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.