Blocks!

It looks like Grandma B might be snowed in for a little while. I better give her something to read.

Grandma B's main Christmas present for Sydney was delayed. The shipment was delayed due to availability. Then the shipment got lost somewhere in transit. So Grandma B followed up with Amazon and they quickly got another one shipped to Sydney. It arrived last week.

LEGO™ Quatro™ blocks. Yay!

Grandma B enjoys playing blocks with Sydney. Currently the only thing Sydney has are some soft, cloth blocks that Grandma B gave her when she was born. They don't stack well and Sydney is now at the age where she likes to stack.

When the box arrived Mommy made Sydney wait until Daddy got home before she could open it. Sydney somehow knew the box was for her and could hardly contain herself as we all opened it. Her excitement grew stronger as she found another container (the plastic bucket) inside the box.

Upon getting it open there was instant joy and Sydney starting pulling out large, plastic blocks. Mommy and Daddy showed her how they go together, but she seemed to sense, even without being told, that they stacked up. Even if she didn't know they locked together.



She spent the better part of the next hour pulling blocks out one by one and stacking them. Mommy and Daddy both helped her put them together after she decided where she wanted them.

The tower we built - with every single block - fell apart a couple times during the building process. This upset Sydney and we pieced it back together. It was never exactly the same, but it was good enough to make Sydney happy.

She seemed satisfied when it was completely built. And a short time later she started dismantling it. Before long the floor was scattered with bricks as Sydney had meticulously pulled every block apart and left none stuck together. Then it was time for bed and Sydney helped put all the blocks back in the tub.

Since then she's played with the blocks a lot. She is getting better at realizing that the blocks go together a certain way, but she hasn't quite mastered how exactly that works. She does get very satisfied when Mommy or Daddy places the block just right and we let her push it down.

The Sunday after the blocks arrived it was time for the AFC and NFC Championship games. Daddy watched football. Mommy went out to lunch and a little shopping with some friends. Sydney stayed home with Daddy.

Sydney usually eats lunch around 11:30 am. About 11:20 am Sydney fell asleep on Daddy's lap. It was quite precious.

Thinking it would wake her too much to carry her all the way upstairs and put her to bed I shifted her next to me on the sofa and covered her up. She slept there for almost an hour before waking up. Shorter than a normal nap for her, but still a good sleep.



You can see her Pooh teddy bear there. Since my last blog entry she has actually started to prefer having Pooh rather than Cookie when she gets up. I don't know why. If we go back in her room later to get dressed to change a diaper she still wants to get Cookie out of the crib.

We had a big snowfall (about six inches) that Friday and Saturday. By Monday it was warming up a little. It got up to above freezing. That's warm enough for the snow and ice to mostly melt off the streets and sidewalks.

One of those nights I came home and found a snowman next to the driveway. Sydney and Mommy had made it.



While at first glance it appears that the Christmas gift blocks are used for the features of the snowman they aren't. Those are some Mega Blocks™ we have out in the garage. Our friends had given them to us and we completely forgot about them. Mommy found them while trying to figure out what to use for snowman features.

They're still out in the garage because we all know that LEGO™ is better than Mega Blocks™.

Sydney's vocabulary seems to grow a little bit each day even though she frequently chooses not to talk. Other than "no" and "uh oh" (or "oh no") she has a couple other phrases she uses regularly (as opposed to single words). She likes "I got it," like when she picks up a ball. She also likes... something that completely escapes me as I write this. *Sigh* I'll have to put it in my next update.

To Mommy's satisfaction she has finally started calling her "Mama." I am still "DA!" Not, "da." But a very loud and exclaimed, "DA!"

Good luck with all the snow, Grandma B!

After Christmas

This is my first post since Christmas. Not from lack of anything to report (though I was a little lax in taking pictures recently), but from lack of time to do it.

So Sydney is really becoming a little girl. Her personality just shines through more and more every day. Little things come up every day that amaze us. She has new words. She understands so much. She does things that surprise us. There are way too many for me to remember and note all of them here, but I'll try to give you what I can. If that's not good enough for you, well, I guess you'll just have to come for a visit and see for yourself.

Sydney is still very good about not going up or down the stairs without one of us right there with her. Lately, though, she's taken to trying to get us over to the stairs. She may grab our hand and pull us. She may wait until we ask her if she wants to go upstairs with us and then hurry over. She may wait until it's diaper changing time and she plays her running away game and run over to the stairs.

Regardless how we get there, she makes a brief and unenthusiastic effort to start climbing the stairs on her own. She will "walk" up the stairs by holding our hands, but she has yet to do it on her own. (Just as well since the steps are a little high for her to walk up yet.) She can crawl up them fine.

But she'll grab one of the slats of the banister like she wants to climb up. She will pause briefly as she lifts her foot part way up and seems to think about it. Then she stops, turns around, and sits on the bottom step.



There's no particular reason that we can figure out. She just sits down. And stays there. With a little prodding we can usually get her upstairs if that was the original intention of going to the stairs. If we pick her up she whines a bit. If we ignore her and walk away she'll sit there for a while and then go about playing. Maybe it's just a bit of rebelliousness.

Earlier this week I figured it was time to teach Sydney the next big step. Since she seemed to be at a point where she was picking things up quickly and amazingly easily I decided it was time to teach her how to get down the stairs on her own.

I had her sit and helped move her to spin around. I helped her back down the stairs. Just like crawling up them, but going the other way. She was very hesitant at first, but she picked it up quickly and amazingly easily. She can get down the stairs pretty fast now.

She does have a little bit of problem with the start out and turning the corner at the landing. But she's figuring it out and managing through it mostly on her own. And we're always right there to help if needed.



And, of course, Sydney loves posing for the camera. When she realized today that I was taking her picture she had to stop mid-climb to ham it up.



Enough stair-related things for now.

Sydney is getting more self-aware of when her diaper needs to be changed. She also wants privacy when she has to poop. She'll move around the far side of the sofa, or out into the front room or dining room, or around the far side of the bed. Wherever she feels she can privately poop.

When she feels she needs for a diaper change she will grab the box of wipes. (They are easiest for her to grab, plus we always have them there when we change her just in case, so she probably thinks of them as part of the process.) If we haven't gotten the hint yet she will try to reach up into the diaper box (if we're downstairs) and grab a diaper. If we're upstairs she will try to open the drawer where the diapers are. But it's hard to open so she can't get it.

Of course, when we actually go to change her she wants to play. She runs away and laughs. It's a big game of "catch me." Which is fine because she laughs, we laugh and there are always snuggles when she's caught. Though sometimes very short snuggles if her diaper is stinky.

The one downside to this is that when she has gas she seems to think she needs her diaper changed every time she farts. Last week she had the farts and I must have had to check her diaper ten times over two hours. And she's not happy with just a feel. I actually have to undress her, undo the diaper and act somewhat like I'm changing it to make her happy. Otherwise she whines and drags the wipe box around after you.

Trying to explain that she doesn't need a diaper change doesn't work when she thinks that she does.

A few weeks ago I taught Sydney a fun game. Anne was curled up on the sofa. Sydney was sitting next to me and Anne was on the other side of Sydney from me. I taught Sydney how to "tickletickletickle" Mommy's feet. Anne hammed it up a little bit and Sydney thought it was great fun. She soon started doing it to me. While Grandma and Grandpa M were here she even did it to them a couple times.

Then Sydney started going "tickaticktia" (or some similar variation) on our arms and on our sides. It almost always elicits a squeal and laughter of delight from both the tickler and the ticklee. And Sydney frequently gets tickled back, too.

This morning I was getting ready for work. Sydney likes to be on our bed when I'm getting ready for work. I won't put her up there before I get in the shower because she's not allowed to be up there without one of us close by to keep an eye on her. And if you take her down when it's not her idea she whines. Generally not a big deal, but why go through it if we don't have to?

So after I get out of the shower she usually gets to go up on the bed. This morning I was sitting on the end of the bed putting my socks on. Sydney had been relaxing on the bed today, not even really playing. Suddenly I felt this hand touch my back very lightly.

"Tickaticktia"

I jumped and laughed. Sydney laughed and fell backward. I tickled her and then turned back to finish putting my socks on. She tickled me again. I tickled her again.

I finished putting my socks on without further interruption. When I turned back around Sydney was sitting up. As I turned she grabbed her own leg just above the knee. She said, "tickaticktia," squealed with laughter and fell over backward laughing.

It was the funniest and cutest thing.

Oh. And Sydney knows how to get off our bed now, too. It's too high for her to climb up on her own, but she can slide off it just fine. She gets on her stomach and then kicks and swings her legs around until they're at the edge of the bed. She pushes herself from there until her feet hit the floor. She's quite proud that she can do that and figured it out on her own.

Sydney's hair is long enough to be put in a small ponytail now. (Sorry. No pictures of it yet. Frequently she doesn't keep it done up very long.) She likes the clips and will frequently want them in her hair. But there's only enough hair there to do one ponytail. We might be able to get two, but she squirms and moves around, making it difficult to even get one in.

(Note that in the picture posted above of Sydney coming downstairs you can see a faint bit of pink in her hair. This is a clip in her hair. Since it had just been put in upstairs you can see how quickly her ponytails tend to get flopped over or the clips pulled out.)

Remember how Sydney hates wearing shoes? She hated, hated, hated having them on. She fought and kicked when we went to put them on her. When we were out she would want them off as soon as we got in the house.

Somewhere along the line she has changed her mind. She loves having her shoes on. I think maybe she realized that having them on helps her walk a little better. Or she realized that she can only go outside when she has shoes on. And she loves going outside.

Regardless of the reason for the turn around, she now likes wearing shoes. She will frequently bring them over to me wanting them put on. Sometimes I have to remind her that she's still in her pajamas and can't wear her shoes yet.

I suppose this means she's going to own a million pairs of shoes when she grows up?

Remember Sydney's security blanket and bear? Well, bear has been replaced.



Sydney got this plush Cookie Monster for Christmas. It was on her Amazon wishlist and Aunt Helena got it for her. (Aunt Helena also got her the pink turtleneck in the down stairs pictures.) Christmas night Cookie took Bear's place as the primary stuffed animal of choice.

Bear is still in the picture (not literally in the picture above). He still gets a place in bed. But now off to the side with the other Pooh and Tigger. Cookie gets the prime snuggle spot. Cookie gets grabbed with blanket in the morning. (Sometimes Bear gets to come too, but he usually stays in bed.)

But when we go back into Sydney's room later to get dressed or change a diaper or whatever she will usually see Bear through the slats in the crib. She then grabs him and wants him out.

Kind of reminds me of Toy Story.