Catching Up

I know, I know, it' s been two weeks since I last posted. Chasing after a certain little 14-month-old can be quite time-consuming. I'm sure all of you out there who are parents know. Let me ask you this: what is the secret to changing the diaper of a squirmy, wriggly baby trying to escape your wrath?

Sydney is So Big, as you can see.

She is getting more and more confident in her walking ability. She walks more than she crawls now, and along with that, she falls more too. Last Friday when Brian got home from work, she was walking through the kitchen to greet him and Ellie wanted to get to him first. (Ellie won.) Sydney biffed it, smacking her hands and face down on the kitchen floor. I thought she was okay until I saw the bloody mouth. She only cried for a few minutes and then proceeded to walk around some more, sucking the loose strand of skin that was hanging from her upper lip.

Here she is with her "bling" - a strand of beads and Ellie's dog collar.

The next day she was trying to get away from the Mommy-monster and face-planted on the carpet. This time only a little bit of blood was coming out of her nose. She disliked my trying to wipe her nose more than the pain of the bloody nose itself.

"Come on Daddy, I'm ready for my bath."

Generally, though, she remains fairly happy and even-tempered. Except when her new teeth are bothering her. She has about four or five coming in at the same time. And now she despises getting them brushed, when before, she enjoyed it. (They make kids' toothpaste really tasty these days.)

Here's Sydney, the aspiring dentist, working on Daddy's teeth:

Sydney continues to imitate things she sees and hears, such as facial expressions, mouth noises, and hand gestures (nothing obscene, folks). She tries to snap her fingers, "roll the dough" from patty-cake, and tickle her parents. She picks her toe-jam (sock lint) out of her toes, holds her brush up to her hair, and flips board book pages with ease.

Sydney discovered juice boxes this past week.

She also attended her first softball game. However, we didn't bring the camera. She had fun walking around with Grandpa Jim.

Here she is looking at her Bee-bo (belly button).

And finally, here's Grammy Kathie's favorite face:

P.S. Sydney's new favorite snack: baby Goldfish (the crackers, silly).

Spring Break

Sydney celebrated her 14-month birthday a few days ago! Or as Brian likes to say, she is now 1.16 years old. Who made up the monthly age, anyway?

Brian is winding down his Spring Break, and got to spend three full days with Sydney while Wendy went to work. Last weekend we did a couple of family firsts: a trip to the Oregon Zoo, where we got an annual pass, and a walk on the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail here in Vancouver.


Look at the elephant, Sydney! Look! Look! Oh well, maybe next time.

Sydney liked petting the sheep.

One of our favorite exhibits at the zoo is the lorikeet area, where they can get very close.

Sydney liked the dog statue. It doesn't run away like Ellie does when she tries to touch her.

The Burnt Bridge Creek Trail is several miles long, paved, and great for walking, biking, and running.

This week Brian took Sydney to the waterfront by the Columbia River (Ellie especially liked), and got her to start using her sippy cup. Nice technique with the foot.




She is also pretty much WALKING all over the house on her own now! Her current challenge is standing up on her own without using something or someone to pull herself up. She literally turned the corner a couple of days ago; as she walked between us, instead of stopping or falling into our arms, she turned and went back the other way. And now she is booking around the house, causing us to scramble, close doors, and grab objects before she can get her little hands on them.


Here's our persistent girl trying to get through the barrier...




And here she is walking through the opening on her own.

Other fun feats: Sydney is So-o-o Big (learned from Grammy and Grandpa Pederson). She can now say "ruff-ruff-ruff" for dog. She likes to pack whatever she can in her arms and walk around holding them (such as shoes, socks, toys, and blanket). She pulls off her socks all the time and prefers to be barefoot - a true Hawaiian at heart! She continues to love imitating sounds and expressions - sighing is a good one. (Now we need to work on the eye-roll to go along with it, right Uncle Dennis?) And she doesn't mind getting her nails cut. She can also sign the words eat, more, all done, and of course, milk. She will applaud if she hears clapping anywhere, TV included.

One last picture - here she is after getting into a bit of light container planting: