas one of my sisters-in-law made the remark that Sydney looks like my mom. I started to think about it and I noticed little things here and there. When my parents flew out for her first birthday they brought a picture of my mom when she was 1 year old, and then I REALLY saw what my sister-in-law was talking about.

See for yourself:

Here is my mom












And here is Sydney

A night out...

Last night we went to the Fun Center with two of Donnie's brothers and their families. I must admit I din't really want to go. I haven't skated since I was 8-ish and Sydney can't even walk yet, so I thought we would be really bored - I was wrong. That doesn't happen very often, so you might want to make note of it.

To my surprise, there was more to do than just skate. They had an arcade, a huge area filled with inflatable jumpers/bouncers (I'm not really sure what they're called), a skating rink, and a skating track. The track was less crowded and lit with more than strobe lights. Plus you didn't have to deal with the loud disco music and couple skates.

The rink and track were not limited to skates either. You could ride a scooter, a tricycle, a Fred Flintstone car, a stroller, or a pogo stick. They had those listed, with pictures, at the entrance.

Donnie skated with Sydney and we let her play a few video games - anything that she could press a button or smack uncontrollably. She even rode a "rollercoaster" with her cousin.









I think she enjoyed all of the noise and people. She didn't cry at all - even though we stayed for 3 1/2 hours. Her favorite part definitely was skating with Donnie though. One lap she started clapping and laughing. She thought it was great!