Tell A Story

We haven't taken any pictures since Sydney's birthday. I think I might get some angry comments from relatives about that. But there are still a couple videos to share. And some stories.

The weekend after Sydney's birthday was absolutely gorgeous. It got up to about 72 F (22 C) on Sunday. Both days (Saturday was slightly cooler, but not by much) we went to the park. Sunday was actually windy enough that we took Sydney's kite with us to try to fly. She had been asking to try to fly it almost everyday since her birthday and would then lament that it wasn't windy enough.

It was windy enough at the park to fly the kite, but just barely. Every few minutes there would be a slight lull in the wind and the kite would head for the ground. Sometimes we could yank it and save it as the wind picked up again. Most of the time it would crash and we'd have to start over.

This explains Sydney's comments you can barely make out over the wind. First, "It's flying. It's flying." That's followed a few second later by, "It's crashing. It's crashing." It actually wasn't that time, but whenever the kite would take a dip in height she thought it was crashing.



After that weekend the weather took a turn for the worse. It has mostly been raining with enough snow mixed in (but not sticking) to be annoying. It's been cool and it wasn't until this past weekend that we've had some decent, sunny, somewhat warm weather. Then it got cool and started spitting some snow at us again today. It's actually supposed to be nice the next couple days (around 60 F/16 C) just in time to rain again all weekend. Glad we mowed the lawn last weekend.

We did get Sydney in for her three year check up about two weeks after her birthday. She is 41 inches tall. Best estimate, at least. She wouldn't stand still (or straight) and started getting freaked out when the nurse tried to put her back up against the measuring spot multiple times. Consoling from Mommy and Daddy didn't help get her measured any better. But our experience from our vacation told us she was about 41 inches tall, so I'm good with that measurement.

As you might imagine, that puts her at the top of the height chart for her age. She's not off it, but she is certainly at the top if it. She also weighs 38 pounds. That puts her weight squarely in the 95th percentile for her age.

On Sunday evenings I give Sydney a bath after dinner. Anne gets ready for bed and goes to sleep at a "decent hour" (for her). This is the only night of the work week that she really gets good sleep since every other night I'm working and she puts Sydney to bed. Sydney goes to bed at 7:00 PM (though she doesn't always stay there and rarely falls asleep at that time), but since Anne gets up around 2:00 AM for work so she is frequently short of sleep.

One of these recent Sunday evenings Sydney and I went downstairs. Sydney asked her usual question of, "do you want to play, Daddy?" Of course I did, but Sydney wanted to play Chase. As I've done before, I explained to Sydney that we couldn't. Mommy was upstairs trying to sleep and we had to be quiet so as not to wake her.

Sydney understood this perfectly. So she took a couple steps toward me, slowly reached out her hand and touched my leg and whispered, "Tag. You're it." She turned and ran a few steps away and then turned back toward me and, still whispering said, "Is that good?"

So of course we played Quiet Chase for a little while.

This past weekend Sydney decided at one time that Mommy needed a nap. She tucked Mommy in on the sofa and then told her a story. I ran and got my phone to video it and made her do it again. It is a re-enactment (you can tell by the knowing looks she gives to the camera), but is otherwise pretty much the same.



Now let me offer a transcript of that video in case you didn't get it.

Sydney tucks Mommy in and then goes to sit in her Elmo chair. She then tells Mommy a story.

"Once upon a time a girl went up the hill and fell down the hill. And after after after."

That last part, I believe, is supposed to be the traditional, "and lived happily ever after." At least Sydney says "yes" when I ask her if that's what it means. (She's repeated this story several times over the last few days.)

Sydney then goes on to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to Mommy.

I think there was another story I was supposed to share on the blog but I don't remember what it is. I'm sure Anne will remind me when she reads this, so it will probably be in the next update.

Happy Birthday, Sydney!

Grandma B is here for a visit over Sydney's birthday weekend. Sydney is taking full advantage of it and playing with Grandma every single chance she gets. We have a stack of Blue's Clues books in Sydney's room that she hasn't shown the least bit on interest in until this week. Grandma has read them to her four or five times through now.

On Friday we were waiting for a delivery. My grandmother emailed to say Sydney would be getting a balloon delivery on Friday before 11:00 AM. Sydney didn't know this, but she still apparently didn't feel like eating lunch. She got up and went to play by herself while Grandma and I finished eating.

Sydney was looking for "Monster," who is apparently invisible. She went and grabbed her sunglasses to find him and then led him off to play. "Oh, there you are, Monster. Come on."

She moved out of the kitchen and into the front room where we could continue to hear her play with monster and then, apparently, monster disappeared. "Monster. Where are you, Monster? Come out."

A few minutes later Sydney realized we were done with lunch and wanted to play Chase/Tag with me. Grandma was sitting in the front room watching us. Sydney decided to tell her every time we went by that we were playing Tag. She then proceeded to go into demonstration mode to show Grandma how to play.



In case you can't make it out, the instructions include stopping, running, stopping and running and falling down. While it sounds intriguing, that doesn't sound like a version of Tag we've actually played. And notice she still had her sunglasses on. Monster wasn't playing as far as I could tell.

Anne got home from work at noon and I got ready to leave. The delivery still hadn't arrived yet, but then I looked out the window and saw a white van come around the corner. I managed to get Sydney out into the living room so she wouldn't look out and spoil the surprise.



Sydney really loved getting the balloons. She wants them in her room when she takes a nap and goes to bed at night. They go downstairs when we go down after waking up.



And did I mention that Sydney really loves the balloons?



Saturday was her birthday and she was a happy birthday girl all day long. She was very patient all day, knowing friends were coming over for a party and she couldn't open gifts until then.

We all had a good time chatting and eating pizza. Sydney was finished but some of us were still eating when she came up and asked when she could open her presents. So we decided to skip cake so our food could settle and open gifts first.

Sydney was very happy.



As you can see, Sydney was excited to open a present. And as soon as that one was open she was excited to open the next one.



The gift in that video is a Birthday Girl accessory set (for lack of a better name). It included a tiara, a star wand, a "Birthday Girl" sash and clip on earrings. Sydney absolutely loved it. It was a gift from our friend Kathy.

And then Sydney opened the other gift from Kathy.



That is a play dress for playing dress up. It completes the whole ensemble. Sydney wanted to wear it all right away. Of course, she wasn't going to stop opening presents, either, so Mommy had to take everything out and help her put it on while she continued with the gifts.



There's Sydney opening one of Grandma B's gifts. And yes, Sydney has most of her outfit on. (Anne held off putting the earrings on her and the sash was packaged too well to get out easily. The wand is on the table and she kept very close track of it throughout the gift opening process.)

And, yes, Grandma B has very good taste on gifts. That is a Duplo LEGO set.



Here Sydney seems to be eying her wand while she hands some of the clothes Grandma and Grandpa M got her to Mommy. They got her some really adorable outfits. I'm sure regular readers will be seeing her in them as I take pictures this summer.

After presents came the cake. Sydney picked it out herself as we filled in the order form last week. White cake with a layer of chocolate mousse frosting between the layers. And white cream cheese frosting. She even picked out the balloon design on top. And since we ordered it last weekend she asked Anne about it several times this week, saying she wanted to eat her balloon cake.







Later in the evening we played Wii with Jackie and the boys. Everyone else had left and Jackie had brought their Guitar Hero guitar so we could play two-player. Sydney snuggled while we took turns playing.



We've never really done the "you're a princess!" thing with Sydney, though she certainly knows that we love her and think she is a super special little girl. But Saturday, after getting her outfit, Sydney wasn't shy about letting us know that she's a princess. And a birthday princess at that.

After everyone had left and we got her ready for bed she let me know she was a "tired princess". But that still didn't mean she wanted to go to bed. She recapped the day, telling us that she had a great time. She got to open presents and eat pizza and eat cake. And she got clothes and games and she got a crown and a wand and a dress.

She was a very, very happy little girl birthday princess as she went to bed on her birthday.

Anne put her dress in the closet when she changed Sydney into her pajamas. The tiara and wand went on her bookshelf across from her bed so she could see them. The balloons were in her room, too, of course.

Sunday morning Sydney came in to get us when she woke up. Saturday morning she had been carrying her balloons. Sunday she was carrying her wand and tiara. And she seemed very indignant that she had to ask Mommy where her dress was.

Anne didn't let her wear it until after she had eaten breakfast and gotten dressed. Then she took a few pictures in the full outfit. (And Sydney proceeded to wear it the rest of the day, of course.)



The balloons, as you can see, were starting to wilt. We cut off the latex balloons.



What a great weekend. There are a few other pictures not posted here that you can see over at my Picture Trail Photo Album.