Making the Best of a Sick Day!

We had a quiet day at home today. I wasn't feeling well so we just kind of laid around and watched movies and played. Even Zoey was sick today! We still had some funny moments that I thought I would quick mention before going off to bed.

Sydney has developed a love for broccoli. All I have to do is steam it and she loves it! For dinner tonight she had steamed broccoli, avocado, a very small portion of organic mac n cheese, and some black berries. I love it that she likes to eat healthy foods. She also loves popcorn which she had during movie time today.

We also played our daily pretend game of imitating animals. Today we were kitty cats and dogs. She loves to get down on all fours and make meow and barking sounds. Very cute! And lastly, Sydney has finally figured out how to hold on when I give her piggy back rides - she was very proud of this and insisted that we walk in front of EVERY closet mirror in our house so she could see herself on my back. Sooooo cute!

Well, I just tucked sweetie into bed and it's now time for Mommy to get to bed. Tomorrow is a new day and I just know I will be feeling better so I can have more adventures with my Sweetie!

My Little Helper

"Miss Independent" frequently now says, "I wanna help". So, I have been giving her more and more "chores" to help Mommy out. She now helps me load and unload clothes for the washer and dryer. Of course, she doesn't understand the folding concept yet and it can get quite frustrating when I fold the clothes, put them in the basket and then turn my back for a moment - only to find my folded clothes no longer folded or even in the basket anymore!!! We need to work on that!

She also loves to help "unload" the dishwasher. I let her grab the plastic container and hand them to me to put away. This can be very time consuming!! She also figured out the whole garbage thing too. Yesterday was quite the day because she wanted to throw everything away. I didn't realize she was doing this until I went to throw something away and noticed the calculator and the telephone in the garbage!!!

Yesterday, in order to get a few minutes to clean the kitchen, I took out all of the plastic containers and lids and asked Sydney to "please help Mommy" by putting all of the dishes away. She was so thrilled to be able to do this project all on her own. Needless to say, by the time all was said and done, I had to rinse all of the containers out!!

I thoroughly enjoy teaching Sydney new tasks and watching her practice her new skills; however, the more she learns and practices - the more chores I end up doing!!!! But you know what...I wouldn't change a thing about it!!!

Bye-Bye

Today is a sad day...Nana and Pap left to go back to Minnesota. We will miss them so much. Over the last few months, we were able to spend a lot of time with them and for that I feel truly blessed. Nana and Pap are the only set of grandparents that Sydney has and I feel so grateful that she loves them so much and that they are in our lives. Thank you Nana and Pap for all of the memories over the last few months and we cannot wait to see you all in August!!!

Bye-bye...

Zooogor!!!!

We had a great time at the Desert Ridge Parents Group Spring Fling yesterday afternoon. It was at a park and lots of families and children of all ages showed up. Sydney had a blast!! She spent much of her time running around in the field chasing kites!! She also got to interact with many other children and she got to eat some foods that she has never tried before. It was very cute and fun to watch...

This is Sydney before leaving for the park. She SO does not like to have her picture taken now and will smile right up to the point that you take her picture...then you get this look - cute, huh!!!

But sometimes...I can get adorable pictures like this!!!

We let her have a little brownie at the party - she of course loved it and didn't pull it away from her mouth until she was all done eating it. It was soooo funny!

She also tried lemonade for the first time and loved it. She was so cute drinking from the little dixie cup!

Here she is getting a ride with a little boy in a wagon. They never spoke a word to each other but at one point the little boy reached over to Sydney and lifted her skirt to see what was under it!!! Of course the skirt has shorts sown in to it but it was soooo funny!!

Sydney has a new game that she loves to play. She calls it "Zoogor". Zoogor is a character from the kids move "The Jungle". He is a monkey who pretends to be a monster. The game involves Greg or I hiding and saying in a "scary voice" "ZZZOOOGORRRR" - she then grabs one of our hands and we go look for ZOOGOR. She will play this over and over and over. She just loves it and it's so fun to see her get so involved in it even though she knows it's just me or Daddy!

Well, today is the "Last Supper". Nana. Pap, Aunt Peggy and Uncle Mike are coming over for sauce and then Nana and Pap leave to go back to Minnesota - boo-hoo!!!!!

My Minnie Me

Poor little Sydney now has a scab on the side of her nose, a scratch on the top of her nose, and now her knee is all red and scabbed - same knee she scratched up earlier in the week. I feel like I am constantly putting neosporine on her!! She just gets so excited when she is playing that she is constantly falling down. I hope this doesn't mean she is going to be accident prone like I was growing up!! Not only was I accident prone but I was also a tomboy and loved to go 100% all of the time - no matter what the cost was. Needless to say, my mother frequently had me at the doctor, getting xrays and yes, we had a whole collection of braces - for knees, fingers, ankles, wrists, neck...

Today, we are all going to the Desert Ridge Parenting Group Spring Fling at the park - should be exciting. Daddy even took the day off of work so he could come with us. And then tonight, Daddy & I will have our last date night as Nana & Pap will be leaving to go back to Minnesota on Tuesday. Oh my gosh, I cannot tell you how much we are going to miss them:(

My Little Drama Queen

With our schedule being so crazy lately, Sydney and I have not been going to the gym as often. For awhile there, we were going to the gym/daycare 4-5 days a week. The last month we have only been going about 2-3 times a week. As a result, Sydney is not used to me dropping her off in the Daycare anymore so she has been very clingy and dramatic when I leave her in the daycare. It's funny because she is all excited to go when we are driving there and drags me in by the hand as we walk in but then when she sees everyone she gets shy and grabs me tightly. I will get her involved in an activity and then walk away. She cries and it breaks my heart - but she stops almost immediately and seems to be fine. I usually watch her for a few minutes on the video screen in the gym before I head up to do my workout. It's so sad but it's something I am going to stick with because not only does it benefit me but the socialization is also good for her.

Now that my toe has healed (after the 3rd surgery!!!) and allergies are under control for Sydney, we will be able to resume our gym/daycare schedule and get things back to normal.

Sydney amazed me again last night (as she does several times a day). We finished dinner and were in our quiet time mode before bath, watching Dragon Tails (she loves dragons). It had a very cute story line in regards to the social skill of helping. Midway into the story line, Sydney started talking about what was happening and getting very involved emotionally. She totally understood the the story line of the video and talked about it the whole time during her bath. I am just amazed at 20 months old that she can observe and understand the storyline of a video. That takes a lot of cognitive abilities!!!

She is doing much better with sleeping again. I put her to bed by 7:30pm and she is usually up around 6am - a little early for me but at least she is now sleeping thru the night!!

Ooops, gotta go - sweetie just woke up from her nap!!

Updates

My little "Miss Independent" continues to want to do almost EVERYTHING herself! Especially when it comes to buckling her into her car seat! I have learned a little trick on how to make this event less frustrating for us all...I don't latch the buckle over her chest until we are all situated and ready to go. During this time I let her play around with the chest buckle and at the very end I snap it shut and say, "hooray...you did it all by yourself"!! She gets very pleased with this cheer and we can move on! She also is wanting to pick out and dress herself already!! What am I in for - she is only 20 months old!!!

Sydney continues to be so loving and affectionate - of course I mean when she's not demanding to "I do it myself"!!! She gives us lots of hugs and kisses and says, "I love you" frequently. I LOVE it when she says this - it's a reminder of how special our bond is with her. She is also becoming more affectionate with her stuffed animals and with her new baby that Nana bought her. Speaking of her baby, we got out some of her 0-3 month old clothes and slippers to put on the baby. At first she loved changing the baby and "wrapping" her baby in the blanket. But then she realized that the baby was getting some of our attention and she immediately regressed some. She demanded that Daddy put the onsie on her and wrap her in the blanket and rock her. I really wish I would have gotten it on camera because it was just priceless!! She is definitely a Leo - she demands to be the center of attention! Oh boy!

So much to write - but no time left. My goal is to post on the blog at least 3 times a week. We'll see....

A Fun Weekend!

Sydney had an exciting weekend. On Friday, Nana took us to the Wildlife Zoo & Aquarium. Sydney is at such a fun age to do this. She LOVED the "fishies" at aquarium and had fun running from one exhibit to the next. I then took her into the petting zoo where they had these really tiny baby billy goats and baby deer. She had a blast running around and petting all the animals. We then walked over to the Tiger and Lion exhibits. As you all know, she LOVES tigers and lions. We were so thrilled to be able to get so close to them. Sydney could barely contain herself.

I just couldn't believe how close we were to this tiger. It was so beautiful!

As Sydney would say, "big teeth".

This was the best...she just had to get out of the stroller for this one...

...getting a better view...

...a beautiful lion!!! Sydney was sooooo excited when she saw this lion.

Nana, Mommy and Sydney by the lion exhibit!

On Sat. I took Sydney to her first birthday party. Our little friend Zac from our first playgroup was turning 2. The party was at this beautiful little park up in the mountains. We had so much fun!

She's looking for the birthday cake!!

Mmmmmmm...birthday cake!

Instead of bringing gifts, we were all asked to bring a wrapped book - each of the children received a book before the party ended!

We had lots of fun!

Easter 2009

I am finally getting around to posting our Easter pictures. As I last posted, we had a wonderful Easter. We started new traditions and spent time with family and friends - what could be better. The Easter bunny came and left Sydney a fun filled Easter basket and even had time to hide some necklace filled Easter eggs. Since we are not big on candy at the Wade residence, the Easter bunny was creative. He did however leave a couple sugary treats which Sydney ate immediately!

Enjoy the pictures...

Sydney holding her little chirping chick.

Carefully placing the eggs and baby chick in her basket.

Of course the pink grass was a big hit, all day, over and over and over!!!

Hmmmmmm...

The necklaces that the Easter Bunny left for her.

And this would be her devouring the bunny marshmallows!! How about that hair - that is why I put it up all of the time. Her bangs are so long!

Hmmmm, what could it be?

Her Easter dress - it was sooooo cute!


My two sweeties all dressed up for church. Yes, Daddy died his hair blond!!!

Nana, Pap & Sydney Easter night.

Aunt Peggy and Uncle Mike also joined us for an Easter feast and we all enjoyed the "Sydney Show".

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!! We are having a great day at the Wade home. We woke up with Sydney and helped her find her easter eggs and basket. It was soooooo cute! Inside the easter eggs, the Easter Bunny left her pretty necklaces and marshmallow bunnies! She is not used to having sugar treats so she was very excited! We then went to church with our neighbors and then had a light lunch prepared by our neighbors. Sydney looked so cute in her Easter dress. She is now taking a nap and then Nana, Pap, Aunt Peggy & Uncle Mike are coming over for Easter dinner. It's a beautiful sunny day here in Arizona - couldn't ask for more.

I miss you Mom...

Pictures and Video

Finding time to download video and pictures is more and more difficult to do these days. You would think since I am a stay at home mom that I would have plenty of time to just sit at the computer....YA RIGHT!!!

Sydney is officially Miss Independent, "I do all by myself" seems to be the theme for each day now. It has definitely slowed us down some so please forgive us if we are running late! Sydney has also had a growth spurt - over night - and we are having to buy her new clothes every week!! My bank account is LOVING that!

Below is a picture I took of Sydney at a park we were at in Surprise, Arizona. A friend's Mother passed so we were attending her service. We ended up having to leave a little early because "Miss Independent" was bound and determined to "go swimming with the ducks"!!! Also, it was a very windy day and her allergies were horrible.






Sydney at the park..."Hmmmm, should I go down the slide or on the swing"...




We went to the McCormick Railroad Park and road the train and the carousal. It was a lot of fun watching Sydney experience these things for the first time.

On the train.

Zoey is finally starting to realize that Sydney isn't going to go away and that she is actually good at playing! Zoey never used to let Sydney get this close to her. She now lets Sydney pet her.


Here Sydney is at her "new" table and chairs we got off of Craigslist. Just like new but half the price. She LOVES this table set which has drawers for her colors and other treasures. She is reading an Easter book that Great Grandma Doris sent.


Here are Sydney, Bear-Bear and Daddy having their morning "coffee"!!

The family enjoying Greg's sauce and meatballs!

Pap and Sydney playing with Mr. Potato Head. She loves to have Paps sole attention.

And here is Sydney doing another one of her favorite things..."stickers" as she calls it.

Video of the train ride. As you can hear, Mommy and Daddy are very excited to be sharing this experience with Sydney!!


She takes after her Mommy..."shake it, shake it"!!!

My "Dancing Princess" - I would be the "Dancing Queen" LOL!!


She LOVES to sing but won't usually do it when she sees I have a camera. She's so on to me! Anytime she thinks I may be reaching for a camera, she immediately stops what she is doing and looks away! Keep in mind that she started singing these songs at least a month or more ago!! She is so smart!

Sydney Updates

Oh my gosh, what a whirl wind it has been the last two weeks! Lets see, today is Thursday...Sydney FINALLY started feeling a little better on Sunday. We had Nana, Pap, Aunties Peggy & Arlene and Uncles Mike & Vince over for Greg's sauce. Sydney really enjoyed the company and Mommy really enjoyed having the help. With Sydney so sick, we really had not left the house accept to go to the doctor in over a week. On Monday, I hesitated but ended up finally deciding to take Sydney to the park to meet our new playgroup friends. I could tell that Sydney's allergies were getting to her so we left early. By Tues. afternoon, Sydney was 100% and she slept all night Tues. & all night Wed. It was heaven for us all!!!

As for our new Parent Group, there were only a few other Mom's there and no one Sydney's age. I am not a big fan of doing playgroups in parks and other public areas because at Sydney's age, all I do is chase her around and really don't get an opportunity to chat with the other parents. Also, with such a large area, non of the kids really seem to interact with each other, which is what I want for Sydney. So, we'll see how it goes. The few parents I did meet seemed nice.

As for Sydney, well what can I say, she is amazing! As sick as she was, she was quite the trooper. She did learned some "not-so-desirable" behaviors when she was sick; therefore, much of Monday and Tuesday were spent "deprogramming" her:) For instance, she got used to us going in and getting her throughout the night and sleeping with her in the extra bedroom. She was in such discomfort that we did everything we could to help her out. She tried really hard to get us to continue doing this with her after she was feeling better, but it didn't work out in her favor! Also, she started to have major temper tantrums during the last week - thankfully, they have seemed to dissipate since she has been feeling better!

Now that Sydney is feeling better, she is back to her cheerful self. She loves to play with her Daddy and seems to learn something new each time they have a play session. She is going through a phase again where she prefers spending time with her Daddy over Mommy. Sometimes I feel bad about this but I know that as she gets older, she will go through phases where she wants Mommy. At this stage, Daddy is more fun to play with - could it be that he is still a kid himself and understands how her brain works??? All I can say is that she totally lights up when he enters a room:) With Daddy she likes to rough house and be loud - as does he. And with Mommy she likes to play with stickers and color. Mommy is more calm and quiet. What is most important to me and what I am most grateful for is that Sydney has such an involved Daddy who would do ANYTHING for her!!

Moving on, I am noticing how much more Sydney is participating in imaginative play. She now has conversations with her toys and has them interact with each other. She is becoming more and more creative and just loves to pretend play. For instance, she will say "I'm a dragonfly" and then run from one side of the living room to the other with her arms out and pretend to be a dragonfly. She also likes to imitate porcupines, fishies, and any other animal that comes to mind.

I have also noticed how much she is learning from the cartoon Caillou. She will watch an episode and then later that day or even days after, she will re-enact a scene from the show. She has an amazing memory for her age. She still loves to sing her ABC's and loves to have little tea party's with her new tea set! It's so cute! Lastly, I am not sure if I have posted this before, but she absolutely LOVES to have a foot rub right before she goes to bed. It's been a part of our nightly routine for months. Lately, I will ask her to "rub (my) feet" and she will pretend to rub them - very cute!

Man, I could just go on and on because each day she does something else that is so cute! I still take her to the daycare at the gym about 3-4 times a week. She really enjoys coloring and playing with the different toys. She really seems to like her teacher "Miss Reinna" and will sometimes ask for her when we are not there. In fact, on one of the days when she wasn't feeling well and was home with Greg while I ran an errand, she started ranting and raving on the floor and screaming that she wanted "Miss Reinna"!

I do have some pictures that I will try and get up this weekend. It's amazing how fast time goes by!