Happy Mother's Day

Technically, this is my (Wendy's) third Mother's Day - First came Ellie the dog, and then last year when Sydney was born (however, of course we didn't know exactly when). But nonetheless, I am happy beyond belief. These past few months have flown by and I still can hardly believe that this little baby girl is my daughter. Life is good!

New hat and sunglasses - ready for Summer!

Not much to update in terms of development and growth, although Sydney is perfecting her animal sounds. She is currently trying to moo like a cow (it comes out more like a "mmm"), and, did you know, lots of animals sound like monkeys? - or at least, they all seem to look like monkeys to her and thus the monkey sound. The movie "Shrek" was just on tonight and she started in with her monkey sound when she saw him.

Here she is horsing around with Daddy.


She also enjoys using a fork - or at least, watching Mommy stab pancakes with the fork while holding onto said fork and bringing the fork to her mouth. And she has recently showed signs of encouragement as she pats us on the shoulder or grabs our arm close to her, pats it and hugs it.

Here's Sydney getting some teething relief from an ice cube.


She gets over-the-top excited whenever she hears music playing on the TV or radio; she bops and boogies in place on the floor, or sways and kicks in her highchair or carseat. She squeals when Ellie approaches her, tries to get away, and yet mostly loves to get her face washed by Ellie's infamous tongue. She is also able to follow simple directions like "take this to Daddy" or "go get your other beads". It is very cool to see this little human being understand and comprehend what we're asking her.

Here's our aspiring Chinese acrobat, balancing some cups on her feet. (She actually placed them on her feet herself and lifted them up!)


Sydney's walking is much faster and is keeping us on our toes. She has officially had three bloody noses, although one happened while sleeping (?). I went into her room to get her up one morning and her nose was encrusted in dried blood, her jammies were bloody, and the crib sheet had a big blood spot. Poor little girl. She paid absolutely no attention to it all so I guess she's okay. Scared me though!
She still gets annoyed when we brush her teeth (fussy is more like it), and she recently displayed high levels of frustration when she couldn't hold all of her crayons in her arms without dropping a few here and there. The plastic cups above also frustrate her when she can't make them fit into one another. Frustration culminates in loud screaming, whining and tossing of objects.

Here's our little peanut in a nice ensemble for the cool Spring days in Vancouver:


And finally, for your viewing pleasure, here's our packrat who somehow managed to find a couple of used, wrapped up diapers to tote around. Ewww! Well, she thought it was funny.