Thursday, September 21, 2006

Miscellaneous Update

I guess I should update. It's been almost a month. I didn't realize it had been that long.

First I want to say hello to Steph. It's nice to have you read the blog. Aunt Marta is coming for a visit this weekend, I believe. Do you have a blog? Or pictures of Brady online somewhere? I'd love to see them.

To Grandma B let me say that I think Sydney looks that tall due to the perspective of the shot. She's lying kind of toward the camera. But, of course, she is still growing and is still very long. Only a few more weeks until her eighteen-month check up so we'll have an official measurement then.

A week or two ago I uploaded a bunch of pictures to the photo album. If you haven't peeked over there you have about sixteen, I think, to look at.

Football season started a couple weeks ago. That means Anne is a Sunday widow. Sydney is a Sunday orphan. Well, not really. I spend time with each of them. It's just that one eye is constantly on the television.

Just before the Super Bowl in February Anne asked me when we were going to get her some Washington Redskins apparel. They're my favorite team and she cheers for them because of that. I told her we'd wait until this season and get something. So I ordered stuff a little over a month before the season started.

My jersey was on backorder. It shipped this past Saturday and I should be getting it in the next couple days. Anne's came the week before the season started. Sydney's outfit came a week or so before Anne's.

Sydney, Mommy and Daddy Cheer For Washington

Sydney is in a little Washington Redskins cheerleader outfit. I'll put a better picture of her below. You can go ahead and scroll down now to see it. I'll wait.

Anne's jersey is personalized. The number (10) was one of her high school basketball numbers. It has her last name on the back. I am wearing my Darrell Green jersey. My personalized jersey (on the way here!) is number 42 (if you have to ask why, you've never read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and has my last name on the back.

And here's the picture of Sydney in her cheerleading outfit I promised:

Sydney In Her Cheerleading Outfit

Keen observers will notice the difference of the long sleeves and short sleeves in the two pictures. The long-sleeved turtleneck is the actual garment that comes with the outfit. But the Monday we were wearing them it was a little warm to put her in it so we opted for a short-sleeved, white top we had.

I believe I mentioned previously (last year probably) that Sydney likes to take my hat off my head when I wear it. It still happens. Sometimes she grabs it and throws it on the ground. Sometimes she puts it on her head.

Sydney Wears Daddy's Hat

Then she'll take it off her head, put it on her head, take it off her head and keep doing it until she tires of it. I really need to get a picture of her with the hat on backward. It's too cute.

On occasion she will even put the hat put back on my head. If that happens, though, it usually gets yanked off again before too long and thrown on the floor. And, yes, that is my Redskins hat (new this year, too), but it doesn't matter what hat I'm wearing. She doesn't discriminate by only throwing the Redskins on the floor.

Enough football. We don't need to get into talking about how the Redskins are actually doing this year...

(There are a lot more pictures of Sydney in her cheerleading outfit, though. Go look at how we enjoyed Washington on Monday Night Football together.)

Grandma and Grandpa M are here. They arrived a couple weeks ago. (Grandpa M took the picture of the three of us in our Washington outfits.) They came up for a month and are living in their house. Rumor has it they may actually be ready to put the house in Vegas up for sale shortly after they head back there. We'll see.

Sydney is standing a lot more now. She was almost exclusively standing at the sofa for the longest time. Every now and then she would stand by something else. Over the past several weeks she's been standing just about anywhere she can hold on to something. The bathroom counter, the sofa, the coffee table, any toilet (with the lid closed), our nightstands, our bed. She still doesn't get up when she's in her bed, though.

In the last week she has even started trying to walk a little. She's gotten better at having "flat feet." (She usually has at least her left foot on tiptoes.)

In the kitchen we have a folding chair we sit in when feeding her. One morning I was doing the dishes after breakfast and she came out. She stood at that chair and put a toy she was carrying on it. The chair slid across the floor a couple inches. She hesitantly took two steps to move forward with it. It slid again and she repeated it. I moved it another couple inches and watched her step forward until it was against the cupboards and wouldn't move further. (It was only about a foot form the cupboards to begin with.)

That's the only time I've seen her do it on her own. She has taken steps while be held up by the arms, though. We try to practice with her everyday, but it's sometimes hard to catch her in a mode to stand. Other times she decides she wants to stand and plants her feet when we go to put her down. She did this unexpectedly the other day and ended up head first into the wall. Only a slight mark on her forehead ensued.

She still scoots around really well by walking on her knees. She seems fine with it (even outside - on the cement!), which I think is part of the reason why she is in no hurry to walk on her feet.

She's learning body parts pretty well. She knows head, ears, eyes, mouth, nose and feet for sure. I was trying to teach her knees the other day, but every time I pointed to them she would laugh and giggle like I was tickling her. (Her knees are one of her ticklish spots.) Anne may have some others she's taught her, but since we only see each other for a few minutes each day during the week I'm not sure.

Her vocabulary is still a little stunted. She seems to understand things fine, she's just not talking. She still knows dog. She's even getting better at recognizing dogs on television and in books. (And getting excited.) She still knows yes and no, but doesn't say them very often.

She has started saying bye regularly. She doesn't say it consistently, but she says it regularly. Just this morning when Grandma M came over she was going upstairs to check her email. Sydney kept saying bye to her.

One evening I was reading her a bedtime story. On Sundays it's just her and me because Anne is already in bed. I always read Sydney the same two books that night. One of them is a Clifford (the Big Red Dog) book. During the week we sometimes watch Clifford the Big Red Dog on PBS. When I pulled the Clifford book out a week or two ago she pointed at the Big Red Dog and I swear she said "Cliffa." I couldn't get her to repeat it, though, and she hasn't said it since. I'm not sure if she really said it or if it was just some strange-language talk that was coincidental.

And, yes, Sydney still babbles in her own language. A lot.

Sydney has also gotten very comfortable around her big bear (see the previous post). Each day when I get her up I put her down in front of the bear so I can change her. When I go to get the diaper she will frequently get up and go over to give the bear a hug.

That's all for now, I think. In closing I'll leave you with this picture because it's too good not to share.

Sydney and Mommy Snuggle

2 Comments:

Blogger Marguerite said...

Grandma B knew it was almost a month between updates - I check your blog every morning.

The pictures are great. Can hardly wait until November so I can get in on some of that stranger anxiety.

7:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

love those pics! I am digging all your family redskins gear. We had a UT cheerleader outfit for Emme, but she's outgrown it.

9:59 AM  

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