What A Weekend!

This past weekend was a very full weekend around here.

It actually started on Wednesday. Grandma and Grandpa M arrived for a visit from Las Vegas. (Note the use of the word "visit" and not "moved"?) A few hours later Grandma B arrived on a plane for her visit from Michigan. Sydney was very happy to see them all.

Thursday (April 5) was Sydney's second birthday. We didn't do much for that day since we were having people over for a party on Saturday. We were trying to teach Sydney that she's "two," but haven't gotten consistent results with that yet.

I did, however take a picture of Sydney next to Fievel. Regular readers will remember that Sydney got a picture taken with Fievel every month through her first birthday to help show how much she grew. By one year she had outgrown Fievel so much I didn't see much sense in continuing that. But I figured her second birthday was a good occasion to take another one for comparison's sake.

Below are the two pictures. The first at one year. The second at two.




Wow. That's the first time I've looked at the two pictures side-by-side. She has gotten big. To find out how big you'll have to keep reading and looking at pictures. Her appointment for her two year check up wasn't until Monday.

Also on Thursday Sydney got a surprise delivered to her.



Great Grandma M sent Sydney a bouquet of balloons. Sydney was very excited to get them. She squealed and giggled and ran around them. And though she really liked them she wasn't sure what to do with them at first. Then she figured out that she could grab the strings and carry them around.

Shortly after that she decided she only wanted one balloon to carry around. After some initial frustration and a bit of whining I explained to her that the balloons all had to stay together. She seemed to accept that. (After a bit more trying to get them apart on her own.)

Over Thursday and Friday the balloons went just about everywhere in the house with her. Downstairs at least. She can't get up the stairs carrying the balloons.

She carried them around with her. They would have to be in sight while she was eating. They had to be in the same room she was playing in. If she was watching television she preferred to have them on the sofa right next to her.



By Saturday she didn't take them everywhere with her. She was still very happy with them and would drag them around from time to time. But she was content to let them be and sometimes be out of sight. Of course, some of that may have had to do with her party in the afternoon and all the presents she got to distract her.

But I'm jumping ahead.

On either Thursday or Friday Sydney and Grandma B were playing while I got ready for work. Sydney insisted that Grandma B help her put a hair clip in her hair. And then another. And another. And then more and more.

After each one Sydney would run over to the mirror to look at the newest addition. As you can probably guess, they all had to be on the front, top and sides so she could see them. The back of her head just didn't do for her.



Saturday was Sydney's birthday party. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Just like Friday and Sunday were. And Grandma B made sure to point out that the people in Michigan who thought it was funny that she was going to Idaho for Spring Break weren't laughing much as they got eight (or so) inches of snow dropped on them.

The first present Sydney got was because it wasn't wrapped (because it couldn't be). It was from her friend Mary Jane. It was a big, purple ball. What fun!

Sydney had it outside in the back yard. Most of the guests were outside on the patio enjoying the day. Sydney and Mary Jane were sitting at the little table we have. (It was a gift from Diana and Ruffy when Caden and Rylen outgrew it. If those names don't mean anything to you then you need to read my blog more. Or just keep reading this entry.)

Since Sydney and Mary Jane were playing so nicely together and looked so cute sitting at the table with the little umbrella I went out to get a picture. But I didn't get it because Sydney fell over in her chair reaching for her big purple ball. She was unhurt but she got up and grabbed the ball then walked around to my side.

Bernadette, Mary Jane's mother, was nearby and we chatted for a second before Sydney tapped me on the shoulder. She had set the ball down next to her and she said, "picture". I told her okay and moved to aim the camera at her. She sat down and posed next to her ball.



I think the sun shining just over the fence was a coincidence and not part of the staging by Sydney. I think.

Sydney got lots of presents for her birthday.



The hat she is wearing was another gift from Mary Jane (and family). Sydney is the one who put it on backward. You may remember from various pictures like this one...



...that whenever Sydney takes my hat and puts it on she usually puts it on backward.

That big blue bag of a gift she's opening is from Aunt Heather. It was one of many (MANY!) Little People sets Sydney got for her birthday. And she's enjoying every single one of them.

Sunday morning came and it was sunny and warm(ish). The Easter Bunny came, too. Sydney had breakfast and then went upstairs to get dressed. While she was up there the bunny came and left her an Easter basket.



She got some stickers in it, another hat (with Pooh and Tigger on it), an activity book for coloring and some small gardening tools for helping Mommy outside this summer.

And then Sydney went to help Mommy open the curtains on the patio door and guess what? The Easter Bunny had left eggs hidden out in the back yard!

Sydney had learned about Easter egg hunting a couple weeks before. We had her enrolled in a class run by the city Parks & Recreation Department. It was basically a big play date, but there were always fun activities and craft projects for the kids to do.

In the last class the lady who runs it had Easter eggs. She hid them outside and the kids got to go out with their parent and look for six eggs in a section of the yard.

Sydney wasn't sure about it at first. She picked up the first egg and shook it (it had goldfish crackers in it). It wasn't until I showed her to put it in her bunny bag (the craft project of the day) and she saw the second egg that it clicked for her. As soon as she picked up one egg she was already looking for the next one before she had managed to put it her bag.

Then over the next ten days or so Mommy and Daddy would hide Sydney's six eggs around the house so she could go find them and put them in her bunny bag.

So when Sunday rolled around and Sydney had her bucket in hand and saw that first Easter egg on the patio she knew exactly what to do. She ran right out and found every single egg.



Later on Sunday Sydney got to dress up in her Easter dress.



We all went over to Diana and Ruffy's house for Easter dinner. And for those of you who don't know or don't remember, Diana and Ruffy are the parents (mother and step-father) of Jackie. Mark and Jackie are our good friends who got us to move up here to Idaho. Caden and Rylen are Mark and Jackie's sons.

Monday was Sydney's two year check up. She came through that great. I had to leave for work before she got her one shot, but both Mommy and Grandma B report that she didn't even cry when she got it. Amazing.

Sydney weighed in at 31 pounds, 3 ounces. That is in the 92nd percentile. Her head circumference was 50 centimeters, which is in the 95th percentile.

Her length is 37 3/4 inches. That is in the 95th-plus percentile. Yeah. She's tall. Did you see that Fievel picture earlier?

And that was our fun, busy weekend. I'll end it before going into the details about Mommy getting a flat tire on Tuesday on her way into work (in the middle of the night). Or Grandma B getting to the airport Tuesday morning only to find out after returning her rental car that her flight was canceled. The bright side of that was that she got to come spend another day with Sydney before going home.